Friday, September 19, 2008

Mary Magdelene, Priestess of Isis

Although it is not mentioned in the official Bible, there is a well known story that Mary Magdelene was a prostitute. Although there is no written proof of this in the Bible or in the Gnostic Gospels so it would be easy to dismiss this story. Yet it also has to be remembered that when Christianity became a State religion there was at the time a vast amount of Christian text that the State officials had access to. Most of which was destroyed and only the what we know today as the New Testament was saved. Though in more recent time parts of the Gnostic Gospels have also been found. So it could be possible that references of Mary Magdelene being a prostitute might be in these destroyed Christian writings.

If we take this story seriously what does this mean? We know that Jesus did mix with prostitutes, tax-collector and the general outcasts of society. So is this then just another example of his tolerance and compassion? This might be one explanation but prostitute had another meaning back in Biblical times.

It is clear in the Old Testament that the priests of the god Jehovah hated the Priestesses of Goddess temples. We know this from the story of Jezebel. She was Queen of Israel but she worshipped the Goddess Astarte. For this, she and her followers were murdered by the followers of Yahweh. Later on her daughter Athaliah also became Queen and she also worshipped Astarte and again she was murdered. In an attempt to slander Priestesses of Goddess the priests of Jehovah and Yahweh referred to them as Temple prostitutes because it was known that in many Temples of the day used sexual rituals. (It was only in Judaism and later Christianity that sexuality became a sin.) So in calling Mary Madgelene a prostitute it strongly suggests that she was in fact a priestess of a Goddess.

One of the Gnostic Gospels was called "The Gospel of Mary" and this gospel it seems was the teachings of Mary Magdelene. Though according to the authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy in their book "The Goddess Of Jesus" The State Church renamed the Gospel of Mary to the Gospel of John. So the exploits of John was in fact the exploits of Mary Magdelene. Another Gnostic Gospel called Pistis Sophia (Sophia was the Goddess of wisdom) is about a dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdelene whom he calls, "dearly beloved. In one dialogue Peter complained to Jesus that Mary Magdelene dominated the conversation with Jesus but Jesus rebukes him. In another Gnostics text called "Dialogue of the Saviour" she is portrayed as a very wise Woman who understood Jesus completely unlike the rest of Jesus's disciples. So it seems that Mary Magdelene was a very important member of early Christianity. To the degree that some modern scholars have suggested that She and Jesus were married. It is assumed by most Christians that Jesus was a follower of the Jewish faith at the time. But if one of his closest and important followers was a priestess who were hated so much by the priests of Israel. To the degree she could of been murdered if she was discovered. We have to wonder if Jesus also belonged to another faith that was very much different from orthodox Judaism.

What is very clear in reading the Old and New Testament is that the religion Jesus taught is very different from the religion of the Old Testament. Judaism at the time was a very violent religion, they believed in "a eye for a eye a tooth for a tooth". Jehovah himself was portrayed as a jealous, judgmental and avenging god. Very unlike the loving father god promoted by Jesus. There are passages in the Bible that make many Christian even today find very uncomfortable:

Matthew chapter 5 verse 38

Ye have heard that it hath been said. And eye for a eye a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you. That ye resist not evil: but whosoever she smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee and not turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you. Love your enemies, bless them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you:
That ye many be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth the rain on the just and on the unjust.

In Luke chapter 6 verse 27

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.
Bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take away thy coat also.
Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again
And as ye would that man should do to you, do also to them likewise
For if ye love them which love you, what thanks have ye for sinners also, love those that love them.
And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same.
And if ye lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive much gain.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest: For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is merciful.
Judge not and ye shall not be judged: condemn not and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

The above goes totally against the teaching of Judaism of the time. It must be remembered that the Jews took the promise land by violence. They didn't see anything wrong in slaughtering the previous inhabitancies of Israel, and claim it was all right because it was promised to them by their god. So if the teachings of Jesus didn't come from Judaism where did it come from?

We know from the Bible that Jesus spent most of his childhood in Egypt. A very important Egyptian religion of the time was the religion Isis and Osiris. Like Jesus Osiris was a god who was murdered and then returned from the dead. Many scholars have commented on the similarities between Jesus and Osiris. In that both gods were known by there followers as the Good Shepherd.. One of the symbols of Osiris is the Shepherd's crook and it is also symbol of rank for Christian Bishops. The image of Jesus's mother Mary holding him as a baby is also the same image of Isis holding her baby Horus who was fathered by Osiris. After Isis returned him from the dead. Also in Christianity prayers are finished by the words Amen. What most Christians don't know is that Amen is in fact another Egyptian god. So was Jesus trying to introduce an Egyptian religion into Israel?

The teaching of the three gods of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come from ancient goddess religions who have the triple Goddess of Maid, Mother and Crone or wise woman. The triple Goddess is represented at the Cross in the form of the three Marys. Even today Roman Catholics call the Virgin Mary as "Mary Mother of God" which really should be a blasphemy because it indicates that Mary is the creator of god. This is in fact comes from a very ancient saying that claims that, "The Mother Goddess is the creator of all the gods". The name Mary comes from the Egyptian Maat and the Mesopotamian Mami or Mammitu which did mean Mother and was also the name of the Great Mother or Mother Goddess. The ancient Great Mother was also referred to the Virgin Mother to show it was She who created everything. In other words She was the beginning and nothing existed before Her. This then is the original meaning of the Virgin Mother.

So it all does indicate that perhaps both Jesus and Mary Magdelene were trained priest and priestess in Egypt. Probably in the Goddess religion of Isis. Then they were sent as missionaries to convert the savage Israelites to a more compassionate Goddess religion. They knew that to preach a Goddess religion would mean that they would be quickly killed. So they converted there religious beliefs to fit in with the beliefs of the Jews. This meant that they turned the Compassionate Mother Goddess into a loving father god. Perhaps Jesus may of fooled the common people in doing this but he clearly didn't fool the priests. They were probably very aware he was preaching a Goddess religion and when they got the chance, had him crucified. From the way Jesus reacted to his betrayal and execution, he knew he was on borrowed time, and was clearly prepared to die for his beliefs.

What happened to Mary Magdelene afterwards we do not know. It seems she did survive so she probably continued what Jesus started and secretly continued the teachings that both of them created. It is of interest that Christianity came back to Egypt where it grew into a strong religion until Christianity became the Roman state religion. Then the Roman Christians had all the Egyptian Christians slaughtered who didn't follow the Roman version of Christianity. Destroying also all the Egyptian Christian text which only a small amount has survived until today. This result in the Roman version of Christianity becoming more like a Jewish religion. With more emphasis on the Old Testament than the teachings of Jesus. With the compassionate Goddess teachings of Jesus being largely ignored by most Christians.

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