This course on Mary Magdalene includes metaphysical resources of information. I have included the sources of information that I have found over the course of twenty-two years, which had validity in creating a correct understanding of who Mary Magdalene really was. When the New Age Movement started to flourish in the eighties I naively thought that unity of information existed within the "enlightened ones" that focused on metaphysical truths. I would come to learn that truth has many interpretations and agendas, even within the New Age Movement. I have grown up a lot since then, and unfortunately, the sharks of life are just as prevalent in the waters of gurus and high priced channeling seminars.

There is not one metaphysical book that is written just about Mary Magdalene that I would recommend at this time, although I am privy to a new book that is currently in the pre-press stages of publication. I will recommend it in the discussion section of this course. For now I will introduce to you the five books written about Mary Magdalene, which are currently on the market, that I chose to help bring you a clear history and understanding of all the different points of view that exist about Mary Magdalene.

The author Margaret Starbird has worked hard to create an uproar, which the Catholic Church will need to contend with. People are demanding new answers to age-old questions. Because of Margaret Starbird and Dan Brown, the author of the novel, The Da Vinci Code (2003) the quest for the Holy Grail has re-surfaced and the world is looking at Mary Magdalene. Margaret Starbird believes that Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail, she believes signifies an actual bloodline of Christ through Mary Magdalene. For the review of literature I will start with The Woman With The Alabaster Jar (1993) by Margaret Starbird. Margaret Starbird has a Masters Degree from the University of Maryland and has studied at Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, and also at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Her theological beliefs were shaken when the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982) by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln suggested that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that their descendants carried on his holy bloodline in Western Europe. Shocked by such heresy she set out to refute it, but instead she found compelling evidence to believe it was true. She now crusades on with her belief that Mary Magdalene was really Mary of Bethany. In the book The Woman With The Alabaster Jar, Mary Magdalen and The Holy Grail (1993) Starbird wrote, "Based on fourth-century legend preserved in Old French, Mary Magdalen is said to have brought the 'Sangraal' to the southern coast of France. It was asserted in later legends that this Sangraal was the 'Holy Grail'—a chalice. In fact, it was said in later versions to have been the very cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper on the night of his arrest." After writing The Woman With The Alabaster Jar, Margaret Starbird wrote three more books about Mary Magdalene. They are The Goddess In The Gospels: Reclaiming The Sacred Feminine (1998), Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers And The Sacred Union In Christianity (2003) and Mary Magdalene, Bride In Exile (2005). Her passion about the subject of Mary Magdalene seems personal and heartfelt. However, I would not recommend her books for an unbiased opinion regarding the conspiracies about Mary Magdalene.

A woman named Lesa Bellevie, has authored the book called, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Mary Magdalene (2005). Don't laugh, this book is incredibly well researched and it is very complete. The author does not hold any degrees but she is an excellent compiler of information. The book is an awesome encyclopedia of Mary Magdalene, and the author's unbiased approach was helpful. You don't have to be a biblical scholar to understand her book about Mary Magdalene.

My third book about Mary Magdalene that I have chosen to use to write this course is Mary Magdalen, Myth And Metaphor (1993) by Susan Haskins. She has no degrees, and in my observation, this helped her to write the book with an unbiased approach. To quote her book, "We know very little about Mary Magdalen. The predominant image we have of her is a beautiful woman with long golden hair, weeping for her sins, the very incarnation of the age-old equation between feminine beauty, sexuality and sin. For nearly two thousand years, the traditional conception of Mary Magdalen has been that of the prostitute who, hearing the words of Jesus Christ, repented of her sinful past and henceforth devoted her life and love to him. She appears in countless devotional images, scarlet-cloaked and with loose hair, kneeling below the cross, or seated at Christ's feet in the house of Mary and Martha of Bethany, or as a beauteous prostitute herself sprawled at his feet, unguent jar by her side, in the house of the Pharisee. Her very name evokes images of beauty and sensuality, yet when we look for this creature in the New Testament we look for her in vain." The reason we look in vain for shreds of evidence about Mary Magdalene in the Holy Bible is because of the political aspect of the New Testament. The pagan goddess ways of old were "Christianized," and symbolism of the Divine Feminine, including Mary Magdalene and other Goddess figures, were "Christianized" with attitudes created to dis-empower the natural balance of male and female energies. Keep this in mind because Mary Magdalene's image is very political as well. Politics and religion have always walked side by side. The Orthodox Catholic Church is faced with having to change with the times.

The fourth book that I have chosen was written by a man. The journey to discover the true Mary Magdalene is not just a woman's quest any longer. The Gospels Of Mary: The Secret Tradition Of Mary Magdalene, The Companion Of Jesus (2004) by Marvin Meyer, is an excellent book. Marvin Meyer is one of the foremost scholars on Gnosticism, the Nag Hammadi library, and texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. He is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies and director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Chapman University, Orange, California. This is a good book if you want to avoid the Holy Bloodline theory hype. Chapter six of his book is about the very important Pistis Sophia.

The Pistis Sophia is a Coptic book that was discovered in the late eighteenth century by Dr. A. Askew, an Englishman. He found it in a London bookshop. The British Museum acquired the codex after his death. The importance of the Pistis Sophia is that it clearly establishes Mary Magdalene's role as an interlocutor, (a questioner). According to Lesa Bellevie, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide To Mary Magdalene (2005), "In Pistis Sophia, there are a total of 115 different questions and interpretations of Jesus' teachings by his followers. Of those, Mary Magdalene alone is responsible for asking 67 questions."

On that note, I will introduce my fifth book that I chose to write this course. The Gospel Of Mary Of Magdala, Jesus And The First Woman Apostle (2003) by Karen L. King comes highly recommended by me. She is a Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University in the Divinity School. She has a feminist approach that is honest and outspoken. To quote her book, "Lost for more than fifteen hundred years, the Gospel of Mary is the only existing early Christian gospel written in the name of a woman. Karen L. King tells the story of the recovery of this remarkable gospel and offers a new translation. This brief narrative presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge. It rejects his suffering and death as a path to eternal life and exposes the view that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute for what it is—a piece of theological fiction. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala offers a fascinating glimpse into the conflicts and controversies that shaped earliest Christianity." Thank you Karen L. King. Her book focuses on the important fact that Mary Magdalene was a spiritual leader.

The Gnostic Gospels (1989) by Elaine Pagels deserves reviewing as well. Elaine Pagels is a Professor of Religion at Princeton University. To quote Time magazine, "The Princeton professor Elaine Pagels won a National Book Award for her 1979 essay "The Gnostic Gospels," which explored those alternative interpretations of the Christ story. The book of the same name was a surprise best seller, and three titles later, study groups at churches around the country are using Pagel's works to supplement more traditional Bible studies." The Gnostic Mary Magdalene is very important to examine and Pagel's book The Gnostic Gospels is a way to explore the true teachings of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The Gnostic Gospels provide the proof that the four accepted Gospels of the New Testament exclude five important Gnostic texts: The Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter and the Gospel of Philip. They are all missing from the Holy Bible! Now, if you are just looking at the four accepted gospels you will learn practically nothing about Mary Magdalene. On the contrary, you will be misled to believe that she was a common prostitute. The Gnostic Gospels provide the needed proof for the extended exploration into the life of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with the Savior. Mary Magdalene's personal life was altered by political motives and issues. That is a core issue of the true Mary Magdalene. Pagels and other historical Jesus researchers all point to the possibility, that Mary Magdalene's true-life story was probably manipulated, to suit certain political/religious agendas.