The Gospel of Mary- What if a Woman Apostle Existed

In the end it is about the story and the message carried over the years. This post is not about if Jesus existed or if Mary existed but about the message that has been entrenched into our western psyche. What has happened to the story over the years is what we call mythology. Now I do not mean to offend any fundamental believers of the Bible. My purpose is to explore the psychological effect of the Bible on the Western culture. I also want to a pose a very serious question. If Jesus would of had a female disciple that was not just hanging around, but very spiritually evolved herself, would we have a different perspective toward woman or our own human evolution? Even the atheist and agnostics who grew up in the western world are influenced by the worldview that has come from the Bible or Catholic church. Our time is measured by the birth of a Savior.

The question is about Mary, specifically the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. This writing was found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The first time people became aware of this manuscript was in Cairo in 1896. This a very radical statement for the Orthodox believers in the world. I am more concerned with the idea of what she would have said and how will it change our view of our mythology, the Bible and our view of women. It would be similar to finding a great piece of literature that could of influenced the whole world in a different way if it was found early. What if we never had Plato's Republic. What would the world be like?

"Be vigilant, and allow no one to mislead you
by saying:
'Here it is!' or
'There it is!'
for it is within you
that the Son of Man dwells.
Go to him,
for those who seek him, find him."
(Mary 8:15-24)

Be vigilant my friends do not let me tell you one way or another how it would be if there was a woman that was spiritual enough to be in the inner circle with Jesus. Ponder this thing yourself and question whether there was some ulterior motive as to why there is no women who were among the twelve apostles.
The other part is what if Jesus and Mary were partners and this is not to bring Jesus down, but to address the issue of spiritual evolution. What if they were partners because they were spiritually equal.

Logion 114 - The Gospel of Thomas:
"Simon Peter said to him:
'Let Mary leave us,
for a women are not fit for the Life.'
Jesus answered:
"See, I have been guiding her so
as to make here into a human(Anthropos).
She, too, will become
a living breath, like you.
Any woman who becomes a human
will enter the Kingdom of God."

This all sounds really religious but is just a metaphor for how we shall become fully human which means to listen and become our full potential. How do we do this? The French translator of the Gospel of Mary, Jean-Yves Leloup says that what is meant by Thomas' recall of what Jesus said about being Human is to incorporate the female energy with the masculine energy- we need balance. One should not be dominant over the other. Jung said the same thing in his study of the human psyche, anima- the female quality in a male and the animus- the masculine quality in a female. The Chinese already use this daily in their philosophy and medicine which is known as the Yin and Yang. Each organ has an attribute according to Chinese medicine.

Where you seek your answers is not important, but to ponder these questions and new found text is essential for our understanding of how to become the full human that we were meant to be. We are not there yet, but something is shifting.

The Gospel of Mary is a radical shift from anything we have know from the traditional gospels. It is esoteric and complex. There is hardly any parables and is very Gnostic in nature. It seems as we explore these lost hidden text we find that parables were really only a tiny part of what Jesus was really saying. We must go deeper into the mystery and find the answers for ourselves.

Triple Goddess

http://www.crystalinks.com/triplegoddess.html

Photo taken by Kori Fitch in Genoa, Italy, Cimitero Di Staglieno

The triple goddess are found in the most unusual places. The physical world only has shrines in Old Europe/Greece. In the new world we don't have any other than modern art in a gallery. The triple goddess origin comes from the moon cycles waxing, waning and full as women's biological body is a perfect match to the cylces of the moon. It was not hard for the primitive man to figure this out and thus female became sacred. The triple goddess represents the maiden, mother and crone. Some people say that birth, rebirth and death also have to do with the goddess.

This photo from the Cimitero Di Staglieno is overwhelming. I did not know what it meant. I do believe that my unconscious knew it completely and immediately and that is why I felt compelled to taka a picture of it. I have never seen anything like it before or since. It is the enigma. There are three woman in a quite estatic pose- as if to say "Oh Death, have you come in again, and thank you oh you who transform me into another realm!!!!" It is a positve posture which is so wild and unexplainable for a western person. It must point to some to other culture or belief system. Some completely different worldview than the Christian undercurrent that surely is the only guidance system we hold now. These females are bent back in some form of intense passion and they are put on purpose on a tomb. Some person said do three woman and make them look like they have serious passion in their form. You can count on an Italian artist to do justice to the medium. I mean I sometimes think the Italian Artist is the highest human potential to ever exist. Their passiona and form and devotion to art is nothing short than a miracle. Death, Life, Art and passion all mixed in a lovely melody of enigma that puts me in a state of "awe." It is the answer and I still don't know what it all really means. It is god, the mystery, the unnamed, the beauty and it is imperfection here on Earth. And I will take another spoonful joyfully.

Follow Your Bliss- Joseph Campbell Perspective on Life

Essentially seek the things you love (children, art, career, lovers, hobbies) like a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond, for this is your bliss or passion- and if your heart is afire with this sacred flame- you will be an individual who is on their own path. If we could all move to that space and time- the world will still be messy but we will have paths that are burnt by heroes and it will clean up that space for the next hero on the horizon.
Kori Fitch After reading JC


The warrior's approach is to say "yes" to life: "yea" to it all.



Participate joyfully

in the sorrows of the world.



We cannot cure the worlds of sorrows,

but we can choose to live in joy.



When we talk abut

settling the world's problems,

we're barking up the wrong tree.



The world is perfect. It's a mess.

It has always been a mess.



We are not going to change it.



OUr job is to straighten out our

own lives.



We must be willling to get rid of the

life we've planned, so as to have

the life that is waiting for us.



The old sckin has to be shed

before the new one can come.



If we fix on the old, we get stuck.

When we hang onto any form,

we are in danger of putrefaction.



Hell is life drying up.



The Hoarder,

the one in us that wants to keep,

to hold on, must be killed.



If we are hanging onto the form now,

we're not going to have the form next.



You can't make an omelet without breaking

the eggs.



Destruction before creation.



Out of perfection nothing

can be made.



Every process involves

breaking something up.



The Earth must be broken

to bring forth life.

If the seed does not die,

there is no plant.



Life lives on lives.



Our own life

lives on the acts

of other people.

If you are lifeworthy,

you can take it.



What we are really living for

is the experience of life,

both the pain and the pleasure.



The world is a match for us.

we are a match for the world.

....

Eternity is a dimension

of here and now.



The divine lives within you.



Live from your own center.



Your real duty is to go

away from the community

to find your bliss.



The society is the enemy

when it imposes its structures

on the individual.



On the dragon there are many scales.

Everyone of them says "Thou Shalt."



When one has killed that dragon,

on has become The Child.



Breaking out

is following your bliss pattern,

quitting the old place,

starting your hero journey,

following your bliss.

....Follow your bliss.

The heroic life is living the individual adventure.



There is no security in

following the call to adventure.



To refuse the call means

stagnation.

You enter the forest at the

darkest point, where there is no path.



....It is by going down into the

abyss that we recover the treasures of life.



Where you stumble,

there lies your treasure.



....In loving the spritual,

you cannot despise the earthly.



The purpose of the journey is compassion.



Sri Ramakrishna said:

"Do not seek illumination

unless you seek it

as a man whose hair is on fire

seeks a pond."

Joseph Campbell

A Joseph Cambbell Companion

The Feminine and Masculine Balanced and Beautiful

Some Kiss We Want

There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of

spirit on the body. Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling! At

night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its

face against mine. Breathe into
me. Close the language- door and

open the love window. The moon
won't use the door, only the window.

From Soul of Rumi
by Coleman Barks

What is it about the kiss that lets the male and female energy mix and become one. This is our way of promoting our species so it is ultimate sacred act. Yet this sort of kiss on the head does show a whole different kind of tenderness. Something different than the erotic union of male and female. Since this beautiful woman is in a cemetary it is death that has slipped away from her body. Her soul is gone, yet this art conveys such beauty. It is a dynamic medium that lifts a soul far beyond the everydayness that it might be considered ecstasy. Maybe it is simply pointing out how we should be tender with ourselves during death. Maybe it is a love affair that is over on Earth but will last eternity in their souls and heaven. The way the man is holding the woman on his own lap is what a mother does to her child when they are hurt. There is no savage negligence in his posture- it is pure. If you can look at this image for a long time or you are drawn to it then it speaks to you. It speaks to a place that cannot be named and part of you that only understands tenderness no matter how deeply hidden you may hold this place. If we don't have art to bring forth the hidden or the mystery then we are no different than our neighbors in the animal kindom that are consumed by survival. Art lifts us beyond the survival mode into a place of compassion and tenderness.

When Art Embraces the Feminine Beauty

As I experienced the artwork in Cimitero di Staglieno, Genoa Italy, I was in bliss. Ironically death was not the issue. The artist did not sign his or her name either. What was left was a stone medium that conveyed the feminine beauty like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was the first time in my life that saw the female body as a work of art. I knew it instinctively but to see it outside in the world was overwhelming. The women portrayed were small, large, traditional, nude and everything else in between. No shape of a woman was left out. It was not your Vogue models in stone. The artists used real women to capture the essence of humanity and also to honor the dead.

Artist Who Capture the Human Soul

Understanding and Experiencing The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism
Written By: Christopher May

Understanding and experiencing the Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism is important. The feminine principle doesn’t mean gender, it refers to the way we use energy psychologically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. This is a principle of energy more than gender.

Why is the feminine principle an important part of us that needs to be engaged?

Because the feminine aspect balances our more physical based, materialist, separative view of our daily lives with the subtle, subjective and spiritual aspect. To live a full live we need balance.