Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene stood at the cross when almost everyone else had fled, and she was the first to whom the risen Master appeared. For that reason she has long been called the apostle to the apostles. In the ascension teachings she is honored as a Master of the sacred feminine and of divine union, and as a guide for those who lead from the heart.

Her presence is direct, warm and unafraid. Students describe her as someone who will not flatter you and will not abandon you, and who seems to know very well what it costs to stay when staying is hard.

Who She Was

The gospels say that she came from Magdala, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, that she traveled with the Master and supported his work from her own means, and that she was present at his death, at his burial and at the empty tomb. It was she who was sent to tell the others that he had risen.

For many centuries she was remembered chiefly as a penitent, and her image was shaped more by later sermons than by the gospels themselves. In recent times that image has been widely reconsidered. The ascension teachings see her as she appears in the oldest accounts: a disciple of great devotion and understanding, who received the teaching fully and carried it on.

Legend

A much-loved legend tells that after the events in Jerusalem she crossed the sea with a small company and came ashore in the south of France, where she taught, and where she spent her last years in prayer in a cave in the hills. The teachings add that she ascended at the close of that life, and that her love for that country is the reason she is so often felt near the retreat of Paul the Venetian.

Service to the Ascension

Mary Magdalene serves the return of the sacred feminine: of receptivity, intuition, tenderness and the wisdom of the body, to their rightful place beside will and reason. She does not set the feminine against the masculine. Her teaching is union: the inner marriage in which both are honored within one person, and from which a whole and balanced life can grow.

She is especially close to women who have been silenced, to anyone whose devotion has been misunderstood, and to those who are called to lead without becoming hard. She teaches the courage of presence: the ability to remain beside suffering, your own or another's, without turning away.

On Divine Union

Some teachings speak of Mary Magdalene and the Master Jesus as twin flames, or as partners in a shared mission. Others do not. Our circle has not been told, and we do not think a reader needs to decide. What she has spoken of, through Ilse, is the union available to every soul: between the human and the divine, and between the parts of oneself that have been kept apart.

What Mary Magdalene Teaches

• Stay. Most of what heals is simply someone who stayed.
• Your devotion does not need anyone's permission.
• The body is not the enemy of the spirit. It is where the spirit learns to be tender.
• Lead the way water leads: by going first, and by going low.

When to Call on Mary Magdalene

• Healing shame, especially shame placed on you by others
• Reclaiming the sacred feminine within, whatever your gender
• Courage to remain present with grief and loss
• Leading from the heart in work, family or community
• Bringing the inner masculine and feminine into balance

How to Work With Mary Magdalene

Place a rose or a single flower in front of you. Sit with one hand on the heart and one on the belly. Breathe slowly into both. Picture a deep rose light gathering beneath your hands and joining into one. Say: Mary Magdalene, help me to stay. Then let her show you where in your life you have been looking away, and what it would be like to look with love instead.

An Invocation

Beloved Mary Magdalene, apostle of the risen light,
you who stayed when others fled,
give me the courage of your love.
Heal what has been shamed in me,
join what has been divided,
and let me lead, as you did, from the heart.

A Word From Mary Magdalene

They told my story for a long time without asking me. I do not hold it against them. I only want you to know that you are allowed to tell your own.

And when you are tempted to leave a hard place before the light comes, remember the garden. I stayed until morning. Morning came.

Received by Ilse Varrow

Related Entries

• Sananda
• Lady Nada
• Mother Mary
• Paul the Venetian