Tomorrow's Coming Home Meditation ~ Mary Magdalene + A Poem
Join me for a special Coming Home meditation session tomorrow at 9am PST/12pm EST
Dear Friends,
Join me tomorrow at noon EST for a Coming Home meditation and discussion on/with Mary Magdalene. I am not an expert on the life and ministry of this great woman, but I did just visit a cave in Southern France she called home last week, so I will share the story of that experience and the transmission I received to the best of my ability.
I’m finding a divine timeliness in the teachings and the archetype Mary represents in our collective psyche—she seems to be coming ever more into view; holding a key we need now in the healing of the Sacred Feminine and Masculine. I’d like to share a little here in advance of the session tomorrow and for anyone who can’t make it.
How does one distill the experience of a pilgrimage? It’s tough because so much of the magic is in the minute details of the story…the synchronicities, the intuitions, the accidents, the chance. It would take me a long time to share all of those. Suffice to say that I realized before I even set out last Thursday morning that I was going on a special journey. I was in a pilgrim frame of mind, which is to say attentive, reverent, prepared.
I have felt a close connection to the Magdalene for many years now. Of course, growing up in a Christian context I knew her as the prostitute Jesus cleansed of seven demons, who then followed him, became one of his disciplines, washed his feet and wounds at the cross and was the first among the disciples to *see* him at the resurrection. The story never sat quite right with me…many Biblical stories don’t because of their intentional suppression and diminution of the feminine and women generally. It just didn’t add up…why would the resurrected Christ appear first to a prostitute. Why was she called “first” and “favorite” among his disciples? Why were other disciples jealous of their closeness? And why did Christ “kiss her on the mouth?”
It wasn’t until I had a great awakening to the Divine Feminine around 2009/2010 (I am writing about that now in my serial story, Tenacious Magic), that I understood that Mary Magdalene was a Sacred Prostitute, the name for the great female adepts of the ancient world: the priestesses. She (and Mary, his mother) were Priestesses in the Cult of Isis. They were trained in the sexual arts, guardians of the natural world, and feminine wisdom. They were highly skilled, very holy, and gifted mystics in their own right. This is why they were chosen for the roles they played and why they had such close proximity to Jesus. Mary Magdalene was his sacred bride and the mother of their child, Sarah.
The Sacred Marriage of Mary Magdalene and Christ is one for the ages. Whether or not it is true historically doesn’t really matter (I believe it was). What their union represents is the highest form of Eros in the Western canon; a version of the Tibetan alchemical path of Karmamudra (yab yum) or consort practice. It is a union of purest love and passion—a holy meeting of the masculine and feminine—that transforms the world and creates new worlds.
Mary Magdalene became a pariah and flashpoint for Christianity; representing in her very existence the virgin/whore problem of women in the Judeo-Christian theology. This is the idea or view (mostly unspoken, unconscious, unacknowledged) that a woman is one of two things. She is either chaste, and therefore good, like the Virgin Mary. Or, if she is in touch with her sexuality; she is debased, a whore. Nuance is problematic. It’s hard to conceive of the mother of Jesus as having a sexual identity or God forbid, appetite. Just as it’s easy to grant a woman a sexual appetite as long as she keeps to the fringes of society. I know this sounds antiquated, but it’s still with us today in the collective consciousness.
But, Mary Magdalene creates a problem here. She is more nuanced, more complex, and also more REAL and relatable than this flat and dualistic portrayal. She is a holy woman, a woman with her own access to the Divine, AND a sexual being, a priestess, a goddess, a “whore.” How can that be??? I can hear Tertullian rolling over in his grave.
This virgin/whore schema is also a problem for men…how do you make love to a woman with an open heart if you are holding her as one of these two? If she’s a “virgin” you cannot “defile” or even desire her. And if she’s a “whore” you cannot open your heart to her. So, a conundrum arises in the body…how to hold arousal and reverence at the same time?! Of course, doing that is the ultimate, so until we can…we’re missing a lot.
Archetypically, Mary Magdalene represents the reunification and integration of these aspects of a woman’s experience in the body on earth, even in the face of opposition. “They never were at odds!” she says with her whole being, “There is no virgin/whore dichotomy. It was all created by the church fathers and it’s wrong.” She stands for the full range of experience. She stands for divine pleasure, passion and all the aspects of LOVE. She is like the best witch ever.
My objective or intention in visiting her cave was to FEEL her. I wanted to know Mary Magdalene more intimately and so I made the effort. I went to this cave where she is said to have lived the last 30 years of her life. This is where she retreated to pray and live a life of contemplation after she was chased out of Palestine by the Romans who killed her beloved. She also did healing and taught Christianity—the real Christianity—from here.
What I received is hard to put into words. I will capture a few insights. The rest, I put into a poem because that’s the best way I know to communicate the ineffable.
The main thing I received was a heart opening. As I sat there in the chapel, I tuned into the space and tried to feel MM. This is how I typically commune with unseen beings. It usually works for me. After a short while, I was having trouble reaching her, that’s when it occurred to me to pray. Ah, yes! Prayer is the Christian language.
So, I began to pray and immediately she was with me. My experience with her was one of healing and it was mostly non-verbal. She was a healing presence. I felt her compassion and comfort as a warmth in my heart so vivid and real—like the Kundalini fire, only in my heart center. I realized she was healing my heart and that the way she was doing it had come to her directly through Jesus. This was very powerful and brought me to tears.
She also healed me of a physical chest cold I’ve had for a month. She indicated to me that I needed to be specific with my requests and so I tuned in and what I really needed in that moment was health. I was sick of being sick. I have also been having a rough time with menopausal symptoms and discomfort in my body. I asked for help with this and she gave it to me. The way she responded so directly to my sincere requests also brought me to tears. It felt so good to be healed and held by her!
I felt the significance of the cave as a symbol for the womb, of course, but also the heart. It made sense that she’d chosen this cave as the place pilgrims could meet her for many generations to come. I felt like we were meeting in the cave of the heart and I understood the stillness of the heart, truly, for the first time.
This healing went on a for a long time and I was dedicated to sitting there until it felt complete. I felt also, a great healing on the left side of my body, which is the feminine side. This made sense to me. There was no “message” in this healing other than the message that everything, everything can be healed. There were some private messages for me regarding this time in my life.
When I spoke to her, I told her that we are here. I told her I had come because her teachings and her being speak to me. I told her she has not been forgotten and what’s more, her medicine is growing more important. I saw many people climbing the mountain that day. Among them were many young women. This made me so happy and hopeful.
Mary Magdalene Written by Schuyler Brown France, June 2023 In the cave of the heart deep within the darkness-- moist and cool. You fill the space A presence tending to all who come. Soothing reprieve from the searing heat. Reward for climbing the mountain. Blessed end of the road. Sanctuary for the soul. Now, I understand the true meaning of ministry. Bring your wounds. Tell me what hurts. Sit, bathe, repose. Pray. I can get to work. I can set you straight. Just ask, you must know. I will place my hands gently, lightly never fast, but slow. The Mediterranean bore you here. You swam in her waters all your life. Now, you are far from home. But, the Star of Venus is still on the horizon. A reminder that all of Earth is one home. Lady at the well, here in your cave, I am bathed in the miraculous! A vessel of healing water. A reminder of the beginning; when to be Christ-like was to be a healer: relieving suffering; tending to the gentle ones. In your red roses all loves are one. Take down the crucifix! I can’t stand the sight of it. He was holy, not haunted. He is still here. Ours was a union not of this earth, but sanctified by Her; blessed by Her holiness. Our work together was to bring spirit into matter. Our work together was to heal; to bring all humanity into the universal heart. Now, you stand a symbol of the split in the minds of men and women alike: virgin or whore? What arouses us is tainted by taboo! What arouses us is contaminated by fear. To make love with an open heart, to feel your lover's heart, is the ultimate union. In your kingdom kindness, comfort, and harmony reign. The path to ascension is through the heart! Pilgrim, pray. You’ve been fighting for so long... It's made you hard. Be soft and know another truth.
Such compelling words and perspective. And I love what you said about Mary Magdalene being the best witch.