Today’s meditation and japa mala practise is followed by
The Handless Maiden tarot spread
We open our sacred space by repeating the prayer for the week
The next part of the Immaculate Practise
is the repetition of the mantra with your rosary or mala.
When you have said the prayer with intent and focus,
pick up your rosary and repeat the daily mantra.
Please complete the rosary at least twice and a 108 bead mala at least once.
As you become more comfortable, or if you are already a seasoned meditator,
then repeat this mantra up to 6 times around the rosary.
For a mantra we use the rosary in the same way as we do a mala or prayer beads :
you move the beads one by one through your fingers, repeating the line of the mantra on each bead.
This mantra is to be repeated daily for the thirty days.
The more we work with a mantra, the more
it vibrates through our cells and energy and transforms our mind and energy bodies.
Om Jai Mata Mary Ma Namaha
Sit quietly for a few minutes, just allowing yourself absorb the energy you have invoked.
Enjoy it …… feel the presence of the Sacred embracing you, flowing all around you.
We rejoice in our physical nature, appreciating this time to pause and remember the holy
purpose of our lives. We feel gratitude for those travelling with us on this path of love
and freedom. Feel a smile forming on your face. You are happy to be here in this
peaceful inner place. Let there be peace.
I added the Amulets of Mary to my spread
The Mysteries of Mary tarot has the story of the Handless Maiden
as one of its themes. It is a story that embodies the roles of the masculine
and feminine in our world. Typically of fairytales, its grim and horrifying
details create a graphic picture of where the daughters of the world
are and the struggle to become free of the many layers of suppression,
projection and control. We may perceive these interactions in the world
outside of ourselves, but these become internalised and part of the inner
landscape of the psyche.
If you do not own the deck, I share the links below to my blogposts
where you can read the story and meaning behind the cards
of the handless maiden. It is a folktale and an internet search
will find various variations of the story. In my guidebook I use
the Lithuanian version
Layout of the Handless Maiden
V of Holyrood – The Miller’s daugher
The Miller’s Daughter represents the feminine. She is the feminine in both
men and women. She is the embodiment of feminine values of our society and culture.
Some of the feminine values are waiting, the interior, the esoteric, the hidden,
the unseen, receptivity, the ambigious, the poetic.
The Miller’s Daughter asks of you the following :
Card 1 – which feminine values do you not acknowledge in yourself
Card 2 – which feminine values do you not consider as equal in the outer world
VIII of Holyrood – The Handless Maiden in the forest
She finds herself having to choose between two absolute opposites :
to keep her hands would be a heroic and autonomous act.
But this will also mean that the Devil will take her.
If she sacrifices her hands only then it will keep the Devil at bay and save her father.
She chooses to be powerless and give up control over her life.
The daughter’s choice to sacrifice her hands for her father
asks of you the following :
Card 3 – in which areas of my life am I overly in the feminine side of myself?
Card 4 – which aspect of the inner masculine do I need to bring into play in myself
and my actions and responses?
Card 5 – what are the choices that I face? (We often face terrible choices.
Whilst in the forest the miller’s daughter is rescued by a king who
creates a pair of silver hands for her to wear.
Card 6 – where am I compromising control of my own life for a pair
of silver hands?
IX of Roses – Our Lady of the Rosary
When the King realises that the silver handed maiden has dreams
and aspirations of freedom and choices, he chases her and her child
from his kingdom.
As she bends over to draw water, her child falls into the well. Her cries call
a spirit who asks why she does not save her child. “Because I have no hands”
she shouts. ‘Try’ the spirit says.
Here she finally has a choice to take control of her own life back.
As she plunges her handless arms into the well, her arms grow miraculously back
and she lifts her child out of the water.
Card 7 – from which situation am I called on to save my own inner child?
Card 8 – which path am I to choose?
The handless maiden as part of the fairytale themes in the deck
https://hergracesacredart.blogspot.com/2016/11/fairytale-in-mary-tarot-deck.html
Part Two of the Handless Maiden
https://hergracesacredart.blogspot.com/2016/12/part-two-of-handless-maiden.html
The Mysteries of Maryam
https://hergracesacredart.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-mysteries-of-maryam.html
