BrenaMagdalena February 23rd, 2007 02:06AM  
I thought a stripper at first. Holiest of alters, refering to the stage. But "one kiss, one taste" got me thinking, hooker. A stripper only dances, but he's willing to give his morals up for more than just looking at her.

anonymous April 25th, 2007 03:23AM  
Well I'd have to say it's about hookers or prostitutes, because the term magdalen is and old term for "reformed prostitute." or rather an institution for reforming prostitutes.

anonymous May 19th, 2007 01:35AM  
It seems to me is referring to mary magdalene as a prostitute especially referring to her as "black madonna" and the selling of his soul. In all perspectives it is a very sexual song

anonymous June 11th, 2007 04:58PM  
I think it's about a stripper, or having sex with a stripper

"holiest of alters" could refer to the runway a stripper dances on, of course it could also refer to the stripper's body as it says he "throws his dollar" before the holiest of altars.

"losing my soul one dollar at a time" refers to giving money to a stripper by throwing singles at her.

"one chance, taste and kiss" could refer to getting a lap dance, or sex

"losing my self-esteem" could refer to how people who go to strip clubs and pay for strippers feel low self-esteem. As in how they feel they can't get women. This also corroborates with how he pays for it.

anonymous July 21st, 2007 03:40AM  
Holiest of alters meaning her pussy, womb, moving temple
read the davinci code, it will actually open your eyes to this whole album
it talks a lot about the sacred feminine, which is what Maynard is representing with APC
it mentions the rose, magdalene (black madonna, madonna on the rocks)
im not quite sure exactly what the song is about, but I'm pretty confident he is making reference to the aforementioned things
perhaps the song is just metaphorically proclaiming his love and respect for the female by using a lot of intelligent allusions to religion
he seems to do that alot

anonymous July 22nd, 2007 05:17PM  
I love the way most of you start your interpretations as "it means......blah blah blah." For one, you must understand that YES Maynard had an original meaning behind all his songs but I think he would agree with me in the fact, that as long as you get something out of his songs that is useful for your life then his mission is accomplished. And I don't think you are giving him enough credit Maynard doesn't write about strippers he is to intellectual to write a song about a STRIPPER, come on guys. Just because that is what your perverse mind puts together doesn't mean its even remotely close to what it's actual meaning is.

Quiranna1986 August 27th, 2008 11:26PM  
Okay...I'm agreeing with the take on the Sacred Feminine..but people...it really is about him watching a woman/stripper dance....He's absolutely mesmerized by her movements and her holiest of holies....I'm compelled to throw this dollar....He's so mesmerized by this woman that he'd give up his self estem to spend some time with her....And also remember...before the Da Vinci Code, Mary Magdalene was thought to have been a prostitute....And she was the wife of Christ according to the Sacred Feminine...not the Mother of Christ....Unless anyone knows for sure that A Perfect Circle is a member of the Masonic Temple....I'm pretty sure he is just admiring the woman dancing for him.....The references to the womb and The Sacred Feminine are coincidental...a way of showing appreciation for a female....

HungarianHaiku January 16th, 2009 12:40AM  
Taking time to analize the song carefully, my best attempt of interpretation is the song points directly to Mary Magdalene "Overcome by your... moving temple." After the "death" of Jesus, it was said they lived in secrecy, traveling from temple to temple in France. "Overcome by this... holiest of altars. So pure, so rare, to witness such a lovely goddess. " The tomb of Mary Magdalene would change everything about Christianity, and it is the most sacred secret to protect. "I lost my self-control. Beyond compelled to throw this dollar down, before your holiest of altars. " The speaker was compelled to throw single dollar bills infront of her supposed grave as an insult, because she is a prostitute, allegedly. "I'd sell my soul, my self-esteem, a dollar at a time for one chance, one kiss one taste of you, my Magdalena." He savors the idea of seeing her grave being discovered, he would sell his soul to see it. "I bear witness (to) this place, this lair, so long forgotten." The tomb of Mary Magdalene has never been discovered, it is long lost and forgotten. "For one chance, one kiss, one taste of you my Black Madonna." The Black Madonna, or Black Virgin, is a painting of Mary Magdalene depicting her in darkness from Sin. Please feel free to criticize and correct me.

dccox3 June 3rd, 2009 09:59PM  
O.K. I don't normally do this, I usually just use this site to bounce ideas off of but this time I need to say something. The anonymous post on june 22nd is right, as long as you take something for yourself from the song it doesn't really matter what it's suppose to be about. Also, for all of you talking about the Da Vinci Code(which is one of my all time favorite books) please stop right there. You have to remember that it was written as a work of fiction. You cannot take every thing Dan Brown wrote and accept it as fact, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -Aristotle. As far as my interpretation of the song goes its fairly simple. I get no strippers, no Holy Grail, no Mary Magdalene, or any Da Vinci from this song. I just take it as an expression of lust. But, it doesn't really matter what I think, what matters is what you take from the song.

anonymous September 4th, 2009 10:01AM  
"Overcome by your moving temple" "Overcome by this holiest of altars" he's obviously referring to a woman's body. When I go to Church (not often), the priest refers to bodies as "temples" and "altars: so we should respect them. Often he uses this when he preaches against suicide and self-harm. "So pure, so rare to witness such an earthly goddess" The girl is "pure", which would be rare for a stripper. At first when I heard this song, I didn't think of strippers. I thought more of lust, because it just doesn't seem like that kind of song. The tempo of the song didn't sound like strippers to me. But then I thought about the lyrics, and it seems that maybe Maynard was in love with a girl, then they separated or whatever, and a few years (maybe, I'm just roughly guessing) later, he sees "Magdalena" at the strip club. It was believed that Mary Madgalene was a stripper (that's pretty much set in stone by now), so he's just using "Magdalena" as a cover name. In the song, he also says "MY Magdalena", meaning he still has feelings for her. Again bringing up the "So pure, so rare" part, means she hasn't been a stripper for long. Maybe Maynard is trying to convince her to come back to him. I don't know, that's just how I see the song.

anonymous October 14th, 2009 07:12PM  
Of course its about Mary Magdalen. She was a prostitute and as we see in Judith, Maynard doesn't think very much about christianity. These two factors seem to make it obvious what this song is about.

anonymous February 25th, 2010 01:58PM  
Maynard James Keenan is making a dual point about obsession with this song. The modern name "Magdalena" comes from the name of Mary Magdalen, so called because she was from Magdala, a village on the sea of Galilee. In a more modern light, the term "Magdalen" is a flowery way to call a woman a whore, stemming from the notion that Mary Magdalen was a whore (a notion not actually expressed in the Bible). The word "Magdala" in Hebrew means "tower" or "high altar". When Keenan says,

I'd sell my soul
My self esteem a dollar at a time
For one chance, one kiss, one taste of you
My Magdalena

He is not only suggesting an exchange of sex for money, but he is also implying worship. He calls her both his whore and his altar. This could be interpreted as his worship of her, or of her sex, or of the confusion so many of us go through so often in relationships, the tearing inside when one is in love with a person he or she cannot respect. To call her a "Black Madonna" strengthens the notion of sex-worship. He also calls her a "moving temple", "holiest of altars", and "goddess". Clearly he is well aware of the dual meaning the name "Magdalena" has. This is a work of genius in language twisting and word-wizardry, yet another example of why Maynard is clearly one of the great minds of rock and roll.

(http://everything2.com/title/Magdalena)