After seeing a video on another witch referring to Mary Magdalene as a Goddess, it got me to thinking so, let’s talk about it. Its something that sits in a very curious place and I went on a deep dive exploring whether Christian figures like Mary Magdalene can be held in the same light as the gods and goddesses from say the Greek or Egyptian pantheons. It’s not as far fetched as it sounds, especially when you look at how modern witches and mystics are working with these figures today in comparison to 500 plus years ago.
So let’s start with what makes a god a god. In traditions like Greek or Norse mythology, the gods were full blown divine beings. They had power in their own right. They weren’t saints or prophets who answered to a higher being, they WERE the higher being. They ruled over war, love, storms, fertility, death. They weren’t perfect or moral by today’s standards either. They were wild, unpredictable, and deeply human in their flaws. But they were worshipped in temples, given offerings, and treated as forces that could directly change the world around you.
Now compare that to the figures we know from Christian tradition. Mary Magdalene, for example, or the Virgin Mary, or even Jesus himself. These are people held up as holy but not technically divine in the same way. In the mainstream church, they’re not gods. They’re vessels. They’re part of a bigger story about one supreme god, and their power is usually framed as something that was granted to them, not born into them. You don’t worship them as gods, you venerate them. You honour them, pray to them, ask them to intervene. That’s a really different setup.
But here’s where it gets interesting. In practice, the way people relate to saints and Christian figures doesn’t always look that different to how others treat gods. You light a candle. You say a prayer. You tell them your troubles and ask for help. In folk Catholicism, you’ll find people praying to saints the same way another witch might call on Hekate or Brigid. There’s reverence, ritual, relationship. There’s even pilgrimage, feast days, symbolic colours and herbs associated with each one.
So the difference isn’t always in the doing it’s in the framing. Gods are often seen as self-contained beings. They are what they are. Saints and biblical figures are tied into a hierarchy. Their power flows from the divine rather than being divine in themselves. But if you step outside of the church walls and into mystic traditions, especially Gnostic texts or modern goddess circles, those lines begin to blur. Suddenly Magdalene is the sacred feminine, the priestess who held secret teachings. Jesus becomes more than a prophet, he becomes a symbol of death and rebirth, of the sun, of the divine masculine in balance with the feminine. Mary is the universal mother, no different in energy to Isis or Demeter.
And when we really think about it, both Christian and pagan traditions come with mythology. Sacred stories. Miracles. Symbols. Rituals. Festivals. Language that’s poetic, mysterious, and full of layered meaning. Whether it’s turning water into wine or descending into the underworld, it all serves to teach, to transform, and to connect us to something beyond the everyday.
The big difference is how these stories have been used and carried through time. Ancient pantheons lost their political power. No one runs an empire today in the name of Apollo. They were pushed aside, turned into myth, then reclaimed by occultists, pagans, and witches. Christianity never really lost that dominance. It became the mainstream. And because of that, its figures carry different weight. There’s emotional charge. There’s history. There’s pain for some. For others, there’s comfort and familiarity.
So when a modern witch lights a candle to Mary Magdalene, they might be doing something incredibly subversive. They might be reclaiming something they were told not to touch. They might be finding the divine feminine in a story that was stripped of her power. That makes her sacred in a different way. Not because of ancient temples or mythological genealogy, but because of lived experience. Because of connection. Because of choice.
And that’s the thing. In folk magic, in personal practice, the divine is not always about rules or titles. It’s about relationship. You don’t need someone else to declare a figure a goddess for you to treat her like one. If she speaks to you, if you feel that energy, that power, that guidance, then she becomes divine in your world. In your work. In your magic.
So the answer is yes, Christian figures can be held in the same light as ancient gods. But it depends on how you’re looking at them. It depends on whether you’re coming from religion, or from mysticism, or from folk practice. It depends on what you need, what you’re drawn to, and what you’re reclaiming. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about the stories. It’s about what you do with them. And how you let them shape your path.