Blessings to you!
The deeper we journey the more challenging the practise becomes. Or maybe it
is that the deeper the practise the more challenging the journey becomes.
Like many women I struggled to bring the idea of Mary as depicted in
Western religion together with my own direct personal experiences
of the Divine Feminine. In my search I became a committed pilgrim and undertook many pilgrimages to sacred sites across the globe. I visited temples to Kuan Yin in Thailand, many temples holy to the Divine Shakty Ma, Durga, Kali, Lakshmi in India; and sacred sites across Europe.
For me Mary was revealed as a powerful archetype of the Divine Feminine
both transcendent and personal. Once I started looking for stories of Mary
outside the Bible, I discovered that Mary had her own mythology in fairy tales,
folk tales, channeled books, legend and religious books. The work of
Thomas Merton introduced me to Catholic and Marian mysticism. I concluded
that Mary is not only the Biblical figure, but also the composite of the ancient
goddess, the Triple Goddess, the Jewish Mariam tradition as well as a
tradition exclusively her own. I have been met with a variety of responses through the years with regard to my devotion to Mary – from all sides. My response has been to make the work available to others as direct experience speaks louder than words.
III Distaff, the Annunciation of Anna
All alone, she (Anna) went into the garden and sat down
beneath the laurel tree. Looking toward the heavens,
she saw a nest of sparrows in the tree. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes.
How she longed to have a child of her own. Anna entreated the Lord,
saying” Woe is me! To what am I likened?
I am not likened to this earth, for even the earth brings
forth her fruit in its season and blesses you, O Lord.”
And behold an angel of the Lord appeared,
saying “Anna, the Lord God heard your prayer,
and you will conceive and give birth,
and your offspring shall be spoken of in the whole inhabited world.” – extract from the Infancy Gospel of Mary
Anna was barren and never conceived with child. The Archangel Gabriel announced to her that she will miraculously conceive.
It is told that this is a miraculous conception of the Holy child Mary
and it is an echo of the immaculate conception of Mary still to come.
As Anna and Joachim, Mary’s father, was too old to physically conceive a child, this was regarded as a conception by Spirit.
‘Promise them, that by the favour of our right hand they will receive the Fruit of benediction, and that Anne shall conceive a Daughter, to whom We give the name MARY…. were revealed to St Gabriel.’
And Gabriel said: ‘She shall be elect, exalted, powerful and full of the Holy Ghost; on account of the sterility of Anne her conception shall be miraculous;’ – Mystical City of God
Anna is Greek for the Hebrew name Hannah and it means ‘grace’.
Anna’s story is also in the Quran and she is revered in Islam.
In Islam Joachim is called by the name Imran and he dies before Mary is born. The priest Zacharias predicted the birth of a male Messiah to Anna,
but she gave birth to a girl and the culture of the day did not accept a woman as a saviour. However, She is revered as a mystic in Islam for her wisdom and the knowledge that Mary was a highly spiritual
and special child to be dedicated to the Temple.
In this shrine we see Anna sitting under the palm tree, working on her sewing. Gabriel is holding the red thread of the mystical message of love and good news which he delivered to Anna.
a Soulcollage card
You must give
birth to your images.
They are the future
waiting to be born ….
fear not the strangeness
you feel.
Just wait for the birth …..
for the hour of new clarity – Rainer Maria Rilke
I am the Mother of mystery
I hold opposites together
I birth children and sever the cord with my teeth
Those I love I send away to their lives
I am the cauldron of fire and the cup of milk
I am the two-edged sword
Hail Mary
Ave Maria
In me Sophia speak :
I am the marriage of opposites
I am beauty,
right order in creation,
the balance of all being.
I contain all the secrets whose names are beads,
I am the cosmic necklace.
I am the daughter of silence and
I bring forth the word of truth.
I am the serpent and the dove.
I am the soul of the Christ
Hail Mary
Ave Maria
I am the flour and I am the hands
that kneed the dough.
I am the fire and the loaf.
I offer and I am offered.
I eat and am eaten.
I am food for the world and
I am the world.
Hail Mary
Ave Maria
Hail Queen of Heaven,
Hail! Lady of the Angels
Salutation to Thee, root and portal
Whence the Light of the world has arisen
Hail Mary
