Look at this! A painting of Jesus and Magdalene together in a posture of mystical unity. Also, note the Asherah headband Yeshua is wearing. And the strings, ropes, what are they all about do you think? And the blue bottle behind Magdalene — is that supposed to be her anointing jar? It isn’t made of alabaster. My daughters are looking at this painting with me now (ages three and eight) and my oldest says, “Jesus walked and pregnant Magdalene rode on the donkey.”
I had to tell them, no, that was Mother Mary in the Christmas story, this donkey apparently is carrying furniture and other gear. Three-year-old Rhea pronounces after looking at the way their hands are touching, “He loves her.” And then a long pause.
Rhea ponders. “She was married to him. She is our Queen and he is the King.”
In our Order of Mary Magdalene we have a lesson exercise in which members are asked to design in their mind a painting of Mary Magdalene and Jesus/Yeshua in unity, as equals, etc.
Several years ago Margaret Starbird gave me the print / sketch pictured at left showing Magdalene and Yeshua in a nice posture as though in love, married, etc. It was drawn by a woman artist whose name we cannot make out.
But be sure to study the new Frank Thomas painting at the top of this post, it is gorgeous and full of symbols we could decipher together.
What catches your eye?
I just ordered a copy of it to hang in our house chapel (aka the old living room parlor). My husband decided he’d better look at it since I just paid $400 for a painting. He said the bottle behind Magdalene looks to him like a wine bottle, so together she’s got the bread and wine of the eucharist. That’s interesting the eucharist is on her side, and the beast of burden and what looks like household goods are on Yeshua’s side. Hawk added that with her back to us we don’t have to worry about whether she’s pregnant or not. This painting is not about that tired old subject.
I thought Magdalene is rather plain looking, not the beautiful “sex object” others have painted her as, a pleasant change. We don’t have to worry about beauty distracting us. Distractions about Magdalene’s body neutralized, we can focus on their two hands in union, the first thing that caught my three year old’s eye, and I imagine the first thing that most people see. I saw their hands first, too, and then his Asherah headband got my attention. Such headbands symbolized goddess-men in the ancient holy land and during King Josiah’s reign were used to identify Asherah worshippers (and priests and priestesses) who had groves and altars to Her “in the high places” on hilltops and mountains. Women may have worn the headbands, too.
Magdalene is wearing blue and white which are Madonna colors. But in New Age reckoning, blue is the color of mental strength, perhaps indicating Magdalene has a mind, she is not just a body, not a sex object. This painting illustrates a meeting of the minds, too, therefore.
Above their hands in union is the Mount of Transfiguration aka Mount Tabor, a “high place” where once God-ess was worshipped, no doubt. Below their hands in union is a well, bringing to mind Jesus being the living water but yet the living water is obtained thru imaging them together in union.
This is not the woman at the well, that takes place in Samaria and Frank Thomas the painter says this is Magdalene and Jesus. His exact phrasing is: “JESUS and the MAGDALENE” (…Evening in the City of Nazareth…) Original 35″ x 48″ (12 sq. ft.) Acrylic/Canvas Painting by Artist Frank Thomas of Holden, Utah Artist comment: “My New Testament painting of the Christ, for women.” … Frank Thomas
See a larger version of the painting here as part of our God Has a Wife! slide show
Sophie2Uagain writes:
What about Jesus’ right hand in gesture? A hand sign?
Yeah, I was wondering about that, thinking of “occult” sign language hand signs I know. This one seems to be a combination of two. The painter is a Mormon so he may be depicting more “modern” sign language, even masonic since the LDS Church uses some of the masonic hand signs and grips.
If modern is what the painter is after, see how Jesus’ hand is clearly making a capital L, perhaps saying I am the Life, or water of Life.
It also looks like he’s about to wrap the rope around their wrists to do a hand-fasting. This is fun, fun — deciphering a painter’s code.
Anyone else? C’mon!
Katia
What you write about the picture and your children’s comments bring tears to my eyes.
There is a deep resonance and need for this Bridal Chamber to be reaffirmed in Faith.
Thank you
J
I’m noticing the colors of the robes. Jesus is wearing earth tones, and Mary is wearing sky/water colors. So, the joining of Heaven and Earth, the most sacred of manifestations? Perhaps, this is just a first glance of the painting.
Hi i have a question concerning the posture or the position in which Jesus has his hands.
In most pictures that i have seen, his seems to be making the peace sign,… it looks kind of odd,… and i was wondering if there is a meaning behind it.
-Dinhora
What I find interesting about this painting and I would love to know when it was painted but here’s you an interesting observation…..Symbolism shows in the painting that jesus leads the donkey which can represent the burdens and sins of the world..the donkey is on his side behind him….Behind mary is the bread and wine…whats interesting about this is in the last supper he told his disciples to eat of bread as if it was his flesh and drink the wine as if it was his blood….oddly enough that the flesh and blood of jesus would be behind mary or carried by her…..JUST a thought but a very good observation i think
I think this is the best painting of Jesus and Mary Magdalene I’ve ever seen.
Broken Link was tanata.squarespace dot com/journal/2008/6/5/jesus-and-the-prostitute .html
God forbids in His Word, the Bible, to seek counsel from the occult.
There is no communion between darkness and light.
I can see in your picture a great love between Jesus and the woman, but is an unconditional and agape love. Not eros as a couple. Just plain pure and clean love.
Beautiful !
and just more proof that we have been deceived by our churches. How could they do it?
Jesus obviously had a wife when we examine all the paintings and it was said that her and her children and family or anyone related to Jesus had been chased down and eliminated. Why?
I often see my best friend as my Mary Magdalene. Sadly enough, she had had her own Joshua.
Have you any version of higher resolution of your two pictures, Katia? Love their lovely unity!
Hadassah, away with your bigotry and religious intolerance! How many pagans had been converted into Christianity with the sword?
People tend to confuse the flesh nature with the spirit nature and hence there is a never ending flow of confusion. Yahsua was the express image of Yahweh. Yahuah the blend. Neither male nor female. It is the spiritual union of the male and female aspect that is now comming to pass in spiritual realms. Leave the flesh, focus on the bridal chamber, acknowledge the other half of your spirit, and you will see!
Seven years after hanging this painting on the wall, my 16-year-old daughter just discovered an awesome “secret” or “occult” / “hidden” element in the Frank Thomas painting, Evening in Nazareth shown above. It’s the first painting at the top of this page, depicting Jesus and Magdalene with their palms together.
If you look in the grass under the bench directly under where Jesus is sitting, you can see a tiny Roman Centurion! He holds a spear and seems to be walking. At first we thought he was a little fairy snuck into the painting, but his unmistakable red cloak and a bit of red on his head make us think he’s a Centurion.
Maybe he’s Longinus, and he’s carrying THAT spear? Very freaky, and we can’t believe we have missed it all these years.
My daughter says she has gazed at the white flowers under that bench a zillion times and never noticed until tonight when her eyes accidentally fell on that tiny little figure. You can’t see him in the image shown at the top of this page, he’s too tiny. But you can just barely make him out if you click thru to see the bigger version of the painting in our God Has a Wife slideshow (scroll up and click on the link within the blog post). He is still so tiny. The signed painting on our wall is 3 1/2 feet wide, 2 and a half feet tall so the little Roman Centurion is one inch tall. I will try to take a photo of him and post it here.