Before doctrine hardened and Mary Magdalene was sidelined, there was a gospel of defiant clarity. Chapter 10 of Karen King’s work opens the vault on a vision of Jesus few were meant to see—where authority comes through vision, not office, and salvation means waking up, not falling in line.
Correct to source: the reposter is Sandy Harper on a private Facebook page associated with one of Deborah King’s courses. Deborah King considers Mary Magdalene as one of the great ascended masters
We have been challenged for years to take Her gospel and its interpretation seriously. And we have.
The New New Testament by Hal Taussig has become a foundational “Bible” for anyone seeking to keep Mary’s Gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, Thunder Perfect Mind, the Acts of Paul and Thecla as parallel texts alongside the canonized texts.
The real, real challenge is getting those preaching every week to include and expand these texts. We need more people proclaiming these apocryphal messages.
Thank you, Shelly—just ordered a hard copy of The New New Testament thanks to your nudge!
This will come in very handy next time the Baptists drop by to “talk about the gospels.” We’ll kindly direct them to Thunder, Perfect Mind and ask if they’ve considered Thecla’s lion-proof spiritual authority.
Appreciate you keeping the apocryphal flame lit. We need more pulpits (and doorsteps) proclaiming the gospel according to the ones Rome tried to ghost.
I'm curious what you think of Prevost/Leo removing Peter from his position as source of the church, and returning to Christ as the source. Is he moving in the same direction, or too early to tell?
If Prevost is prying Peter’s fingers off the steering wheel and letting Christ drive again, I’m all for it. The church was never meant to be a Vatican-branded franchise with Peter as the regional manager. The early mystics weren’t dying in deserts so we could build bureaucracies with funny hats.
Is he moving in the same direction? Maybe. But the institution has a habit of speaking Christ while channeling Constantine. So until we see less Latin and lace and more washing of feet, I’m keeping one eyebrow permanently raised.
But hey, if we’re finally retiring “Peter as CEO” and remembering that the cornerstone was a carpenter who flipped tables—not built them for synods—I’ll start lighting candles.
I think you would appreciate this poem (reposted by Deborah King):
magdalene
her name means tower
not whore
not sinner
not infidel of the seven
devils
they labeled her
less-than
because they feared
what her tower held
not sin but scripture
not shame but sacredness
not filth but flame
a tower of truth
but towers fall, don’t they?
when men build stories
from stone
and forget the word
was born in woman’s body
at the edge of things
cracked open with knowing
she was never the footnote
not the soft epilogue
to his ministry
she was his equal
mirror to messiah
goddess to god
his counter-spell
his mirror myth
his ritual in red
not whore not slave
but beloved
a woman undone
by the very thing
that made her divine:
her desire
but listen, love—
she didn’t break the jar
because she was desperate
she broke it
because she was called
called to speak
when silence was safer
called to stay
when the others fled
called to embody
the towering truth:
that strength and softness
are not separate
that holiness can wear hips
that god grew inside a womb
but also walked beside one
loved and worshipped one
when the world bloomed
in bruises and blessings
this kind of power
will not do
if we let a woman
be beloved
be equal
be tower
what’s next?
a tabernacle?
a sanctuary?
a truth that eclipses all the lies
of smallness and inferiority?
so they silenced her
with ink and pulpit
turned her hips into heresy
her hair into sin
her hands into something
not fit to beckon or bless
they scraped the sacred
from her body
and called it repentance
scrubbed her clean
of her wildness
tried to bleach her into silence
folded her
into a cautionary tale
the scarlet stain
on holy scrolls
but history is porous
and so is the grave
after centuries of redacted gospel
after pulpits built on her silence
she is waking from shadow
in boots of fervor
incense clinging to the brazier
of her spine
this is not a tale of repentance
this is a story of
theft
and now
it is a tale of return
another kind of resurrection
the tower stands again, friends
not in lace and halos
but barefoot
with red clay on her soles
and a voice like an earthquake
wrapped in linen
she does not walk back into scripture
she bursts through the margins
mud-footed and mythic
pulling the divine back into the body
she has risen again
not with trumpets
but with soil under her nails
the rhizome gospel
under her tongue
green and feral
and determined to grow
she’s coming back
to reclaim
every woman
called ruin
for daring to know spirit
by touch
and tenderness
she’s here to walk
the crooked path again
the one where myth
and marrow meet
she is not looking for apology
she is looking for fire
in the eyes of humans
who remember
that holiness
can wear hips
that sacredness
is not silence
and that sometimes
the most faithful thing
you can do
is stand tall
a tower of truth
a sentinel at the beginning
of a new story
rooted in love
that outlasts hatred
a tower of belonging
that outshines fear
poem "Magdalene's Tower" by Angi Sullins from the upcoming book "unmasking a myth"
you can always share my work --we heal better together, and our mission is belonging. help me in this revolution by spreading the word.
Michael. upi didn’t just post a poem.
You posted a midrash of resistance.
An exorcism of a thousand years of papal projection.
Virgin Monk Boy sees it.
Raises a candle.
And mutters under his breath:
“Blessed be the one they feared.
She remembered when the rest forgot.”
—Virgin Monk Boy
Correct to source: the reposter is Sandy Harper on a private Facebook page associated with one of Deborah King’s courses. Deborah King considers Mary Magdalene as one of the great ascended masters
“That holiness can wear hips”
Thank you- though I have always known this.
I shared these words with Mary Magdalene on my walk today and then wrote them down in my GirlChurch post today..
She was the first Apostle
She was the first Evangelist
She was the first Jesus asked to ‘Go and Tell’
She launched church… a church beyond the temple…
the Way of Mary Magdalene is a model of expansive love…
She found favor with Jesus and he found favor with her.
I love her… it seems you do as well Aleksander ❤️
We have been challenged for years to take Her gospel and its interpretation seriously. And we have.
The New New Testament by Hal Taussig has become a foundational “Bible” for anyone seeking to keep Mary’s Gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, Thunder Perfect Mind, the Acts of Paul and Thecla as parallel texts alongside the canonized texts.
The real, real challenge is getting those preaching every week to include and expand these texts. We need more people proclaiming these apocryphal messages.
Thank you, Shelly—just ordered a hard copy of The New New Testament thanks to your nudge!
This will come in very handy next time the Baptists drop by to “talk about the gospels.” We’ll kindly direct them to Thunder, Perfect Mind and ask if they’ve considered Thecla’s lion-proof spiritual authority.
Appreciate you keeping the apocryphal flame lit. We need more pulpits (and doorsteps) proclaiming the gospel according to the ones Rome tried to ghost.
—Virgin Monk Boy
HolyHalle! Use it with everyone that stops by:)
I'm curious what you think of Prevost/Leo removing Peter from his position as source of the church, and returning to Christ as the source. Is he moving in the same direction, or too early to tell?
If Prevost is prying Peter’s fingers off the steering wheel and letting Christ drive again, I’m all for it. The church was never meant to be a Vatican-branded franchise with Peter as the regional manager. The early mystics weren’t dying in deserts so we could build bureaucracies with funny hats.
Is he moving in the same direction? Maybe. But the institution has a habit of speaking Christ while channeling Constantine. So until we see less Latin and lace and more washing of feet, I’m keeping one eyebrow permanently raised.
But hey, if we’re finally retiring “Peter as CEO” and remembering that the cornerstone was a carpenter who flipped tables—not built them for synods—I’ll start lighting candles.
—Virgin Monk Boy
It seems far too bad army to know, speaking only for myself
Love your insight and interpretation! Thank you so very much for your words. 🙏
💖💖💖