Unity Center of Walnut Creek's Da Vinci Code Conference

What inspired you to want to offer the Da Vinci Code Conference at your church after reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown?

When I read The Da Vinci Code, I was at first shocked and then delighted by the concept of Jesus and Mary Magdalene being married. It had been a long time since I had participated in an exploration of such ideas, and my shock was at finding this concept in a novel of such wide readership. I was delighted because the dialogue around the Jesus/Mary Magdalene relationship is an examination of the humanity of Jesus. These questions stimulate our reexamination of our concepts of our innate humanity, including our relationships and sexuality as not being something that is bad or weak, but as being a part of the sacredness of life—a concept that this dialogue encourages.

What aspects of Mary Magdalene reflect a new way for men and women to express the archetypes of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine in today's society?

The deeper I looked into The Da Vinci Code and its impact, the more my attention was drawn to the way it repositioned Mary Magdalene in our minds. Here was a female figure suggested to be a disciple (possibly the leading disciple), the first apostle, while being wife, lover, mother, and one who set out courageously on a very arduous and dangerous journey. The result of her life was a great flowering of faith and inspiration, plus the child's life being saved and nurtured. In a day when we are in need of new archetypes to help us rebalance from religion and society having been so heavily male dominated, here is a figure of the complete being. The archetype that this Mary Magdalene presents to us is a person with her male and female qualities being balanced, honored, and used in a high level of service to the spiritual self. She is an expression of our spirituality, including love of the very highest in her devotion to Jesus, and of courageously taking care of physical life and its needs—thus expressing the sacredness of all aspects of life.

When I realized the impact that the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine archetypes can have as an image that today's men and women can aspire to bring forth within themselves, I wanted Unity Center to be a part of stimulating that awareness in our community.

How will the Da Vinci Code Conference address these and other questions?

The purpose of the conference is to stimulate the exploration of these and other ideas rather than to provide answers. It's time to discover what our questions are. We are bringing in wonderful, very diverse speakers from various religions, esoteric and academic backgrounds. Our keynote speaker on Friday evening is Riane Eisler whose book, The Chalice and the Blade, brought to many the awareness of the changes of society through female and male forms. Our pre-conference program is exploration of pre-Christian and early Christian history: what really happened.

Through the conference, we touch on many areas stimulated by The Da Vinci Code, such as sacred art, Gnosticism, the Divine Feminine, Divine Masculine and, of course, in-depth exploration of Mary Magdalene and this new archetype. We will be encouraging participants to share and explore their own concepts and ideas so that the dialogue is enhanced by everyone.