"And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well

When the tongues of flame are infolded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one." — T.S. Elliot
(From an engraved window at Salisbury Cathedral, England)

'Scarlet Woman, penitent sinner, Sister-Bride, whore, Black Madonna, high Priestess of
Isis, Mistress of the Elements, Beloved wife of Jesus, favored disciple, Mary of Bethany,
Miriam of Magdala, Magdal-eder, the tower-stronghold, Daughter of Sion', Maria-
Sophia, are just some of the titles and attributes accorded to me. I have been described
as 'beauty consuming itself like incense, far from the eyes of men', troubadours have
sung of the fruit of my womb, the Sangraal, the living Grail mysteries and the bloodline
of Jesus. Yet do they have any idea of the endless years of my intense spiritual
grooming and my ensuing ministry? I am calling out now, for my true essence to come
forth… for beauty and truth shall save the world.' 

We begin our journey into the Magdalene mysteries, following her trail of legends and
shrines throughout France and Britain, as mysterious threads of a woven story — a
story whose time has finally come. Her presence is suddenly re-emerging in books, new
translations of Gnostic gospels, television specials and film, making her way into our
psyches and preparing new ground for healing at least 4000 years of separation of spirit
and sensuality. When the primary aspects of one's true essential nature (Tibetans would
term this Ground Luminosity) are fragmented, outside forces (such as relationships,
family, church or government) can easily dominate and manipulate one's life.
Magdalene's legacy calls us to retrieve the fragments of our sensual, passionate
natures, and when impregnated with divine love and a spiritual fire, the alchemy of
sacred union transforms us. She represents a profound knowledge of the mysteries of
the sacred marriage, earthly and heavenly union, embodied spiritual passion and a
necessary lost chord in the remnants of the song of the sacred feminine. 

"The people shall rejoice and dance within, and all the kingdoms shall rise together as if
from the mist of the dreams of humanity, and forge a union with the divine… and man
shall join woman in the final dance of alchemy." 'I Remember Union—The Story of
Maria Magdalena' by Flo Aeveia Magdalena. 

Signs of the Grail in Avalon

 When I made my first journey into the sacred sites of Great Britain in
1987, I had no idea how deeply I would be impacted by the rich layers
of Mary's story that are still palpable and readily accessible to modern
pilgrims. In Glastonbury, England, the site of ancient Avalon, I was
struck with the 'presence' of both Mary's—Mary Mother of Jesus and
Mary Magdalene, in the shrines, cathedral ruins, springs, and even
her presence in the land itself. The St. Michael and St. Mary ley lines
(dowsed lines of energy) weave back and forth over each other
across England, intersecting at the major archeological sites and
early Christian cathedrals. Mary's dragon line moves in a serpentine
The Egg and the flow, crossing the straight Michael line in a repeating geomantic
Serpent hieros-gamos or signs of sacred union in the land. (See The Sun and
The Serpent by Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst).

The famous Glastonbury Abbey with it's Mary Chapel was founded in its original humble
form of mud and thatch sometime between 41- 63 A.D. by Joseph of Arimathea. In fact,
it was the world's first Christian church above ground. (The earliest Christians were
forced to meet underground in both Jerusalem and Rome, to avoid persecution).
According to the 1922 publication 'St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury' by Lionel S.
Lewis, Joseph came to the Isle of Glas, an older name for Glastonbury, in about 31 A.D.
with ten companions to spread Christ's message. It is said that they were told in a vision
by the Archangel Gabriel to build a church in honor of Mary. One legend states that
after Mary died, Joseph brought her body to Glastonbury, to be buried in a crypt at the
present Mary Chapel of the Abbey. This Mary is normally presumed to be Mary, the
'Virgin' Mother, but could it be the other Mary, The Magdalene? (There are other
legends that say she is buried in France). 

Margaret Starbird, in her book 'The Woman with the Alabaster Jar', states, "Some of the
later European legends say that Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood of the dying
Jesus in a chalice and brought it to Western Europe by boat during the early
persecution of the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem (A.D. 42). One chronicler preserves
the story that Joseph of Arimathea brought two cruets containing the blood and sweat
of Jesus to Glastonbury England, and a staff of hawthorn that sprouted and bloomed
when it was planted."

(Several offspring of that original hawthorn, a species that is only found here and in the
Middle-East, are still growing in Glastonbury… within the Abbey grounds, on Wearyall
Hill and at Chalice Well Gardens. It blooms during the Christian holy weeks at Easter,
and Christmas, or Winter Solstice, and is a powerful symbol of death and birth, as its
red fruit and white flowers happen at the same moment.)

Numerous European legends tell of Joseph of Arimathea traveling with Mary Magdalene
and several others to Egypt after the crucifixion, later landing on the southern coast of
France, at a town now known as Saints-Marie-de-la -Mer. It is not known whether or not
Magdalene then accompanied Joseph further north into Britain, however in the 2002
book 'The Magdalen Manuscript', by Tom Kenyon and Judi Sion, she is said to have
lived in Glastonbury for two periods of time, as well as in Southern France (The
Magdalen Manuscript is available at www.tomkenyon.com). At Bride's Mound, on the
western edge of Glastonbury, there are a few scattered remains of a stone wall from the
old Magdalene Chapel. It is also near Bride's Mound that the ancient Blue Bowl was
uncovered in the early 1900's and many British mystics claimed it was a Grail bowl
(some experts date it from Italy about 700 A.D). It is now being kept at Chalice Well,
and on our annual Magdalene pilgrimages to Britain, our groups have had the
opportunity to use the bowl in meditations… and there is a powerful remnant of the
sacred in the Blue Bowl!

Just a few hundred yards from Chalice Well and in the center of the village is the Mary
Chapel of the famous Glastonbury Abbey. In one corner of the chapel, a beautiful little
well dedicated to St. Joseph still runs with clear Avalon white spring water. And on the
southern outside wall there is a most intriguing inscribed stone, perhaps alluding to the
sacred marriage of Jesus and Magdalene, Jesus Maria. These are the very same words
on a banner carried by Joan of Arc during the crusades, relating to the wedding at Cana
and the bloodline of the Holy Grail. Just outside the Mary Chapel, lay the purported
graves of King Arthur and Guinevere, continuing this theme of the sacred marriage!

St. Joseph's Well Jesus Maria stone at Abbey Mary Chapel

Glastonbury Abbey

In tracking the names and remnants of the Grail Mystery, The healing waters of the red
and white springs of Avalon give another clue to the alchemy of union, of earth and
spirit, female and male. The white (chalk) spring pours liberally from the base of the Tor,
the 'yang' central high point in the landscape, and the red spring emerges within the 'yin'
nurturing Chalice Well Gardens just a few feet away… it is also called the blood spring,
as it is full of natural iron, causing the well stones' strong red color. Two very old
"bleeding" yew trees stand as a gateway to the lower end of the garden, where the red
spring flows into two interlocking pools, a shape well-known in sacred geometry called
the Vesica Pisces. This shape is constructed by drawing two equal circles so that the
center of each lies on the circumference of the other. This symbol of sacred union is an
important symbol in Christian mysticism (sign of the fish, or Pisces) and the geometry of
ancient temple design, including the Mary Chapel.
 Vesica Pisces pool at Chalice Well

"The Vesica Pisces is a powerful symbol of the creation and regeneration of forms in
the natural world, and given the long and successive use of the site of the two springs
as a place of death and rebirth, it is not surprising that this generative symbol should
appear." From 'The Red and White Springs' by Nicholas Mann. 

Signs and remnants of both Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary abound in Britain, as
well as the Grail Mysteries and symbols of sacred union, the path of the Beloved. 

This theme of the two Mary's began gestating within me nearly twenty years ago, and
continues to unfold my own developing understanding of the sacred feminine. This
process is an inner integration of the mythos of both Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene,
the embracing of a powerful earthy sensual aliveness of the Magdalene, the path of The
Beloved, and the heavenly and transcendent love of the Mother. Even though these two
Mary's have become widely separated in the human psyche, I believe it is time we
reconcile these polarities as necessary step of healing our world. 

Magog, the grandmother oak speaks:

On my annual pilgrimage to Avalon this last May, I allowed an extra week of personal
retreat time at Chalice Well Gardens to contemplate more deeply the Magdalene. My
intention was to delve into her mysteries, and perceive how she might be an essential
metaphor for our world out of balance. I had a hunch that the wisdom of old Magog, the
grandmother oak tree might shed some light. (Magog and Gog are the only two
survivors of an ancient ceremonial avenue of oaks leading up to the Tor).
As I sat at the foot of this matriarch,
I 'heard' the following message: 

"I am the alchemy of the interaction

of elements—drawing my blood,
sap, resins from the deep earth,
mixing with sunlight, air, water,
giving new life. Knowledge and
deep memory is held in my sap-
blood—the same as your blood.
Magdalene impregnated the earth
here in this land (Avalon) with her
essence, embedding her lineage,
knowledge, her experience and
mastery of light in the land, in the
soil, to be contacted by all who
touch this land—a transmission
through holy blood. The trees
continue this alchemy, from earth
and sky mixing, recreating,
renewing through the elements, the
ancient roots, and the ancient
feminine bloodline are alive in us.
The story always recreates itself in Magog the grandmother oak
new life, acorns will sprout new
oaks and our mystery continues on
and on."

During the days following, I continued to sense the magic of this cleansing property of
the elements, the fierce wind and rain sweeping across the moors, the sudden warm
sun breaking through, lighting the raw power and presence of the stones, working
alchemically to cleanse and renew, not only the land, but also myself. 

"From prehistoric times, the Universal Goddess had appeared in many guises and had
been known by many names; however personified, she was always identified with Isis
the Universal Mother, Mistress of all the Elements…" 'Bloodline of the Holy Grail' by
Lawrence Gardner. (Isis is the Beloved of Osiris, both masters of the alchemy of
transmutation through the elements) 

I was reminded of two visions my friend Stanley Messenger had many years ago of
Mary Magdalene. Stanley is living in Glastonbury, a well-respected mystic and teacher,
and even at nearly ninety years old, still actively sharing his wisdom with many. The first
vision he shared with me was that of seeing Magdalene in the Glastonbury Abbey,
where she was waist deep in the earth with her breasts resting on the ground. Her
hands were turning, working the soil, as if mixing her awareness with the earth, an
alchemical blending. When Stanley realized what she was doing, she turned and
winked at him. 

"And you, O Magdal-eder,

Tower-Stronghold of daughter Sion,
Through you shall it come.
The former dominion shall be restored…
But for now you shall dwell in the fields…
And from there you shall be rescued." (Mic.4:8-10)

On another occasion in La Val Dieu

Lion drinking fountain at Chalice Well
(Also a symbol of the Lion of Judah and the sacred
bloodline of the Holy Grail)
(Valley of God), France, near Rennes le
Chateau, where she is said to have lived
following the crucifixion, Stanley and a
friend both saw a woman they felt to be
Magdalene bending down in a field,
turning the soil and the ground was
bleeding. The vision faded, but they had
both seen the same image. Once again,
she is seen working her magic in the
earth, lady of the elements, transforming
matter, revealing and maintaining the
truth of the Blood Mysteries.
Sue Palmer, a colleague of Stanley's, is
known for her dramatic one-woman show
'The Magdalene'. As I spoke to her in
Glastonbury last May, she said, "Britain
is the path of love, the path of the sacred
rites of Mary's knowledge and bloodline,
but always the path of love. She has a
greater capacity for love—there is the
story of her journey into the deep cave
systems in France, where she is said to
have journeyed for two thousand years.
On emerging out of the caverns, light
poured from her eyes like liquid pearls."

"I am the single radiance by which all is aroused and within which it is vibrant…
For the man who has found me, the door to all things stands open… 
I am the magnetic force of the universal presence and the ceaseless ripple of its smile."

(Excerpts from Hymn To the Eternal Feminine by Teilhard de Chardin)

 'Unexplained phenomena' captured by the camera of Dr. Eileen Palmer

What history tells us about Magdalene

Few biographical details about the life of MM can be found in the Biblical and Gnostic
texts. However, one of the main sources is found in the writings of Blessed James of
Voragine (c.1230-1298), author of 'The Golden Legend'. According to Voragine, Mary
was of royal blood, the daughter of Syrus (Syrian) and Eucharia (from eucharis,
gracious, a term applied to Aphrodite). She, her brother, Lazarus and her sister Martha
owned seven castles, in addition to the village of Bethany and much of Jerusalem. 

Gnostic references refer to her as the favored disciple in the inner circle traveling with
Jesus. The following quote spoken by Jesus to Magdalene illustrates her exalted role as
a woman among the other disciples: 

"Mariham, Mariham, the happy, this whom I shall complete in all the mysteries of the
things of the Height. Speak in boldness, because thou art she whose heart straineth
toward the Kingdom of the heavens more than all thy brothers… you who will give light
upon everything in accuracy and in exactness." From Pistis Sophia (Askew Codex),
quoted in the book 'Mary Magdalen' by Susan Haskins. 

The Gnostic Gospel of Philip describes Magdalene as "… the companion of the
Saviour. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on
the mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval.
They asked, 'why do you love her more than all of us?' The Saviour answered and said
to them, 'Why do I not love you like her: When a blind man and one who sees are both
together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes then
he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness…"

She anointed Jesus twice with her alabaster jar of Nard, once upon his head, and
another time at his feet, wiping them afterwards with her long hair. This fragrant, sweet-
smelling ointment is known as Spikenard, which in those days grew high in the
Himalayan Mountains. This would have been part of the sacred marriage ritual known to
the high priestesses of that time. However, for two millennia, Magdalene has been
portrayed by the church as a sinner and prostitute, not as Bride. Yet, in the Old
Testament's Song of Solomon, a series of beautiful love canticles between a
bridegroom and his bride, this act of anointing is identified as symbolic of espousal. 

"You spread a banquet before me, you anoint my head with oil".

In ancient Hebrew, Sumerian and Egyptian times, priestesses were trained in music,
healing arts, and high magic, using chant, sacred dance and herbal unguents as
medicine. During the third and fourth centuries A.D., Emperor Constantine and the
council at Nicea decreed that women were forbidden to speak or sing in church and the
healing traditions of women across the Mediterranean and Europe were suppressed. 

The following quote from 'The Gospel of Mary Magdalene', a translation from the Coptic
text with commentary by Lean-Yves Leloup, reveals more: 

"Mary's identity as a prostitute stems from Homily 33 of Pope Gregory I, delivered in the
year 591… Only in 1969 did the Catholic Church officially repeal Gregory's labeling of
Mary Magdalene as a whore, thereby admitting their error—though the image of
Magdalene as the penitent whore has remained in the public teachings of all Christian
denominations. Like a small erratum buried in the back pages of a newspaper, the
Church's correction goes unnoticed, while the initial and incorrect article continues to
influence readers."

In his book 'Genesis of the Grail Kings', Lawrence Gardner follows the influence of Lilith,
a Goddess of extreme light and dark, 'black but beautiful', an unusually free spirit, and
the original femme fatal. "It was in its dealings with the heritage of Lilith that the Jewish
Church of the Middle-Ages came to shadow the Christian Church's denigration of Mary
Magdalene—and it was for the very same reason that she was proclaimed a wicked
harlot and a sorceress. Whereas Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and the
mother of the sacred Bloodline (the Sangreal) from the 1st century, it was with Lilith that
it al began, about 4000 years before."

Mary Magdalene was one of the women, along with Jesus' mother Mary, at the foot of
the crucifixion cross, and according to the Gospel of John, the first woman to arrive at
the garden and see the Risen Christ. Her presence with Jesus in the garden not only
reveals her key position with Him, but places Magdalene at the center of the
Resurrection Mysteries. 

The Pentagram and Venus in Magdalene's Land:

Legends abound regarding Magdalene's tenure in southern France, arriving with her
small entourage under the protective guidance of Joseph of Arimathea in about 42 A.D.
(following the crucifixion). And now, every year on the twenty-fifth of May, throngs crowd
into the seaport village of Saints-Marie-de-la-Mer to carry her effigy through the streets,
with the music of the many gypsies and their horse-drawn carts, who have gathered
from all over Europe to celebrate Magdalene's arrival. 

In about 1971, a British writer and scholar named Henry Lincoln arrived in nearby
Rennes le Chateau (Queen of the House) to research his theories on the royal bloodline
of the House of David, the lineage of Magdalene and Jesus. (He is known for his book
Holy Blood, Holy Grail, co-authored with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh). Rennes is
perched on a steep mountaintop, about twenty-five miles from Carcassonne, an
impressive medieval walled city. For centuries, it has been on the ancient Christian
pilgrimage route, which stretched from northern Europe to Santiago de Compostela,
Spain (translating as land of stars). Paulo Coelho (Diary of a Magus) and Shirley
MacLaine (The Camino) have both written of the mystery and magic of their own long
walks along this sacred path. 

A: Bezu summit, (maps name the

spot as Chateau Templier Ruines). 

B: High mountain point aligned with

two Templar churches, Antugnac
and Granes. 

C: Tour Magdala at Rennes 

D: Blanchefort, ruin of an ancient

watch tower. 
Magdalene's Pentagram at Rennes
From Key To The Sacred Pattern E: La Soulane Mountain, visible local
by Henry Lincoln high point

Henry Lincoln has dedicated three decades to decoding Mary's mysteries in the land
surrounding Rennes, and his findings are documented in his book'Key To The Sacred
Pattern'. Lincoln also produced a series of BBC documentaries covering the Rennes
mysteries, one of which was 'Shadow of the Templars', showing his discoveries of a
five-pointed star in the relationship of the mountains and key Templar shrines around
Rennes, and the star's hidden image in the old parchments of the Priory of Sion.
Rennes le Chateau's village church was
consecrated to the Magdalene in 1059
and in 1891, the parish priest, Berenger
Sauniere began church restorations,
adding new altars honoring the
Magdalene. In this process, he
discovered old parchments, one dating
from 1244, another from 1644, said to
contain genealogies of the royal
bloodline. 

The Priory of Sion was tied with the

Knights Templar and claims of the
Merovingian kings to be descendents of
the Davidic bloodline through the lineage Merovingian grail watermark with fruit of the vine or
of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Many of royal bloodline of MM
the Parisian elite belonged to this secret
society, including the French music
composer Claude Debussy, listed as
Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. 

Because of Magdalene's role in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, she was
seen by the Gnostics and mystics of the Middle-ages to be 'The Medium of Secret
Revelation.' These same Gnostics also associated her with the planet Venus. In the
cultures of Egypt, China, Babylon, Druids, Mayans and many more, the movements of
the stars and planets determined ceremonial cycles and the building patterns of
megalithic sites and temples. Lincoln states: 

"As they turn, the planets are showing us the mysterious workings of God's hand,
expressed in the harmonious movements of the spheres… each planet, as it revolves in
its orbit, reaches positions where Earth, Sun and Planet form distinct alignment
patterns… only one planet shows us a perfect geometrical form. This form is
pentagonal and the planet is Venus. Creating five equally-spaced alignments over a
period of eight years, she draws the perfect, hidden and secret symbol of the five-
pointed star in the heavens… as above, so below. The very landscape bears the sign of
her secret revelation."

Sedona's Pentagram and Madonna Rock

In esoteric mystery schools, the pentagram represents creative power and the potential
realized human. The ideal physical proportions are seen by overlaying the human form
upon the pentagram, with the reproductive organs at the center. The five-pointed stars
appear repeatedly on the Egyptian temple walls, symbolizing Eternity, and in another
Egyptian reference, when one both perceives and expresses beauty through all five
senses, the possible 'star' human is born. To the Pythagoreans, it is the number love
 because it represents three, the first male number, and two, the first female number.
Again, we find references to the sacred marriage and the alchemy of Magdalene's love
and reflections of that sacred harmonic perfection. According to John Anthony West, in
'Serpent in the Sky', "Five may also be called the universal number, as from the roots of
two, three and five, all harmonic proportions and relationships can be derived. The
interplay of these proportions and relations commands the forms of all matter… Five is
the key to the vitality of the universe, its creative nature." And in the alchemy of the
elements of creation, the fire, earth, air, water and ether (spirit) work their magic to
cleanse, renew and transform all forms of life

In Sedona's landscape temple,

we find the Madonna
impressing her healing image,
reminding us again of her
message of eternal life and
love. In Nicholas Mann's book
'Sedona Sacred Earth', he
presents his discovery of a
natural five-pointed star pattern
in the red rocks, with the
dominant high points of the
landscape falling at each point,
amazingly similar to Lincoln's
Rennes-le-Chateau Magdalene
pentagram. The naturally
occurring star points are Lee
Mountain, the Airport Vortex, Madonna's Pentagram in Sedona - See Large Image
Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Reprinted from Sedona Sacred Earth
by Nicholas R. Mann
Rock and a butte behind
Camel Head, with Madonna
Rock at the exact center!
(Cathedral Rock also has the
image of a man and woman in
the central spires, and is a
popular backdrop for
thousands of marriage
ceremonies).

Mann notes in Sedona Sacred Earth: "One of the properties of the pentagram is that the
lines bisect each other according to the Golden Section (the l.618 or phi ratio of creation
and perfect harmony in music as well as matter—author's note). By its presence in the
pentagram, the Golden Section signals that where five's are found in the pattern of the
natural world conditions will be most beneficial to life, as for example in the number of
petals in the flowers of edible plants."

(Note: In my earlier reference to the Red Spring at Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England, and its blood-
birth symbolism, the inner chamber below the ground-level where the red spring emerges is a pentagonal
shape based on ancient Egyptian geometric measurements… a further key to the sacred patterns and
the mystery of the Divine Feminine.) 

Ancient Grail legends promise the healing of the wasteland, our torn and fragmented
human psyche and its reflection in the spoiling of the Earth. The Grail of the fire in the
heart shall be restored, and the missing chords are being found again in the song of the
sacred feminine. We must reclaim the gardens of Earth, and invite Magdalene's beauty
and blessings into our lives. At last it is time for her to re-emerge from the underworld of
the deep caverns of denial and enter fully into our consciousness. Mary's legacy is the
path of deepest love, unsealing the springs long dry and deserted, and opening us to a
greater passion for life. Her signs and images reflect back to us the harmony of the
heavens, here in the land and in our hearts. And interestingly, the Roman numerals for
this millennium are MM, the initials of Mary Magdalene and her secret insignia in the
Grail Mysteries. 

Signs of love in the land (old tree stump) 

And I do believe all shall be well,

all manner of things shall be well,
when the fire and the rose are one.