In the Gnostic Gospels, Mary Magdalene tells Jesus that Peter hates her and “all the race of women.” Peter even says, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” This is astonishing—not just for the period but even now. That same Peter would go on to become the symbolic foundation of the Catholic Church, an institution that, to this day, remains far from embracing the feminine.
“Simon took a prostitute and made her a goddess—just as the Church took a goddess and turned her into a prostitute.”
“The sacred feminine was not a deviation—it was the foundation erased to construct patriarchy.”
Mary Magdalene was a central spiritual authority, not a passive bystander—her role was deliberately diminished by patriarchal redaction.
The original Hebrew religion included goddess worship—Yahweh was paired with Asherah, worshipped as his consort in Solomon’s Temple.
Monotheism was not the origin but the endpoint of a political and spiritual evolution—it was a response to trauma and national failure, not divine revelation.
Simon Magus may have been an alternative Christ figure, presenting a path of sacred union through sexuality and feminine embodiment, vilified by the early Church.
“Temple prostitutes” were actually “holy women” or priestesses—a mistranslation that continues to perpetuate spiritual misogyny.
Jesus and Simon shared the same teacher—John the Baptist—suggesting parallel spiritual lineages that the Church has worked hard to separate.
Goddess figures like Anat, Isis, and Astarte were fluidly interchanged—the ancient world embraced archetypal continuity over rigid theology.
The suppression of women in spiritual roles was a late development, not the norm of early religious practice in Israelite or Christian history.
Modern spiritual imbalance stems from the repression of the feminine, and the restoration of inner and outer harmony requires the return of the goddess.
“Monotheism was born not from truth but from fear—a desperate grasp for control in the face of collapse.”
“The Holy Spirit is feminine, Sophia is wisdom, and God’s voice was never meant to be only male.”
This week, I’m thrilled to welcome authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, the visionary minds behind The Stargate Conspiracy, The Templar Revelation, and When God Had a Wife. If you follow me online, you’ve probably seen my “Holy Gem” posts referencing their work—insight bombs I received while listening to the audiobook mid-workout, moments so powerful they stopped me in my tracks.
You might even recognize Lynn and Clive from their cameo in The Da Vinci Code, a film directly inspired by their research. But what we uncover in this interview goes far deeper than pop culture references. We dive into the long-buried relationship between Yahweh and the goddess Asherah, the mythological overlaps of Astarte, Anat, Isis, and Lilith, and the explosive idea that monotheism was not divinely ordained but strategically invented.
The Bible, they argue, was written as propaganda. The authors explain how archeologists can’t find Solomon’s Temple—not because it’s a mystery, but because it was likely smaller than a modern church. The authors dive into the politics of spiritual identity and how ancient Israelites were not monotheists but monolatrists—tribes that favored one god while acknowledging many.
This brings us to the overlooked truth: Yahweh was once a storm god, indistinct from Baal. Both shared desert, storm, and warrior archetypes—neither the gentle “fatherly” image projected in modern religion. Asherah, Yahweh’s wife, was worshipped alongside him in Solomon’s Temple for over 300 years. She was erased, not because she lacked power, but because she threatened a consolidating patriarchy.
This erasure extends to her priestesses—the qedeshot or “holy women”—mistranslated over centuries as “temple prostitutes.” The authors argue this mistranslation was intentional, part of a broader effort to vilify sacred sexuality and feminine spiritual leadership. In fact, references to these women are still in scripture, if you know where to look.
We then dive into the radical parallels between Jesus and Simon Magus. Both were disciples of John the Baptist. Both performed healings and claimed special divine connection. Both traveled with women—Jesus with Mary Magdalene, Simon with Helen. The distinction? The early Church condemned Simon as a heretic and sex magician, while sanctifying Jesus—yet the messages and methods were eerily similar.
Simon’s message? That the sacred feminine must be restored. He took a prostitute and called her goddess—mirroring how the religion took a goddess and turned her into a prostitute. Simon and Helen’s union reflected cosmic duality—divine masculine and feminine reunited. And this wasn’t just symbolism. Their rituals included sacred sexuality, aimed at healing the split between flesh and divinity.
Which brings us back to Magdalene. The Gnostic Gospels reveal her not just as Jesus’ companion, but his initiatrix. She anointed him for death—an act of divine ordination, of sovereign spiritual authority. She asks questions the disciples don’t, and Jesus affirms her understanding again and again. Her name, Magdalene, may not refer to a place, but to “Migdal-Eder,” meaning “tower of the flock”—a title of power, not geography.
Peter hated her. The early Church edited her out. But she was there. The star of the hidden gospel. The priestess who dared crown the Christ.
Even the Holy Spirit, in Hebrew ruach, is feminine. The divine wisdom known as Sophia, later personified by Helen in Simon’s teachings and by Magdalene in Gnostic scripture, is the same force.
This episode ends with a call—not to destroy belief, but to expand it. To see the sacred feminine not as a threat, but as half the divine. To restore balance. To reclaim wisdom. To resurrect the goddess buried beneath doctrine.
“The Holy Spirit is feminine, Sophia is wisdom, and God’s voice was never meant to be only male.”
“You can rewrite the scriptures, but you can’t erase the goddess—she always leaves clues.”
“Jesus was funded, followed, and anointed by women—yet history edited them out to uphold a lie.”
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