The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail

I really enjoyed this book. It was well researched and provided many great conversation starters! If you want any information on Mary as she pertains to Christ as a woman, or if you are interested in the possibility of the Sang Real..Holy Bloodline..then this is the book for you! Great historical and geographical information. I definitely recommend this book. I checked it out of the library 3 times and then decided that I had to have it for my own!

Margaret Starbird's (1992) book The Woman with the Alabaster Jar was the first of her several books on Mary Magdalene, and it was inspired by her reading of the 1981 best-seller Holy Blood, Holy Grail (HBHG). As such, the book is a blend of her own original research on the subject as well as a good re-hashing of the HBHG vis-à-vis Mary Magdalene and her role in the life of Jesus, and fans of HBHG will be very much at home in Starbird's book.This 200 page book is really 3 books in 1. The first 22 pages, labeled a prologue, are a small novella about Mary and Jesus. Chapters 1 to 3 discuss the historical evidence for Mary Magdalene, and the remaining chapters discuss the role that Mary Magdalene (and the sacred feminine) played in the art and folklore of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Think of the third part as an excellent supplement to HGBGStarbird's case and the work on Mary Magdalene is by now standard fare, although in 1992 (pre DaVinci Code) it was pretty revolutionary - Jesus and Mary were married...for various reasons the church hid this fact...they had a child...Mary fled to France after Jesus was crucified where the bloodline of Jesus continued to develop...etc. Where Starbird goes beyond the HBHG tradition is in her emphasis on the "sacred marriage" and its implications. This theme she carries from the OT to the NT and right through the Middle Ages up until the present. Her work is thoughtful, documented, creative, and insightful.I have some disagreements with Starbird about some of her historical assumptions (e.g., Jesus was "taller than average", he was from Nazareth, nailed to the cross and pierced through the heart with a spear). These are all relatively minor points and all refer to Jesus, not Mary.With regard to the historical Mary Magdalene, Starbird does cover some basic ground, but she will elaborate in greater and deeper detail in her later books. The strength of this book is the breadth of her coverage of the influence of Mary Magdalene on 1000 years of artwork and folklore, from the fairy tales of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunsel, and Snow White to the foundation of the Tarot cards to the works of Botticelli and beyond.The bottom line is that this book is a must for any serious person with any interest in the New Testament. It will be particularly beneficial for someone with a wide range of interests beyond the traditional biblical studies approach.

First things first. The author states very clearly that she knows she cannot "prove" anything with this book, other than to show that the Mary Magdelen as Holy Grail heresy was historically known and practiced as a kind of alternative to orthodox Christianity. On that count, I think she does a pretty good job.This book has a lot of bits I consider odd (such as noting that certain names are anagrams or inverse of other names/words), and several interesting but strange detours (sacred geometry? Roma legends about how the placement of cathedrals in France as a mirror image of the constellation Virgo?), and some of the inferences and connections the author draws do seem tenuous, but the overall scholarship and actual research seems fairly solid. I do feel that some of her assumptions are questionable, but I have done some followup independent research of my own, and so far I haven't found any glaring errors in her historical work (though I admit, I've only checked up on facts that struck me as especially strange or unsupported).As far as taking the material in this book as some sort of historical truth, well, truth is in the eye of the beholder, and history is, when all is said and done, a matter of consensus. Clearly, Margaret Starbird believes that this literally unorthodox story/myth is valid as a belief system (she believes it is "true", whatever "true" is supposed to mean in this context), but ultimately, faith in the Magdalen-as-Holy-Grail is going to be up to the reader. This "Jesus was human and had a wife and child" story has, certainly, been around for a long, long time (well before Baigent and Lee tackled it in Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which is the book which sparked Margaret Starbird's quest to disprove the heresy). You can take the story as gospel or you can take it as just an interesting alternative myth/story or you can take it as a dreadful heresy that should be dismissed with contempt, or you can just take it as a curious story told from bits and pieces of history.Personally, I enjoy mythology of all kinds, and I particularly enjoy examining the history of Christianity in all its forms. Orthodoxy is the one that "won out", but Christianity has a rich and diverse history with all kinds of divergent beliefs streams and worldviews and I find it all very interesting. This book was, for me, good food for thought and a very solid look into an alternative storyline/mythology, and that's exactly what I was looking for, so it works for me.

This book is as timely now as when it was first published. And now we are experiencing the rise of the feminine principles that will help restore balance to the world.

This book is another means of my enlightenment and discovery of the hidden truth. Amazing and easy to read document.I recommend it to those who are in search of hidden knowledge and feel something is missing on what we have been taught.

The seller delivered original book in the most perfect condition…

This is basically the book behind Brown's The Da Vinci Code. It was written well before Brown published his work but was, unfortunately, overlooked and thus most people have never even heard of its existence. But this is a must read if you wish to understand the Jesus and Mary Magdalen's story. This is not some fictional account, mind you, but a true, real story based on historical evidence and facts.

Starbird has covered all her bases, but unfortunately falls short in explaining each of them. I would have appreciated a more complete bibliography. Her writing style is certainly fluid, weaving in both a tone of narrator and researcher.A perfect jumping point for anyone who is curious about the Magdalen.

I have always been fascinated by mysteries. This is my kind of book.

This book was suggested to me by a very good friend and I have started to read it and can't put it down,but I've bought it to take away with me ,so io hope thsat theres enough reading before I go