July 22nd is designated as the ‘feast day’ for Mary Magdalene or Mariamene e Mara (which means Mariamne the Master) in the various traditions that observe calendared remembrances.
While some Protestant communities don’t do feast days, per se, Magdalene is considered “the heroine of the faith” and the first Apostle — the Apostle to the Apostles.*
I appreciate that … the Heroine of the Faith. It’s a nice upgrade from the long-held and shameful reputation-smear of Magdalene.
Our heroine Magdalene’s story and example are inspiring, too: She wasn’t just bopping around doing the spiritual bypass or spiritual entertainment thing.
She was in it.
Devoted. Engaged. Resilient. Loyal. Courageous. Transformed and transformative.
As it turns out, she was an adept. Mara of the Inner Way and the Beauty Way of Relating.
Heroine of the faith. Wise Woman. Devoted companion in her own right. First Apostle to the Apostles.
We remember. We reclaim.
Continue reading, and find links to several more Sophia’s Children reflections on Mariamene e Mara and the inspiration she offers to us now.
Blessings on the Mariamene Way.
Featured Image Credit: The Eastern Lily, by Edwin Long (1829-1891). The lily has long been one symbol associated with Magdalene, and the Divine Feminine in many times and traditions.
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Lots of love,
July 28, 2019 at 7:04 am
Excellent … she may well be veiled to most, but she remains a potent presence …
November 29, 2019 at 4:25 pm
That’s surely true! Always timely, sometimes visible and sometimes emanating from the veiled, as you wisely noted. 🙂 Thanks for visiting, and happy Season of Lights to you. Blessings, Jamie
November 29, 2019 at 5:32 pm
Since we follow the Celtic Calendar, with New Year’s Day on 1 November, it is good to go into the mid-winter darkness ‘prepared’ for the longest night. I love Rilke’s words; “You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circle of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.
But the darkness pulls in everything:
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them! –
powers and people –
and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.
I have faith in nights.”
November 29, 2019 at 5:40 pm
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing. It’s one of the most evocative of Rilke’s musings, and like this one, which you may recognize, too:
“Whom should I turn to,
if not the One whose darkness
is darker than night,
the only one who keeps
vigil with no candle,
and is not afraid —
the Deep One, whose
being I trust …”
Ahhhhh. 🙂 May your new year be filled with blessing, wellbeing, and true guidance that leads to both
November 29, 2019 at 6:54 pm
A new bit of Rilke for me – so timely x – diolch (thans) and maybe out of that darkness, the Deep One will guide me to an innovative film director and producer, or them to me!
January 11, 2020 at 6:16 pm
May it be so! Blessed 2020 to you.