Myriam of Migdal and the Tour Magdala

Odysseus sailed past the sirens, past the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis. There was danger from these sirens. Many a sailor before had been entranced by their “news” and had gone mad.

The sailors all had plugged their ears with wax. But Odysseus wanted to hear what the sirens had to say. His crew tied him to the ship’s mast, for Odysseus’ reason would surely be overcome by the power of the sirens.

Before Odysseus had the Adventure of the Sirens, he had descended into hell (Hades). There he met the phantom of Hercules. (Hercules was in heaven, but his phantom was in hell.) Hercules told Odysseus how he had been sent to Hades on one of his labors, to bring back the dog Cereberus.

Odysseus and Hercules had descended into hell. And so too we find, in the Athanasian Creed, that Jesus also descended into hell, between the time he died and when he rose.

For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. [1]

In some rites of Freemasonry, the candidate is “raised” to Master Mason. The traditional account of the death, several burials, and resurrections of one of the craft, Hiram Abiff, the widow’s son, is developed in conferring this Degree. [2] Jesus is the widow’s son, since his father Joseph was apparently dead when he was “raised.”

At the point known as “raising”, the candidate symbolically experiences the third and final stage of the symbolism of baptism – Resurrection. He is “raised” by the Worshipful Master (Joseph of Arimathea). [3]

The Herodians ruled in Judea. Herod the Great came to power by marrying Mariamme, heiress of the royal Hasmonean house. The minor heirs of the Hasmonean house were not pleased. Their displeasure culminated in a marriage, held at Cana, between a descendant of the royal house of David, Jeshua ben Joseph, and a Hasmonean princess, Myriam of Migdal. [4]

Jeshua ben Joseph (Jesus) was buried on “Good” Friday. Two days later, Myriam of Migdal (Mary Magdalene) came to the tomb very early, at the “rising of the sun.” Jesus was not there. He had been “raised.” [5]

In 1906, in southern France, at Rennes-le-Château, Bérenger Saunière started construction of the Tour Magdala, a tower. Mary Magdalene was born in Magdala in Galilee. [6]

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Athanasian Creed”, Wikipedia. Accessed April 20, 2019.
[2] “MASTER MASON, OR THIRD DEGREE”, Duncan’s Masonic Ritual. http://www.sacred-texts.com/mas/dun/dun04.htm
[3] “Death, Burial and Resurrection in the Masonic Lodge”, http://www.emfj.org/dbr.htm
[4] The Knights Templar of the Middle East, by HRH Prince Michael of Albany. San Francisco: Weiser Books, 2006.
[5] “Earthquakes, Then and Now”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, April 19, 2019. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2019/04/19/earthquakes-then-and-now/
[6] “Tour Magdala the tower built by Bérenger Saunière on his Domain in Rennes-le-Château”, https://www.renneslechateau.nl/2008/08/30/tour-magdala/