Reading Group Guide for Bright Dark Madonna

 

Mystified by her impending sainthood, Maeve speculates: “Maybe sainthood just happens if you live long enough and take yourself off somewhere, become identified with a cave or an island, become a feature of the landscape, the heir or progenitor of a legend.” What is your definition of a saint? Who are the saints in your life?

 

Place is important in this story. Ma, Maeve, and Sarah each become identified with a place, although they did not grow up there in these places and may not remain in them long. What makes a place sacred? Do you have a sacred place where part of you lingers?

 

Though there is only indirect reference to it, Maeve and Sarah’s story in many ways echoes the myth of Persephone and Demeter. What are the similarities and differences? Does this myth resonate for you in your own life as a mother or a daughter?

 

Many people either vilify or champion Paul or Tarsus, who is arguably the founder of Christianity as a world religion. How does Maeve view Paul? Did you have an opinion of Paul before you read Bright Dark Madonna? Has it changed?

 

Do you agree with Mary of Bethany that Maeve should have fought harder to put forth her own views of Jesus’s teaching? How are her views similar to or different from those held by Peter, Paul, and James? How do you see Jesus?

 

Maeve believes she had to choose between fighting for a role in the church and keeping her child. Do you agree that she had to choose? What choice would you have made?

 

With her early education in the oral tradition, Maeve is resistant to the idea of writing the story of Jesus. What are the advantages and disadvantages of written scripture? When a story is regarded as scripture, how does it change?

 

How does Ma differ from the traditional view of the Virgin Mary? How is she the same? In Bright Dark Madonna, Ma tacitly accepts the role of goddess, inheriting the office from Artemis of Ephesus? Do you see her as a goddess?

 

In her earlier life, Maeve was sexually active, first as a whore, then as Jesus’s lover and wife. How does she stay connected to her sexuality during her long period of celibacy—or does she lose touch? Were you pleased or disappointed that she finally takes a lover? What would you do in her circumstances?

 

 

           

The Passion of Mary Magdalen  | Magdalen Rising  |  Bright Dark Madonna   |  the author  

contact | Mary Magdalen factoids  |  The Maeve Chronicles  |  readers' room |  press room