Mary Magdalene is a title, not a name.
She has withstood 2000 years of judgment and false accusations, while her name has lived on, cradling the truth of who she was in itself. Mary Magdalene is a title, not a name.
Mary Magdalene has long been a figure of immense controversy, her name having a strong association with a prostitute, a sinner, a female Jesus follower whom he rid of seven evils. Two thousand years later we are getting a glimpse of another story, her-story. A story of a woman who was titled Mary Magdalene and who was an Apostle to the Apostles.
In 2016, the Church, which has tried to exile the feminine for millennia, established Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day on the 22nd of July. Which is, absolutely purposefully, the day I publish this essay.
Today is the day to celebrate Mary Magdalene’s story and all that she represents. But what does she represent, really? Who was she?
This essay is my personal exploration of Mary Magdalene from the perspective of etymology, history, and esotericism. The journey I invite you on will require us to use not only logic and analytical skills but also our senses. We will need our ears to hear the subtle sounds and our noses to “smell” the truth from a lie. Figuratively but also literally.
Now, let’s begin.
Mary Magdalene is a title
We will probably never know the real name of the woman that is remembered and invoked as Mary Magdalene because that is a title, not a name.
Neither we will know the true origins of her title – at least not in the etymologically sane and academically accepted sense. We can only listen and look for threads of the meaning behind the title and turn to ancient traditions for guidance.
I say we need to listen because when speaking of the words and names of the times past, when the oral tradition was stronger than that of writing, we should pay more attention to how the words sound than to how they are written.
Mary, Maryām, Miriam, Mari, Meri.
Traces of a deeper meaning can be found in the world’s oldest languages spoken in the region where her story took place.
Mr means “love” in Ancient Egyptian and from it another word Meri(t)/Mari came to be, meaning “beloved”. It was also common in Egypt to express adoration for the divinities by saying ‘Mari’ before their name: for example, Mari-Isis, meaning “Beloved Isis”. In the same manner, it was used when referring to Priests and Priestesses of those divinities as a way to show respect and appreciation for their service.
In Syriac Mār(y) means “milord” and its feminine counterpart for “milady” nowadays is Marth – both are titles of reverence in Syriac Christianity.
The earliest forms of the Aramaic word for "the Master" or "the Lord" are Marya (מריא) and Marey (מָרֵא), while Aramaic title Mar (מַר), meaning “Master/Lord”, is used as a standard term of respect for any male individual, like “Mr” in modern English.
We can see that root Mar has long existed as a part of a title of a beloved and honoured person in Egyptian and Semitic languages. In the given examples, titles that sound like Mary or Meri are mostly used in reference to a male figure but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that the same root was used in titles of respected and honoured women. Or that Mary/Meri/Mari actually used to be female titles before they were converted to male titles.
Mer and mar are Latin roots for words connected to the sea, such as “mermaid” and “marine”.
When we look at the Hebrew name Maryām (transliterated into English as Mary), we can split it into two words: mar meaning “drop” and yam meaning “sea” – connecting the name to the sea once more.
Symbolically, water is seen as a feminine principle or emanation, whereas fire is a masculine principle. Salty sea water is associated with the fluids of the body, such as the amniotic fluid in which a child grows. That can be further connected to the mythological Primordial Waters from which life has sprung.
Magdalene, of Magdala, Madeleine.
In various ancient languages words Magdala, Magdela, Migdal mean “tower”. Some connect the origin of ‘Magdalene’ to the biblical location Migdal Eder not far from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (Yeshua in Aramaic), and potentially Mary Magdalene’s own hometown.
Migdal Eder means a “Watchtower of the Flock” and in that sense, Mary was the one to watch over “the flock” – the group of followers of Jesus’s teachings – after the messiah’s ascension. According to Mary’s gospel, which was discovered rather recently, she did watch over the disciples. When other apostles feared that the fate of their Teacher awaited them too shall they continue his work, she urged them not to forget the essence of Yeshua’s teachings and to go out there to share the gospel, meaning “the good news”. (And what ‘the good news’ was is a topic in itself, deserving another essay.)
In some ancient languages, the meaning of dal is connected to “door”, “doorway” or “portal”, while mag seems to be related to familiar words like magus and magical. Were Magdalenes the ones to lead people through a doorway, a portal to another realm? If so, how and why?
Bitterness: Myrrhbearers and Myrrhophores
There are at least six different Marys in the New Testament, three of whom were at the crucifixion of Jesus/Yeshua, including Mary Magdalene.
Another combination of Three Marys, with Mary Magdalene still among them, were on their way to once again anoint the body of Yeshua with myrrh when they discovered that his tomb was empty.
In Christian narration these Three Marys are also called Myrrhbearers, meaning ‘those who bear myrrh’ – a gum-resin of certain trees but also a precious ingredient of anointing oils. The etymology of the word myrrh was once connected to the Hebrew root mr which means “bitter” – that is where we get another meaning of the name Mary/Maryam being “bitter”, coming from the Hebrew mr root.
But I believe there is more to myrrh and bitterness than meets the eye. Or shall we say, more than the nose can sense at first?
In Luke 7:38 we read about a scene happening between Jesus and Mary, not long before the crucifixion:
‘As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.’
What we read about is Mary Magdalene bringing an alabaster jar of perfume to anoint Jesus. She was performing a ritual.
It was happening at the time when spiritual and magical traditions and their meanings were known and taught only to selected people in the spiritual hierarchy. For an uninitiated onlooker, the scene could seem to be a repentance, an homage paid to good and holy Jesus by a sinful, unworthy woman.
In Matthew 26:12-13 we get a confirmation of the importance of the act performed by Mary Magdalene through the words of Jesus/Yeshua himself:
“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Why were her actions significant, you may wonder?
There was and still is an ancient order of scent priestesses also known as mistresses of the oils or myrrhophores (myrrh- again).
One of the important roles of these women was to anoint with precious oils those approaching their death. The properties of the oils allowed the souls to heal from the wounds of their current and past lives and to safely transition to ‘the other side’, the other realm. Mary Magdalene and other Marys of the story were myrrhophores.
Myrrhophores were skilled in initiation, anointing, invocations, energetic practices, midwifery, and more. Their service encompassed the holding of ceremonies such as royal beauty rituals and initiation rites. For instance, in ancient times kings were anointed by priestesses to signify their authority.
Essentially, I see Mary (Mari/Meri) Magdalenes (Mag-dal-en) as Beloved Gatekeepers of the Thresholds, or Honoured Keepers of the Portals, helping incarnated souls to transition from one state of being into another.
To add one more drop of the scented oil to this essay, let’s remember that Jesus/Yeshua, among other prominent spiritual figures of history, was referred to as a messiah, a word coming from Hebrew mashiah which means, as you may have sensed, “the anointed”.
Resources to dive deeper
It’s been a dive down a rabbit hole, yet we have only brushed the surface of this magnificent story, which connects to many other stories of our past. There is richness and depth for you, for us, to explore further.
Tell me, what has come up for you when reading this essay?
Have any new insights revealed themselves?
Hit reply or leave a comment on Substack:
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In honour of Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day and the reclamation of the lost feminine arts, I would like to offer these suggestions for your own study and exploration. Read them all or choose what calls you the most.
“Mary Magdalene Revealed” by Meggan Watterson
I was raised in Christian culture but fiercely denied it because I felt diminished and oppressed by it both as a woman and as a human being. As an adult, I was astonished to discover there is another story at the root of my cultural religion – a story that resonates with my non-religious but spiritual beliefs.
This would be my top recommendation if you want a non-scholarly yet deep and heartfelt introduction to Mary Magdalene’s story.“The gospel of Mary of Magdala” by Karen L. King
It’s a translation and commentary of the recently discovered Gospel written in the name of Mary Magdalene – a story told by the first woman apostle.
I found it easy to read though it is more nerdy, drawing comparisons with other Gospels in an attempt to add a new layer of meaning through Mary’s telling.Freely available translation of the Gospel of Mary without any commentary.
For the nerdy ones like me, non-canonical Gospels and other gnostic texts from The Nag Hammadi Library which were discovered in 1945 in Egypt.
If gospels are not your thing, I highly recommend reading this poem called “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” which was also found in the Nag Hammadi Library.
The essay by Jetaime Cheree on the meaning of the word “sinner” which will enrich your understanding of the word and give you a new perspective on the term “a sinful woman”.
I will see you soon in your mailboxes with some new esoteric explorations beyond words, and this is definitely not the last essay about Mary Magdalene.
Merry (😉) Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day! May we continue to remember.
With Love,
Nika
This is a beautiful dissection of how the evolution of language impacts our perceptions, perspectives and thus projections, into the world. Titles indicate capacity, which allows space to witness how we both embody and reject what we perceive to be true. Many thanks for sharing this.