PattyIt and Seeker
I haven't read The Jesus Mysteries, but these ideas we're discussing here are very much 'out there' among many people and with that book, Freke and Gandy were just picking up on that. Actually, imo Freke and Gandy (and the author of the Da Vinci Code) were influenced by two earlier books: The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, and an even earlier book called Genisis: The First Book of Revelations by David Wood. My avatar picture comes from the cover of that book and the word Genisis is a pun on the name Isis, as it shows how Christianity's roots derive in part from the Mystery Rites of Osiris and Isis (Mary Magdelene was depicted as a sacred prostitute in the temple of Isis).
I can thoroughly recommend Genisis: Here's a snippet of an Amazon review of Genisis:
It is tragic that this outstanding piece of detective work has not received more publicity while other books, not nearly as informative and well documented top the sales charts. For anyone who is interested in the Rennes le Chateau area and the mysteries that surround it ... this is a must read along with it's companion and second volume ... "Geneset: The Second Book of Revelations". Not since Henry Lincoln's "The Holy Place" has a book so well captured the mood and revealed it's secrets. It is truly an inspired work that should find itself on anyone's bookshelf who considers themselves enlightened. ... A master work ... A Work of Genius !
I have, however, read Freke and Gandy's second book, which is very good and very well footnoted. It's called Jesus and the Goddess and it goes into how the Goddess (Sophia) aspect worked with the Logos (Christ) in Gnosticism. Once you read this, and then go back to the Gospel stories, it becomes blatantly obvious that the story of Jesus is Gnostic/Mystery and that the only reason it was not so noticeable before was because the story of Mary Magdelene (the Goddess aspect to his Godman) is variously downplayed by the Literalists, and censored out and turned into the un-named Beloved Disciple.
In Plato's story of the Son of Man suspended crossways across the universe, the cross is the barrier between the heavenly realms and the lower realms into which an aspect of Sophia has fallen. Sophia's aspect, as the fallen woman in the lower realms, is called Achamoth.
In the Gnostic story, Christ or the Son of Man is suspended over the cross and saves Achamoth by reaching down to pull her up and through it and then he passes her into the safekeeping of Sophia, who has remained in the heavenly realms completely unsullied - it was only her aspect that fell.
In the Literalist story, Christ or the Son of Man is suspended on the cross to save us and just before he dies, he also passes the prostitute (fallen woman) Mary Magdelene into the safekeeping of the pure, unsullied Mary the Virgin, with the words: "Woman, here is your son"; to the Beloved Disciple he says, "Here is your mother."
We are pretty sure that the 'son' was in fact a woman, aka Mary Magdelene, and that this word was just one of many thousands changed by the scribes over the years to cover up the Gnostic roots of their story, and also to relegate the role of women.
In John 19:25, his depiction of the crucifixion, none of the male disciples were there but only the three women, and within this context, it is obvious that the beloved disciple is one of these women.
"Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said... (John 19:25)"
In the Nag Hammadi Gospel of Philip, Philip confirms that the Mary Magdelene is Jesus's companion.
"There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary." (NHC II.3.59.6-11)
So anyway, this is why in the Jesus story, you only have the Marys at the foot of the cross. And they also tried to simplify things by giving both (or even three) aspects of the goddess the same name.
Btw, Seeker this book is so well foot-noted that the footnotes take up half the book.
