Margaret Starbird has outlined her conviction that "Christianity at its inception included the celebration of the Hieros gamos ("holy wedding") of opposites, a model incarnate in the archetypal bridegroom and his bride – Jesus the Christ and the woman called "the Magdalen". This model of unity, tragically lost in the cradle of Christianity, is patterned on the fundamental blueprint for life on our planet, and manifested in the leadership role played by certain women in the community of Jesus' first followers." Starbird claims this sacred partnership was the same as that which existed in other regions of the Near East that predated Christianity, comparable to the cults of Inanna and Dummuzi, Ishtar and Tammuz – being part of a fertility cult that brought well being to its people.Margaret Starbird, Magdalene's Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and The Sacred Union In Christianity, pages 8–9 (Bear & Co, 2003). This marriage honored "the cosmic dance of masculine and feminine energies and the eternal cycles manifested by the Life Force", with Mary Magdalene designated the "Queen of Heaven".Joan Norton, Margaret Starbird, 14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene, pages 15–16 (Bear & Co, 2009).
