In the New Testament, the "whore" Mary Magdalene has a pivotal role, as
despite her alleged unworthiness Magdalene holds the honor of anointing the
new king, Jesus, with oil, an act that makes him the Christ and makes her a
priestess.
It is also Mary Magdalene, and not his male
apostles, to whom Jesus first appears after the miracle of his resurrection.
In the early Gnostic-Christian gospels Mary Magdalene is the most beloved
disciple of Jesus.
Some traditions asserted that Jesus and Mary
were lovers who created a bloodline, to which a number of groups have laid
claim. Nevertheless, like Jesus and the twelve, Magdalene is not a
historical character but an element of the typical solar myth/sacred king
drama: the sacred harlot.
As such, she was highly revered, which explains
why she is given top honors in the gospel story.
As Barbara Walker states in
The Women's
Encyclopedia of Books and Secrets:
"Thus it seems Mary the Whore was only
another form of Mary the Virgin, otherwise the Triple Goddess
Mari-Anna-Ishtar, the Great Whore of Babylon who was worshipped along
with her savior-son in the Jerusalem temple.
The Gospel of Mary said all
three Marys of the canonical books were one and the same...
The seven "devils" exorcised from Mary
Magdalene seem to have been the seven Maskim, or
Anunnaki, Sumero-Akkadian spirits of the seven nether spheres, born of the Goddess
Mari...
The Gospels say no men attended Jesus' tomb, but only Mary
Magdalene and her women.
Only women announced Jesus' resurrection.
This was because men were barred from the central mysteries of the
Goddess. Priestesses announced the successful conclusion of the rites,
and the Savior's resurrection. The Bible says the male apostles knew
nothing of Jesus's resurrection, and had to take the women's word for it
(Luke 24:10-11).
The apostles were ignorant of the sacred
tradition and didn't even realize a resurrection was expected:
"They knew not the scripture, that he
must rise again from the dead."
(John 20:9)
Walker also relates:
"Mary alone was the first to observe and
report the alleged miracle. In just such a manner, pagan priestesses had
been announcing the resurrection of saviors gods like Orpheus, Dionysus,
Attis, and Osiris every year for centuries.... Mary Magdalene was
described as a harlot; but in those times, harlots and priestesses were
often one and the same.
A sacred harlot in
the Gilgamesh epic was
connected with a victim-hero in a similar way:
"The harlot who anointed
you with fragrant ointment laments for you now."...
Under Christianity,
priests soon took over all the rituals that had been conducted by women,
declaring that women had no right to lead any religious ceremony
whatever."
Of course, this exclusion and degradation of
women is in direct defiance of Jesus's rebuke of Judas, in which he is made
to say that the woman who anointed him would be remembered in all the
nations.
And she should be remembered for good reason, for,
"the Christian
derivate of
Mari-Ishtar, is Mary Magdalene, the sacred harlot who said
harlots are 'compassionate of all the race of mankind.'"
The legends surrounding Mary Magdalene have led to claims of descent from
her womb: For example, she and Jesus were lovers who sired a "royal family"
in Europe, per the "Priory of Sion mystery."
Walker says of the various Marian legends:
"Much Christian myth-making went into the
later history of Mary Magdalene. She was said to have lived for a while
with the virgin Mary at Ephesus. This story probably was invented to
account for the name Maria associated with the Ephesian Goddess.
Afterward, Mary Magdalene went to Marseilles, another town named after
the ancient sea-mother Mari. Her cult centered there. Bones were found
at Vézelay and declared to be hers. Her dwelling was a cave formerly
sacred to the pagans, at St. Baume (Holy Tree)."
