Many think it scandalous to suggest that the sacred marriage, the hieros gamos, could have taken place between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Yet Jesus occupied a human body and lived a human as well as a divine life. Many, too, will object to the thought that Mary could have initiated him into the cusp of his Christhood by ritually anointing him. And yet Jesus's mission had begun with a similar anointing, a baptism performed by another cousin, John the Baptist. John initiated at the start of his mission, Mary at the end of it. John and Mary, the Alpha and the Omega....
According to John's gospel, when Mary anointed Jesus as he sat at supper with her brother Lazarus (which we consider very significant) and Judas Iscariot, the fragrance of ointment of spikenard wafted forth and filled the entire house. The gospels of Matthew and Mark confirm that Mary applied the oil, not only to the feet of Jesus, wiping off the excess moisture with her hair so that she should share in the sacrament, but also to his head.
The details of this act seem to confirm that it was a ritual of profound inner meaning, because spikenard is an oil from India used in Tantric ceremonies (sacred sexual rites) for the specific application to the hair and the feet. It is an oil for the use of deeply committed lovers whose devotion is such that it creates a wider circle of radiance than that which would simply perpetuate their own joy and blessing, a ring of conscious union of such power and beauty that its encircling extends for the upliftment and benediction of all. Spikenard has secret properties of a subtle and spiritual nature, enabling lovers to open up to one another in a very specific and highly potent way which initiates a sublime dynamic of mystical proportions. Of course, the virtues of spikenard can offer only service, not instigation. This sacred union cannot come into being without the ignition of an extraordinary and enduring love which each holds for the other in equal measure. Mary's anointing of Jesus has been spoken of as her farewell to him, and surely so it was, but it was also much more.
There is ample evidence to suggest that Mary's action was part of an Egyptian rite concerning Isis and Osiris, whereby the priest-king is anointed by the priestess-queen in preparation for their ritual union, the hieros gamos, or the sacred marriage. During their sexual conjoinment, the male becomes inundated with the spirit of God and the female with the spirit of Goddess, the two aspects which dwell within the Godhead. Each fecundates the other with their opposite quality so that in spirit they become a single entity, a combined channel for the glory of that unified Godhead. Afterwards, the priest-king was empowered to reign at the outer level, and the priestess-queen at the inner. His power flowed from the spiritual channel within her, and there could be no kingship without her and the initiation of the hieros gamos.
It is important to remember within the context of Jesus and Mary's situation that Jesus was proclaimed as Christ the King, and that the title 'Christ' or 'Christos' means 'the Anointed One'. Only six verses after Christ's impassioned defence of Mary, the gospel of John gives the prophecy in the scriptures which foretold his 'Christing', or his ascension into kingship:
Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King
cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.
Mary, with her spiritual insight fostered in Egypt, would instantly have recognised the symbolism. The ass was the secret sign of Seth, the god of darkness and death who slew Osiris and whom Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, vanquished. To ride the ass is a demonstration of its submission and the rider's mastery. The ancient prophecy is therefore saying to Mary: 'Fear not, daughter of Sion! Your King shall overcome death!'
With the precious oil of spikenard, Mary of Bethany 'Christed' Jesus, and he moved into the final phase of his mission and his destiny. At the same moment, she truly became Mary the Magdalene ('Magnificent', 'Great Queen', 'the Tower', 'the All'), as he became Jesus the Christ.
This explains why Mary of Bethany is involved so intimately in his story up until this point, and then seemingly disappears, to be supplanted by Mary Magdalene, who, according to John's gospel, steps out of nowhere to take her place with the other two Marys at the crucifixion. This sudden appearance has always been a puzzle to readers of the gospels, but the simple solution is that Mary Magdalene was not truly born until this moment, and Mary of Bethany, her old and to some extent unawakened self, was cast off to fade away.
From The Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene, text © 2006 by Claire Nahmad and Margaret Bailey, published in the UK by Watkins.
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