Church of the Black Magdalene
The Church of the Black Magdalene was a Setite cult during the Middle Ages that suffered the most under the Inquisition. Today, the Church is but a shadow of its former power.
Description
Drawing many influences from the gnostic Cainite Heresy, the Magdalenites presented Set’s teachings as the “true” doctrine that Jesus had given his thirteenth Apostle, Mary Magdalene. According to the Magdalene Gospel, Christ’s ministry and sacrifice lifted the burden of original sin, but mortals take on sin anyway through the deceptions of the Aeons. The chief deceptions are Guilt and Law. The arch-Aeon Jehovah is the true Satan who plays both sides, the Tempter and the Punisher. He does not want people to understand that the deeds of the body have no impact on the soul‘s salvation. Any act performed with love and joy is holy, though to the world it may seem a heinous crime. Any act performed in a spirit of hate or resentment is sin, no matter how meritorious it may seem. Thus the Magdalenites encourage mortals to act upon their desires, and ask Christ to forgive them until they can forgive themselves and, finally, cast off shame forever. They also advocated free love and sexuality, because a soul that feels only Love accepts all other souls as equally beloved. To more conventional clerics of their time, of course, Magdalenite churches and nunneries seemed like whorehouses. The wrath of the Inquisition against heretics hit them first, only fueled by the notice of supernatural bloodsuckers behind this. In the Modern Nights, the Magdalenites are but a remnant centered around the task of preserving the bloodline of Christ.
