Seven hundred years after the Cathars burned, the current that began with Mary Magdalene is alive again. From the cave at Sainte-Baume to the hills of Languedoc, this scroll traces the hidden lineage of the Feminine Christ—how her light survived everything built to bury it.
🍂Thank you, this essay is lovely. The original teachings of Jesus are brought back into the light when we focus on Mary Magdalene. His message of peace & brotherly love is regarded as “feminine” by our culture — thanks, guys, we women accept that honor!🌅 Looking forward to your upcoming essays about the Cathars, Brother V.🎃
It still never ceases to amaze me how i learned NOTHING about this until now, not in weekly church services, sunday school, catechism, then a class on the world’s religions in high school, and a much deeper (but obviously not THAT deep) class in college….
Appreciative of not only your detailed history but even more so, the way you are able to weave poetic prose with sardonic humor and touching truth with horrendous history and in spite of the horrible truth still excavate some shimmering hope & aways always deep love.
These 2 sentences alone i would get tattooed on my arm:
Maybe the real miracle wasn’t walking on water but refusing to drown in history. Maybe resurrection was never about Jesus getting up - it was about Mary never sitting back down.
The nite before All Hallows Eve & a half moon hip-hopping thru the clouds - perfect timing for this 🌗🫶
I feel like I’m a part of this prophecy when I finally stood up to patriarchy and could no longer support it or be kept down by it back in 2020. Last year I read “The Gospel of the Beloved Companion” and was changed forever. I have read and meditated over the vision of the tree and branches many times. It is life-changing. I’m still working on overcoming wrath and judgment, the very bottom branch. I read the vision regularly and it fills me with joy and love. I feel a kinship with Miryam. Your writings about her and the soul drew me into your wonderful Substack. Thank you 🙏
Amy, this is beautiful to read. The moment a woman stands up to patriarchy, something ancient in her wakes up, and it makes sense that the Beloved Companion hit you the way it did. That vision of the tree and branches works on people from the inside, and the fact that you keep returning to it tells me it’s speaking to your own unfolding.
Wrath and judgment aren’t failures. They’re the residue of everything women have carried for generations. Working through that is part of the path.
And the kinship you feel with Miryam is real. Many of us aren’t “learning” her so much as remembering her.
Thank you so much for your beautiful response. I really don’t have any outward support from family or friend when it comes to the interior life, so this is much appreciated.
Ah, I read the Gospel of Mary this summer and loved it. Also laughed at how Peter immediately invalidated her because she was a woman. And how they were jealous of her because Jesus kissed her on the lips. 😄 I wrote a whole series this summer on the ancient smear campaign that tried to silence her, bow the tradition survived underground and how the codes are still alive in us today… if you’re interested, take a look at my publication, brother. Would love to connect more!
Peter’s tantrum practically echoes through the centuries. The smear campaign failed because truth refuses to stay buried, especially when carried by the feminine. I’ll definitely read your series, sister. Blessed be the ones who keep the hidden gospel breathing in our bones.
Yesss ahh finally. I’m so excited to find others here on Substack like us. Quiet mystics who are seen as heretics by the church but holding the flame steadily because as you said, truth refuses to stay buried. And so it is… 🕊️
After reading this again, I’m finally beginning to see that the focus on Mary Magdalene is not just about Jesus’s teachings of nonviolence & brotherly love — it’s about the contemplative aspect of Christianity, which the majority of Christians pass right by. Mary Magdalene won’t let the stillness be forgotten!🙏
Sorry, I guess it’s taken me a while to think of Mary Magdalene living a contemplative life because I always thought of her as being so active — teacher, healer, apostle. It’s like hearing that AOC is leading a contemplative life!
That’s a great insight, Kaja. What I love is how the contemplative path she embodies parallels what Buddhism calls the realization of emptiness, the dissolving of the separate self that gives rise to compassion. In the Christian contemplative path, that same dissolution becomes oneness with God, or Love itself. Mary’s stillness wasn’t withdrawal from the world. It was the well she drew her action from.
You and your scrolls are a blessing in my life. And I offer humble thanksgiving to my Guardian angels who keep showing me your scrolls at the perfect time when I am able to hear, and let infuse, into my being. Thank you. ❤️🙏❤️
That means more than you know, Sandra. Grace always has a strange sense of timing, doesn’t it? The scrolls find who they need to find when hearts are ready to listen. I’m grateful you’re walking this path alongside them.
🍂Thank you, this essay is lovely. The original teachings of Jesus are brought back into the light when we focus on Mary Magdalene. His message of peace & brotherly love is regarded as “feminine” by our culture — thanks, guys, we women accept that honor!🌅 Looking forward to your upcoming essays about the Cathars, Brother V.🎃
It still never ceases to amaze me how i learned NOTHING about this until now, not in weekly church services, sunday school, catechism, then a class on the world’s religions in high school, and a much deeper (but obviously not THAT deep) class in college….
Appreciative of not only your detailed history but even more so, the way you are able to weave poetic prose with sardonic humor and touching truth with horrendous history and in spite of the horrible truth still excavate some shimmering hope & aways always deep love.
These 2 sentences alone i would get tattooed on my arm:
Maybe the real miracle wasn’t walking on water but refusing to drown in history. Maybe resurrection was never about Jesus getting up - it was about Mary never sitting back down.
The nite before All Hallows Eve & a half moon hip-hopping thru the clouds - perfect timing for this 🌗🫶
I couldn’t say it any better. ❤️🙏❤️
Loved reading this!!! Truth.
I feel like I’m a part of this prophecy when I finally stood up to patriarchy and could no longer support it or be kept down by it back in 2020. Last year I read “The Gospel of the Beloved Companion” and was changed forever. I have read and meditated over the vision of the tree and branches many times. It is life-changing. I’m still working on overcoming wrath and judgment, the very bottom branch. I read the vision regularly and it fills me with joy and love. I feel a kinship with Miryam. Your writings about her and the soul drew me into your wonderful Substack. Thank you 🙏
Amy, this is beautiful to read. The moment a woman stands up to patriarchy, something ancient in her wakes up, and it makes sense that the Beloved Companion hit you the way it did. That vision of the tree and branches works on people from the inside, and the fact that you keep returning to it tells me it’s speaking to your own unfolding.
Wrath and judgment aren’t failures. They’re the residue of everything women have carried for generations. Working through that is part of the path.
And the kinship you feel with Miryam is real. Many of us aren’t “learning” her so much as remembering her.
Thank you so much for your beautiful response. I really don’t have any outward support from family or friend when it comes to the interior life, so this is much appreciated.
Thank you for reminding me how I felt when I first read her Gospel: hopeful; validated as a woman mystic. I love your writings.
Ah, I read the Gospel of Mary this summer and loved it. Also laughed at how Peter immediately invalidated her because she was a woman. And how they were jealous of her because Jesus kissed her on the lips. 😄 I wrote a whole series this summer on the ancient smear campaign that tried to silence her, bow the tradition survived underground and how the codes are still alive in us today… if you’re interested, take a look at my publication, brother. Would love to connect more!
Peter’s tantrum practically echoes through the centuries. The smear campaign failed because truth refuses to stay buried, especially when carried by the feminine. I’ll definitely read your series, sister. Blessed be the ones who keep the hidden gospel breathing in our bones.
Yesss ahh finally. I’m so excited to find others here on Substack like us. Quiet mystics who are seen as heretics by the church but holding the flame steadily because as you said, truth refuses to stay buried. And so it is… 🕊️
After reading this again, I’m finally beginning to see that the focus on Mary Magdalene is not just about Jesus’s teachings of nonviolence & brotherly love — it’s about the contemplative aspect of Christianity, which the majority of Christians pass right by. Mary Magdalene won’t let the stillness be forgotten!🙏
Sorry, I guess it’s taken me a while to think of Mary Magdalene living a contemplative life because I always thought of her as being so active — teacher, healer, apostle. It’s like hearing that AOC is leading a contemplative life!
That’s a great insight, Kaja. What I love is how the contemplative path she embodies parallels what Buddhism calls the realization of emptiness, the dissolving of the separate self that gives rise to compassion. In the Christian contemplative path, that same dissolution becomes oneness with God, or Love itself. Mary’s stillness wasn’t withdrawal from the world. It was the well she drew her action from.
Thank you, Brother V., for being so kind & understanding.
This is more relevant than ever now in this present age when empathy is perceived as weakness.
You and your scrolls are a blessing in my life. And I offer humble thanksgiving to my Guardian angels who keep showing me your scrolls at the perfect time when I am able to hear, and let infuse, into my being. Thank you. ❤️🙏❤️
That means more than you know, Sandra. Grace always has a strange sense of timing, doesn’t it? The scrolls find who they need to find when hearts are ready to listen. I’m grateful you’re walking this path alongside them.
Again, your timing is impeccable for me. Yet one more