Introduction
his book is about Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is Mary’s story, gleaned from scripture, early Christian writings, mainstream Christian doctrine and devotional practices, modern esoteric teachings, and information from visions, apparitions, and other contacts. In a few cases we have Mary’s own words. Material from these diverse sources coalesces into a remarkably coherent ac-count of Mary’s life in Palestine, her role in the Redemption, her present position, and her ongo-ing ministry. The picture of Mary that emerges amply justifies the fourfold accolade: “Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess.”
Madonna Enthroned (detail), by early Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli (c.1435–c.1495).
Mary: Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess is addressed to Christians of all traditions and to students of modern esotericism—not necessarily separate groups of people, but distinguished to a greater or lesser degree by the sources of truth on which they rely. For many years the author has tried to build bridges between Christianity and esotericism, and the story of Mary provides a rich oppor-tunity to pursue that mission. Writing the book has also been a great privilege and learning ex-perience.
Background and Objectives
Who was Mary? How have Christians and others related to her at different times? Has she com-municated with us—and, if so, in what ways? Can we communicate with her? Where is Mary now? Does she continue to play a role in the church, humanity, and the world? This book dis-cusses these and a myriad of other questions.
Controversy and Resolution
Mary was an historical figure, a Middle Eastern Jewish woman who gave birth to Jesus, wit-nessed his extraordinary mission, and lived a number of years beyond his death. Since then Chris-tianity has created a “new Mary.” During its 2,000-year history, peasants, educated laypeople, theologians, and ecclesiastical authorities projected onto her the most cherished values of their time and culture, elevating her to near-divine heights. In some cultures Mary took the place of pre-Christian goddesses in the popular consciousness. Other people reacted to her, as far as scrip-ture and tradition would allow, with indifference or even hostility.
Feminist theologians have been ambivalent about Mary. The quest for a goddess to satisfy the hunger left by centuries of religious patriarchy took them first to Sophia, revered in late-biblical Judaism, Gnosticism, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. By contrast, Mary was seen as the em-bodiment of passive submission, unworthy to inspire newly empowered women.1 We now know that the passive, submissive persona was a creation of the patriarchal church; the historical Mary was an assertive woman who played a prominent role in nascent Christianity. Finally a number of feminists are becoming her champions.
Esotericists too have been ambivalent about Mary. Some recognize in her the supreme expression of feminine humanity, holding a high position in the inner governance of the planet and express-ing the Feminine Aspect of Deity. Others prefer to discuss the Shekinah, Sophia, Tara, or Kuan Yin, giving the impression that Mary lies below the level of useful discourse. In some esoteric writings Mary is reduced to a symbol of the material world.
One wonders why Mary, represented in every manger scene and acclaimed in numerous Christ-mas carols, became such a controversial figure! Recognizing the conflicting attitudes, she might have retired into obscurity. Fortunately for us Mary refused to go away. Indeed, she now seems eager to reveal more of herself and to communicate more directly with humanity. Through visita-tions, apparivisita-tions, locuvisita-tions, and other means Mary speaks of herself, her concerns for all lives on the planet, and her ongoing work for peace.
Mary’s own revelation and communication come at a time when modern scholarship is revealing a clearer picture of her life in Palestine. The traditional narrative is that she gave birth to Jesus, watched him grow to manhood and take up his ministry, and stood in sorrow as he died on the cross.2 In the expanded narrative now emerging, Mary continued Christ’s ministry after the As-cension; she taught, counseled Jesus’ disciples, baptized converts, and healed the sick. She even served in a priestly role in the emerging sacrament of the Eucharist.
The picture of Mary painted in this book is not based on any one source or tradition. It draws upon multiples sources, including canonical and extracanonical scripture, early Christian writ-ings, mainstream Mariology and Marian devotion, visions of the mystics, information communi-cated during apparitions and more extended contacts, and modern esoteric teachings. Most valu-able are Mary’s own words.
One might expect that such diverse traditions would yield incompatible depictions of Mary. To be sure, there are differences in emphasis, and in some cases what appear to be deliberate efforts to obscure the real Mary. But a remarkable consensus emerges—even in terminology, which so of-ten poses a stumbling block in synthesis from different sources. The coherence of the composite picture of Mary lends credence to its validity and relevance.
This book presents Mary as Adept, Queen, Mother and Priestess. The notion of Mary as Priestess comes from early Christian writings, the commentaries of nineteenth-century churchmen, and modern esoteric teachings. The notion of Mary’s Queenship comes from traditional Mariology, Marian devotion, the pronouncements of recent popes, and esoteric teachings. Mary’s role as Mother, not “just” of Jesus—or even of God—but of humanity is supported by age-old devotions, recent papal pronouncements, and the long tradition of the Divine Mother in the religions of South Asia. Adeptship, perfection of the human condition, is primarily an esoteric concept, but it bears a strong resemblance to the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis, or “deification.” The broader concept of initiation has parallels in sacraments like baptism and holy orders, in
beatifica-practical concerns of the twenty-first century. The book presents a feminine figure who can in-spire women and men and connect us all in new ways to God.
Objectives and Target Readership
This book is not a devotional text, an attempt to write an accurate history of events that occurred two millennia ago, or a critical analysis of Marian literature. It is Mary’s story.
Mary: Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess is addressed to ordinary people: laypersons, clergy, eso-tericists, Christians, members of other world religions, or anyone else who might be moved to read the book. It is not intended to contribute to, or intrude upon, the professional literature of theology, academic religious studies, church history, biblical studies, or textual analysis—though individuals in those disciplines are most welcome to read the book and offer comments or sugges-tions.
The book presents the story of Mary, drawn from a wide range of sources. The author is indebted to scholars in the academic fields whose research provided many of those sources. The book is written by a generalist, whose goal is the integration of knowledge rather than detailed analysis, building bridges and seeing connections rather than dwelling upon minutiae. Every effort has been made to verify facts. But generalists inevitably face criticism from specialists, each of whom insists that his or her field is more complicated and nuanced than the generalist takes it to be. The book is intended to contribute to the literature of modern esotericism, where informed dis-cussion of Mary is woefully lacking. The author will gladly respond to challenges on points of detail from the esoteric community.
Mary: Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess is written by an active, practicing Episcopalian, commit-ted to the Anglican tradition of Christianity. It does not attempt to present or defend an “Anglican position” on Mary; indeed there may be as many positions as there are Anglicans! This is a per-sonal testimony in which the opinions expressed are the author’s alone. Frequently the discussion draws upon Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox traditions which focus more strongly on Mary. But the author comfortably and joyfully affirms membership of the Episcopal Church and is in-debted to fellow members and clergy, at the parish and diocesan levels, for their generous support in this project.
Significant events occurred over many years preceding any conscious notion on the author’s part to write this book. There were many dots, but they remained unconnected. Things began to come together in 2018, and early in 2019 the author received a directive to “Write down everything you know about Mary.” In reality a considerable amount of new research was required, in addition to what was on hand and previously published,3 but the first edition came together remarkably quickly, and now the second edition.
The decision to bypass conventional publication and to offer the book online, as a free gift to readers, was an easy one; Mary wishes to be known, and nobody owns her story. The book is of-fered with gratitude and humility. Much more could be written, and other authors have rich op-portunities to contribute.
Outline of the Book
The second edition of Mary: Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess is divided into ten chapters, plus this introduction and a brief epilogue. The first eight chapters present knowledge of Mary from the various sources. The ninth and tenth synthesizes and reflect upon that knowledge to offer as complete a picture as possible of Mary: who and what she was, and is, and what her current mis-sion appears to be:
Introduction 1 Mary in Scripture
2 Mary According to Anne Catherine Emmerich 3 Mary in Early Christian Writings
4 Marian Doctrine and Beyond 5 Marian Devotion and Intercession 6 Mary Reveals Herself to the World 7 Mary in Esoteric Teachings
8 Mary and the Feminine Face of God
9 Synthesis and Reflections: the Historical Mary 10 Synthesis and Reflections: the Celestial Mary
Epilogue
Chapter 1 presents the scriptural record of Mary’s life in Palestine and its immeasurable contribu-tion to humanity: the birth of Jesus and witness to the Crucifixion. It reaches beyond the New Testament to include a number of extracanonical texts, particularly the Infancy Gospel of James, which provides important details of Mary’s birth and childhood. Mary is also mentioned multiple times in the Qur’an; and a few quotes are included to facilitate interesting comparisons—and to provide insights into reverence for Mary and Jesus in early Islam .
Chapter 2 presents a description of Mary’s life from the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, an eighteenth-century German nun. The placement of this chapter could be questioned; the case could be made that Emmerich’s account should be grouped with the Marian communications in Chapter 6 or even with the esoteric teachings in Chapter 7. But the flow of information suggested otherwise. After receiving the stigmata, open wounds on her body corresponding to those suf-fered by Jesus on the cross, Emmerich acquired the ability to travel back in time and view histori-cal events. Her extensive and detailed descriptions of events in the lives of Jesus and Mary read almost like scripture. Accordingly, the decision was made to place the chapter next to the scrip-tural record, to permit parallel comparisons and contrasts.
Chapter 3 plays a vital role in building the picture of the historical Mary. It summarizes relevant Christian writings from the fourth to the tenth centuries (and beyond), many of which have only recently come to light. Modern textual scholarship, and examination of artifacts from the period, reveal an image of Mary contrasting sharply with the demure, passive, self-sacrificial image
fa-Chapters 1–3 provide overlapping accounts of Mary’s Palestinian life, offering a rich description of a woman chosen to give birth to Jesus, to support and continue his ministry, and to develop her own distinctive ministry after Pentecost. To be sure, there are disagreements over points of detail, and writers betray limitations in their knowledge of events as well as their own perspectives and biases. Yet the picture that emerges—far richer than the canonical scriptural record alone—gives us a clearer image of who Mary was and sets the stage for a discussion of who she is now and the mission she has undertaken.
Chapters 4 studies Christian doctrine relating to Mary. Mariology is a recognized branch of the-ology. The early church defined two Marian dogmas: that Mary is the mother of God, and that she was a virgin when she gave birth of Jesus. Since then the Church of Rome has issued two more dogmatic pronouncements: her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into heaven at the end of her earthly life. Mariologists have explored Mary’s queenship and her role in the Re-demption, though no new dogmatic pronouncements seem likely in the foreseeable future. Two other major topics in Mariology are summarized in Chapter 4. One is the notion of Mary’s pre-ordination, or predestination, to be the mother of Christ—a notion that emerged as a corollary of the doctrine of the absolute primacy of Christ. The other is Mary’s priestly role, demonstrated when she stood at the foot of the cross. Influential churchmen declared that she earned the right to be called the priestess for all humanity.
Chapter 5 examines traditional expressions of Marian devotion and intercession. Devotion to Mary, and pleas to intercede with her son to grant benefits or redress wrongs, expanded rapidly in the Middle Ages and continued after the Reformation in the Church of Rome and the Eastern Or-thodox Churches. In a few cases devotion rose to the level of worship.
By contrast, the Protestant churches were indifferent or even hostile to Marian devotional prac-tices in general—contributing to their own spiritual impoverishment. Traditions like Anglicanism that sought a middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have taken small steps toward reinstating Marian devotion into their religious practices. Chapter 5 ends with a discussion of Marian devotion as it has been, and continues to be, expressed through the arts.
Chapter 6 explores Mary’s communications with humanity through apparitions, locutions, and other contacts with individuals and groups. The frequency of apparitions has increased, and more people—and a greater diversity of people—are testifying to seeing her or hearing her speak. In addition to the best-known apparitions, like those at Guadalupe and Lourdes, two series of appari-tions command special attention. One, in Zeitoun, Egypt, extended over a period of years, wit-nessed by millions of people, many of them Muslims. The other, in Medjugorje, Bosnia–
Herzegovina, involved six witnesses and has continued for nearly four decades. The Medjugorje apparitions include messages that Mary wished to be shared with the world.
Chapter 6 also examines more detailed communications with individuals who served as Mary’s scribes and were charged with publishing her words. An early scribe was the fourteenth-century Bridget of Sweden. Two others, from our own time, are Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson and spiri-tual teacher Anna Raimondi. Communications have included detailed self-descriptions and com-mentary on a variety of important topics.
Chapter 7 presents modern esoteric teachings on Mary, primarily but not exclusively by members of the Theosophical Society. In several cases these teachings were dictated to scribes, either by Mary herself or by other higher beings, like masters or archangels. In almost every instance the esoteric teachings concerning Mary are supported by assertions cited in earlier chapters. The ma-jor strength of esoteric teachings lies in their intellectual merit and the integration of concepts into a larger, self-consistent body of knowledge. The Mariology of the future could ill-afford to ignore them.
The Church of Rome uses rigorous procedures to identify apparition reports that may have rele-vance beyond the individual’s spiritual experience. Comparable criteria have evolved within the esoteric community for evaluating the authenticity of alleged communications from higher be-ings. In each case, only a small fraction of claims meet applicable standards.
Chapter 8 studies Judeo-Christianity’s tentative exploration of the Feminine Face of God. Its pur-pose is to provide context for Mary’s ministry and responsibilities, and to see whether she can be viewed as an expression of the Divine Feminine. An important question arises concerning the historical Mary’s relationship with the “celestial Mary,” as she is envisioned in Marian doctrine and devotion and in modern esoteric studies.
Goddess worship was sufficiently common and enduring in biblical Judaism to require continual condemnation by the prophets. In addition to traditional goddesses like Asherah, Judaism gave us Ruach ha-Kodesh (“the Holy Spirit”), the Shekinah (the indwelling presence of God), and Chok-mah/Sophia (“Wisdom”)—all three considered feminine. A masculinized Ruach ha-Kodesh even-tually became the Third Person of the Christian Trinity, but not without competition from Sophia. Efforts to reintroduce a feminine element into the Trinity have continued for two millennia. Chapters 9 and 10 offer a synthesis of the material presented in the previous chapters and reflec-tions on what has been learned. Information from the various sources comes together to produce a rich picture of Mary, and to tell a compelling story of her life in Palestine and her continuing presence in the world today.
Chapter 9 focuses on the historical Mary. She was a Middle Eastern Jewish woman, a woman of her time who remained true to Judaic tradition throughout her life. Mary gave birth to Jesus and raise him to manhood, saw him take up his ministry; participated in his Sacrifice of the Cross; and reportedly had a vision of his Resurrection. Present with the disciples at Pentecost, Mary went on to pursue her own ministry, and then, on her deathbed, was raised up by Christ to receive the crown of adeptship: the fifth initiation.
Chapter 10 focuses on the “celestial” Mary, the exalted personage envisioned by Christian doc-trine and devotion and by modern esoteric teachings. Further insights have been gained from her apparitions and communications with individuals.
In discussing Mary’s spiritual status it was necessary to confront suggestions that the historical Mary might have been a manifestation of a divine being, rather than an “ordinary” member of the human family who—before, during and since that lifetime—made extraordinary progress on the spiritual path. Although the issue is not clear-cut, the evidence persuades us that the entity we know as Mary did indeed rise from the ranks of humanity to become Adept, Mother of the World, Queen of the Angels, and Priestess.
Most likely Mary was already a third-degree initiate when she was born in Palestine, primed over multiple lifetimes to give birth to Jesus. She progressed on the initiatory path to attain “human perfection” and then became a powerful member of the Hierarchy of Masters, to exercise a unique, feminine role in the inner life of the planet, and to serve as an expression of the Feminine Aspect of Deity.
It was also necessary to confront serious claims that an exalted “celestial Mary” existed before the historical Mary was born—that she was even present at the dawn of creation. Those claims are dismissed. Probably they came from the projection of Marian piety onto a different entity,
tive relationships with her and Christ. In Christ we see the masculine face of God; in Mary we see the feminine face.
Second edition, May 31, 2021.
1
Mary is not even listed in the indexes of influential works by Merlin Stone, When God was a Woman, Dorset Press, 1976; and Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, Beacon, 1979. Sherry Ruth Anderson’s and Patricia Hopkins’ The Feminine Face of God, Bantam, 1991, contains a single reference to Mary, ac-knowledging simply that she may be beloved but is “never mistaken for God.”
2
The canonical gospels do not list Mary as a witness to the Resurrection—or even acknowledge that she saw the risen Christ at all—though Acts places her in the upper room at Pentecost.
3
John F. Nash, “The World Mother: Teachings of Helena Roerich and Geoffrey Hodson,” The Esoteric
Quarterly (Winter 2006), 35-46; “Mary: Blessed Virgin and World Mother,” The Esoteric Quarterly
(Winter 2010), 19-39; “Adept, Queen, Mother, Priestess: Mary in the Writings of Geoffrey Hodson,”
The Esoteric Quarterly (Winter 2019), 37-65; Review of Conversations with Mary: Messages of Love, Healing, Hope and Unity for Everyone by Anna Raimondi, The Esoteric Quarterly (Summer 2019),
84-88. Mary is also mentioned in Christianity: the One, the Many (2007), and The Sacramental Church (2011).
