Mary Magdalene: The Feminine Messiah?

February 02, 2006

Libby Motika , Senior Editor

Sara Taft received a new liver five years ago, and it could have been a third eye or an open heart for the transformation that occurred. Truly the palpable expression of a new life, the liver transplant opened Taft to exploration of her new world, within.

Facing what certainly would have been death without the transplant, followed by the pain and fear that the organ would be rejected, Taft says that she was held, supported and surrounded with the love of a corps of women: women with whom she had participated in workshops on dream analysis, the history of female wisdom, and the divine feminine within early Christianity.

Much like an early Christian group, these women kept up a steady dialogue with Taft, albeit through e-mail and telephone calls.

Taft lives in her Castellammare house where the view of the ocean and the special light from the west seems to nourish her contemplative side.

She grew up at a time, in the 1950s, when girls were expected to mind their parents, then when they married, follow their husbands and raise the children.

A generous spirit, Taft is close to her kids and, with the numerous photographs tucked here and there, is an attentive grandmother. Her manner is open, and she has learned to communicate clearly and truthfully as her own self has emerged.

"I used to hold back my feelings, not saying what I felt," she says. "But I am sure that those omissions eat at your body and cause all sorts of problems. Now I'm more truthful, I don't want to do to this liver what I did to the other."

Whether the source of her new energy is the young man whose liver lives on in her, or her own transformation, Taft has been inspired by female role models, especially Mary Magdalene, whom she found to be a woman of courage and wisdom.

Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" introduced us to the ancient but little known mysteries surrounding the Biblical figure of Magdalene, who, unlike the spiritualized Virgin Mother of Christ, is a more complex figure integrating sexuality and spirituality.

The Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all make reference to her as one of the followers of Jesus. She is explicitly mentioned as one of the women present at Christ's crucifixion, a brave move, as most of the male disciples had fled the scene in fear. She was the first to see the risen Christ, and to carry Christ's message to the others.

However, she is mostly remembered as the "penitent whore," thanks to Pope Gregory I, who in the 6th century confused her with an unnamed woman, described by Luke as "a sinner," who washed Jesus' feet. The scene is shortly followed by a passage in which Mary Magdalene is first introduced by name. Gregory interpreted the sins of the unnamed woman as prostitution, and claimed that she was the same person as Mary Magdalene.

As a result of Pope Gregory's characterization, "Not only was the feminine again made to carry the 'sin' of the world, which it has done since the temptation of Eve, but sexuality and the body were labeled as bad," writes Cynthia Avens in "Mary as Virgin and Whore: Restoring Wholeness to the Image of the Feminine in Christianity." "This widespread belief has wounded humankind with its guilt-laden judgment and had the effect of splitting the body and soul from the spirit. What is natural in human nature was cast into shadow."

Despite the fact that the church renounced Pope Gregory's statement in 1969 and admitted it had made a mistake, most people still associate Mary Magdalene with being a prostitute. Convinced that the world is in need of the love and compassion of the feminine'the voice that has been excised from power in the religious and the secular'Taft began to act with new energy and new resolve to embrace and honor the complete feminine, both body and soul.

In 2002, she went on a pilgrimage to Southern France to follow the route of Mary Magdalene, who after the death of Christ is said to have traveled to Egypt and eventually to have set sail for the shores of Southern France.

Mary continued actively spreading the teachings of Jesus, and her presence and influence was recorded in paintings and sculpture throughout the area. While Taft kept a diary of her journey, filling it with her own observations, passages from the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and her own drawings, she had not intended to create a series of paintings herself.

"But, she called me," Taft recalls. "It was not my original intention [to do these paintings], but I wanted to feel her and become acquainted with her personally. Sometimes I would weep before I painted.

"Magdalene's influence was considerable," Taft continues. "John called her the founder of Christianity, as she was the first to bear witness to the Resurrection'the foundation of Christianity. The disciples didn't believe her when she told them that 'I have seen the Lord.' How could He share this information with a woman? Peter said. Consistent with the Jewish tradition of patriarch, the hierarchy didn't want to share the power."

The spiritual intimacy between Mary Magdalene and Jesus can be easily documented, according to Taft. "The early Christians believed Jesus was human, which opens the possibility he may have been married and maybe had a family," Taft says. "But the important thing is that Mary Magdalene was a pretty developed woman. She was close to Jesus' mother and sister and was mentioned throughout the gospels. She was the apostle of the apostles, according to Greek Orthodoxy."

Taft hopes that her paintings, based on classical references, will expand the knowledge of Mary Magdalene's widespread contribution to the founding of the Christian religion.

An exhibition of paintings of Mary Magdalene and narrative text by Sara Taft will be on display through February 27 in the Lobby Hallway at Agape International Spiritual Center, 5700 Buckingham Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230.