Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and the Sacred Union in Christianity »

Roman Catholic scholar Margaret Starbird’s extensive study of history, symbolism, medieval art, mythology, psychology, and the Bible uncovers new and compelling evidence that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalen. Starbird’s investigation of this suppressed history calls for a restoration of the feminine principle to its intended place in the canon of Christianity.

In Magdalene’s Lost Legacy, author Margaret Starbird decodes the symbolic numbers embedded in the original Greek phrases of the New Testament--revealing the powerful presence of the feminine divine.

The New Testament contains wide use of gematria, a literary device that allows the sums of certain phrases to produce sacred numbers. Exploring the hidden meanings behind these numbers, Starbird reveals that the union between Jesus and his bride, Mary Magdalene, formed a sacred partnership that was the cornerstone of the earliest Christian community.

Magdalene’s Lost Legacy demonstrates how the crucial teaching of the sacred marriage that unites masculine and feminine principles--the heiros gamos--is the partnership model for life on our planet and the ultimate blueprint for civilization. Starbird’s research challenges the concept that Christ was celibate and establishes Mary Magdalene as the human incarnation of the sacred bride. The author also explains the true meaning of the “666” prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Through this potent reclaiming of the lost legacy of Mary Magdalene, Margaret Starbird offers the opportunity to restore the divine feminine to her rightful role as bride, beloved, and sacred partner.

Margaret Starbird holds a master's degree from the University of Maryland and has studied at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel, Germany, and at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is the author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail and The Goddess in the Gospels. She lives with her family in the Puget Sound area of Washington State.

Library Journal

These two books have the same purpose: "to recover the experience of women throughout the centuries who have been among the most ardent and devoted disciples of Jesus." But Starbird (The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine) directs her texts to two separate audiences, using two separate publishers, with surprisingly little overlap. The Feminine Face of Christianity is a practical guidebook for Christian women that considers women's role in Christianity and the challenges women face today. Woven throughout this beautifully illustrated book are prayers, meditations, quotes from saints, and exercises that reflect many feminine elements: compassion, reconciliation, radical inclusiveness and equality, and the healing of crippled bodies and broken hearts. Short biographies of the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, and others strengthen the meditative nature of the text. Starbird does not negate the importance of men in Christianity but places them on the same level as women, even as she advocates the ordination of women and the use of married priests in Catholicism. Her discussion of the Cathars and their relationship with St. Francis of Assisi is the most interesting part of this book. Magdalene's Lost Legacy, on the other hand, reveals the symbolic numerology (gematria) of the New Testament, attempting to prove that the Sacred Union (hieros gamos) of Jesus and his bride (Mary Magdalene) was the cornerstone of the earliest Christian community. The author explains the "true" meaning of the "666" prophesied in the Book of Revelation and shows how the worship of a celibate Christ created a hierarchical priesthood now embroiled in scandal. This esoteric little study will be more to the liking of readers who are interested in symbolic, gnostic, and unorthodox glimpses into Christian history, as evidenced by this passage: "When the patriarchs of early Christianity supplanted the model of sacred marriage that was at the heart of the infant Church and denied Mary Magdalene as the consort of their sacrificed bridegroom/king, they could not have foreseen the tragic consequences of the broken mandala." Both books are recommended for academic libraries serving women's studies programs and for public libraries where patrons are interested in Christian women throughout the ages.-Gary P. Gillum, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.