Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and the Sacred Union in Christianity Paperback - 2003

It is my conviction that Christianity at its inception included the celebration of the hieros gamos, the "sacred marriage" of opposites, a model incarnate in the archetypal bridegroom and his bride-Jesus Christ and the woman called "the Magdalene."

ANCIENT MYSTERIES / CREATION SPIRITUALITYIn 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 Universit䴠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.