Comment on the Magdalene Books

It is always rewarding to have someone send a comment or a review of my books. Here is one I just received today 7/28/2011.

"At the moment, I'm re-reading your wonderful, spiritual, loving Magdalene books for the 3rd time!! I take them with me where ever I go. At home, they are placed in a position of honor in my bookshelf."
~ Jo Dean

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 The novel is packed full of historical references, but the fictional elements ease the delivery of the overly intellectual passages.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.

www.theusreview.com/USRrecent.html.
The US Review of Books
PO Box 11, Titusville, NJ 08560
www.theUSreview.com

EMERGING WOMAN

Emerging Woman from Shadows of History

A Workshop with Bettye Johnson
Saturday, June 13 2009 from 9:30 a.m. ~ 2:30 p.m.
Olympia Center,
222 Olympia St., NW
Olympia WA 98501

Bettye has long been an advocate for the status of women and is bringing together a dynamic workshop using her experiences as a Federal Women's Program Coordinator for a government district of 5 offices, a holistic health center program coordinator, an ordained minister of Divine Science, a wife and mother and now a self-published author of four books, two of which are award winning Independent Publishers Book Awards.

Bettye will lead the participants through:
~ Why the female power was subjugated to male power.
~ Moving out of the Shadow into the 21st Century.
~ Reweaving the past into the future.
~ Creating your personal Life Map.
~ Balancing your unique personal power.

Cost is $50.00 and there is pre-registration on-line using Paypal by going to http://www.magdalenescrolls.com and clicking on Bookstore.
Or, sending a cashier's check or money order to:
Bettye Johnson
P.O. Box 97
Rainier, WA 98576
Cash at the door and please bring a sack lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I AM WOMAN

I am woman.
I am awakened to my greatness.
No longer do I hold anger, hatred or condemnation.
No longer do I hold jealousy, envy or greed.
I give up sickness and blame.
I am woman.
I am awakened to my power.
I have always been powerful.
I have always been genius.
I am a Keeper of Wisdom.
I am woman.
copyright Bettye Johnson
excerpt from Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy

REGARDING MARGARET STARBIRD

Today I received a comment posted on the Guestbook of my website www.magdalenescrolls.com. The one who posted the comment asked if I had read the books of Starbird and saying that she lived in Washington State. The guest commenter went on to ask why don't I get together with Starbird - or something to that effect.

This brought up a memory reaching back to 2005. I had just published the first edition of Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls. I listed Starbird's book "Woman With the Alabaster Jar" in my bibliography. I met another author who suggested that she, Starbird and myself create a documentary regarding our views and research on Mary Magdalene. Each of us had different approaches. Starbird was approached and thought it was a good idea, however after asking her publisher, Inner Traditions, she declined following the dictates of her publisher.

Yes, I knew Starbird lived in Washington State and I admire her for what she has written. The commenter wrote that Starbird was a student of divinity. I am a retired ordained minister of Divine Science and for those of you not familiar with Divine Science, it was founded by three women in the early part of the last century. There were a number of great teachers and books that were spawned by Divine Science, i.e. Dr. Joseph Murphy who authored The Power of the Subconscious Mind to name one.

I have done extensive research on the background of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and also the Bible. I have also written articles on my research and my research uncovered a different history than what the traditional so-called authorities found. I submitted my 2nd edition of Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls to The Writers Digest competition and although I was not a winner, I was a winner - the reason being that the judge gave me a hi-5 in all five categories and had this to say in answer to questions posed:

What did you like best about this book?
"Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is a tantalizing story depicting the discovery of ancient scrolls about Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Though it covers some of the same ground as the Da Vinci Code, the writing is infinitely better and far more believable. The heroines in the story are more realistic and the adventures described in a truer voice along with a possible time-line--something very much lacking in Dan Brown's tale. Whether the reader choose to believe what is revealed in story form or not, the book is entertaining from beginning to end."
How can the author improve this book?
"No suggestions--the author knows how to write and tell a compelling and convincing story. Hopefully the promotion for this book will be enough to make those who read the Da Vinci Code want to read the Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls."

Having received awards for Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls and Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy, I don't know if having been part of a documentary with Margaret Starbird would have benefited me. On the other hand, the book could have been made into a movie or a mini-tv series. However, I am not ruling it out as anything is possible.

THE MAGDALENE MATRIARCHIAL LINK- Part I

There are questions I have asked myself such as why is the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus so important? Why have the many Catholic churches been given names that include Magdalene and Mary in them? Why has the Church attempted to hide the true greatness of Mary Magdalene? Why are there so many Black Madonnas in churches? Why do so many attribute healings to Mary Magdalene? Why have the Knights Templar kept her memory alive? Why have artists painted her? These are all interesting questions and they really have not been answered by the authors of the many books written about Mary Magdalene. I have also wondered by the many churches dedicated to John the Baptist and also to James, Peter, Paul and other apostles. If Jesus was the only son of God, then why aren't these churches reflecting more of Jesus, a male God instead of the feminine?

The last big question I have asked is why are women the most suppressed and abused species on this planet? When I first began researching for my book Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls, I began finding information that most biblical scholars overlook. It has been similar to putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Instead of beginning with Mary Magdalene and Jesus, I am going back to the beginnings of how the human was created. I have heard that the answer is in the question. Therefore, I am going back to Genesis in the Bible.

Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him: male and female He created them."

These two verses are not fully understood by the clergy who teach the people. Wouldn't you say that these two verses are in conflict, or are they revealing something not understood? There is not just one God. The Christians think their God is the only one and the Muslims think Allah is the only God. These beliefs come from programming of the human mind and it is time to begin unraveling this limited thinking.

The author Zechariah Sitchen asked questions when as a young boy in class to learn the Talmud. When he questioned, the Rabbi told him not to think, but only to accept. This did not satisfy the young boy and when he became an adult, he began a quest. His quest led him to the Sumerian Tablets and he learned to translate them. What he discovered answers the ambiguity of the two verses of Genesis I quoted above. Sitchen has written a series of books titled The Earth Chronicles, which I devoured in the late 80's and early 90's of the last century.

There were gods who came to this planet Earth approximately 450,000 years ago looking for gold to see their planet's atmosphere and they found it here. These gods were called Annunaki and their home planet Nibiru. I am collapsing time because one Earth year is equal to 3,600 Nibiru years. The ruler of Nibiru was named Anu and he sent his two primary sons Enlil and Enki to take charge of our planet. These two sons were half-brothers and they also had a half-sister Ninhursag. After many thousands of years, the Annunaki workers revolted against working the gold mines and something had to be done.

On this planet were primitive beings. Ninhursag being a brilliant scientist and geneticist began experimenting with these primitive beings in her laboratories all over the world. The one we are aware of is the Garden of Eden. Does that ring a bell? This brilliant scientist working with her brother Enki developed the first human body. There was a problem. The human body could not reproduce. Therefore, it was back to the drawing board and what evolved from the first human named Adam (atom?) was Eve. Ninhursag took the eggs from the female primitive species and genetically engineered it with the sperm of the Annunaki - primarily Enki and the female Annunaki carried these new beings in their wombs until they came to term.

How did the term 'gods' come into being? One suggestion is that the new human beings were the slaves for the Annunaki and referred to their masters using the word gold. Eventually the letter l was dropped and the name became god. What intelligence was operating the bodies of not only the Annunaki, but also the slave beings created. There had to be an intelligence operating their brains. The brains are sophisticated computers.

From what I can perceive, Ninhursag created the human brain and tweaked it by dividing it in two parts. This was done to keep the humans as a slave worker for them. She knew that if she gave them the full brain like the Annunaki that they would become intelligent too soon. She also gave the new species their genetics and DNA. Why do you think scientists have been puzzled over the so-called junk DNA? It is there waiting to be activated by us. Ninhursag also created the mitochondria to where the bloodline could only be passed from mother to daughter.

Books and articles that place women beneath men have contributed to the subjugation of women for eons and are tiresome. While writing about Mary Magdalene for my book Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls, I found it a challenge to find any credible history of her era. Men and for the most part, men who were monks wrote the information available. This should tell us something.
Some books list a supposed genealogy of the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus and this is even more interesting. Men created the so-called reputable charts and only once in a great while is the mother named. As in the case of the Merovingian lineage, a king had children by different women and perhaps one was a wife. The eldest son of the Merovingian king supposedly carried the lineage forward even though the mother was not the queen. Thus, it became that the lineage was handed down from king to king. This in itself is suspect and I wonder if these kings and men of royalty were hatched in an incubator or an oven. The lack of the mother's name is very telling as to the attitudes regarding women. Science today is indicating that this is not so.

There is scientific evidence from archaeology combined with the study of the DNA and genes that it is a possibility women and men came from one woman nicknamed Eve. The primary piece of evidence is called mitochondria. An article by Rebecca Cann of the University of Hawaii, together with her two male coworkers, stunned the scientific world when the article was published in the British journal Nature on January 1, 1987. The article, Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution, alleges that all people living on Earth now can date their ancestry back to 200,000 years ago to a particular woman living at that time. Since the article was published, there have been other scientific studies and subsequent research alleges it could have been a group of women. What does this mean for women?It means that the hereditary maternal DNA is carried by the mitochondria, which is passed from mother to daughter. Any mitochondria in the male sperm dies and is not passed to the daughters or the sons. Therefore, if a man and woman have only sons, the woman’s mitochondria carrying the lineage dies out. When a son with no female sibling marries a woman and they have a daughter, then that woman’s mitochondria DNA is passed down. From my perspective, it would be quite onerous to trace the lineage unless one knew who the females were.

The ancient Egyptians knew this and this is why a Pharaoh as a father or a son would marry a daughter and have a child in order to carry the bloodline. What is the mitochondrial? From the science reports I have researched, the general consensus is that it carries the power of the energy of a cell. It could also be called the power generator of the cell. The mitochondria also have other functions, but for the purpose of this article, I want to emphasize the importance it has in tracing a lineage because the mitochondria also has its own DNA. I find it a tragedy that down through the ages and today in some cultures, it is the male child who is desired and in a few cultures the female baby is killed.

Due to attitudes of men of history, almost all knowledge of powerful and wonderful women has been either suppressed or eradicated. In some instances such as Mary Magdalene, Cleopatra, Lucretia Borgia, and Marie Antoinette, they have been portrayed as either sinners or in unflattering terms. I chose to portray Mary Magdalene as a powerful woman in her own right and I used my research to write this story in novel form. She was the wife of Jesus and they had two children—a girl and a boy.

I have three sons and therefore my mitochondria is not passed down. It stops with me, however my sister had three girls and they will carry on the line. My granddaughters now carry the maternal lineage through their mothers’ mitochondria. I primarily raised my sons alone, as their father was a career military man and away two-thirds of our married life. This arrangement gave me the opportunity to raise my sons as I wanted to and they have all grown into splendid men. They are loving, caring men and are not prejudice against women.

We, the women must take the responsibility of teaching our sons and daughters that each is an equal. It can begin in the womb. While carrying a child in the womb, the woman can speak to it and begin the teaching along with playing classical music. A fetus is aware in the womb. Now, that is another study in itself.For further research, I recommend reading Zechariah Sitchen’s book The Lost Book of Enki. An excellent website is from a NOVA documentary, Tracing Ancestry Through MtDNA, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/neanderthals/mtdna.html

In my future postings, I will share more about the intelligence operating our bodies and write about Isis and other goddesses.

Unveiling Another Mystery of Rennes le Chateau

Currently there is even more interest in Rennes le Chateau, France triggered by the documentary Bloodline. Before I get into another mystery of Rennes le Chateau, I want to add to my last blog posting something about the skull and crossbones used by 'pirates.' Most interpretations are that it depicts death to the enemies. There is another interpretation of this symbol and this is it represents the power of the mind over matter, or mastery of the mind over the body. It is something to think about. Most common symbols have meanings within meanings similar to cracking a nut and getting to the kernel.

The idea to write a book about Mary Magdalene came after a trip to Europe and the Languedoc region. I had already spent a number of years researching the Knights Templar and the Black Madonnas. My traveling companion and I first stopped at Collioures, France, which is a small seaside resort town on the Mediterranean. I noted the small hotel and restaurant with the sign and name of the Knights Templar. We also toured the Royal Castle, which was once another home for the kings of Majorca. One part of this castle had been given to the Knights Templar. After this short visit, I became even more interested in the Knights Templar and their connection to Mary Magdalene and the Black Madonnas.

My traveling companion and I when visiting northern Spain, rented a car later and traveled through parts of the Languedoc Pyrenees. One of the places we visited was Rennes le Chateau. I became intrigued also with the symbols Sauniere had created in the church and especially with two statues flanking the altar. One was the statue of the Mother Mary holding a child. On the opposite side was Joseph also holding a small child. I knew immediately the symbol these two statues represented. It was the obvious unobvious. Jesus had a twin brother named Thomas. The New Testament also calls the twin Dydimus Thomas, or the Twin Thomas.

In addressing the faithful at St. Peter's Square on 9/27/2006, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Thomas and said his name "is derived from the root name ta'am, which means paired, twin." The Pope went on to say that he did not understand why Thomas had been given the nickname. Thomas was actually the twin brother of Jesus and one only has to read the Gospel of Thomas to gain a deeper meaning of what Jesus taught. Perhaps the Pope was laying a foundation for it to be fully known that Jesus had a twin. Whatever his intent was, it was a revealing statement.

After my visit to Rennes le Chateau, I wondered why no one picked up the full meaning of these statues, but then I realize I had been taught well to recognize what the two statues represented. Saunier apparently knew much more than has been revealed. It will be interesting to observe the further revelations of the documentary Bloodline. There is much, much more to be revealed not only about the mystery surrounding Rennes le Chateau, Mary Magdalene, Jesus and also the Bible. I thoroughly enjoy researching hidden history or suppressed history. I will be writing more about what I uncovered in my research.

The Knights Templar - Another Point of View

There is a mystique about the Knights Templar and I became intrigued with their history in 1991 when I read Genisis The First Book of Revelations by David Wood. Wood had become interested in the Languedoc region of France surrounding Rennes le Chateau and he is well-versed in sacred geometry as well as being adept at mapping. Wood discovered that there were pentagram templates in this mountainous area that produced unbelievable correspondence between churches and chateaus which dated between the 11th and 12th century AD.

Recently I viewed the documentary Bloodline, produced by Rene Barnett and directed by Bruce Burgess, which is a fascinating film about the discovery of a hidden tomb near Rennes-le-Chateau with a mummified body covered with a white shroud and a Knights Templar red cross symbol on it. In the film, Burgess interviews a member or a representative of the Priory of Sion, which surfaced in the 1950's. What emerged from this interview is that there is an underground temple under this area of Languedoc. What part have the Knights Templar played? How much did they know?

To answer this, I have gone back to my own personal research and also to the knowledge I have gained from being a long-time student of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, an academy of quantum physics of the mind. As a student, I have been taught about esoteric philosophy and also about the ancient schools of wisdom with the most prominent ones being in Egypt.

The Knights Templar came into being after the First Crusade of 1096, supposedly in 1118 AD and initially with nine knights. These nine knights having formed a monastic order took in no new members for nine years. This is most interesting. What were they doing during those nine years? When the Order was formed, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave them quarters in the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount was the captured Al Aqasa Mosque and carried a mystique. The Templar's referred to it as the Temple of Solomon. Why?

It is believed that Solomon's Temple was in Jerusalem, however there is evidence that the Temple was located in Egypt and I will write another posting on that subject. Solomon is also noted for his wisdom. There is a possibility that the nine knights studied in an ancient school of wisdom during those nine years and when they had learned about sacred geometry and the power of the mind, they began taking in new members. I have also learned that many great men - and some women have had to use a cover to hide their ability to do the Great Work. Therefore, there are many misconceptions as to the true nature of some very great people. History is fluid and if one digs deep enough, another truth will emerge.

The Templar's brought back not only sacred geometry, but sacred knowledge and under the cover of the Order of the Knights Templar also known as the Poor Soldiers of Christ. Using the knowledge they had gained, the Order became very rich and were able to build churches. What better way to leave a record for someone in the future to know that the churches and chateaus in the area of Rennes-le-Chateau formed a pentagram indicating a sacred temple under the mountainious area?

Another clue is a well-known drawing of two knights riding together on one horse. This is a clue that there is another side to their purpose and true nature, which is applying esoteric knowledge. Leading a double life, they knew they could not apply this knowledge unless it was hidden from the Catholic Church. Therefore, they used the Church to cover their true purpose. In essence, they were living dual lives. This symbol does represent poverty. It is the obvious unobvious.

The Church has promoted the idea that the pentagram is of the Devil. Not at all. It is the skeleton of the star and it is used on many flags. The flag of the U.S. has fifty stars based on the skeleton of the pentagram. As a child I remember drawing pentagrams with my doodling. No one taught me. The symbol of the pentagram is ancient and the five points represents the human body. Think about it. Stand with your legs and feet stretched apart and your arms straight out. Mentally draw a line from the left foot up to the top of the head and then down to the right foot. Next draw a line from the right foot to the tip of the left hand and then bring the line to the tip of your right hand. Next, draw a line from the outstretched right hand to the left foot. One can get an idea of this from Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian Man.

Ancient symbols have carried messages to the human and few realize their full meanings. Therefore, the fact that the Knights Templar were knowledgeable in ancient or esoteric knowledge is revealed in the churches they were responsible for building and the sites they chose. Another clue that is evident reveals itself in their ability to keep alive the Divine Feminine in the form of Mary Magdalene. It is my perspective that the Knights purposely dressed the way they did and also took vows of poverty and chastity to hide their true intent.

Perhaps they learned during those nine years in Jerusalem - or elsewhere that Mary Magdalene was equal to Jesus and that she was also an initiate in a school of ancient knowledge. We do not know for sure that the nine Knights spent all their nine years in Jerusalem supposedly digging for hidden treasure. Their treasure was expanding their minds in the midst of the control of the Church and kings. It is very evident the Knights revered the Divine Feminine and passed this knowledge on to initiates of the mystery schools located under the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Chartres Cathedral in Chartres.

When King Phillip of France seized the assets of the Knights Templar and set out to kill all of them, one of the things they were accused of was worshipping a skull named Baphomet. There were artists who were painting a skull with Mary Magdalene and most of the interpretations have missed what it represented. The skull houses the brain and the brain is the greatest computer ever conceived and created. The skull represents sacred knowledge and that everyone has the ability to access it.

In my books Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls and Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy, I have strived to portray a side of Mary Magdalene that has been ignored by mainstream scholars who continue to shift through the dry bones of the New Testament. There was and is another side to who and what she was. One clue comes from the Eastern Orthodox Church, which has a tradition of painting eggs red at Easter. The story is that after Jesus' death and resurrection, that Mary Magdalene attended a banquet given by Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar and when questioned by him replied "Christ is risen." Tiberius handed her a hardboiled egg from the banquet table and handed to her. He told her that he would believe her if she turned the egg red. Within a blink of an eye, the egg turned red. There had to be something great about her for this legend to have been passed down through hundreds of years.

Therefore, the Knights Templar did their part by keeping her memory alive along with the Divine Feminine. There is much more symbology revealed in the churches they were responsible for building and that is another blog posting.

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/

Two Wins. How Sweet It Is!

Here I am, a two-time book award winner! Yes, it is sweet. In 2006 my first book, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls was an Independent Publisher Book Awards Winner (IPPY Award) and in 2008 I was a winner of another Independent Publisher Books Awards for Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy. A blurb about the IPPY Award is as follows: The Independent Publisher Book Awards were conceived in 1996 as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry. The awards are intended to bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles produced each year, and reward those who exhibit the courage, innovation, and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing.

These awards are validations for my skill as a writer. I published my first book in 2004 and revised it in 2005. Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is in the genre of the Da Vinci Code and it has been said much better. Last November I received a Commentary Sheet from the Writer's Digest, which grades books on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 meaning excellent. The judge's commentary is as follows:

Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is a tantalizing story depicting the discovery of ancient scrolls about Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Though it covers ome of the same ground as the Da Vinci Code, the writing is infinitely better and far more believable. The heroines in the story are more realistic and the adventures described in a truer voice along with a possible time-line--something very much lacking in Dan Brown's tale. Whether the reader chooses to believe what is revealed in story form or not, the book is entertaining from beginning to end.

The author knows how to write and tell a compelling and convincing story. Hopefully the promotion for this book will be enough to make those who read the Da Vinci Code want to read the Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.

It's sequel was released in January 2008. Again, how sweet it is. Both books can be purchased from http://www.magdalenescrolls.com/, http://www.barnes&noble.com/, http://www.bookhitch.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.silverlife32.com/

It is in every woman to be creative. Not all of us have the same creativity, but it is up to each one to explore and pursue what interests them the most. My passion is writing and I did not allow it to come forth until I was in my early seventies. It is never too late to pursue one's passion.