Mary Magdalene is a figure on which a succession of fantasies has been projected. In one age after another her image was reinvented - sex worker, sibyl, repentant mystic, hairy nun, feminist icon - Mary Magdalene’s character has been conscripted by the Christian Church and popular culture at large as we wrestle with shifting attitudes toward materiality, divinity and sexuality. It wasn't until the publication of the Gospel of Mary in 1955, a Gnostic text written in the 3rd century CE and re-discovered in 1896, that we got to hear Mary Magdalene speak in her own words. The text suggests that Mary, not the Apostle Peter, was Jesus' closest disciple and hints at a power struggle between Mary and Peter that followed Jesus' death, which Peter eventually won. The Gospel of Mary was excluded from the biblical canon and is not considered to be a valid scripture, despite its use in the ancient church. This lecture traces images of Mary Magdalene, from the "hairy Marys" of the medieval imagination to her moody cigarette smoking portrayal by PJ Harvey in Hal Hartley's "Book of Life," and ends with a close reading of passages from the Gospel of Mary where she shares a vision of this world that is not the result of a fall or an error, but a place that is good and worthy. In getting close to our images of Mary Magdalene, in taking her words into our heart, we can get closer to the ethics and emotions that color our own view of this world.

Emerald Eliza Swann is an interdisciplinary artist, intuitive, writer, and educator based in New York City and Twentynine Palms, CA. Emerald received a BA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA from Central St. Martins in London in addition to training in Gnostic Christianity and Hermeticism. Their book "The Anatomy of the Aura" was released by St. Martin’s Press in April 2020. Emerald is the founder of The Golden Dome School and currently teaches alchemy at Pratt Institute.