The Feast of Mary Magdalene (£UK)
The Feast of Mary Magdalene (£UK)
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Celebrating The Feast of Mary Magdalene
July 22nd 2025 (online)
11am - 1pm California Check your local time here
Mary Magdalene & Isis Mythology with Jo Blake
Embodied Practices of the Women Disciples with Fay Barratt
The Gospel of Mary with David Curtis
The Witness with Jo Blake and Rob Clark (by separate pay-per-view link)
Welcome to this international gathering, coming together on the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene for a program of People, Prayers, Practices and Performance. May the spirit, message and gospel of Mary Magdalene take shape in us all.
Mary Magdalene & Isis Mythology with Jo Blake
Jo came across Mary Magdalene only after first meeting Isis. So what’s the connection? In this talk, Jo will tell the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris, and speak from her understanding of how the Jesus and Mary ‘event’ embodies and enacts a much more ancient archetypal pattern of the sacred, alchemical couple. Alongside Isis and Osiris, Jo will look at this mythological pattern in other world myths, including the Sumerian Inanna and Dumuzi.
Jo is a contemporary storyteller with a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and embodiment. She works with the world’s oral literatures - myth, fairy tale, epics – combining traditional storytelling with contemporary performance practice. Her work champions the transformative power of embodied myth and acts of narration as cultural therapeutics.
Over a 20-year career, she has worked in nationally and internationally in schools, festivals, prisons, museums, libraries, art centres and mid-scale theatre; with the National Trust, National Theatre and British Council. She has a PhD in Emergent Storytelling Practices, and is a featured artist in Contemporary Storytelling Performance: Female Artists on Practice, Platforms, Presences, (2023, Harrop. S, Routledge). She is an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for Storytelling nominee, and is cofounder of Holding the Tail of the Wolf – storytelling and wilderness training programme (2025).
Embodied Practices of the Women Disciples with Fay Barratt
Fay Barratt is an artist, Interfaith Minister and spiritual teacher. She had a long career working as a theatre designer, director and workshop leader; going on to lead drama and art workshops with people of all ages and abilities particularly vulnerable and volatile groups particularly with Clean Break Company working with women ex offenders and in prisons. It was this work that led Fay to study in depth Psychology with Dr Chuck Spezzano. In 2001 she was ordained as an Interfaith Minister and has lead many weddings, funerals and rituals. For 9 years she was a leading member of the faculty of One Spirit Interfaith Foundation training interfaith Ministers and Spiritual Counsellors. Holding workshops and retreats on the Divine Feminine led in 2011 to a profound awakening to the teachings of Mary Magdalene and she was soon unearthing the other women disciples around Jesus.
Fay went on to found the Mary Magdalene School of Wisdom which she led until 2022, and has recently published a set of cards and book - Mary Magdalene and the Women Disciples. She now concentrates on art and nature holding retreats and classes on and off line. Fay can be found at The Monastery Manchester, UK, holding One Spirit services and Sacred Art workshops. Her art work, retreats and online teaching can be found on: https://fay-barratt-sacred-art.mailchimpsites.com/
"What is the Gospel of Mary & why does it matter?" - David Curtis
David Curtis is author of The Gospel of Mary website where he has published the third draft of his ongoing translation project for copyright-free distribution under a creative commons license. He leads Friendly Study Groups on the text using a non-hierarchical Quaker study method. David is an active Quaker, and also has a long background in Tibetan Buddhism as a student of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. His growing understanding of the text is continually informed by such diverse tools as pilgrimage, compassionate inquiry, yoga nidra and play, and by the collective wisdom of everyone he meets on this path.
The Gospel of Mary reveals a radical re-visioning of Christianity from a woman’s perspective nearly 2000 years ago, yet its non-conformist approach seems surprisingly modern. An ancient text, but what does it mean to each one of us today? We will explore the text from different angles - as 'Terma' treasure, as empowerment, as unmuting, as a non-conformist and non-colonial tradition in the lineage of Mary Magdalene. There will be an invitation to join the free monthly online study group.
The Witness with Jo Blake and Rob Clark
There will be the opportunity to watch a recent performance of The Witness, recorded live at Oxford Storytelling Festival, by separate pay-per-view link .
"His Story became History. Her story became Heresy."
The sacred and profane collide in this performance by interdisciplinary artist Jo Blake, inspired by the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Three copies of the gospel have been found – all of them with missing pages. As the only gospel written in the name of a woman, it reveals Mary Magdalene as a most formidable and courageous spiritual leader, confidante and companion of Christ. Moving through humour, bold physicality and intricate storytelling; The Witness reveals how one woman’s 2000 year old testimony comes clattering into the life of a contemporary woman, initiating a reckoning and demanding that the missing pages be written anew
As with last year, we are running today's event as a fundraiser for Jo's performance piece 'The Witness' , 100% of your donation for today's event will go towards taking this back out on the road. Everyone today has given their time and resources freely to make this happen, so please give generously to support Jo's ground breaking work and help bring its valuable message to a wider audience.