Please readthe Introduction and Chapter 1 ofMagdalene’sLost Legacy by Margaret Starbird

Copy and paste the following questions into an email, insert your answersand send to the Abbey Council.

INTRODUCTION

1.  Fill in the blanks:  The authors of the NT applied _________– a literary _________ whereby the sums of certain phrases produce significantsacred numbers — to convey _________    _________  .

2.  What is the canon of sacred number? (Who invented it, and defineit in one or two sentences).

3.  The practice of ________ is like setting lyrics to music; in theBible and other texts significant ________ were carefully and deliberatelyset to ___________.

4.  What happened, what was lost, when Saint Jerome translated the Greekscriptures into Latin?  What time period was that?

5.  Some recent scholars have shifted focus away from the strong influenceof _________ culture and __________ philosophy on the first several centuriesof the Christian movement in order to stress the Jewish or “Aramaic” Jesus. The Order of Mary Magdala and Church of the Way believe we have todeal with both the Greek “pagan” Jesus and the Judaic Yeshua.  Christianityhas pagan and philosophical DNA, as we always say.

6.  Crucifixion was an exclusively ________ punishment reserved forseditionist _________ and slaves.  Who nailed Jesus to the cross?

Activity:  Read the verses from the mysterious apocryphal book Sirachat the end of the Introduction.  Read them outloud a few times justto hear your own voice.  If you have music playing in the background,speak the words from Sirach outloud to the tune of that song — as thoughthey were the words of the song.

CHAPTER 1

7.  What structures were built in Mesopotamia that illustrated the conceptof the Sacred Marriage of the Gods? How were they built?

8.  The blessing derived from the sacred marriage ________ out fromthe _________   __________ to the land, bringing fertility and ____-______ to people, their crops and herds.

9.  List all the divine couples mentioned in this chapter.  Whatthree elements do their stories contain that Yeshua and Mary Magdalene’sstory also contains?

10.  The word mother shares the same root with what other words?  Whatis the first sound a human baby often makes?

11.  List all the mother goddesses of the world whose names begin withthe sound “em”.

12.  What is Plato’s term for the marriage of the opposites?

13.  The classical roots of Western civilization are predominantly__________ .

14.  What star of partnership is present in the Great Seal of the UnitedStates?  Find it on the Internet and have a new look at it. If you finda good URL that displays it, tell us so we can decorate this page with it.

15.  Short Essay:  Pick something in the intro or Chapter 1 that”jumped out” at you.  Choose something you strongly agree or disagreewith and then tell why you agree/disagree.

Questions by Katia Prioress