St Mary Magdalene Read online

  S T. MARY MAG DAL E N E

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Malachi eben Ha-Elijah is a modern mystic. His spiritual journey began as a young boy, when he made the acquaintance of a Tau of the Sophian Tradition of Gnostic Christianity, Tau Elijah ben Miriam. Tau Malachi received the oral tradition of Sophian Gnosticism from Tau Elijah, and has been a student and practitioner of Gnostic Christianity for over thirty-five years. In 1983 he founded Sophia Fellowship as an expression of the tradition, and has been teaching and initiating others into Christian Gnosticism, Rosicrucian Philosophy and Christian Kabbalah since that time. He is an initiate of Ordo Sanctus Gnosis and serves as an Elder and Tau within the Sophian lineage.

  Tau Malachi is also a Chevalier (a dubbed Knight) in the International Order of Chivalric Companions, a Martinist, and is an ordained and consecrated Independent Bishop. He is the founder of Ecclesia Pistis Sophia and is among the leading exponents of Christian Gnosticism and Kabbalah in our times.

  Along with his exploration of the Western Mystery Tradition, he has studied extensively in several Eastern Traditions, such as Vajrayana Buddhism and Vedanta, and he also studied within a Middle Eastern Tradition of Sufism, as well as becoming involved in Native American Shamanism. Though Gnostic Christianity has always been his heartpath and spiritual home, Malachi speaks of himself as a spiritual traveler and explorer, one who seeks the Spirit of Truth everywhere it is to be found.

  For many years Tau Malachi served as a hospice volunteer, a volunteer trainer, and for a period of time as a hospice chaplain. Although he worked with patients suffering from various forms of terminal illness over the years, much of his work focused on individuals suffering with HIV and AIDS.

  Today he lives in the Sierra foothills, in Nevada City, California.

  DEDICATION

  I'd like to dedicate this book to the loving memory of Mother Sarah, who, along with Tau Elijah Ben Miriam, was a teacher and guide to me in my youth, and who remains in my heart always. She was a holy woman and a Sacred Tau in the tradition.

  I'd also like to dedicate it to the memory of my mother, who gave birth to me and raised me, and who facilitated my spiritual journeywho hoped all good things for me, all in the nobility of motherhood.

  May this book serve as a remembrance of Sophia, the Holy Mother and Bride, in all women.

  OTHER BOOKS BY TAU MALACHI

  Gnostic Gospels of St. Thomas

  Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ

  Living Gnosis

  CONTENTS

  Dedication - v

  Acknowledgements - ix

  Introduction - xi

  Cycle 1: Prophetic Revelations of the Bride's Birth - 1

  Cycle 2: The Birth, Youth and Early Life of the Bride - 1 1

  Cycle 3: The Union of the Bride and Yeshua - 27

  Cycle 4: The Holy Bride and the Mysteries - 61

  Cycle 5: The Sacred Circle of the Bride - 87

  Cycle 6: The Secret Gospel of St. Mary Magdalene - 127

  Conclusion - 167

  Glossary - 175

  Suggested Reading List- 195

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I must first and foremost give thanks to my beloved Teacher, Tau Elijah ben Miriam, and to his circle of spiritual companions, from whom I received the oral tradition of Sophian Gnosticism that appears in this book-all that flows out in sacred discourse and writings today come from his blessing and teachings. He was, perhaps, the best friend I will ever have in this world, and truly a holy person.

  I also must thank Penelope Amadali for her loving and faithful help as a midwife in giving birth to this book in manuscript form, and to all of my spiritual companions, without whose love, encouragement and support this project could not have been completed. I am truly blessed with holy company in this life-amazing spiritual friends!

  I'd also like to thank Bishops Timothy Storlie and Debra Belshee-Storlie who have helped inspire the creation of Ecclesia Pistis Sophia (Church of Faith Wisdom) as a vehicle to extend the light of the Holy Bride, Sophia, and to share the Sophian teachings recorded in this series of books. It is a privilege and honor, and a great blessing, to have entered into their acquaintance-yet more to have had the opportunity to exchange sparks of initiation with them and to call them my spiritual friends.

  Last, I must also thank Llewellyn Worldwide and all of the staff at Llewellyn. They perform an immeasurable service in giving voice to peoples of alternative spirituality-without them I do not know that this voice of the Holy Bride would be heard. Their contribution to the movement of the Mother Spirit in our times cannot be adequately conveyed with words-but many people are blessed by the work they do to sponsor the communication of Light, Love, Life, and Liberty.

  To everyone involved in the co-creation of this book, to include you, the reader of this book, I give my heartfelt thanks! You are deeply appreciated!

  INTRODUCTION

  PART ONE:

  The Oral Tradition

  y own experience of St. Mary Magdalene began when -I was a little boy. It was a beautiful spring morning and I was playing outside in the garden. A presence of light attracted my attention, and when I looked, I saw an image of the Lady in Red standing near me and smiling. Light surrounded her and she felt deeply familiar. Her presence was warm and comforting, yet, at the same time, energizing. I could hear her voice in my mind, as in a dream, and she said, We will meet again. I am coming." Then, just as she had seemed to appear out of nowhere, she vanished, and I found myself quite accepting of what had transpired. It was as though some deeper part of me knew what had happened and what was meant, but on a conscious level, all I knew was the experience of love and delight that had come over me and that I liked what had happened. Of course, to a little boy, this did not seem strange at all, for the minds of children seem to be naturally mystical and magical.

  What she said in my mind, the promise she made, she fulfilled. After that first experience I frequently encountered her in dreams and visions. Often she had variations of the same message, but on other occasions she would tell me or show me things, as though guiding me and preparing me for experiences yet to come. Until I met my Gnostic teachers of the Sophian Tradition, I did not know who she was. Like others before me, I simply called her the "Lady in Red." As anyone who has a propensity to dreams and visions understands, I swiftly learned not to speak to anyone about my experiences, but rather to keep them private. After all, people who "see" such things are "crazy," or so it is said by our unenlightened society.

  It is not surprising that I stumbled across a Gnostic circle that preserved a vast oral tradition about St. Mary Magdalene. I'd have to say that behind the scenes, whether I realized it or not, she led me to it. Encountering my teachers, Tau Elijah and Mother Sarah, and the Gnostic circle that formed around them, was like coming home. I soon learned who the Lady in Red was and I began to hear the legends about her and teachings attributed to her from my beloved teachers. Any time her tales were told, I found myself enrapt and filled with awe and wonder. I would feel her presence as I listened and heard them. The tales would inspire insights into St. Mary Magdalene and dreams and visions of her far more conscious and detailed than what had transpired before. She became to me the Living Sophia (Wisdom) and my divine muse in the spiritual path.

  This is the power of the Gnostic legends of St. Mary Magdalene. They express the insights, dreams, and visions of generations of Gnostic Christians to whom Mary Magdalene is an important figure and inspiration, and they help us connect with her and to enter into the Gnostic experience of her. They are not meant to be factual in any historical sense, but rather are intended to be inspirational and experiential. They are designed to communicate spiritual and metaphysical truths about Divine reality that cannot be conveyed in any othe
r way. Listening and hearing the legends, or reading them, is an adventure in sacred fantasy through which one might experience the same Divine illumination as those who tell the tales and through which, in fact, one might bring forth new insights and inspiration via the play of the Creative Spirit in oneself. In other words, the Gnostic legends are akin to a guided meditation or creative visualization through which knowledge, understanding, and wisdom might be brought forth from within oneself. Thus, what they ultimately mean depends upon one's own experience of the Truth and Light they communicate and the insights and inspiration they invoke.

  As one reads this book, one must bear in mind that it is a record of an oral tradition and that typically, among Sophians, it is spoken person to person rather than being written and read. In other words, the legends and sayings are a fluid and flowing body of teachings, ever in flux and ever changing with each telling of the tale. There is certainly always some degree of consistency, but there is also improvisation in the power of the moment. They are not so fixed or static as they might seem in written form. They flow out of the inspiration of the Spirit and creativity of the one who is telling the stories, and there is also inspiration and creative play in those who listen and hear the stories. Thus, when reading them, it is quite all right to read between the lines, to contract or expand the story, or even that a completely different story is inspired-it is all part of the intended process of Gnostic legends in the Sophian Tradition. It is not that we should hear them or read them as though they are some sort of creed or doctrine to be believed in blind faith. Instead, they are an invitation to an adventure in consciousness, in thought, emotion, and imagination. They point us toward a Gnostic Gospel-one we are meant to discover and receive inwardly instead of something being imposed from the outside. In the end, what we believe or disbelieve as a spiritual person must be shaped according to our own insights, our own experience of the Truth and Light-such is the Gnostic way.

  To receive oral tradition in person is definitely a unique and powerful experience. I cannot say that receiving a written form is exactly the same; for when teachings and legends are spoken in person, there is a distinct experience of a living presence and power that moves with them-a tangible energy within and behind the words that forms another dimension to the transmission. Yet, ultimately, from the Gnostic perspective, it is all about facilitating a direct spiritual or mystical experience, and such Gnostic experience is dependent upon the Great and Invisible Spirit. Thus, an oral tradition placed into writing can also be a powerful vehicle of the Spirit of Truth. If one opens oneself to St. Mary Magdalene, the Holy Bride, she can and will reveal herself through a book-for what she personifies is within each and every one of us, man and woman alike. Whether a transmission is oral or written, the whole purpose is drawing out this Fiery Light from within us.

  Since the time I first sat listening and hearing the Gnostic legends of St. Mary Magdalene and received my introduction to her Gospel, I have had a deep impulse to write some of them down. It has been my dream since I was a young boy. I have come to understand this desire as a wish to share my own joy as well as to preserve what I feel to be a precious Wisdom treasury of the Western Mystery Tradition. Today, more and more people are asking questions about St. Mary Magdalene and seeking to know everything they can about her. It seems that it is time for this delightful oral tradition to be made accessible. Previously, it has been preserved and cultivated in a relatively small secret society of Gnostic friends and, by necessity, it has been hidden away and very hard to find. Her story is a great and archetypal story, although until recent times it has not been openly told-it is the story of our own soul in the process of self-realization or evolution to Christ consciousness.

  PART TWO

  The Sophian Tradition of

  Gnostic Christianity

  To understand the view of Mary Magdalene held by Sophians, we must consider the Christ revelation as taught among Gnostics, for the Gnostic vision of Christ is very different than that of orthodox and fundamental forms of Christianity. According to orthodox and fundamental schools of Christian thought, the state of Christ is exclusive to Lord Yeshua (Jesus)-he is literally viewed as the only Son of God" sent to "save" the world, and one must believe that he is the only Son of God" in order to be "saved." In this view, he is literally believed to have been born of a virgin and born the Christ. In the Gnostic view, however, a distinction is made between Christ and the Christ-bearer. Thus, in the Gnostic view, Yeshua was born a human being, just like us, although, indeed, a very lofty soul, and he had spiritual teachers, John the Baptist being his primary teacher. During the baptism in the River Jordan, performed by John, Yeshua became Christed, which is to say that he became a realized or enlightened individual. Among Gnostics, this is the true meaning of Christ. It is a state of higher consciousness in which one becomes aware of one's innate unity with God (the Source) and, thus, experiences salvation (enlightenment and liberation). It is for this reason that Gnostics believe in salvation through gnosis, which is the product of a direct spiritual or mystical experience of the Truth that illuminates and liberates the soul. In this sense, the idea of Christ to Gnostics is similar to that of Buddha in Eastern Traditions-an enlightened being who teaches and initiates others in a path to enlightenment.

  In this view the Christos, which is commonly called the "Lightpresence," is not isolated to the person of Yeshua. It is within each and every one of us equally. A person must only learn to recognize and realize the Light-presence in him or herself in order to consciously embody it. Thus, in the Gnostic view, the Christos or Light-presence is not only embodied in Lord Yeshua, he teaches others how to recognize and realize it within themselves. Therefore, it was embodied in his disciples to various degrees, just as it was in him. This basic Gnostic idea is reflected in the Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas, for example, in which we are told that the apostle Thomas is the "twin" of the Living Yeshua, which implies that he realized Christ within himself, just as Yeshua did. Likewise, it is reflected in the Gnostic Gospel entitled Pistis Sophia in which Yeshua tells his disciples that they are also "saviors." According to the Gospel of the Sophian Tradition, the first and foremost disciple to realize Christ within herself was St. Mary Magdalene. Thus, while Yeshua is the first Christed man, Mary Magdalene is the first Christed woman, and the two together reveal the divine potential in humanity and the destiny of all human beings-the attainment of Christhood.

  From the Sophian perspective, the idea of the Christos being revealed exclusively in a male form, apart from the female form, is considered incomplete and goes against the very nature of our experience, for the Life-power is equally in men and women, and Christ consciousness is essentially the same whether embodied in a man or a woman. If the Christos is, indeed, a Light-presence that illuminates and liberates the soul, and is, in fact, the very nature of the soul or consciousness itself, then it is in both men and women-within everyone and everything. Therefore, according to the myth and metaphor of the Sophian Tradition, the Christos had to be revealed in both male and female form, providing both men and women with an image of Christhood to which they might aspire, as though an image of their future and Divine Self.

  Thus, according to the Sophian Tradition, St. Mary Magdalene is said to be the soul mate of Lord Yeshua and becomes his closest disciple. Yet more than a disciple, she is said to be his wife and consort, co-equal and co-enlightened with him, and she is the co-preacher of the Gospel. In him, Christ the Logos (Word) is embodied and, in her, Christ the Sophia (Wisdom) is embodied. Through their union in the mystery of bieros gamos (the sacred marriage), the Divine fullness of the Christos is revealed. In effect, according to the Sophian myth and metaphor, the Light of the Christos and the Gospel flows forth from their love-play.

  In classical Gnostic mythology, Christ the Logos descends from the Divine reality of the spiritual world and enters into the lower realms and material world in pursuit of his female counterpart, who for one reason or another has fallen from her original state a
s a Divine Being. The Logos descends in order to redeem and restore Sophia to her rightful place, as well as to complete himself as Christ. Just as she is in need of him for her fulfillment, he is in need of her in order to be complete. In the Sophian Tradition, this myth plays out in the stories of Lord Yeshua and Lady Mary. Hers is the story of the fall and redemption of Sophia. His is the story of the Logos who descends to awaken her and draw her in ascent with him, restoring her to her original state of Divine Being along with himself. Essentially, it is the story of the involution and evolution of our own soul through the process of incarnation and our eventual awakening to remember of the Truth and Light in us. Yeshua and Mary are personifications of this Truth and Light. Thus, more than historical personalities or anything external to ourselves, they must be understood to reflect something in us that we are meant to experience and to recognize and realize inwardly. It is in this context that Sophians study and contemplate the Gnostic Gospel and all associated Gnostic legends. It is to awaken and embody the Truth and Light of our inmost being and become Light-bearers in the world.

  The Circle Drawer

  n those days there was a circle drawer and prophet in the J. hills of Galilee. His name was Jeremiah and he was noted as a wonder-worker. When he cast circles, he could command the elements, he was able to commune with spirits of God and holy angels, and oftentimes he had visions of things that would come to pass.