Steilacoom-based author Margaret Starbird will present a talk and slide show titled "Mary Magdalene: Reclaiming the Sacred Union in Christianity" on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 11, from 2 to 5 PM at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Olympia. The event is sponsored by Fern Haven Center, a local nonprofit educational program center (www.fernhavencenter.org), and all admission proceeds will benefit the Center. The admission fee is $20/person. There is no advance registration, just pay at the door.

Starbird, a "cradle catholic," religious scholar, and mother of 5, is well known for her books, several of which were mentioned by author Dan Brown as primary source material for his famous novel The DaVinci Code. Her work seeks to restore the figure of Mary Magdalene to the preeminence it had in early and Medieval Christian circles, as well as to reintegrate the Divine Feminine into a Western Judeo-Christian tradition that has been male-dominant and grossly imbalanced for several thousand years.

Starbird's presentation includes an extensive and fascinating slide show of medieval art associated with the heresy of the Holy Grail as well as medieval images of Mary Magdalene.

For more information on the event, visit the Fern Haven website or call Rod Davis at (360) 754-1600.