Goddess in the Gospels
Lesson One
Read the Preface, Chapter One and Chapter Two. Copy and paste the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Abbey Council with the subject line G in G 1 from __________ (your magikal name).
Preface
1. What realization helped Margaret Starbird overcome her fear of the idea of a married Jesus? p. xi
2. Paraclete means what? p. xii
3. Read the special note on p. xvi of the Preface. Our School still uses the common spelling of hieros gamos, although we did consider using Starbird’s spelling. Note her reasoning for why it’s okay too occasionally refer to God with a male pronoun. He is a “he” quite alot.Do you agree or disagree?
4. Note the poem on p. 3 called To Our Lady. Have you”noticed” her in any of those places — art, dew, faces? What do you think Starbird meant by “Mirror of Divinity”?
Chapter One
5. What does the left hand symbolize? p.6
6. What is the significance of what Mary Magdalene is holding in Vezelay? p.7
7. What is really symbolized by an eclipse of the sun?p.8
Chapter Two
8. What does “Magdala” mean? p.15
9. Magdalene is usually shown wearing red or green. What does her green dress or robe mean? p.15
10. What Celtic feast corresponds to Pentecost? p.16
11. What might the rock Mary Magdalene is clasping represent?p.17
12. What does Vesica Piscis literally mean in English? Draw a few whenever you get a chance. p.16
13. Define heresy. Use p. 20 and a Dictionary. What is considered heresy to Jews regarding Yeshua’s marital status? p.21
14. In what year did the RCC (Roman Catholic Church) make clergy celibacy mandatory? How many years is this after Christianity became legal in313 A.D.?
15. Mary Magdala performed an act identical to what when she anointed Yeshua a few days before his death? p.24
16. The rumors and whispered doctrines of the real Kristianity had survived the Fall of the Roman Empire, made it safely into the Middle Ages(only one hundred fifty years separates the legalization of Christianity and the Fall of the Roman Empire) and were still on peoples’ minds.The Middle Ages of which we finally have decent historical records, is therefore a great treasure trove of real Kristian teachings and doctrines — if one knows where to look. The Question here is: What were the most popular miracle plays during the Middle Ages (470 to 1400 A.D.)? Keep in mind there were no movies, DVD’s, or TV shows. These plays were a huge part of European culture. What do the miracle plays seem to indicate the populace believed about Mary Magdalene and Jesus?p.25
17. Note the theme of the abandoned bride on page 25. Whom did she represent?
18. On p. 26 Starbird mentions litanies and aretalogies. Both are prayer formulas, but an aretalogy is a specific kind of “prayer” that lists all the virtues, powers and strengths of a deity. Many Isis aretalogies exist because people loved to list her virtues. Aretalogymeans, “a telling of virtues.” On p. 26 Starbird says litanies and aretalogies indicate that early Kristians understood Mary Magdala’s archetypal role as what?
19. Mary Magdalene’s unique role in Christianity might have been obscured at first for very practical reasons. What are they? p. 27
20. What does adelphi mean? Why did the official church later deny Yeshua’s siblings, Mary’s other children? p. 27
21. and 22. At the end of chapter 2 on p. 28, Starbird says she believes Yeshua and MM’s daughter was born after his execution and therefore he never saw the child. But since some Gnostic texts say he remained eleven years after the resurrection teaching and working with his students, it is very possible he did indeed see this child AND might have fathered a few more! Such a bloodline doesn’t matter of itself — the relevance is not important in our days of elected officials. In the days of monarchs, it was considered”divine right” to be descended from Yeshua. The bloodline may have some relevance today in light of reincarnation teachings in which people are born over and over into the same family line. The second coming may include Yeshua and MM taking form again among their own descendants. Or maybe not. The six degrees of separation theory suggests that thru all the marriages and minglings of ethnicities no more than six degrees (or steps) separates any of us. Of course geneologies don’t always seem that simple! Genetic memory (using the DNA information we all have but can only subconsciously access) is similar, but isn’t really reincarnation. It too makes such a bloodline relevant. As geneticist Dr. Spencer Wells so eloquently proves in his documentary (and book) the Journey of Man, we are all related anyway, all cousins. So bloodline doesn’t matter nor do the descendants of Yeshua and MM. I always tell people if you feel a strong pull, really really strong, and are not deluding yourself (that’s the hard part, deciding if you are delusional!) toward the kin of Yeshua, either to one of his brothers (James, Jude, Joses) or to him and to Mary Magdalene, you may indeed be desposyni, “the Master’s kin”. His and Her DNA will “pull” you deeper and deeper, further and further back to their inner mysteries. Personally (this is Prioress Katia writing, btw) I do not believe I have this “bloodline” in me. I do feel a powerful pull ,but it is toward their teachings, the inner knowledge and transformation that they revealed, not their flesh and blood. However, I find the bloodline and the desposyni most intriguing, and am certain at least some of you out there are part of it. Oh yes, a question for this number21 is needed. Please briefly tell your thoughts on whether you think Yeshua stuck around for more time after the resurrection before the ascension,and 22. Do you think the bloodline is relevant today or not and why?
Questions by Katia Prioress
