Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.”
Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Those few who have reached out to comment on the Gospel of St. Thomas have typically explained this verse away, essentially denying its value and authenticity as an essential part of these wisdom teachings. However, they have not studied the esoteric wisdom deeply or received the esoteric teachings from an initiate that would reveal the inner meaning of this verse, and thus they speak in ignorance regarding it. The very fact that the apostle who wrote these sayings down used this saying to close the Gospel should make it clear that its inclusion was purposeful and that the inner meaning is important to the overall teachings presented in the Gospel.
First, this saying reveals the tension and opposition that always exists between the conventional wisdom of unenlightened society and the transcendental Wisdom of God. In the days of the Master, society held women in low esteem, to such a severe point that we might say that women were held in contempt. Women of ancient Palestine, as in many Middle Eastern countries to this day, had no legal rights of their own apart from men and, likewise, had no authority in public or state domain. Thus, if the spiritual and religious domain was greater than the social and state domain, then women certainly could not have any spiritual or religious authority either. Therefore, it was unheard of that women should study the inner tradition of esoteric wisdom, let alone be received as a disciple and receive teachings and initiation directly from a holy master. Conventional wisdom of the day forbade it. Yet there is clear evidence that the Master nevertheless taught and initiated wo-men—the Samaritan woman whom he met at the well and to whom he taught the Gospel being a fine example.
Spiritually, however, the argument against women has no basis. In reality, the holy soul has no gender association or distinction. Within the holy soul, there is the potential of male and female alike; yet the holy soul is neither male nor female. Thus, spiritually, there is no difference between men and women, as they are fundamentally the same in the inmost part of their holy soul and are co-equal in Spirit. As our life comes from our soul, it stands to reason that this equality plays itself out on spiritual, psychic, and physical levels. What differences there may be complement one another, and underlying our differences, there is a sameness, and thus a co-equality, both on earth and in heaven. Although the Master understood this, the society in which he lived did not, and many of his disciples did not either. The conventional wisdom of his time contradicted the Wisdom of God. Therefore, the teachings of the Master contradicted those of the society in which he lived.
Only now, in some of our modern societies, are we seeing a slow change in this area of conventional wisdom. If we want to understand how fierce an opposition there would have been to this change in the time of Master Yeshua, we might merely consider the fierce opposition against equal rights for gay and lesbian peoples in our societies and spiritual communities today—an opposition that often goes so far as grave persecution, and even murder, to which no real justice is typically rendered. Hence, conventional wisdom remains ignorant and unenlightened. On this level, the Master is saying to his disciples that they cannot follow in the way of the conventional wisdom of society and seek a true enlightenment. Rather, they must generate more enlightened spiritual communities founded upon the greater Wisdom of God—the Divine Wisdom of love and compassion.
The Way of enlightenment is opposite to the way of unenlightened society. You must separate yourself from herd consciousness and sojourn in the opposite direction of unenlightened society in order to realize Christ-consciousness in yourself. Once having realized something of a higher consciousness, you must then labor to enlighten your society and to bring about a greater good.
In regard to making the female male, one must understand that, in the holy Kabbalah, terms of gender have a different meaning and intent than they do in mundane terminology. In the Kabbalah, female means receptivity and receiving, and male means sharing, imparting, or giving. Obviously, the two are interdependent and interconnected to the extent that one cannot exist without the other. In fact, they represent two distinct operations of the same capacity.
The novice disciple or initiate, according to the Kabbalah, is female. In the beginning of the path, he or she has only the desire to receive for him or herself alone and is not yet capable of imparting the teachings and initiations. The novice must first receive the teachings and initiations, and then bringing forth the Light and Spirit from within him or herself, he or she will become male, which is to say, able to share and impart what he or she has received. Thus, every novice disciple or initiate is female, and, as he or she progresses in the path, becomes male. This statement of Master Yeshua applies to both men and women and, in this light, takes on whole new levels of meaning.
In terms of Christian Gnosticism, there is much more to be said of this saying of the Master. The Christian Gnostic initiate of the Sophian Tradition believes that St. Mary Magdalene was more than a disciple, that she was the consort and wife of Lord Yeshua. Not only does the Sophian Tradition view her as a spiritual consort and wife, but views her as the holy bride, co-equal and co-divine with Lord Yeshua (the bridegroom). He embodies Christ the Logos (Word) and she embodies Christ the Sophia (Wisdom). The holy mother is the personification of primordial or uncreated Wisdom; the holy bride is the personification of created Wisdom. Hence, they are representations of the holy Shekinah above and below, respectively. Through Sophia (Mother and Daughter Wisdom), Logos (Son of God) is revealed and made known.
In the same way that one’s holy soul is neither male or female and yet has the potential of both male and female within it, so is the soul of the Messiah neither male or female, yet has within it the capacity of the male and the female—hence, Logos and Sophia, the Spiritual Sun of God. Thus, in the Gnostic view, save that the soul of the Messiah is revealed through both male and female form, the revelation of the soul of the Anointed is incomplete. Although the embodiment of Logos in Yeshua Messiah was accepted by all the disciples, the embodiment of Sophia in St. Mary Magdalene was accepted by only a few of the disciples. Thus, in the First Coming of the Messiah, the Logos was accepted and the Sophia was rejected, so that the full revelation of the Christos is as yet incomplete in the gnostic view. Christ must come again in a woman’s form to complete the divine revelation.
In the Gnostic Tradition, it is believed that redemption of humanity as a whole will not be complete until womanhood is also fully redeemed, and man and woman stand as co-equal in the Spirit—a possibility that only now in our own times is beginning to be realized. As much as having faith in Lord Yeshua, Gnostic initiates feel that faith in Lady Mary is equally important. According to the tradition, the incarnation of the soul of the Messiah in a woman will be central to the Second Coming of Christ in glory—specifically, a reincarnation of the soul of St. Mary Magdalene.
The soul of Yeshua Messiah ascended into repose in the Living Father, but it is said that the soul of Kallah Messiah (Mary Magdalene) remains with us in the world. As yet not having been accepted and received in full, she continues to incarnate in a woman’s form from one generation to another, and will continue to do so until the time of the Second Coming. She will embody the soul of the Messiah, and she will unite herself with the bridegroom in one Body of Light, perfecting the manifestation of the second Adam, male and female restored to primordial unity. When the Lord speaks of our becoming “like unto the angels,” it is this state of union of the male and female within ourselves that he alludes to. Such is the nature of a supernal state of being.
The true nature of the Second Coming is something more than the incarnation of the Christos in a woman. It is a dawn of Christ-consciousness in a sufficient number of individuals to effect a radical transformation in the collective human consciousness. The association of the true Church of Christ with the Holy Bride alludes to this, and it is through Christ the Sophia that it will come to pass. By nature, true womanhood is the matrix of Christ-consciousness; the enlightened woman has the innate power to spontaneously transmit the Spirit and Light to others, thus bringing about the dawn of Christ-consciousness in a larger segment of humanity. Whereas, with Christ the Logos, select individuals receive the Light-transmission, with Christ the Sophia, groups of individuals will receive the Light-transmission. With the presence of the Holy Bride, they will have the Divine power to bring about the great transformation.
Outside of a relatively few esoteric circles, the mysteries of the Holy Bride are not known. Very few are aware of she who is the apostle of the apostles, let alone know of her role in the holy gospel and the ultimate fruition of the divine revelation. As this saying indicates, even among the disciples of Master Yeshua, many did not believe in the co-divinity of the Bridegroom and Holy Bride or understand the greater and supreme mystery of the bridal chamber in the Second Coming. Here began the division between the orthodox and Gnostic Christians, which continues to this very day.
If reception is only complete in imparting, then the incarnation of Christ the Sophia in St. Mary Magdalene was incomplete. A sufficient number of individuals receiving the Sophian aspect of the Light-transmission is integral to the full embodiment of the soul of the Messiah in a woman’s form. Christ the Sophia waits the holy day of her full reception when she will be able to complete her divine labor in humanity and bring the divine revelation of the Christos to fruition. Believing in her, as we believe in Yeshua Messiah, inviting her and welcoming her, we labor with the Holy Bride to bring about the holy day of her reception when the mystery of the bridal chamber shall be fully disclosed in Divine rapture.
Many would listen and hear these teachings on St. Mary Magdalene and consider them blasphemy or as something inspired by the devil. Isn’t that exactly the accusations that the pharisees made of Lord Yeshua, and why they sought to put him to death? The only real devil is ignorance, and it is clear that ignorance still dominates this world. How else could it be that so many believe in Christ incarnate as a man, but are not able to accept Christ incarnate as a woman? Tokenism abounds in some churches that include the Holy Mother in their worship! It is fine to pray to the Holy Mother, but to consider her equal to Lord Yeshua is unacceptable, let alone to consider Christ the Sophia incarnate in the person of Lady Mary Magdalene. Our gospel must address this disbalance between the Divine masculine and Divine feminine and restore God the Mother and the Holy Bride to their rightful place as co-equals with God the Father and the Son. How else shall we ever come into the Gnosis of God Most High, beyond all duality such as gender, or attain a state of non-dual Gnostic awareness without first realizing an equality of male and female? In the view of Gnostic preachers, the point of this necessity cannot be made strongly enough!
Many books could be written imparting the teachings of the holy bride, which are present in the Sophian Tradition of Gnosticism, but what has been said should suffice to open this saying of Yeshua to you and give you some insight of the inner levels of meaning Gnostic initiates find within it. Contemplation along these lines will bring you more insight. Through meditation upon the Holy Bride herself, you may well find that she comes to you in dreams and visions and inspirations.
May the Divine fullness of the Messiah grow and increase, and may the advent of the Second Coming be swift in arriving! Let us all pray that more and more women enter into the living apostolic succession, so that, as co-equals, male and female apostles might invoke the new dispensation of the Holy Spirit and truly bring about a new age! Amen.