New
insights into Mary Magdalene’s role as beloved Apostle and companion
to Jesus have convinced many that she was probably Jesus’ wife and
soulmate
The
Mythology of Jesus and Mary Magdalene
by Ariadne
Green
New insights
into Mary Magdalene’s role as beloved Apostle and companion to Jesus
have convinced many that she was probably Jesus’ wife and soul
mate. For others who adhere to Jesus’ celibate image as a condition
for his divinity, this notion is a heresy that is based on very few
embraceable facts.
The least
recognized evidence of Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s divine union is
held within a mythological legacy, a series of Hellenistic myths
that hold a mysterious connection to the Jesus story. The
mythological motif of birth, death and resurrection of a “godman”
that culminates in the reunification between God and Goddess has
numerous examples: Mithra and Anahita of Persia, Tammuz and Istar
of Syria, Osirus and Isis of Egypt and Adonis and Aphrodite of the
Greeks. To the ancients, these Gods and Goddesses were always
paired and vested with supernatural powers and position-- honored by
public celebrations and rituals that enacted portions of their
mythology and celebrated the harvest. For the Persians, the myth
held a prophetic promise of the incarnation of Mithra whom they
believed would be sent by Ahura Mazda (God) to repair the culture
and reign as a ‘good king’. At the time of Christ’s birth, the Magi
of Persia fully expected that Mithra would incarnate in the same way
the Jews believed that the prophecies of Isaiah would be fulfilled.
The most
fascinating similarity to Jesus’ story is the myth of the birth,
death and resurrection of Adonis, the Hellenic Greek God whose
consort was Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and Mary Magdalene’s
namesake. The name Mary is derived from Mirium meaning
“myrrh of the sea” or “star of the sea,” a title also associated
with Aphrodite who emerges out of the sea with her brother Eros as a
passionate archetype of feminine beauty and love. Aphrodite was a
goddess whose sexuality was central to her divine nature and whose
quest to resurrect her spiritual spouse, Adonis, required
determination and the surrender of all her earthly possessions. She
embarks on a heroic adventure into the underworld to confront the
death Goddess, Persephone, and emerges with the resurrected Adonis
by her side.
Like
Aphrodite, whose sexuality is her ‘claim to fame’ and the subject of
ridicule and jealousy, Mary’s image is also painted as a harlot,
shamed and defiled. This similarity is more than coincidence
because, in truth, the archetype, Aphrodite, drove Mary’s
personality, psychology and spiritual purpose defining her as the
Goddess whom Jesus would love and whom he could embrace as his
divine complement. As part of Mary’s psychology, the archetype
likely dominated her consciousness pushing her to shed a legacy of
shame, to embrace the sacredness of her sexuality, and rebirth her
own consciousness to embody the more divine aspects of her feminine
soul.
Jesus’
identity similarly holds parallels to Adonis. Firstly, Jesus was
referred to as “Adonai” in the Bible, a Hebrew word meaning “Lord”
or highest god. The Syrians similarly titled their lord, “Adon”.
Secondly, the cave site sanctified as Jesus birth in Bethlehem was a
pre-existing sacred site of worship dedicated to Adonis. Thirdly,
it is said that the blood-red anemones sprang up on the hill on
which Jesus was crucified and on Mount of Beatitude, where
Jesus gave his first sermons, just as they sprang from the blood of
Adonis when Aphrodite blessed his blood in memorial. Finally, the
wild boar responsible for Adonis’ demise, symbolic of brutality and
greed, was an emblem adopted by Roman soldiers and carried on their
shields.
The
mythological personality of Adonis, birthed in the sign of Aries,
was a will-driven youth who cast caution to the wind in pursuit of
the hunt. Conversely, the personality of Jesus whose spiritual
conviction drove him to boldly confront the Pharisees and Sadducee
priests and convert his community, could best be described as a
mission that lacked caution, one that resulted in his persecution
and crucifixion. Just as Aphrodite steered Mary’s personality,
Adonis would have driven Jesus to step out fearlessly and boldly on
a defiant mission of love.
From these
parallels what is brought to light is that Adonis/Aphrodite myth,
which was circulating in the region some 300 years before the birth
of Christ, was Jesus and Mary’s underlying mythology, an unconscious
script about the destiny of twin complements who would rise to
embody their divinity as God and Goddess. To some degree, it cast
their fate presenting many opportunities to choose an abiding love
no matter what the challenge, and to learn the lessons they had
chosen for their incarnation so that each would spiritually evolve
and mature. It laid out the plan for a mutual destiny, one that
would fulfill their promises to each other as well as a profound
spiritual mission.
Discovering
the parallel elements between the narratives of the Gospels and the
many resurrection myths, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy the authors
of The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and The Lost Goddess,
have concluded (in an exaggerated error) that Christian fathers
borrowed from the legacy of Adonis as well as other pagan
resurrection themes in putting together the New Testament, citing
the parallels as proof that Jesus’ history (birth, crucifixion, and
resurrection) was just another myth with no historical basis. They
deny the very existence of Jesus, stating they could find no
evidence that Jesus ever existed as a real person. Instead, they
suggest he was a meaningful construction of early Christians,
Gnostics, an archetype of a Godman, used figuratively to
represent the fully realized individual who achieves “Gnosis,” the
ultimate truth and consciousness of himself as ‘divine’. In this
view Jesus was, therefore, only symbolic for the Christ within us
all and never lived at all.
There is
little argument that there are numerous embellishments in the Gospel
narratives, and that certain elements added to Jesus story were
admittedly borrowed from pagan communities whose celebrations were
well established. For instance, the birth date of December 25th was
a borrowed element, likely included so that the new religion might
be easily accepted and absorbed into the pagan communities whose
solstice celebration of Saturnalia fell on that date. However, such
reconstructions and embellishments do not erase and nullify the fact
of the man’s existence nor his mission. Most of the parallels
between Jesus’ life and the Adonis myth, in fact, exist not because
they were authored in by gospel writers, but because they emerged as
synchronicities from within a meaningful unfolding destiny. For
instance, the three of Marys, pointing to the Goddess Aphrodite,
could seem like coincidence to some, but for the awakened mind, the
synchronicity of the three Marys, implies that a meaningful
evolutionary plan was in place, in which three faces of the Goddess
(Mother, Virgin and Bride) were on stage with Jesus to light his
way, helping him to psychologically and spiritually mature. They
were in the forefront of his life as feminine reflections of his
soul and representative of the feminine face of God. They would
awaken him to the power of the Feminine and prepare him for the
mystical marriage, uniting Bride and Bridegroom (the masculine and
feminine within) -- a spiritual transformation that would fulfill
his destiny and rebirth his consciousness to achieve Christhood.
The parallel
elements should in fact underscore the importance of Jesus life and
authenticate his and Mary Magdalene’s relationship rather than to
raise doubt as to their existence.
The Adonis and
Aphrodite myth prophesized the incarnation of Jesus alongside Mary
Magdalene, in the same way that a precognitive dream prophesizes a
future event. Mythic elements and themes manifest in the creative
field we call life regularly. Myths are public dreams or scripts
embedded in the collective unconscious and composed of metaphoric
imagery like our night dreams, but on a larger scale. They drive
human consciousness forward on an evolutionary trail through deaths,
rebirths and battles that act out human psychological and spiritual
dilemmas, completing a cycle of humanity’s destiny plan, through
which all of humanity is to learn the lessons of its fate. With
gods and goddesses, demigods and mortal characters as archetypes --
powerful energies of light and dark -- myths unfold out of
unconscious aspects of the collective soul and eventually manifest
as real-life dramas that are a part of real history. Myths
offer a blueprint or script for each and every individual who will
consciously walk its path recognizing the evolutionary tasks they
must master in order to grow in consciousness and evolve for the
betterment of the consciousness of all. The hero of the myth or
collective dream is birthed into the world through each individual
soul whose destiny it is to act out the part and fulfill its
destiny. In the case of Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s underlying
myth, the destiny fulfills a promise of resurrection and spiritual
reunification between two separated lovers, bride and bridegroom, to
reconcile the split within their souls and to fulfill their promise
to serve the evolution of consciousness of humanity through a
profound example and their teachings.
After I compared
the narratives of Jesus’ story in the Gospels with the myth of
Adonis I was left to ponder one stark contrast between the two
stories. The reconciliation between God and Goddess seems to have
been replaced with a mate-less dying God, who was sacrificed on the
cross and ascended without having truly fulfilled the divine plan of
reconciliation. Or is it that we were not told the ending chapter
of Jesus’ life as it really occurred? Did Jesus survive the
crucifixion and did Mary, like Aphrodite, save his life? His
mythology would lead us to believe so.
Copyright (c) 2006 Ariadne Green. All rights reserved.
Ariadne Green, MS, is an internationally recognized dream/mythology
expert, shaman and the author of
Ariadne’s Book of Dreams, Warner Books 2001. Her latest book,
Divine Complement: The Spiritual Terrain of Soulmate Relationships
is ready for release. Visit
Ariadne’s book site to read excerpts about the twin soul legacy
of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
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