Rev Charli Tupper

Mary Magdalene is the next woman who is mentioned by name in the Gospels.  In Luke chapter 8 it says, “The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities.  Mary, called Magdalene, from who seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s nephew Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.” (NRSV)

There are many stories about Mary Magdalene and I think I may have read most of them; fictional and historical.  She is a woman of mystery which is a trait of the Divine Feminine.  Humankind has striven to know God for as long as we have been, and yet, God is bigger than what we can imagine.  We think we have it.  God is_____! And then, God reveals itself as more, or different than we previously thought.  Is this not also true of ourselves.  We have striven for years to know ourselves.  We study under teachers, we pray for revelations, we sit and listen in the Silence.  Who am I really?  We think we know.  I am ____! And then, Spirit reveals other aspects of ourselves that we did not even know existed.  For me, that is what the study of these powerful women is all about: discovering the mystery within ourselves.

Magdalene means tower.  The idea that resonates the best for me, is that Magdalene is a title that was given to Mary from Jesus.  Just as Mary is a title of spiritual status, Magdalene is a title that denotes a person who has achieved a state of higher consciousness. This could possibly be the feminine for Christ consciousness.  The invitation is to contemplate what it means to you to be a tower.

There are so many things about Mary Magdalene that intrigue me.  1. She is the first woman to be named among the women of Jesus, and is named in all of the resurrection accounts as being the first person Jesus reveals himself to.   2. Some religious teachers felt the need to discredit her to such a degree that many still believe her to be whore. Was this because her status as a teacher and healer was growing too much following the death and resurrection of Jesus?  If so, what was she teaching?  3.  Mary was a mother, not only of the children of Jesus, but of the Christian church in France.  The stories tell us she sailed to France following Jesus death for her own safety and that of her children.  She taught to large crowds of people including royalty.

So, the question arises; what part of ourselves does Mary Magdalene represent?  Hearing the stories is great fun, but what is the point if they do not uncover some aspect of ourselves that is calling us to step out of our comfort zone and into a life beyond what our limited mind can imagine.  Mary represents the energy within us that is always calling us to a higher state of consciousness.  She represents the Divine Feminine nature of healing.  Being a Mary, she would have been trained in the herbal arts and midwifery.  Being the Magdalene of Jesus, she would demonstrate the spiritual power that we all have access to as we step more fully into a state of unified consciousness: a consciousness of oneness.

Mary is healed of seven demons.  Seven is the number that represents spiritual completion.  It is the number of major energy centers (Chakras)  in our body.  Being healed by the Christ consciousness awakened her to her own Divinity and the knowing that there is no separation between us and God, us and ourselves, or us and anyone or anything else.  There is no other. There is only One.

As we enter into a New Year, may is be blessed by the energy of Mary Magdalene and those who worked with her to heal the world.