Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and the Sacred Union in Christianity (Paperback)

by Margaret Starbird (Author) "It is my conviction that Christianity at its inception included the celebration of the hieros gamos, the "sacred marriage" of opposites, a model incarnate in..." (more)
Key Phrases: woman with the alabaster jar, cosmic temple, solar principle, New Testament, Mary Magdalene, John Michell (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Recommended for academic libraries serving women's studies programs and for public libraries where patrons are interested in Christian women throughout the ages."
(Gary P. Gillum, Library Journal, July 2003 )

"Through her decoding, Starbird reveals the powerful presence of the feminine divinity in religion where it has been almost erased."
(Network for Women's Spirituality, Sept/Oct/Nov 2003 )

"Margaret Starbird's work is of particular interest to me because it fuses the diverse fields of symbolism, mythology, art, heraldry, psychology, and gospel history. Her research opens doors for each of us to further explore the rich iconography of our own spiritual history."
(Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code )

"Margaret Starbird fearlessly explores the symbols and the hidden clues within the scriptures of the sacred union. . . . Starbird writes eloguently and convincingly, laying the facts before us and allowing us to come to our own conclusions about these wonderful and secret teachings."
(Lesley Crossingham, New Dawn, Jan-Feb 2006 )

Product Description
In Magdalene's Lost Legacy, author Margaret Starbird decodes the symbolic numbers embedded in the original Greek phrases of the New Testament-revealing the powerful presence of the feminine divine. The New Testament contains wide use of gematria, a literary device that allows the sums of certain phrases to produce sacred numbers. Exploring the hidden meanings behind these numbers, Starbird reveals that the union between Jesus and his bride, Mary Magdalene, formed a sacred partnership that was the cornerstone of the earliest Christian community. Magdalene's Lost Legacy demonstrates how the crucial teaching of the sacred marriage that unites masculine and feminine principles-the heiros gamos-is the partnership model for life on our planet and the ultimate blueprint for civilization. Starbird's research challenges the concept that Christ was celibate and establishes Mary Magdalene as the human incarnation of the sacred bride. The author also explains the true meaning of the "666" prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Through this potent reclaiming of the lost legacy of Mary Magdalene, Margaret Starbird offers the opportunity to restore the divine feminine to her rightful role as bride, beloved, and sacred partner. Margaret Starbird holds a master's degree from the University of Maryland and has studied at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel, Germany, and at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is the author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail and The Goddess in the Gospels. She lives with her family in the Puget Sound area of Washington State.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company; Later Printing edition (May 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591430127
• ISBN-13: 978-1591430124
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #117,278 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starbird's best book so far, July 22, 2003

By	Lesa Bellevie "Lesa Bellevie" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As the curator of Magdalene.org, I read many books about Mary Magdalene. I've been aquainted with Margaret Starbird's books since her first title, "The Woman With The Alabaster Jar," but have had the impression that, more than anything, her writing expressed a very personal journey. That changes with her most recent book, however, in which she does a wonderful job of reminding the general reader of the origins of Christianity, the environment in which it developed, and how it's entirely possible that the initial message has been all but lost.

By far, the best parts of the book are the sections on history, but the gematria work presented is nothing to take lightly. In the same tradition of John Michell's "Dimensions of Paradise" and David Fideler's "Jesus Christ Sun of God," (both of which are referenced in this book), Starbird carefully applies the rules of Greek gematria to uncover coded messages in the New Testament. This is NOT "The Bible Code," which is based on a completely inappropriate system; this is a historically accurate use of number within words and phrases.

The biggest question about the gematria is this: was it INTENTIONALLY included in the words and phrases mentioned? Or is it all a big coincidence? Starbird believes that the numbers are intentional, and I have to agree that there appears to be a higher than usual degree of connection in the passages that match up. Regardless of the answer, there is more than enough material here to provide food for meditation and examination of what Christiantiy *should* be about.

63 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding the land of milk and honey....., January 9, 2004

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

In MAGDALENE'S LOST LEGACY, Margaret Starbird continues her exploration of the message of Mary the companion of Yeshua (Jesus) by examining the gematria of the canonical gospels and other books of the Bible's New Testament.

As every statistician knows, the Greek alphabet consists of symbols like "delta" and "pi" that also work as numbers. Starbird suggests that using Greek alphanumerics to encode relevant passages, early "heretical" Christians hid verboten material in otherwise inoffensive text. Irenaeus, a church father of the 4th century who ordered the destruction of Gnostic material (such as the books found at Nag Hammadi) knew of this practice and forbade it. However, the "heretics" did not listen to him, and they hid material about the Magdalene in the New Testament - in the synoptic gospels and the mysterious Book of Revelation. Starbird says modern computers have provided scholars the means to decode these arcane messages. (She provides a Greek key you can use to interpret passages in Greek included in the book).

Hidden numbers aside, Starbird poses a question asked by other scholars - why do specific numbers appear in the books of the Bible and do they matter. For example, why were 153 fishes caught in a net (John 21:11) or why were there x number of loaves and fishes? The Book of Revelations suggests the `beast' is 666. In gemetric code, 666 = the solar principle. Starbird suggests the solar principle without a lunar principle leads to a desert. Day without night or Sol alone = "raw abusive, power, the power of the tyrant" or the male element run amuck. When the male element is combined with the female (lunar or night =1080) they form 1746 the symbolic equivalent of "the grain of mustard seed" or "the kingdom of God within." The marriage of sol and luna or masculine and feminine (1746=union of opposites) is also the gematria for "Jerusalem the city of God."

This wonderful book continues Starbird's exploration of messages about the Magdalene hidden in plain sight for two millennium. And, don't miss the land of milk and honey (it has to do with sol and luna).

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gematria & Gnostic Symbolism in Christianity, December 26, 2003

By	Jed Shlackman (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is certainly thought-provoking, as it examines esoteric coding that suggests occult symbolic meanings contained within the texts of Christianity. There are now numerous books that claim to expose various forms of hidden information in Biblical texts and apocrypha. In this book of Starbird's the focus is on the symbolism of masculine and feminine polarities in the Jesus & Mary Magdelene characters, and their alleged marriage being a symbolic spiritual union of polarities. One thing that neither Starbird nor most other authors of this genre make an effort to examine is the question of how many of the characters and events described in the religious texts are purely symbolic and metaphorical versus how much is actual history or "staged" history designed to play out esoteric symbolism. The characters of Jesus and Mary (both Marys, actually) are not original to Christianity, and the gnostic symbolism suggested by Starbird is far more ancient than Christianity, which makes one wonder how much of the Christian stories were created for passing metaphysical knowledge to intitiates and how much had any connection to historical persons. Starbird has done a nice job of examining one level of hidden information in the Christian texts, but this leaves many unanswered questions and does not provide any clear insight into the literal history of Christianity's alleged initiator.