Royal Bride and Mother
Mary Magdalene died in AD 63, aged 60, at (what is now) St. Baume in southern France, far from her native home and far from where her husband is thought to have met his end.
During the Qumran era, "Mary" was not simply a name but a distinguished title, being a form of "Miriam" (the name of the sister of Moses and Aaron). Miriams (Marys) participated in a formal ministry within spiritual orders such as the ascetic and healing community of the Egyptian Therapeutate, the medical center at Qumran.
While the "Moses" would lead the liturgical ceremonies of the men, the "Miriam" would similarly lead the women -- an arrangement that interpreted Miriam with her timbrel (tambourine) in Exodus 15:20.
Mary Magdalene is first described in the New Testament as a woman "out of whom went seven devils" (Luke 8:2) and later, in the same Gospel is said to be a "sinner." But in addition to this, she is portrayed in all the Gospels as a favorite and loyal companion of Jesus. Luke's descriptions of Mary are yet again a matter of cryptic coding.
Prior to marriage, Marys were under the authority of the Chief Scribe, who, im Mary Magdalene's time, was Judas Sicariote (Iscariot). The Chief Scribe was also the Demon Priest Number 7 (I will explain this later...the Essenes believed in keeping the balance between the dark and the light and this is described in detail in the Dead Sea Scrolls), and the "seven demon priests" were established as a formal opposition group to those priests who were the "seven lights of the Menorah" (the seven-branched candlestick familiar in Jewish symbolism). It was their duty to supervise the Community's female celibates. Upon her marriage, Mary Magdalene was naturally released from this arrangement. Hence, the "seven demons went out of her," and she was permitted sexual activity on the regulated basis detailed earlier.
There are obvious hints that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' betrothed, for example, in Matthew 15:35, after Jesus had just fed the Four Thousand: "So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up several large baskets full of fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala."
Traditionally and geographically, Magdala was a city on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, a short distance from Tiberias. It ws also known as Tarichae and called Migdal ("tower"), suggesting its significance militarily. I will go into more detail about this later on in this section on the Marys, as this is a very significant connection. It was also a flourishing center of the region's fishing industry, shipping salted and pickled fish to Jerusalem, Damascus, and even as far away as Spain. It was also known for agriculture, shipbuilding, and trade, was mostly Gentile in population and very wealthy. It boasted a hippodrome (a stadium for chariot racing). The modern-day city of Medjel (similar to the word Migdal) is very likely on the same spot as ancient Magdala.
As I mentioned before, the rules of Davidic marriages were not ordinary ones, and Mary was subject to long periods of marital separation from her husband, Jesus...periods during which she was ranked not as a wife, but as a sister (in the devotional sense, as a nun might be). In her capacity as sister, Mary was attached to the Father, Simon Zelotes (Lazarus). Also a sister of the Father was Martha, whose name was similarly titular.
Martha meant "Lady" and the difference between Marys and Marthas was that Marthas were allowed to own property, whereas Marys were not. In society, sisters held the same community status as widows (crippled women), a rank below that of almah. Thus, an almah (virgin) would marry and move up to the rank of mother, but during her periods of marital separation she would be demoted to below her original unmarried rank.
Mary Magdalene's father was the Chief Priest (subordinate to the High Priest), Syrus the "Jairus." The Jairus priest officiated at the great marble synagogue at Capernaum, and was ranked quite separately from the Zadok (Michael-Zadok or Melchizedek) and the Gabriel-Abiathar. It has been a hereditary post since the time of King David (and I think before that), restricted to descedents of Jair (Numbers 32:41). As 2 Samuel 20:25-26 confirms: "And Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: and Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David."
The first mention of Mary in the New Testament is actually the story of how she was raised from death as Jairus' daughter in AD 17. Being "raised" (symbolically, from eternal darkness) related either to elevation of status wihtin the "Way" (the original belief system that gave rise to Christianity), or to release from spiritual death by excommunication. The term is still used in Freemasonry. However, since women were not excommunicated, Mary's event was plainly an initiatory raising.
First 'raisings' for boys were at the age of 12, and for girls at 14. Given that Mary was raised from darkness in AD17, this means that she was born in AD 3, and she was therefore nine years younger than Jesus -- making her 27 when she first married him in AD 30. Having conceived in December AD 32, Mary was aged 30 at her Second Marriage, during which year (AD 33) she bore her daughter Tamar. Four years later she gave birth to Jesus the younger, and in AD 44, when she was 41 years old, her second son, Joseph, was born. By that time, Mary was in Marseilles (Massilia), where the official language was Greek until the 5th century. A fact not generally recognized, but which should perhaps be emphasized, is that the language of Jesus, the Apostles, and all concerned with Hellenic Judaism was heavily influenced by Greek. The Hebrews, of course, used their own specifically Semitic tongue. This is why words such as "Alphaeus" and "Rama-Theo" are combined from both Greek and Hebrew elemtns. In addition, having been under Roman occupation for so long, this other linguistic culture was to some degree incorporated. Adjustments were also made in respect of the Gentiles (non-Jews) and the Proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism) so that, within all the variables, there was a general cross-understanding.
