(In preparation for the Summer 2023 release of my ecofeminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret, I’m going to be sharing some of my old writing and research that went into the project. The image above is by Sue Ellen Parkinson).
For much too long, the dominant reproductive paradigm has rested on the idea of egg and womb as passive recipients of an active sperm. It is only recently that we have circled back to the older, and more accurate, perspective of the womb as agential and discerning. Much of the story of the active sperm penetrating the docile egg is just that – a story. As investigative reporter Michael Hobbes says, “What do we want to believe so badly that we don’t actually require evidence to believe it is true?” The story of the passive egg is deeply sexist, projecting stereotypical gender roles onto much more complicated and nuanced biological realities. Actual scientific evidence points to an egg that is highly selective and dynamic.
Of course, there’s the science and then there is also the deep time intuitive knowledge. In many myths and fairytales, the queen picks her consort. Penelope sets a contest for her suitors and only one has the ability to win her heart. In the Ramayana, Sita can only be married to the man that wields Shiva’s bow. Parvati herself retires to an ascetic life on a mountain, knowing that her apparent stillness and disinterest will finally compel the object of her desire Shiva to approach her with curiosity. On the surface it may seem as if these figures are sitting and waiting, passively fulfilling a patriarchal archetype. But if we go a little deeper, we see that they are like trees: rooted deeply in their intuition and bodily potency: the axial presence in storytelling that defies linearity and instead blooms outward from its center. They know if they stay centered and slow, they will be able to recognize a partner suited to their particular needs. Studies now show that the egg asserts itself, using chemical signals to preferentially choose certain sperm over others (often not those of her partner interestingly enough). The queen, consort, or seated figure calls in the right ingredient. There is no need to go out and seek like the frenzied heroes that leave home and get lost in the forest. The home in this story is the active agent. The body knows and the knowing is a verb, a summons. The window is open and a bird flies in. “How can this be?” says a virginal Mary. But perhaps in an older, oral version of annunciation story she smiles knowingly at her ability to attract a spirit, a sacred bird.
I am deeply excited by the rise in interest around the Magdalene. I love seeing people’s artistic and creative representations of her. I live for new research and interpretations of her life. But there is one big issue I have that keeps cropping up.
The interpretation of the Magdalene as divine vessel. The Magdalene as a passive, timid, devoted womb to be filled and used by Jesus. Penitent and prayerful. The Magdalene as Grail, the woman who is just a cup, a container for “the male”, that continues the blood line and then retires because her reproductive purpose has been fulfilled.
The idea of a secret child is exciting and certainly exists in hundreds of folk legends spanning thousands of years and much of Europe. But the simplification of the Magdalene into a sacred reproductive vessel feels sexist to me. Or at least unimaginative.
But let us also remember that her name is more than that: it is, Migdal-N. The Tower. A structure. A home. An embodied verticality. And let me propose something else. Why the need to obscure Miriam from the Gospels? To divide her into multiple character to obscure her prominence in Jesus’s life? Why the need to turn her into a prostitute?
I say it is because there is a secret we are only beginning to touch on. What if she was more than just a passive follower, receiving the miracle of Jesus’s word, his blood line?What if she was his spiritual equal? Or, at least, his spiritual match?
Sometimes I like to imagine that the secret behind the Gospels is not that Jesus “chooses” the Magdalene as one of his followers and heals her, but that the moment Miriam came into being, in Second Temple Period Palestine, an intra-active process began. Perhaps she was calling in her teacher and companion as well.
What would it mean to reimagine Miriam Migdal-N as the active principle? The secret egg in the womb we have for so long called an empty tomb?
You can pre-order The Madonna Secret and read more about the book here and pre-order from any online bookseller.
Image used by the amazing Sue Ellen Parkinson whose painting is also used on the cover of the book. See more of her work at here at her webpageFor more on choosy eggs read this Stanford Study: here.
Small note: For lovers of The Flowering Wand, friends at the group Kinhood have put together a magical course on Men’s Sex and Sexuality that is welcoming of all men including queer and trans men. You can sign up and read more here.
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Wow, I love this Sophie, thank you. Also... It’s kind of bizarre how much our obsessions overlap. I was introduced to you because of a project I’m doing about queer mycology buuuut the project I did before that is called womb with a view. It’s an interactive immersive performance set in a giant womb where the audience (the eggs) are guided from conception to birth through the medium of silly (song, cabaret and karaoke sung through the umbilical cord microphone) I set out to ‘queer’ our conception of wombs/childbirth/pregnancy and celebrate the eggs agency, retelling this well worn narrative. I did a lot of research and read this amazing article you’ve attached. Xxx Pregnancy is incredibly queer!! Can’t believe it’s been adopted as the poster child of heteronormativity
had to smile at the michael hobbes quote -- big fan of You're Wrong About. thank you for your writing (as always) & SO looking forward to the Madonna Secret!