Book Review - Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls

The US Review of Books - Received January 5, 2010
Reviewed by Sue Johnson (no relation)

"Praise be to the Creator of All.
Praise be unto this Life
For she is the one foretold
To be the Messenger of Hope.
She is the Anointed One
To bring the Message of Remembrance
Of who we are.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!" (quote from Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls)

Dan Brown opened the door to religious artifacts with his book The Da Vinci Code. Bettye Johnson blows that door off its hinges in Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls. After visiting France, the author became fascinated with Black Madonnas, which forms the basis for her wonderful new novel centering around two women hiking the French Pyrenees Mountains and discovering ancient scrolls in a hidden cave. Bringing an American Businessman and a disillusioned priest into their secret, the women hear an interpretation of the scrolls. It appears to be the life self-scribed story of Mary Magdalene.

As the two women and their companions continue to interpret the scrolls, they become fearful that the scrolls will fall into the wrong hands. The ladies begin a cross-country trek to insure that the scrolls are placed with the proper authorities, so that they may be received and enjoyed by all. What follows is a story of passion, betrayal, and mystery told in a page-turning style.

Although this is a work of fiction, truth is found in the research on display here--truth and the seekers of truth. The novel is packed full of historical references, but the fictional elements ease the delivery of the overly intellectual passages. There is also a bit of the outspoken to please the curious mind. In the end, this is an adventurous and thought-provoking story.

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Bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus

After my book Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls was published, I began receiving numerous emails from people who allege that they are of the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. I have endeavored to research and for my own satisfaction determine if anyone can really claim to be of that lineage. My own personal view is that there could be millions who are of that bloodline so who am I to throw those claims out with the bathwater.

There are those who claims that there are royalty who are of the bloodline. Some could be, however I have concluded from my research that there is no absolute record of the bloodline being only those of royal blood. The genealogy charts mean nothing, because few include the names of the mothers. It is a scientific fact that the genetic bloodline is handed down through the mother through her mitochondria. If a woman has no daughters to carry on the bloodline and only gives birth to sons, then the mitochondria lineage dies. I gave birth to three sons, therefore my mitochondria genetics will not be carried on. My sister had three girls and her mitochondria genetics is carried on through them.

In the book Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt by Ahmed Osman, he writes that it was a common agreement that the descent of the pharaohic line was carried by the eldest daughter and the eldest son married her in order to keep the title of Pharaoh. One can surmise and understand why there was so much intermarriage by Egyptian pharaohs. It is also known that in order to be Jewish that one must have a Jewish mother. Therefore it seems unlikely that the royalty of Europe are the only carriers of the bloodline.

The major claims are that Mary Magdalene came from the Tribe of Benjamin. There is absolutely no proof. The Benjamin's were virtually killed off and I am sure that in those days no written records survived. With the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria, Egypt by a Roman attack, the destruction by Islamic conquerors and later a Christian leader in Alexandria, most of the history of the ancient world was lost. It was known that the Romans kept meticulous records, however when the Catholic church became powerful most of their records were destroyed. Of course, we cannot totally blame the Church because Rome was sacked by the Visigoths, Vandals, Arab Saracens and many others. Then we have to take into consideration that there was destruction by Attila the Hun and many lost documents by the wars among the many tribes of Europe.

There is a mystique that the bloodline was carried through the Merovingian kings, also known as the shepherd kings. My research indicates that this is unlikely. The Merovingian line came from one of the Frankish tribes of Gaul and it was not unto the 5th century that the title of king was given to Clodion by Bishop Gregory of Tours According to The Birth of France by Katherine Scherman: It is impossible to pinpoint pre-fifth-century individuals of this family that was to become supreme. Scherman goes to to say, The first member of this ruling clan to be historically identified was Clodion, in the pages of the sixth-century History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours.

Schermon also writes: The Church even respected, perforce, traditional Frankish usage in royal concubinage; illegitimacy reflected no taint on the children. Merovingian blood was above stigma. It mattered not whether a child was the offspring of a princess or a serving maid, nor whether his mother was or was not orthodoxly married to his father. If the Merovingian father acknowledge his son, the child was a Merovingian too.

Apparently, they were not too concerned with their bloodline. It is tragic that there are countries of this world who kill female babies such as in India and China. Especially knowing that the true genetic bloodline passes through the mother's mitochondria only to female offspring.

Where do the Knights Templar fit into the scenario of the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus? Well, that will be my next blog posting.

Bettye Johnson, http://www.magdalenescrolls.com/