Book Nook: The Other Goddess - Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge

Dr. Joanna Kujawa believes if you want to be spiritual, you have to ask the difficult questions. She does just that in her new book The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge.

Dr. Kujawa argues that in the process of recovering the healing power of the Goddess we have focused solely on the mother archetype and left out the other Goddess, who is often represented in mythical, historical, and Gnostic sources as wise, mysterious, and in the possession of the healing power of Eros.

Is there a lineage of goddesses that claims the evolutionary power of female sexuality? And if so, why were they pushed to the shadows and demeaned as harlots? 

Looking into esoteric traditions that celebrated the Goddess and her art of sexual alchemy, Dr. Kujawa sets out on a detective journey to answer these questions. Along the way she discovers that Mary Magdalene stands at the center of this investigation.

You can learn more in this interview. 

1)  What do you mean the Goddesses of Eros?

I began exploring the Goddesses of Eros because I wanted to answer some burning questions such as:  Is there a lineage of goddesses that claims the evolutionary power of female sexuality?  And if so, why were they pushed to the shadows and demeaned as harlots? This search began when as a young girl.  I saw two paintings in a church in my hometown in Poland: one was that of the Virgin Mary which everyone revered and the other was that of Mary Magdalene  - in this case portrayed as a sinner with some sexual connotations.  However, even then, I intuitively felt that there was much more to Mary Magdalene’s story then what we were told.  Many years later, it set me on a journey to answer the question – why women’s sexuality was always shown in a negative and, if there were other women or goddesses of the past who had answers to my questions. This is how my investigative journey began culminating in my writing my book The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge.

2)  Who are some of the goddesses you discuss in your book?

In my investigative journey, I found a distinct lineage of goddesses who were sexually empowered and shared some similarities with Mary Magdalene.  They are some of the most beloved goddesses in many mythologies such as: Aphrodite (Ancient Greek Goddess), Inana (an ancient Assyrian Goddess from over 3500 years ago), Hathor and Isis (both Ancient Egyptian Goddesses), the Hindu Goddess Radha or Tantric Goddesses such as Sundari and Kali – all very powerful and assertive in their sexuality and beauty. I discuss these and many other goddess and similarities between them in The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge.

3)  Why were the Goddesses of Eros maligned?

This is a very interesting and important question.  When I studied those of many cultures, I noticed that they all started as very powerful goddesses but, at some stage of their stories, something happened that completely disempowered them.  In the case of Goddess Aphrodite – this happened after she fell in love.  The once powerful goddess gave up all her power once she entered into a relationship.  Goddess Inanna was tricked to into visiting the Underworld where she, unexpectedly, was betrayed and stripped of her power – fortunately she managed to eventually regain her rightful status.  The Tantric Goddess Sundari, who once ‘ruled upon three worlds’, is now used as a name for beauty products or even for shady massage parlours.  I began to understand that these stories represent a deeper psychological history about women and our sexuality and I decided to look further into these in my book,  The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge.

4)  Were you surprised to find out that Mary Magdalene was at the heart of your inquiry and what did you discover?  Share with us your detective journey and research.  What was one of the most compelling things you found?

What surprised me most about the story of Mary Magdalene was that she was not a prostitute and nowadays scholars agree that there is no scriptural evidence that the unnamed woman-sinner from the Bible was Mary Magdalene.  I delved deeper into this and discoved that there were many ancient documents called Gnostic Gospels such as The Gospel of Mary Magdalene or The Gospel of Philip that portrayed Mary Magdalene as the favourite disciple of Jesus and possibly his partner.  I also discovered that there was evidence that far from being a prostitute, Mary Magdalene was a well-educated woman who came from a wealthy family.  This led me to a fascinating possibility that she might have been the same person as Mary the Prophetess who was a famous alchemist in ancient Alexandria.  I now believe that, after the event of Resurrection, she travelled to Alexandria in Egypt and, as many legends say, later travelled to Southern France where she spent the last years of her life.

5)  Why is this work important to women and men today?

This is perhaps the most important part of The Other Goddess.  Today, both women and men, continue to suffer from the unnecessary polarities between the mother archetype and the harlot archetype.  This is a very unhealthy situation which creates unnecessary confusion in our relationships as well as in our self-esteem. Women need to reclaim their beauty and sexuality in a conscious and respectful way.  There is absolutely no reason why a woman could not be a mother and be sexy and beautiful at the same time.  Conversely, some women may choose not to be mothers and their choice should also be respected.  Either way, I encourage woman to express their femininity, including their sexuality, in a way that honours them in a personal journey that they themselves choose.  The Other Goddess is that other version of ourselves: the one who fully claims who she is. To learn more, I offer you of The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge: amzn.to/3KsQmB1

You can also stay in touch via: Dr Joanna Kujawa | Facebook

And my youtube channel: Dr Joanna Kujawa - YouTube 

 

Dr Joanna Kujawa is the author of The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses  of Eros and Secret Knowledge, scholar, and spiritual detective. She received her BA and MA from the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada, and her PhD from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. As an active academic for over 20 years, she uses her scholarly training to investigate topics other academics often pass over, such as: Can spirituality and sexuality be experienced as one? Who was the real Mary Magdalene? Is there a lineage of Goddesses now resurfacing in our collective experience of spirituality?

Apart from her writings for academic publications on spiritual travel, Joanna has also had her short stories and essays published through various media and in many prestigious anthologies, including Best Australian Stories, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, She Rises.  She is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Goddess Studies.