Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod was born August 7, 1876 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. On this day in 1917 at the age of 41, Margaretha died in Vincennes, France. Her first 13 years of life were lived in a very privileged way due to her father’s wealth. However, in 1889, he declared bankruptcy and their way of life crumbled.
Margaretha’s parents divorced and a year later, her mom died. Dad remarried which led to the further demise of the family. Margaretha went to live with her godfather who helped her finish her education and become a schoolteacher. This career was short lived, though, when an administrator propositioned her. The godfather reacted poorly, forcing Margaretha to quit the job and profession. A few months later, Margaretha fled to her uncle’s home.
It wasn’t long before she had found what she thought was love and was married, but her troubles continued. Though she had two children, her husband was an abusive alcoholic who kept a concubine in the home. The oldest child had died at the age of two. It wasn’t long before the marriage was over. They officially separated in 1902, and the remaining child stayed with Margaretha. Her husband was ordered to pay child support, which he never did. One time during a custodial visit to the father, the child wasn’t returned. Margaretha accepted this, knowing that the child would be cared for since she had been left without any financial support. In 1906, the divorce was final.
At the age of 27, Margaretha began working for the circus, riding a horse. She also posed as an artist’s model. Margaretha was a beautiful woman filled with a promiscuous, flirtatious heart. She chose to enter the world of exotic and erotic dancing. Clubs were filled nightly with men wanting to catch a glimpse of her as she stripped to being nearly nude.
By 1912 (age 36), she began to age out of her act as she was gaining some weight and losing her “feline, extremely feminine, majestically tragic” figure as described by a French journalist.1 However, she had developed a side career as a courtesan, a fancy name for a prostitute who had high-end clientele.
Margaretha’s “work” coincided with WWI. The Dutch were neutral in the war, and she was able to freely move across enemy borders. Because of her reputation, her “services” were requested by some of the higher military officers. As she plied them with her seduction, their lips became loose, and they spilled military secrets. Margaretha allegedly passed these along to the Germans, information gathered especially from a “love” interest named Captain Vadim Maslov, a 23-year-old Russian Staff Captain.
On this day, Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod’s life came to an end as she faced a firing squad in France. She had been tried and found guilty of espionage. Margaretha’s defense was that she didn’t tell anything more than could have been found in the newspaper’s gossip column. The French believed otherwise and used her execution as a warning to others.
Never heard of Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod? Perhaps you’ve heard of her stage name for which she is known historically: Mata Hari. Her name is synonymous with the treachery of dangerous women. Long before there was Mata Hari, though, there was Proverbs.
Proverbs 7:7-23 tells a sordid tale as a warning. “And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, (8) Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, (9) In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: (10) And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (11) (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: (12) Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) (13) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, (14) I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. (15) Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. (16) I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. (17) I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. (18) Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. (19) For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: (20) He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. (21) With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. (22) He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; (23) Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.”
Perhaps this seems like a topic lost on the audience that would read devotionals. Maybe nobody reading this has ever been with a Mata Hari. However, pornography is rampant in America. The availability of it is accessible in nearly every American home via the Internet, cell phones, and television. Without shame, our culture has undressed, parading itself everywhere we turn. The mind can easily drift into lustful, shameful thoughts. It’s easy to believe that since no action was taken, no harm has been accrued.
But Mata Hari is waiting to strike at the heart of every one of us. We must guard our eyes, ears, minds, and heart. God wants us to be delivered from the plying of her ways.
Consider these closing verses also found in Proverbs. The warning should shake us to our core.
“Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: (12) To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things… (16) To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; (17) Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. (18) For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. (19) None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.” (Proverbs 2:11-12, 16-19”
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
