mary magdalene – Mary Magdalene's Legacy

November 13, 2019October 21, 2021

Why is Mary Magdalene an Ambassador to the Divine Feminine?

The Divine Feminine is an energy that has been with us since ancient times. Human consciousness is basically divided into the ‘masculine’ and the ‘feminine’ sides – we need both to achieve our highest potential.

The Feminine represents the connection to the part of our consciousness responsible for nurture, intuition and empathy, irrespective of gender. It is the aspect of the self associated with creation, intuition, community, sensuality and collaboration.

The Masculine brings insight, understanding, awareness, direction attaining goals and carrying out the Divine plan.

The Divine aspect is a connection with a higher source, or God, through your heart.

We have recently moved from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Aquarius is associated with democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealism and philanthropy.

More specifically, the age of equality between the Masculine and the Feminine.

The Age of Aquarius is causing great turmoil around us as everything associated with Piscean values is unravelling; governments, corporations and even personal relationships. The world appears chaotic..

Fortunately we are not alone.. We are being assisted by ascended masters and mistresses..

We need to reclaim the Divine Feminine within us both for our own spirituality and for the well- being of our planet.

Many times before the world has been through an ecological crisis, and Mother Earth carries within her the memories and wisdom we need.

But we need to listen..

It is a state of awareness that is connected to the wisdom of the heart, to natural and divine laws, and to a loving, harmonious and peaceful life.

But how can we do this in our everyday lives?

1. Feel your feelings

To fully access Divine Feminine energy we need to fully feel and release our feelings without judgement. Our instinct is to run away from painful feelings.. but they tend to follow you!

2. Trust your intuition

Intuition is a gift of the Divine Feminine. Intuitive impulses come from the heart, not the mind. They are often accompanied by signs and synchronicities in the outside world, so keep all six senses open to receive!

3. Listen to your body

The body knows before the mind what and who is toxic for you.

4. Listen to your inner voice

Creating regular times of quiet and meditation activates Divine Feminine energy. Our technological advances have encouraged us to seek answers from the outside – google, youtube etc. We need to go back inside..

5. Be positive, active and creative

Neuroscience has shown that what we focus on grows. Focus on the positive aspects of your life and those of your colleagues, friends, and family. You will be amazed how it changes relationships.

If we change our internal landscape the outer one will change also..

Synergistic efforts of the individual will change collective consciousness.

So what does this have to do with Mary Magdalene?

Mary Magdalene exemplifies the Divine Feminine and has been called to assist us to support this process, the merging of the opposites, the Divine Feminine (receiver of Divine inspiration) alongside the Divine Masculine (acting out the Divine plan in the world).

According to the Gnostic gospel, The Dialogue of the Saviour, Yeshua called Mary Magdalene ‘The Woman who knew the All’.

After Yeshua was crucified, she was steadfast in her faith and comforted the Apostles. Her spiritual connection with Yeshua continued beyond his ‘death’, she started an egalitarian community where she wrote down his teachings.

She dedicated the rest of her life to teaching ‘The Way of the Heart’.

She has waited almost 2000 years for us to be sufficiently spiritually evolved to be able to receive Yeshua’s teachings.

Now is the time to recognise this woman for what she was – a true ambassador to the Divine Feminine.

#divinefeminine #marymagdalene #yeshua

October 22, 2019October 21, 2021

The Gospel of Mary of Magdala

The Nag Hammadi library is a daunting read of over 800 pages and I am often asked “Where is the best place to start reading the gnostic gospels?”

My answer is to start with the Gospel of Mary – it is short but more significantly, the only gospel signed by a woman – Mary Magdalene.

Found earlier than and therefore not part of the Nag Hammadi Library, three fragmentary copies have been found in Egypt. The first is a version in Coptic, discovered in 1896 near the area of Achmim. Two additional fragments in Greek were later found on the rubbish heap near the regional capital of Oxyrynchus.

Sadly, less than eight pages have survived, as pages 1-6 and 11-14 are missing, but we still see a very different picture of Mary Magdalene than that portrayed by the New Testament.

It presents a radical interpretation of Yeshua’s teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge and challenges our romantic view of harmony within the first Christian groups. More significantly, we see Mary Magdalene not as a weeping submissive woman, but a strong, stable spiritual leader who, because of her understanding was privy to Yeshua’s private teachings.

As the first six pages are missing, the gospel opens in the middle of a post- resurrection appearance by Yeshua (referred to as the Saviour) to his disciples in which he answers their questions and offers a farewell discourse before commissioning them to go out to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

But the disciples do not go out joyfully to preach the gospel; instead controversy erupts. All the disciples except Mary have failed to understand the Saviour’s teachings. Inner peace is nowhere to be found – they are distraught and frightened that preaching the gospel may result in them suffering the same agonizing fate.

Mary steps in and comforts them and Peter asks Mary to recount teaching unknown to them that she had received in a vision. She agrees and tells them about the rise of the soul past the powers of Darkness, Ignorance, Desire and Wrath, who seek to keep the soul trapped in the world and ignorant of its true spiritual nature.

When she is finished, she stands in silence, imitating the soul at rest. But the peace is disturbed by Andrew questioning the ‘strangeness’ of her teaching. Peter challenges whether Yeshua would give private instruction to a woman, thus showing he actually preferred her to the other disciples.

Mary begins to cry at Peter’s accusation. Levi comes quickly to her defence, reminding Peter he is a notorious hot-head and now he was treating Mary as the enemy. He admonishes them instead to do as the Saviour instructed them and go out to preach the gospel. The story ends here but the controversy is far from over. Andrew and Peter have not understood the Saviour’s teaching and are offended by Yeshua’s apparent preference of a woman over them.

All early Christian literature bears traces of these controversies. The letters of Paul show that considerable difference of opinion existed about issues such as circumcision and the Jewish food laws.

History is written by the winners. Many voices were silenced through repression or neglect. The Gospel of Mary gives us information not recorded in the New Testament. It is not a question of right and wrong. The information we have been given was just incomplete.

Whether or not you choose to embrace the message from the Gospel of Mary is a matter readers will decide for themselves. The days of being told what to believe are over, thankfully.

#mary #gnostic #savior #spiritual

October 9, 2019

How do you know what Mary Magdalene looked like?

mary magdalene, legacy, julie de vere hunt

Well I don’t – no one does! All we have to go on is art, which was heavily influenced by cultural context and what was fashionable at the time.. Only Mother Mary has been depicted more in art than Mary Magdalene over the last two millennia.

The covers of ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’ and ‘Mary Magdalene’s Legacy’ were both sourced by designer Ruth Sutherland from the following paintings:-

mary magdalene, Jan van Scorel — Jan Van Scorel (1495-1562)

Pope Gregory’s homily in 591 placing emphasis on Mary Magdalene as a repentant sinner whose sins were distinctly sexual, had a profound influence on the art which was produced for the next 1500 years. She would often be portrayed as a weak and tearful woman, in varying degrees of undress.

In a world where only the most educated could read the Bible, art was a crucial tool for the Church. It would not be until 1969 the Catholic Church retracted this statement, but the damage had been done – Mary Magdalene had permeated our consciousness as the fallen woman, whose path to salvation was only achieved through years of repentance living as a recluse.

Sadly, this served the Catholic Church in their patriarchal oppression of women. No male saint has ever been treated this way!

Fortunately, artists were creative and ‘hid’ characters in their art – only ‘those who had eyes to see’ would perceive the symbolism.

Mary Magdalene, Leonardo da Vinci — The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

Take the famous painting of ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci. The apostles are identified by name from a manuscript, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, found in the 19^th century. The twelve apostles are depicted in groups of three, Yeshua is sat in the middle. From left to right,

Bartholomew, James son of Alpheus, and Andrew; Judas (in green & blue), Peter & John (?); Thomas, James the Greater & Philip; Matthew, Jude Thaddeus & Simon the Zealot.

Surely, John is a woman we are looking at? The tiny, graceful hands, the pretty elfin features, the distinctly female bosom and the gold necklace. This person is also wearing garments that mark her out as special. They are the mirror image of Yeshua’s; one wears a blue robe and a red cloak, the other wears a red robe and a blue cloak in identical style.

My cellular memory tells me this is Mary Magdalene! In ‘Mary Magdalene’s Legacy’, John was her first pseudonym – she wrote the Gospel of John, and the Secret Gospel of John was her first transmission at the Lake Mareotis community.

Da Vinci was alleged to be Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, an ancient secret order set up to protect the Merovingian kings in France, who in turn claim to have heritage from Mary Magdalene…

In June 2019, I was attending a bio-energetic meditation retreat in Ireland and visited the Knock shrine on our way to the airport.

In August 1879, Our Lady appeared at the gable of the church with St Joseph and St John the Evangelist. A Lamb stood upon a plain altar. Some saw angels hovering above the Lamb. The witnesses prayed for over two hours in the pouring rain, although the gable was dry to the touch.

After reading notes by the witnesses, these three figures were carved by Venetian sculptor Professor Lorenzo Ferri in 1960 to commemorate the miracle.

My friends and I sat in the front pew immediately before them and meditated. Immediately my eyes started to flicker and I ‘saw’ a large pink heart. My friend Suzanne saw the same.. I immediately thought of ‘The Way of the Heart’ – it is always pink to me – Mary Magdalene!

So I believe the figure to the right of Mother Mary is not John, it’s a woman, Mary Magdalene. The book in her left hand represents the gnostic gospels. Her right hand is performing a mudra, which she would have learnt about in the Mystery school in Alexandria. A mudra is a hand gesture that channels your body’s energy flow. She is practising the Prana mudra; prana is the vital life force within all living things – she is awakening both her personal prana and the prana around her.

My cellular memory tells me the figure to the left of Mother Mary is Joseph of Arimathea, her half-brother, not her husband Joseph. In ‘Mary Magdalene’s Legacy’, it is Joseph of Arimathea who is entrusted with the care of Yeshua’s mother and Mary Magdalene, the mother of his child. He arranged for their escape from Judea to Alexandria.

I wonder where else she is hiding?

October 2, 2019

Why do I call Jesus Yeshua and Mary Mother Mary in ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’ and ‘Mary Magdalene’s Legacy’?

Yeshua, Mary Magdalene, Julie De Vere Hunt

Well the name ‘Jesus’ did not exist at this time, as it was derived from the Greek word IESOUS. The letter ‘J’ was not added to the English alphabet until the 14th century.

Yeshua is a shortened version of the name ‘Yehoshua’ or ‘Joshua’ and is the Hebrew word for ‘salvation’.

Around the time of his birth, the names ‘Yeshu’ and ‘Yeshua’ were not uncommon. Aramaic was used in everyday language, but Hebrew remained the holy language . They are as similar to one another as Italian is to Spanish – both used the same alphabet.

Yeshua was a direct descendant of King David through both his mother Mary’s and father Joseph’s lineage. When Yeshua read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue he read in Hebrew, not Greek or Aramaic.

It doesn’t matter what you call him, he will answer to both, but I prefer to call him Yeshua as that it was he was called in his lifetime.

Mother Mary and Yeshua, Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Which brings me on to his mother Mary, called Mother Mary, the Virgin Mary or Our Lady. I refer to her as Mother Mary in my books. I took this photo earlier this year when we were touring the Hebrides in our campervan. I love it.

Many of the founders of the world’s religions, Yeshua or Krishna for example, are said to have been born of a virgin birth, i.e, their mother and father did not physically mate. In Luke 1:26-39 the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth to bring news to a virgin named Mary. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus (Yeshua). He will be great and will be called the son of the most High..”

Many people struggle with this concept (I am sure Joseph had some questions..). But virgin births occur all the time in nature. Insects, rodents, reptiles, plants, trees..

A female bee can give birth a male bee without mating with a male bee. However, if she wants to make a female bee, she must mate with a male. So the male bee needs only a mother, but the female bee needs both father and mother.

The scientific term is parthenogenesis, a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization. Or immaculate conception, as the mother does not have to be a virgin.

Mother Mary was a virgin when she conceived Yeshua, but she went on to have other children (the Gospel of Mark (6:3) and the Gospel of Matthew (13:55-56) mention James, Joseph, Jude and Simon as brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary).

The Church refers to her as the Virgin Mary or Our Lady.

The Church does not accept that Yeshua had a relationship with Mary Magdalene, or fathered a child.

So the two principal figures of the Church are a virgin and a celibate unmarried male. Sex has been removed from the equation.

Virginity and chastity were considered by the Church the most desired state. Sex was frowned upon, even within marriage!

The Egyptians believed it was through sexual energy that divinity and even immortality could be reached.

I will return to this under ‘Egyptian Mystery Schools’ which I believe both Mary Magdalene and Yeshua attended..

September 10, 2019March 9, 2023

Why Mary Magdalene?

The two questions I am asked most frequently are:

“Are you religious?” and
“Why Mary Magdalene?”

I was a church going Christian for several years, I even helped run the Alpha course in our local town. Then I began to feel constrained by the ‘script’, and reincarnation was not part of the ‘dogma’. I met Simon, who had spent +20 years in a Christian monastery, who told me about a spiritual practice which was stronger than anything he had come across (well he didn’t get out much..) . Simon told me there was a 5 day retreat in Dorset in November 2004 and suggested I went. When I met the leader, Ratu Bagus, I literally saw God in his face – I had never seen such unconditional love. He taught bioenergetic meditation, which seemed strange as a newcomer, but listening to the other students, a few of whom had experienced ‘miraculous’ healings, I was keen to learn more and travelled to Ratu’s ashram in Bali In April 2005. I have been going ever since – I have been blessed with too many gifts to list – needless to say I am eternally grateful.

Ratu respects all religions; he often talks of Jesus, Krishna, Buddha in the same sentence. Bali is mainly Hindu, and Ratu has been made a Brahmin priest, not for himself, but out of respect for the Balinese (who believe in black magic).

Some of my local church members did not like me going to Bali. As my respect for Ratu grew along with the suspicion from my Christian community, I felt I had to make a choice. I stopped going to church.

Why Mary Magdalene?

I feel she chose me, but I have no idea why.. If she is trying to get a message out it would have been better to choose a successful author rather than an Oxfordshire housewife ‘who always wanted to write’ (apologies for the cliché..)

In November 2017 when I was on the ashram, a Dutch student called Claudia came up to me and said very matter of factly that Mary Magdalene was standing next to me while I had been meditating that morning. I am accustomed to unusual events occurring on the ashram but was still a little taken aback. I asked her what she looked like and she said a ‘dark pink energy’. She also suggested I visit Glastonbury as Mary Magdalene had been there.

In January 2018 I was assisting the late Susanne Prabhuta at a heart meditation workshop in Avebury. Avebury is known as the heart of England and believed to be older than Stonehenge – it is also free, so if you haven’t been put it on the list. I took this photo – see the pink oval shape around the orb? (see ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’ for an explanation of orbs). I didn’t twig straight away, but when I showed it to my friends they all asked what the pink oval shape was. Then I remembered what Claudia had said.

My writing began in February 2018, experimenting with automatic writing. I would look at ‘The Flower of Life’ image for a few minutes and just start writing. This is the beginning of my book ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’. I felt guided to go to Glastonbury; we parked in Magdalene Street outside St Mary’s chapel.. I picked up two books on Mary Magdalene in a bookshop. We climbed the Tor and visited Chalice Well gardens – nothing amazing happened but a great day out.

I devoured the books I had bought felt guided to write an A-Z on Mary Magdalene in an accessible, dip in and out, format for both experienced and less travelled spiritual adventurers. I included other spiritual phenomena to ‘explain’ my sources.

Since then I have not stopped writing…I am on my third book of the series which will come out in 2020.

When the doubt creeps in I take comfort from the words of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), one of our most brilliant scientists:

“I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious”.