Looking for Mary Magdalene: Alternative Pilgrimage and Ritual Creativity at Catholic Shrines in France.By Anna Fedele.

Abstract

Mary Magdalene pilgrims are ‘doing theology’ and ‘creating new images of divinity and humanity’, as well as ‘creating ritual’ in the course of pilgrimage to Catholic shrines in France. The pilgrims studied by anthropologist Anna Fedele included two Catalan women who travelled on their own, and three groups—a Spanish-Catalan group of women, an Italian group led by a male shaman, and an Anglo-American group led by a male Jungian. The majority of the pilgrims were women. They shared a common critique of Christianity as male-focused and anti-body, as evidenced by the elevation of the ‘Virgin’ Mary as the primary image of female power—with an emphasis on women’s sexual purity. The Magdalene pilgrims shared a familiarity with Jungian discourse about the ‘wounded’ feminine and the need to reincorporate positive ‘feminine’ imagery into western religion and culture. They also shared what Fedele calls an ‘energy discourse’ which is kind of lingua franca uniting a variety of alternative spiritualities, including New Age, neo-Pagan, neo-shaman, and Goddess. This discourse speaks of energy fields, sensing energies, and exchanging energies.