Mary Magdalene And The Black Madonna

Margaret Starbird’s theological beliefs were profoundly shaken when she read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a book that dared to suggest that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalen and that their descendants carried on his holy bloodline in Western Europe. Shocked by such heresy, this Roman Catholic scholar set out to refute it, but instead found new and compelling evidence for the existence of the bride of Jesus--the same enigmatic woman who anointed him with precious unguent from her “alabaster jar.” In this provocative book, Starbird draws her conclusions from an extensive study of history, heraldry, symbolism, medieval art, mythology, psychology, and the Bible itself. The Woman with the Alabaster Jar is a quest for the forgotten feminine--in the hope that its return will help restore a healthy balance to planet Earth.

The Catholic Church has admitted its error in the smearing of The Magdalene as a prostitute, thereby removing an image that has dominated the minds of religious authors and painters since the 6th century. And although Mary The Magdalene is almost always mentioned first ahead of the Virgin Mary, only a handful of scholars have attempted to reconstruct why she could have been so important, that she carried a royal title that translates as "The Great One." According to the Gnostics, Jesus referred to her as "The One who knew all," who took a front row seat at all of the main events in the life of The Christ. These Gnostics also believed that mankind was the hybrid result of a genetic experiment Today we have mapped our DNA, the mitochondria of which traces all the races of the world back to a single woman in Ethiopia in 200,000 BCE, the exact place and time stipulated by the cuneiform tablets of the ancient Sumerian peoples for the emergence of the genus Homo sapiens. Those Sumerians called this great woman Ninmah, the Egyptians called her Isis, the Greeks called her Athena, The Sophia, and the ancient Hebrews called her Asherah, The Woman of the Tree and the very consort to the Lord God YHWH. But in the hands of the Catholic Church, She became The Black Madonna. Legend connects this Black Madonna with both Isis and The Magdalene. This book, The Black Madonna, sets forth the revelation of that connection, which forms the greatest secret of all time.

The disheveled beggar approached Jo Anna Ford shortly after she exited the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. He had a simple request: Fifty cents for the bus that would take him to a free meal at the Community Center. Jo Anna carried no purse during her evening walks; she apologized for having no money with her. "Then, would you just talk with me for a moment?" he asked. "We could sit on that stone wall and just chat a bit." It seemed to be a simple request, and Jo Anna agreed to sit with him for just a few minutes. Within a few seconds she was listening to a story of hardship, loss, loneliness, and despair. As he finished the brief chronicle of his life, he revealed his most painful secret. He had been diagnosed as "schizophrenic with messianic ideation" and locked away in a mental institution for years. With a determined gaze and a soft smile, he assured Jo Anna that he was not insane. She began to doubt her own sanity when she realized she actually believed him - not that he was the Messiah, but that he was not insane. That strange encounter rekindled her interest in the historical Jesus. It was the beginning of a journey that would lead her to the philosophers and historians of Jesus' time: Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, Tacitus, Seutonius, Pliny, and others. She found the epic poems of Ovid, and Homer, and Euripides. The puzzle pieces each of these ancient sources held eventually led her to a most startling realization. Someone would have to rewrite The History of the Roman Empire to include the amazing feats of the man and woman who played the roles of Jesus the Nazarene and Mary Magdalene. And as far as she knew, she was the only person who had been able to uncover their secret historical identities.

Explores the connection between ancient druidic worship of a virgin at Chartres and the veneration of the Black Madonna • Examines the Virgin Mary’s origins in the pagan worship of the Mother Goddess • Identifies Mary with the dominant solar goddess of matriarchal societies The great cathedral of Chartres is renowned the world over as a masterpiece of High Gothic architecture and for its remarkable stained glass, considered alchemical glass, and its mystical labyrinth. But the sacred foundations of this sanctuary go back to a time long before Christianity when this site was a clearing where druids worshiped a Virgo Paritura: a virgin about to give birth. This ancient meeting place, where all the druids in Gaul gathered once a year, now houses the magnificent Chartres cathedral dedicated both to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and to one of the most venerated Black Madonnas in Europe: Our Lady of the Pillar. Coincidence? Hardly, says Jean Markale, whose exhaustive examination of the site traces Chartres’ roots back to prehistoric times and the appeal of the Black Madonna back to the ancient widespread worship of Mother Goddesses such as Cybele and Isis. Markale contends that the mother and child depicted by the Black Madonna are descended from the image worshipped by the druids of the Virgin forever giving birth. This image is not merely a representation of maternal love--albeit of a spiritual nature. It is a theological notion of great refinement: the Virgin gives birth ceaselessly to a world, a God, and a humanity in perpetual becoming.

The figure of the Virgin Mary comes loaded with baggage and preconceptions. She is usually depicted as the perfect, obedient, and highly esteemed woman, much like the Victorian notion of the "angel in the house." For many black women, nothing could be more inaccessible. This book considers the relationship between African American women and Mary of Nazareth. After examining the history of black American motherhood during slavery and beyond, this book then gives an overview of the existing views of Mary in both the church and the academy. Lee then brings African American women and Mary together, creating a womanist Mariology by using womanist biblical and theological interpretation, as well as considering black motherhood during the age of "Black Lives Matter."

The Catholic Church has admitted its error in the smearing of The Magdalene as a prostitute, thereby removing an image that has dominated the minds of religious authors and painters since the 6th century. And although Mary The Magdalene is almost always mentioned first ahead of the Virgin Mary, only a handful of scholars have attempted to reconstruct why she could have been so important, that she carried a royal title that translates as "The Great One." According to the Gnostics, Jesus referred to her as "The One who knew all," who took a front row seat at all of the main events in the life of The Christ. These Gnostics also believed that mankind was the hybrid result of a genetic experiment Today we have mapped our DNA, the mitochondria of which traces all the races of the world back to a single woman in Ethiopia in 200,000 BCE, the exact place and time stipulated by the cuneiform tablets of the ancient Sumerian peoples for the emergence of the genus Homo sapiens. Those Sumerians called this great woman Ninmah, the Egyptians called her Isis, the Greeks called her Athena, The Sophia, and the ancient Hebrews called her Asherah, The Woman of the Tree and the very consort to the Lord God YHWH. But in the hands of the Catholic Church, She became The Black Madonna. Legend connects this Black Madonna with both Isis and The Magdalene. This book, The Black Madonna, sets forth the revelation of that connection, which forms the greatest secret of all time.

Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family, and political life.The Lost Gospel takes the reader on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm shifting manuscript. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene; the names of their two children; the towering presence of Mary Magdalene; a previously unknown plot on Jesus’ life (thirteen years prior to the crucifixion); an assassination attempt against Mary Magdalene and their children; Jesus’ connection to political figures at the highest level of the Roman Empire; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul—the Church of Mary Magdalene.Part historical detective story, part modern adventure, The Lost Gospel reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia.

Black Madonnaʼs - also called Black Virgins - bear a secret. Itʼs the mystery of the original creative force, a mystery that is also enclosed within the genetic blueprint of every human. This mystery was obscured by the Church. The Black Madonna symbolizes the energy of the Primal Mother also called the feminine Principle, Sacred Feminine, (Great) Mother, Eternal Mother or Goddess. Her name is not really important - what matters is the essence. The Black Madonnas symbolise the knowledge of the Grail, or, the knowledge of the Primal Power of the Feminine Principle, whose embodiments on Earth were, amongst others: Mary Magdalene and her daughter Sarah/Tamar, the Queen of Sheba and Isis. Black Madonnas are found in large numbers in France, but also in other European countries, such as Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and Austria, and also in South America.

Following the internationally acclaimed Gold of Kings, Storm Syrrell returns in the compelling story of The Black Madonna. Antiques expert Storm Syrrell heads to Europe to investigate the clandestine trade in religious artifacts. She dismisses superstitious tales of miraculous healings and divine omens. Yet when an obsessive Russian oligarch calls—just as her friend Harry Bennett vanishes—all assumptions must be cast aside. Storm seeks answers in a medieval monastery. There, the scarred visage of an icon provokes ever more startling questions. Is she prepared to confront both earthly and spiritual powers? Storm remains haunted by lessons in love and betrayal that lie just outside her grasp. But hesitation now holds mortal consequences.