Free The Path of a Christian Witch by Adelina St. Clair Page B

complexion. Some archaeologists claim that this is due to the conversion of Old World goddess figures, such as Isis for example, into Christian icons. A goddess transformed, if you will, in order to remain with her people . . .
    In our current age, Mary has been present in the most fantastic of ways. Many sightings of her have been reported, the most publicized of these at Lourdes and at Fatima. Believing in the authenticity of these apparitions is not mandatory to dogma, meaning that belief in their authenticity is not considered a pillar of the Catholic faith. Regardless, it has given us the opportunity to reunite with Mary in a new way. Whereas Mary had been depicted as a virginal and innocent child-woman throughout the Renaissance, all of a sudden we meet a Mary who is radically different. She is the bleeding heart who exhorts us to repentance and warns us of ill fates. She comes to us in urgency, in love, but also in accusation for our straying. She pleads for our return to prayer and devotion. She is a guide who stands by us and leads us, though prayer, back to her son.
    Mary is the embodiment of our closest aspiration to a divine relationship. Not only did she stand in the divine presence all her life, she has also remained a full-fledged woman. She is the divine intercessor who carries our pledges directly to the heart of God. She is the teacher who teaches us to stay in the light despite the overcoming darkness. She is the protectress who intercedes for our human nature in front of the divine altar. She is the one who has witnessed evil and suffering and who has not flinched. She is hope and faith, no matter the darkness of the hour. She understands our journeys in despair when the world stops making sense. And she does not flinch. She is a warrior woman in all her gentleness and compassion. A true woman.
    The Other Mary
    The beauty of this path is that we are not bound by dogma. We can listen to any legend, rumor, and conspiracy theory and decide in our hearts whether we can subscribe to this story or not. No woman in the history of the world has triggered our collective imagination more than Mary Magdalene. Even now, two thousand years later, she causes turmoil in our psyche, in our religious institutions, and in our faith. She haunts us, she teases us; we simply cannot get rid of her image. And thank heavens for that! Her recurrent presence and the inflamed discussions around her life and message are a living testimony of her importance in our lives and in our relationship to God.
    As with Jesus’ mother, the Gospel is quite succinct on details of this central character. But fables about her abound, forming a true Christian mythology that the church has had a hard time suppressing.
    So, what do we know for sure? We know that she was a disciple of Jesus and that she had a special place among the disciples. We know that she followed Jesus to the foot of the cross and was with him until the very end. We also know that she was the first one to witness the resurrection. She witnessed the empty tomb and spoke to Jesus in his resurrected state. She was mandated by him to announce the news to the apostles, awarding her the title “Apostle of the Apostles.”
    That’s all we know.
    Much confusion exists with regard to Mary’s actual identity. Pope Gregory I, in his infamous speech in the year 591, forever merged the identity of Mary of Magdala with that of the adulteress. Maybe in an attempt to suppress devotion to her, her image was depicted as a lascivious woman, a prostitute, penitent for her wayward ways. There is no actual evidence in the Gospels that this was the case. Some theories say that Mary must have been a woman of means, a woman of the world, which could explain the image of conversion from a worldly life to a more spiritual life. She may have been a financial supporter of Jesus and his apostles, giving them lodging and sustenance. Other theories suggest that Mary Magdalene and Mary, sister of Martha and