Starbird, Margaret 1942-

views updated

STARBIRD, Margaret 1942-
(Margaret L. Starbird)

PERSONAL:

Born June 18, 1942, in West Point, NY; daughter of Charles F., Jr. (a military officer) and Margery B. Leonard; married Edward A. Starbird (a military officer), July 6, 1968; children: five. Education: University of Maryland, B.A., 1963, M.A., 1966; attended Vanderbilt University, 1988-89.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Steilacoom, WA. Office—P.O. Box 97043, Lakewood, WA 98497-0043. E-mail—starbird@wa.net.

CAREER:

University of Maryland at College Park, instructor in German, between 1964 and 1968; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, instructor in foreign languages, 1969-70; Central Texas College Extension, Fort Lewis, WA, instructor in basic skills, 1992-2004. Hosts workshops and retreats focused on the subject of Mary Magdalene.

MEMBER:

PEO Sisterhood.

WRITINGS:

The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, Bear (Santa Fe, NM), 1993.

The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine, Bear (Santa Fe, NM), 1998.

The Tarot Trumps and the Holy Grail: Great Secrets of the Middle Ages, WovenWord Press (Boulder, CO), 2000.

Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and the Sacred Union in Christianity, Bear (Rochester, VT), 2003.

The Feminine Face of Christianity, Quest Books (Wheaton, IL), 2003.

Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile, Bear (Rochester, VT), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Margaret Starbird told CA: "My work is centered on reclaiming the sacred feminine in Christianity, especially as incarnated in Mary Magdalene. I began my research in an attempt to debunk the theory published in the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail that Jesus was married and that his wife and child survived as political exiles in Gaul. After years of study I became convinced that this 'heresy of the Holy Grail' was widespread in Western Europe, where it was ruthlessly suppressed by the Inquisition. Powerful evidence proves that the Grail heresy was believed because it was deeply imbedded in the canonical Gospels—in the ancient mythology of the Sacrificed Bridegroom/King and the exile of his Bride. My books are the product of my faith journey in search of the lost bride/forgotten feminine at the heart of the Christian story."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, July, 2003, Gary P. Gillum, review of The Feminine Face of Christianity, p. 90.

National Catholic Reporter, September 10, 1993, Patricia McCarty, review of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, p. 29.

Publishers Weekly, August 22, 2005, review of Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile, p. 60.