I’ve started re-reading a book by Richard Smoley, “Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition.” Although he goes into greater detail about this concept, the key to a beginner’s understanding of Mary Magdalene’s supposed possession by and deliverance from seven demons can be summed up by Smoley’s words here:
“[The] central theme [of Gnosticism] can be detected obliquely in Mark’s secret Gospel, which speaks of the ‘truth hidden by the seven [veils].’ The number seven here is not just a piece of mystical obfuscation but refers to an ancient esoteric view of the universe. The earth was seen as the center; surrounding it were the spheres of the seven planets as they were then known: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Esoteric philosophers believed that the spirit, as it took incarnation, passed through the spheres of each of these planets in turn, each of which imbued it with its own negative characteristics–Venus with lust, Mars with anger, Jupiter with gluttony, and so on. (These can also be correlated with the Seven Deadly Sins of later Christianity.) By the time the soul reached earth, it was fettered by the very qualities that determined its nature.” (pg 16)
And so from an esoteric viewpoint, when the author of Luke wrote of the seven evil spirits that possessed Mary Magdalene, it could be understood as referencing the “seven veils” and the seven “archons,” or rulers of the seven planetary spheres (see Ephesians 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Colossians 1:16; 2:10, 15), who had become bound to her spirit during her incarnation as she had descended into the earthly plane.
Jesus freed her from these influences.
Or perhaps it could be better stated that he opened her eyes to the existence of these influences upon her soul and the necessity of freeing herself from them so that her soul could become illuminated (Ephesians 1:8 2 Peter 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:10, 2 Corinthians 4:6, etc).
Regardless of how you look at it, Jesus helps all in a similar way who call upon him.
❤✨🙏🏼
Blessings,
Diary of a Christian Mystic 