Mystery of a Shrinking Violet

The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail
by Margaret Starbird
Published by Bear & Company in 1993
ISBN: 1-879181-03-7 trade paperback $16.95 USD
Publisher URL: http://www.innertraditions.com

As I’ve mentioned here before, after reading The Da Vinci Code, I felt compelled to do some reading in gnosticism, a topic I’d been curious about for sometime. This book had been recommended by so many people that it was the first one I intended to read on the controversial subject of Mary Magdalen’s relationship to Jesus. It didn’t turn out to be the first, but it would’ve been a great place to start. It’s not a book about gnosticism, but a collection of facts and theory regarding the relationship of Mary Magdalen and Jesus, or Miriam of Bethany and Yeshua, as they’re also named in the book.

Margaret Starbird began her research of this subject in the hopes of debunking Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, having read it from the perspective of a devout Catholic. Somewhere in the course of her research, she found herself supporting many of their claims. Her journey explored the life of one of the most enigmatic women the world has known, or at least thought we knew.

The Woman With the Alabaster Jar begins with a prologue, a fictionalized account of Mary Magdalen’s flight to Egypt with Joseph of Arimathea, the subsequent birth of her daughter, Sarah, and finally her voyage across the Mediterranean into southern France. This account is based on theory only, and Starbird concedes throughout this book that her conclusions can’t be proven. But she adroitly connects numerous historical threads and “fossil” information in a credible speculation about how the early days of Christianity, and particularly the life of Mary Magdalen, may have played out after the execution of Jesus.

Starbird continues with the theory that the Grail legends refer not to an actual chalice that once contained the blood of the dying Jesus, but possibly to a woman, the wife of Jesus, and to his bloodline, the Sangraal, or blood royal, carefully secreted and safeguarded by those who knew of its existence, partly in order to avoid being punished as heretics. The author pieces together a puzzle, and the picture that puzzle forms makes much more sense than its individual parts. For instance, why would Fra Angelico paint three faint red “X” symbols into a work depicting Mary Magdalen and Jesus in a garden after the resurrection? What was behind all those watermark symbols in the very paper on which early Bibles were printed? What is the truth of the flight into Egypt by Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus, and why was there never any subsequent mention of Jesus having spent any part of his childhood in Egypt? Was that story a way of planting the information about what became of Jesus’ wife after he was crucified? Who was the Black Madonna, revered in legend throughout southern France?

All these may be difficult questions for anyone steeped in the canonical gospels, or who is a devoted follower of established Christianity. They’ll be seen as disturbing, or as nonsense, or again as heresy. But to those who have had doubts or have left Christianity because there were certain precepts they found themselves unable to believe, or for those who have always seen Jesus as a great teacher, but human, this book opens up a new way of considering his life and teachings.

The information is presented in a way that makes for fast and easy reading, in contrast with more scholarly treatises on religious history. It’s a human story, told in human terms, giving the lay person access to a gathering of information difficult to come by elsewhere in as palatable a form. Complete footnotes are provided at the back of the book, where they don’t intrude on its reading ease. The color plates are magnificent, especially for a trade paperback. As a student of Tarot, I welcomed the images from the Charles VI Tarot and the theory of its possible origins as a way of teaching the Grail heresy in secret.

I found one weakness in the book, in what I perceived as redundancy, and perhaps too much effort to put things in layman’s terms. It’s possible the author underestimated the level of understanding of her readers. On the other hand, what I perceived as repetition may have derived from the number of times the themes actually repeat through history, adding possible weight to their veracity.

The information is presented respectfully, even lovingly. The author is clearly a devout person, who has great regard for people of all beliefs. She exhibits sensitivity for her subject matter and its possible impact on others’ faith. Her theories and the evidence supporting them, though revolutionary in nature, are at the same time gently offered.