Mary

Three Marys appear in the four gospels, and in contemporary culture Mary is often called the mother of Jesus, also her sister is referred to as Mary.

However, the names Mary, Virgin Sophia and Mary Magdalena have different meanings in esoteric christianity, and they should not be confused with the historical figures of the women that existed around Christ-Jesus and appear in the Gospels. Yet this is exactly what has happened with theological interpretations and the Mary-dogmas of the roman Catholic Church.

The physical and historical mother of Jesus was not called Mary, the Gospel of John nowhere states that the mother of Jesus was called Mary but instead the author John uses the term 'mother of Jesus' whereas exoterically he leaves her entirely unnamed. In ancient times names were given in a very different way, and in esoteric Christianity the mother of Jesus was always called the Virgin Sophia.

In ancient teachings and texts of esoteric Christianity, such as the school of Dionysius, the sentient soul was called 'Mary Magdalene', the intellectual soul was called 'Mary', and the consciousness soul - as the principle in which the spirit-self develops - is called the 'mother of Christ', or 'Virgin Sophia'.

The reason for this is as follows: Human beings who had brought the spirit-self (or manas) to birth within them, were called Children of God, and they bore a higher Man within them, as the spirit-self had been born within them, out of the consciousness soul. Spiritually speaking, the 'mother' of such a spiritualized Man is not a bodily mother, but she lies within him, and is the purified and spiritualized consciousness soul: the principle who gives birth to the higher Man (see Man's higher triad).

Aspects

• in esoteric Christianity the mother of Jesus was called the Virgin Sophia, representing the consciousness soul: the principle who gives birth to the spirit-self (manas) and Man's higher triad. It is the principle that gives birth to spiritualized higher Man (see also Schema FMC00.468 and Schema FMC00.468A on Christ Module 5 - Initiation and spiritualization).
• for the Madonna as universal symbol of the virgin mother, see the topic page Sistine Madonna

the Marys

• the term 'the three Marys' originates from the fact that three Marys appear in the four canonical gospels, eg at the crucifixion and at the Cross at Golgotha. For an introduction see the wikipedia page for The Three Marys and on Cross at Golgotha#Christ-Jesus at the cross.
• the gospel of Philip (one of the texts found in Nag Hammadi in 1945) describes that three women were close and always walked with Christ-Jesus: his mother, her sister, and Magdalene as Christ-Jesus' close companion. A phrase states that "his mother, her sister and his companion were each a Mary"

mother of Jesus

• in the Gospels
  • Marriage of Cana
  • at the Cross at Golgotha
• this site refers to the mother of Jesus as 'Mary-Solomon' for ease of reference, she is the stepmother of the Nathan-Jesus. For more info and lecture references on the below (fromin Rudolf Steiner's Fifth Gospel), see Schema FMC00.043 on The two Jesus children.
  • She became a widow as Joseph-Solomon died early. The Solomon-Jesus child died shortly after the scene in the temple at about age 12, and also Mary-Nathan died soon after. Rudolf Steiner states "the etheric body of the Solomon-Jesus child was taken up into the spiritual world by Mary-Nathan".
  • Widow Mary-Solomon later formed a family with widower Joseph-Nathan and she thus became the stepmother of the Nathan-Jesus child. However also Joseph-Nathan died when Jesus was about 24 years old.
  • Rudolf Steiner states that "the soul of the deceased Mary-Nathan crossed into the living Mary-Solomon" around the time of the Baptism, when she was approx 45 years old, whereas previously .
• Rudolf Steiner describes an important conversation between Jesus and stepmother Mary-Solomon on five different occasions/lectures, for references see Schema FMC00.017
• Daskalos wrote that an archai humanized in the Virgin Mary, see also: The two Jesus children#2. A remarkable statement by Daskalos. Steiner stated that such bearer of an archai, ensouled by that spirit down to his physical body, is called a Dhyani-Buddha (re: Three classes of Buddhas: " Dhyani-Buddha is a generic name for human individualities in whom archai are active even as far as their physical body" (1909-04-16-GA110).)
• four Mary-dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church - see also wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Mariology#Dogmatic_teachings.
  • Mother of God (431, Council of Ephesus)
  • Perpetual virginity of Mary (553, Second Council of Constantinople): Mary was a virgin before, during and after giving birth.
  • the Immaculate Conception (1854): Mary, at her conception, was preserved immaculate from Original Sin.
  • the Assumption of Mary (1950): Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
    • Assumption Day on 15 August is a nationwide public holiday in any countries worldwide
    • wikipedia: The Assumption of the Virgin Mary does not appear in the New Testament, but appears in apocryphal literature of the 3rd and 4th centuries, and by 1000 was widely believed in the Western Church, though not made formal Catholic dogma until 1950. It first became a popular subject in Western Christian art in the 12th century, along with other narrative scenes from the Life of the Virgin, and the Coronation of the Virgin. These "Marian" subjects were promoted by a.o. the Cistercian Order and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Mary Magdalene

• in the Gospels
  • was a woman who anointed the feet of Christ Jesus in Bethany.
  • at the Cross at Golgotha
  • she was the first to witness Jesus's resurrection and "one of those who first understood that what had lived in Jesus was present after His death, that is, had been resurrected" because she was one of the first to have developed a faculty of clairvoyance (1908-05-31-GA103)
  • she is mentioned by name twelve times in the four canonical gospels, and according to these she traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection, she is known in some Christian traditions as 'apostle to the apostles'. She also appears as a central figure in gnostic Christian writings, including Pistis Sophia and others, where she is portrayed as an apostle who truly understood his teachings.

Inspirational quotes

from the Gospel of Philip - a gnostic text found in Nag Hammadi in 1945

quote adapted for readability except the last four words

Christ-Jesus' mother, her sister and Christ-Jesus' close companion were each a Mary

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.218 on Man's bodily principles

Schema FMC00.381 on The being of Elijah#Illustrations (about visit mother of Jesus to Elisabeth mother of John)

Lecture coverage and references

Pistis Sophia

on Mary Magdalene

note: excerpt below taken from wikipedia, not verified

The document takes the form of a long dialogue in which Jesus answers his followers' questions. Of the 64 questions, 39 are presented by a woman who is referred to as Mary or Mary Magdalene. At one point, Jesus says,

"Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren".

At another point, he tells her,

"Well done, Mary. You are more blessed than all women on Earth, because you will be the fullness of fullness and the completion of completion."

Simon Peter, annoyed at Mary's dominance of the conversation, tells Jesus, "My master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak, though she talks all the time."

Mary defends herself, saying,

"My master, I understand in my mind that I can come forward at any time to interpret what Pistis Sophia [a female deity] has said, but I am afraid of Peter, because he threatens me and hates our gender."

Jesus assures her,

"Any of those filled with the spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: no one will be able to oppose them."

Gospel of Philip

note: excerpt taken from wikipedia, not verified

There were three who always walked with the Lord: his mother, her sister, and Magdalene, who was called his companion. His mother, her sister and his companion were each a Mary.

1907-11-20-GA100

Let us now consider another scene in this Gospel. In (John 19:25), we read:

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mothers sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.”

If we wish to understand this Gospel it is necessary to know who these three women are. We do not usually give two sisters the same name; neither was it the custom in former times. The passage we have quoted proves that, according to St. John's Gospel, the mother of Jesus was not called Mary. If we search through the whole of this Gospel we nowhere find it said that the mother of Jesus was called Mary.

In the scene of the Marriage of Cana, for example, Chapter 2, we only read, “the mother of Jesus was there.” In these words something important is indicated, something we only understand when we know how the writer of this Gospel uses his words.

What does the expression “the mother of Jesus” mean?

We have seen that Man consists of physical, etheric and astral bodies. We must not consider the transition of the astral body to the spirit-self so simply. The I transforms the astral body very slowly and gradually into sentient soul, intellectual soul and spiritual or consciousness soul. The I goes on working and only when it has developed the consciousness soul is it able so to purify it that spirit-self can arise in it.

The following diagram represents the constitution of Man [editor: embedded as part of Schema FMC00.218]

• The spirit-man will only be developed in the distant future, and life-spirit is also only germinal in most people of the present day.
• The development of the spirit-self has only just begun; it is closely united with the consciousness soul (somewhat like a sword in its sheath).
• The sentient soul is similarly united with the astral body.

The human being thus consists of nine parts or principles; but as the spirit-self and the spiritual soul, and the sentient soul and the astral body are so closely united, we often speak of seven parts.

Spirit-self is the same as the “Holy Spirit,” who according to esoteric Christianity, is the guiding Being in the astral world. According to the same teaching, Life Spirit is called the Word or the Son; and Spirit Man is the “Father Spirit” or the “Father.”

Those human beings who had brought the Spirit Self to birth within them, were called Children of God; in such men “the light shone into the Darkness and they received the light.” Outwardly they were, men of flesh and blood, but they bore a higher Man within them [editor: see Man's higher triad]; the spirit-self had been born within them out of the consciousness soul.

The “mother” of such a spiritualised Man is not a bodily mother, she lies within him; she is the purified and spiritualised consciousness soul; she is the principle who gives birth to the higher Man.

This spiritual birth, a birth in the highest sense, is described in St. John's Gospel. The spirit-self (or 'the Holy Spirit') pours into the most highly purified consciousness soul. This is referred to in the words,

“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.” (John 1:32).

As the consciousness soul is the principle in which the spirit-self develops, this principle is called the 'mother of Christ', or, in the occult schools, the 'Virgin Sophia'.

Through the fertilisation of the Virgin Sophia the Christ could be born in Jesus of Nazareth.

In the occult school of Dionysius, the intellectual soul was called 'Mary', and the sentient soul 'Mary Magdalene'.

1908-05-31-GA103

also covered on Kundalini#Note 3 - The process of illumination

lecture called: The Nature of the Virgin Sophia and of the Holy Spirit

Thus we have acquired two concepts in their spiritual significance. We have learned to know

• the nature of the Virgin Sophia, which is the purified astral body, and
• the nature of the 'Holy Spirit', the Cosmic Universal I, which is received by the Virgin Sophia and which can then speak out of this purified astral body.

There is something else to be attained, a still higher stage, that is the ability to help someone else, the ability to give him the impulse to accomplish both of these. Men of our evolutionary epoch can receive the Virgin Sophia (the purified astral body) and the Holy Spirit (illumination) in the manner described, but only Christ Jesus could give to the Earth what was necessary to accomplish this. He has implanted in the spiritual part of the Earth those forces which make it possible for that to happen at all which has been described in the Christian initiation. You may ask how did this come about?

Two things are necessary for an understanding of this.

1/ First we must make ourselves acquainted with something purely historical, that is, with the manner of giving of names which was quite different in the age in which the Gospels were written from the way in which it is done at present.

Those who interpret the Gospel at present do not at all understand the principle of giving names at the time the Gospels were written and therefore they do not speak as they should. It is, in fact, exceedingly difficult to describe the principle of giving names at that time, yet we can make it comprehensible, even though we only indicate it in rough outlines.

Let us suppose, in the case of someone whom we meet, that instead of holding to the name which does not at all fit him, and which has been given to him in the abstract way customary today, we were to harken to and notice his most distinguishing characteristics, were to notice the most prominent attribute of his character and were in a position to discern clairvoyantly the deeper foundations of his being, then were to give him his name in accordance with those most important qualities which we believe should be attributed to him. Were we to follow such a method of giving names, we should be doing something, at a lower more elementary stage, similar to what was done at that time by those who gave names in the manner of the writer of the Gospel of St. John.

In order to make very clear his manner of giving names, let us consider the following:

The author of the St. John's Gospel regarded the physical, historic mother of Jesus in her most prominent characteristics and asked himself: Where shall I find a name for her which will express most perfectly her real being? Then, because she had, by means of her earlier incarnations, reached those spiritual heights upon which she stood; and because she appeared in her external personality to be a counterpart, a revelation of what was called in esoteric Christianity, the Virgin Sophia, he called the Mother of Jesus the 'Virgin Sophia'; and this is what she was always called in the esoteric places where esoteric Christianity was taught.

Exoterically he leaves her entirely unnamed in contradistinction to those others who have chosen for her the secular name, Mary. He could not take the secular name, he had to express in the name the profound, world historic evolution. He does this by indicating that she cannot be called Mary and what is more, he places by her side her sister Mary, wife of Cleophas and calls her simply the “Mother of Jesus.” He shows thereby that he does not wish to mention her name, that it cannot be publicly revealed. In esoteric circles, she is always called the “Virgin Sophia.” It was she who represented the “Virgin Sophia” as an external historical personality.

...

[condensation and spiritualization]

Let us suppose we have here a vessel filled with water. In the water, salt is dissolved and the water becomes quite transparent. Because we have warmed the water, we have made a salt solution. Now let us cool the water. The salt precipitates and we see how the salt condenses below and forms a deposit at the bottom of the vessel. That is the process for one who sees only with physical eyes.

But for a person who can see with spiritual eyes, something else is happening. While the salt is condensing below, the spirit of the salt streams up through the water, filling it. The salt can only become condensed when the spirit of the salt has departed from it and become diffused into the water.

Those who understand these things know that wherever condensation takes place, a spiritualization also always occurs. What thus condenses below has its counterpart above in the spiritual, just as in the case of the salt, when it condenses and is precipitated below, its spirit streams upward and disseminates.

Therefore, it was not only a physical process that took place when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Saviour, but it was actually accompanied by a spiritual process; that is, the Holy Spirit which was received at the Baptism united Itself with the Earth; that the Christ Himself flowed into the very being of the Earth.

From now on, the Earth was changed, and this is the reason for saying to you, in earlier lectures, that if a person had viewed the Earth from a distant star, he would have observed that its whole appearance was altered with the Mystery of Golgotha.

The Sun Logos became a part of the Earth, formed an alliance with it and became the Spirit of the Earth.

This he achieved by entering into the body of Jesus of Nazareth in his thirtieth year, and by remaining active there for three years, after which he continued to remain on the Earth. Now, the important thing is, that this event must produce an effect upon the true Christian; that it must give something by which he may gradually develop the beginnings of a purified astral body in the Christian sense.

There had to be something there for the Christian whereby he could make his astral body gradually more and more like a Virgin Sophia [consciousness soul], and through it, receive into himself the Holy Spirit which was able to spread out over the entire Earth, but which could not be received by anyone whose astral body did not resemble the Virgin Sophia.

[Gospel of John]

There had to be something which possesses the power to transform the human astral body into a Virgin Sophia [consciousness soul]. What is this power?

It consists in the fact of Christ Jesus entrusting to the Disciple whom He loved - in other words to the writer of the Gospel of St. John - the mission of describing truly and faithfully through his own illumination the events of Palestine in order that men might be affected by them.

If men permit what is written in the Gospel of St. John to work sufficiently upon them, their astral body is in the process of becoming a Virgin Sophia [consciousness soul] and it will become receptive to the Holy Spirit [spirit self manas]

Gradually, through the strength of the impulse which emanates from this Gospel, it will become susceptible of feeling the true spirit and later of perceiving it. This mission, this charge, was given to the writer of the Gospel by Jesus Christ. You need but read the Gospel.

[at the Cross]

The Mother of Jesus - the Virgin Sophia in the esoteric meaning of Christianity - stands at the foot of the cross, and from the cross the Christ says to the disciple whom he loved: “Henceforth, this is thy Mother” and from this hour the disciple took her unto himself.

This means: “That force which was in my astral body and made it capable of becoming bearer of the Holy Spirit [spirit self or manas], I now give over to thee; thou shalt write down what this astral body has been able to acquire through its development.”

“And the Disciple took her unto himself,” that means he wrote the Gospel of St. John.

And this Gospel of St. John is the Gospel in which the writer has concealed powers which develop the Virgin Sophia [consciousness soul].

At the cross, the mission was entrusted to him of receiving that force as his mother and of being the true, genuine interpreter of the Messiah. This really means that if you live wholly in accordance with the Gospel of St. John and understand it spiritually, it has the force to lead you to Christian katharsis, it has the power to give you the Virgin Sophia [consciousness soul]. Then will the Holy Spirit [spiritual principle of manas or spirit-self], united with the Earth, grant you illumination or photismos according to the Christian meaning.

And what the most intimate disciples experienced there in Palestine was so powerful that from that time on, they possessed at least the capacity of perceiving in the spiritual world. The most intimate disciples had received this capacity into themselves.

Perceiving in the spirit, in the Christian sense, means that the person transforms his astral body to such a degree through the power of the Event of Palestine that what he sees need not be before him externally and physically-sensible. He possesses something by means of which he can perceive in the spirit.

[Mary Magdalene at the grave]

There were such intimate pupils. The woman who anointed the feet of Christ Jesus in Bethany had received through the Event of Palestine the powerful force needed for spiritual perception, and she is, for example, one of those who first understood that what had lived in Jesus was present after His death, that is, had been resurrected. She possessed this faculty.

It may be asked: Whence came this possibility? It came through the development of her inner sense-organs. Are we told this in the Gospel? We are indeed; we are told that Mary Magdalene was led to the grave, that the body had disappeared and that she saw there two spiritual forms.

These two spiritual forms are always to be seen when a corpse is present for a certain time after death. On the one side is to be seen the astral body, and on the other, what gradually separates from it as ether body, then passing over into the cosmic ether. Wholly apart from the physical body, there are two spiritual forms present which belong to the spiritual world.

Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting.

She beheld this because she had become clairvoyant through the force and power of the Event of Palestine.

And she beheld something more: she beheld the Risen Christ. Was it necessary for her to be clairvoyant, to be able to behold the Christ?

If you have seen a person in physical form a few days ago, do you not think you would recognize him again if he should appear before you?

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing it to be the gardener . ...

And in order that it might be told to us as exactly as possible, it was not only said once, but again at the next appearance of the Risen Christ, when Jesus appeared at the sea of Gennesareth.

But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

The esoteric pupils find Him there. Those who had received the full force of the Event of Palestine could grasp the situation and see that it was the Risen Jesus who could be perceived spiritually. Although the disciples and Mary Magdalene saw Him, yet there were some among them who were less able to develop clairvoyant power. One of these was Thomas. It is said that he was not present the first time the disciples saw the Lord, and he declared he would have to lay his hands in His wounds, he would have to touch physically the body of the Risen Christ. You ask: What happened? The effort was then made to assist him to develop spiritual perception. And how was this done? Let us take the words of the Gospel itself:

And after a week His disciples were again within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus the doors being shut, and stood in their midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas, reach hither thy fingers and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. And thou shalt behold something if thou dost not rely upon the outer appearance, but art impregnated with inner power.

This inner power which should proceed from the Event of Palestine is called “Faith.” It is no ordinary force, but an inner clairvoyant power. Permeate thyself with inner power, then thou needest no longer hold as real that only which thou seest externally; for blessed are they who are able to know what they do not see outwardly!

Thus we see that we have to do with the full reality and truth of the Resurrection and that only those are fully able to understand it, who have first developed the inner power to perceive in the spirit world. This will make the last chapter of the Gospel of St. John comprehensible to you, in which again and again it is pointed out that the closest followers of Christ Jesus have reached the stage of the Virgin Sophia, because the Event of Golgotha had been consummated in their presence.

But when they had to stand firm for the first time, had actually to behold a spiritual event, they were still blinded and had first to find their way. They did not know that he was the same one who had earlier been among them. Here is something which we must grasp with the most subtle concepts; for the grossly materialistic person would say: “Then the Resurrection is undermined!” The miracle of the Resurrection is to be taken quite literally, for he said: “Lo, I remain with you always, even unto the end of the age, unto the end of the cosmic age.”

1950-11-01- Pope Pius XII

in Munificentissimus Deus, on the 'Assumption of Mary'

We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

This is one of the four Maria-dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, along with the Immaculate Conception (1854)

Discussion

Note 1 - Confusing views on Mary and Sophia

In contemporary sources ...

1/ The four Maria dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church are in (rather strong) contradiction with Rudolf Steiner's teachings.

2/ The eternal femine is mixed up ... Sophia

3/ Maria Magdalene .. is said to be on Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper, stories exist that she married Jesus (re the movies The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Gospel of Jesus's Wife (2012), etc.)

etc.

Related pages

• Sistine Madonna
• The two Jesus children
• Man's higher triad

References and further reading

• Richard Karutz (1867-1945): 'Maria im fernen Osten' (1925)
• Emil Bock: 'Threefold Mary' (2003 in EN, original in DE 'Das dreifache Mariengeheimnis. Drei Vorträge' published in 1997)
  • three lectures: 'The Mystery of the Virgin Mary in Body, Soul, and Spirit' presented during the Christmas Holy Nights of 1950/51.
  • On November 1, 1950, Pius XII proclaimed the Dogma of Mary's bodily assumption into heaven, which sent shock waves throughout the Christian world. C.G. Jung wrote his Answer to Job in response. Emil Bock's response was these lectures, which answer some of the issues and broaden the scope.
• John Roex: 'Houd me niet vast : Rudolf Steiner over Maria Magdalena' (2014)