A Magdalene Path to Healing
For as long as I can remember, people have whispered that anger is a sin, something to hide, to clamp down on, to tidy up before God can see.
But here’s the truth: I get angry. Sometimes often.
And if you’re anything like me, you may have wondered, how does that square with the path of the Marys? Am I, a priestess devoted to Magdalene and Mother Mary, somehow failing when the flame of anger rises?
Over this past month, as I’ve been teaching the Gospel of Mary Magdalene in our priestess training, a deeper knowing has been dawning in me. It’s a knowing that both comforts and challenges: the real “sin” ~ hamartia in Greek, literally “missing the mark” ~ is not anger at all. It’s what the gospel calls Wrath.
Wrath, the Twisted Hybrid
In her gospel, Magdalene speaks of Wrath as a kind of gnarly tangle of energies:
- Desire, the clutching at the realm of matter, as if that’s all there is.
- Ignorance, the forgetting of our divine essence, the ignore-ing of our own inner needs.
- Anger, but anger left untended, untethered.
- Zeal for death, that dark impulse to destroy or control when we feel cut off from Life itself.
Magdalene tells how this complex, literally a personified Adversary, accuses the soul of being a “human killer” and “space conqueror,” images of the urge to dominate when we are disconnected from Infinite Source.
When I sit with this, I see that wrath is simply anger that’s lost its way, anger that’s been hijacked by the ache of separation.
Anger Is Not the Enemy
The Marys have been whispering this truth into my heart: Anger, in its pure form, is a holy alarm bell. It signals: “Something is not right. A boundary has been crossed. A piece of your soul needs protection.”
Anger, when honored, protects life. It becomes dangerous only when disconnection from Source turns it into the creature called Wrath.
To confuse anger with wrath is to exile a sacred messenger from our emotional life.
Meeting the Roots of Wrath
The Marys show me that wrath feeds on the belief that our needs will never be met, that we have been abandoned by the very Source that birthed us.
Its “zeal for death” is the distorted longing to seize life-force from others when we’ve forgotten our own eternal wellspring.
This is where so many of our modern distractions and addictions arise ~ like distorted or compulsive sex, compulsive media use, the imbibing of substances to relax, unnecessary shopping. They are frantic attempts to fill the ache of separation.
I know in my own story how the old wound of childhood abandonment can feed wrath. When I neglect my own needs or secretly hope someone else will fill them, resentment starts to smolder. But this, too, can be healed.
A Magdalene Practice of Transmutation
Here is the practice the Marys have offered me, simple, luminous steps to unhook anger from wrath and reclaim its sacred power:
1. Breathe and Name
Pause. Breathe as though drawing starlight from the heart of the cosmos. Whisper: “Anger is present.” Naming keeps you rooted in the calm witness.
2. Ask the Deeper Question
Gently inquire: “What boundary is my anger protecting? What need longs to be honored?” Let the answer rise from within, like a pearl from deep water.
3. Feel Without Fueling
Let the sensation move through your body. Do not tighten or discharge it as harm. See it as a sacred flame, burning cleanly, not wildly.
4. Return to Source
Imagine a golden stream of Infinite Light pouring into your heart. Remember: you are already filled from the well of Creation. No person, no thing, can supply what is eternally yours.
5. Act with Clarity
From this place of connection, speak or act to restore the boundary, not to wound. Anger, transmuted, becomes a holy ally.
Wrath’s Hidden Gift
Even wrath carries a secret blessing. It shows us where we have forgotten our own divinity. When we meet it with love and return to the Infinite, we reclaim anger as a protective flame, a guide back to wholeness.
This is the Magdalene-Christos teaching that sings through me now: Every emotion, even the fiercest like anger, can become a doorway back to the Beloved.
Thank you for sharing. This Truth resonates for me. It helps me reorganizing anger feelings and trespassed boundaries
Thank you for sharing this with us, Maud!
This is so relevant to me right now. And Magdalene gives us practical steps to find presence around anger, which has been a challenge for me. Thank you.
Jodine, we’re glad to hear you found this helpful and relevant!
Thanks so much Marguerite for this concise breakdown of the process into anger and a clear path to it’s dissolution. I can relate to the shame/guilt/bad girl feelings that have come with this familiar emotion. I now feel guided to a loving resolution! xoxo
We’re glad to hear you found this helpful, Paula. Sending love…
I love this is am in the mist of this. I will practice this. I need more teaching in this
Claudia, you are your best teacher so keep practicing and it will become more natural day by day.
Thanks for this beautiful teaching about anger vs. wrath, and
how we can use and transmute our anger. Brava. Thank you.
Thank you, Gina! Sending love to you…
Thank you for this! This is so good to know. My anger has gotten me in trouble & currently is, even though I’m 71.
I’ve learned a lot about it recently & this is icing on the cake.
Thank you again!
Glad to hear this was helpful, Tanya!
Hi Marguerite, My first memory is of me looking at a candle flame … I was one year old … Anger has probably stirred unconsciously in this body for my whole life, and yes, it was because parts of me didn’t feel protected or loved. In fact I am always and eternally loved … now the allowing of the tolerance , the capacity , to feel joy .. all parts of us have the ability to tolerate joy … is what I look forward to Here and Now!
We appreciate your participation, Pamela!
You are welcome, Marguerite! Thank you for this opportunity. Allowing things to be as they are, is to allow Love. Love is what is, beyond all appearances, resistance, anger, self-doubt, judgement and the other cleverly hidden ego defenses. I am not afraid when I remember, I am who I am. To remember, I give all my ego desires, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, sensations to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirits Sees only truth, our innocence, through the veils of no thing. (What doesn’t last forever is not real. We can forgive ‘separation, attack thoughts’, because it’s impossible, it can only be imagined-dreamed of.) With much gratitude and appreciation for the graceful way that you teach, Marguerite Mary!
I love the distinction between anger and wrath. Thank you Marguerite for th inspiration 🙏
Hi Marlena, it takes discernment and willingness to notice the difference! Well worth the effort.
very helpful. Thank you
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Perfect! Thank you.
Wonderful to hear from you, Christie! Thank you.