Author: Hettienne Grobler

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Day 28 – September




House of Gold

‘I remained in the temple, enjoying the
ineffable pleasure of contemplating
the goddess’ statue, because I was bound
to her by a debt of gratitude so large
that I could never fully repay her’ – Apuleius
Mary is what we are : a temple of the divine. In the title, House of Gold, we have two symbols,
the house as a container and gold as the supreme value of the Self.
The house of gold is the Self. A house grants shelter so we again
encounter the conserving and containing aspect of the female archetype.
It is comprised of the light of comforting safety and the dark of numbing contentment.
There are always graces to help us integrate those two.

The Loreto shrine, the traditional house of Mary, is like the Ark of the covenant,
the dwelling of the feminine aspect of God. At sunset it is bathed in gold and so it is often
referred to as the golden house.  A custom in our past was to bronze the shoes in which a baby
first walked. Mary is the house of ego that has been gilded because she walked the path from ego to Self.
By the invocation, House of Gold, we
commit ourselves to enter the mansion of
spiritual individuation.
What happened to her, happens to us.
We make a series of choices and
surrenders that move us from cellar to attic
and then down to earth and out into the world
with treasures to share.
This passage will have suffering in it
and joy too.
David Richo – extracts from Mary Within Us


In the fire of creation, gold does not vanish:
the fire brightens.
Each creature God made must live in its own nature;
how could I resist my nature,
that lives for oneness with God –
Mechtild of Magdeburg.
Radiant Mary, shine radiantly upon me.
Bright Lady who illuminates my inner darkness
Yours is the incorruptible fire;
As it is clean, it cleanses; as it is pure, it purifies.
Hail Mary
Om jai mata Mary Ma
jai jai ma

blessings
Hettienne
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Day 27 – September

Blessings to you!

We are Hearthkeepers keeping the focus on the sacred matrix
of life in the form, sacred presence and wholeness of
Holy Mary, Sacred Heart of the World, alive.
We have been participating in a daily ritual
for  nearly thirty days! 
We have witnessed thoughts, feelings and shifts.
We have dug deep and surrendered on many levels.
We have opened up and stepped out in vulnerability.
We were witnessed and received by a supportive community.
The flame of the Sacred Heart is burning high.



Our emotions, feelings and our energetic heart
has the power to alter and transform the electromagnetic field
of our world and to move mountains.
The appearances and manifestations of Mary prove
that the idea of separation between our world and the
Otherworld is but an illusion.  Matter is made up of atoms
and those atoms can be altered by the power of belief.

At sacred sites where the veils of belief have thinned,
thousands of people feel the sacred presence  of the divine.
And this sacred presence transcends all dogma, beliefs
and laws.  It demonstrates to us that we have the power
to alter our collective reality.

The bigger the crowd of believers in the power of love and beauty,
the bigger the collective effect on the perceived and created reality.




I started the first Art Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes in 2012.
Here is an extract of my first post :

To me, the Blessed Mother is not limited to any religion, any dogma or any culture.  
The Soul has its own religion and that is where you will find Her and Her many faces.
She is present for all 
Her Grace enfolds everyone
You only have to become aware of Her.

Wherever I travel in the world, I visit Her sacred shrines.  I have visited Kwan Yin in Ayutthaya in Thailand;
Kali Ma in Her many temples in India;
I have attended the Navaratri and Durga Puja,
 the nine nights of the Goddess in Varanasi;
the holy well and holy fire of Brigit in Kildare;
the Goddess Temple in Glastonbury 
and I have participated in many Goddess Conferences in Glastonbury
hosted by the Temple of Avalon and Her priestesses
and I have facilitated the first 
International Goddess Conference in South Africa in 2008
to name some of my pilgrimages to the Holy Mother

all of these have been numinous experiences
that touched me deeply
and brought great insight and healing to my mind
for our conflicted nature as human beings
but none touched  me so profoundly
as Our Lady of Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception.

I did not have high expectations of my visit to the Grotto and the City of Lourdes.
I had seen many pictures and thought I knew what to expect.



At the grotto I fell in line with the other pilgrims, waiting my turn to touch the walls of the cave and its dripping water.  The atmosphere was light and joyful, although many stood and knelt deep in prayer.  As I approached the statue of Our Lady where She appeared to St Bernadette, I could feel an intensification of the energy, a slight vibration and a humming sound.  The closer I came, the louder the sound became.  The sound was over and above the sound of the rushing waters.
As I put my hand out to touch the dripping water and I raised my eyes, 
a column of light was visible to me,
shimmering and dancing.
My first impression was that it is a giant candle, but then my logical mind
realised that this is not possible.
The only way I can describe it is ‘a flame of living organic light’ :
Her Divine Presence made manifest in this world,
visible to my eyes.

And overwhelming and immense feelings which I am at a loss to name.
A feeling of such incredible fullness and completeness 
which has stayed with me ever since.

A hundred thousand harps take you
like wings and sweep you up out of silence.
And your primitive wind is blowing
the fragrance of your marvelous power
to every being and to every creature in need.
– Rainer Maria Rilke


That which reminds you of the Sacred in the Ordinary
and opening ourselves to the healing possibilities,
both spiritually and physically, 
that comes through love and acceptance
and opening of the heart

images
collage
poetry
stories
art works
prayer
ritual
mantra
anything
that awakens your heart

and reminds you of the Sacred in everyday living

I visited Lourdes last year as a pilgrim.  There, in front of the cave, I experienced something very special.  I felt a special vibration, a kind of spiritual presence there.  And then in front of the image of the Virgin Mary, I prayed, I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual solace, comfort and healing to millions of people.  And I prayed that this might continue for a long time to come – the Dalai Lama

Prayer for today :

Radiant Mary, shine radiantly upon me.
Bright Lady who illuminates my inner darkness
Yours is the incorruptible fire;
As it is clean, it cleanses; as it is pure, it purifies.
Hail Mary
Om jai mata Mary Ma
jai jai ma
blessings to you
Hettienne
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Day 26 – September



This week was the feast day of

St Therese of Lisieux.  She is referred to as The Little Flower or
the Woman that was born to love. She is known for ‘the Little Way’
in which she advocated the ordinariness of everyday tasks
to be seen as a way of bringing the sacred to life.

Her story of the smiling Madonna is in the Mysteries of Mary deck
She is the Five of Roses


The statue that smiled at her during her illness is standing in the
Basilica in Lisieux where it was moved from her childhood home.

If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any of its gifts. It would not, under the pretext of humility, say that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals,or the storm bruised its stem, if it knew that such were not the case. – St Therese

One of the very first shrines I made was of her. 
St Therese called me over many years
 and eventually I made the trip to Lisieux, about 90 minutes’ train ride
from Paris.

Lisieux is a beautiful French city with an old world  charm.
And the bakery near the train station makes the most
wonderful French pastries, should you ever visit.
The beautiful Basilica dominates the view down the street
leading up to it.

This statue and mosaic is in the crypt of the Basilica

To my surprise I discovered the life-story of a free-spirited 
young woman who possessed
a deep insight and clarity into the Truth of faith and love.
Her life spoke of many miracles, including
the Smiling Madonna.



In the Basilica was a magnificent and unusual statue
of Jesus – a dancing Jesus on the Cross!!
I did not take any photographs as it was forbidden
in the main part of the Basilica and I have not been able
to find a copy of it anywhere on the Internet.
But I will never forget this amazing image :
it spoke clearly of St Therese’s philosophy and understanding
of the true sacrifice and the intersection of heaven and time.
The Basilica was built after St Therese’s death and
I did not find any real sense of her presence there.

But then we walked down to the old part of town
to where she lived and grew up as a child and also
to her convent and its rose gardens and the small chapel
of the Carmelite Sisters where the remains of the saint lies.

Statue of Saint Therese in Lisieux in her convent garden


And here we were all deeply touched by a sweet, loving
and fragrant presence.  A very sweet honey-like fragrance met
us long before we arrived at the garden.  I smelled this same
fragrance at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.




We picked some of the roses and offered them to 
St Therese.




The offering of our rose petals in her arms and at her feet
St Therese, Lisieux, France

The energy in the chapel where her remains lie, were
intense.  One cannot describe that which we do not
have the vocabulary for.  But I received a very clear
and distinct message sitting there which resonated
deeply with my heart and on my return home
I started implementing this message into my life.


Having been in her energy or presence, has had a deep impact
on me and the way that I perceive the world.
She has and still continues to strengthen my belief in the
power and Grace of the innocent and purity of heart.
Even when the world shakes its head in disbelief and
disapproval, St Therese’s child like faith and inspiration
lives on and radiates like a fragrant rose its beautiful scent
into our hearts and minds.

There is no artist who does not like his work praised, and the Divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not stop at the exterior, but penetrating even to the inmost sanctuary which He has chosen for His dwelling, we admire its beauty. – St Therese d’Lisieux


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Day 25 – September

When we read that the Radiant Lady at Lourdes stands over the wild rose bush
and that she has golden roses on her bare feet, we realise that she is deeply identified with roses, as was Our Lady of Guadalupe. The rose just seems to be the most easily recognizable symbol for the flowering of differentiated consciousness or the unique divine spark. 
The Lady of Guadalupe brought forth roses in cold December and wrapped them tenderly in an ordinary tilma worn by an old Indian peasant. This is an image of wrapping consciousness in the outer cover of our human body, something that a mother does when she conceives a human life. It is something that the earth does when she provides us with the material for a human body. Or, another way to look at it, is that creation itself – the material world – is a wonderful cloak that covers the radiant divinity.
Juan Diego had something in common with the Lady who came to him on the hill of Tepeyac. They each had a cloak that was made of the fabric of created reality. She gave him a visual aid in order to teach him and us about this. She imprinted her picture graphically so that Her cloak – the entire cosmos – can now be seen upon his rough one.  This Lady is not interested in dogma or ideologies; she interfaces with us to teach us about our personal rose – our inner divinity – which is trying to become incarnate here.



The woman at Lourdes refuses to give any other name but to say “I am the Immaculate Conception.” She does not say, as the Church would have Jesus’ mother say, “I am the virgin Mary who has been immaculate from the moment of my conception.” (conceived and born without sin of any kind) She says that she IS the Immaculate Conception. The Lady of the Grotto is the embodiment of the cosmos speaking to us as an aspect of God’s own Being. She shows us the breathlessly beautiful immaculate plan – God’s conception of materiality. She is telling us that she is an image of our created, material nature, which is nothing less than a cloak that covers divinity. She uses every means available to communicate to us about who we are and what will help us.
At Guadalupe she used symbolism that the Aztecs would understand. It spoke instinctively to the Spaniards, as well. She uses symbols and language that will help her immediate hearers to understand for their own purposes. As the late mythographer Joseph Campbell has pointed out, different religious traditions are like software that helps the “computer” to function. It is usually best for people to stay within their tradition, if it is helping them to function. So this woman relates within those belief systems, but is not at all confined to them.

The Pre-Christian Apparition of Queen Isis

Painting of Isis by Hettienne


In conjunction with Lourdes, it is necessary to speak more about Queen Isis whose lore is still embedded in the Christian mythology from its ancient roots in Judaism while it lingered in Egypt. The Lady of the Lourdes grotto asked specifically for processions. Queen Isis loved grottoes and processions. Processions to the goddess are as old as recorded history. What child of the pre-Vatican Catholic Church does not recall the May processions and the joy of strewing flowers in the path of the statue that represented Mary? It was a way of showing our deep devotion to our “Queen of Heaven.” She was “Queen of the angels and Queen of the May!” Bernadette referred at times to the Lady as  “The Queen of Heaven” or “The Beautiful Lady.”

We have an account, still extant, of an apparition granted by Queen Isis in ancient times that further points to the identity of the marvelous woman still appearing today. It comes from the book “The Golden Ass” written by Apuleius, an initiate of Isis, the night before he walked in her procession in 150 A.D. Here is his testimony that records the words spoken by the apparition that stood before him then:

“I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of the powers divine, queen of all that are in hell, the principal of all that dwell in heaven, manifested alone and under one form of all the gods and goddesses. At my will the planets of the sky, the wholesome winds of the seas, and the lamentable silences of hell are disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout the world, in divers manners, in variable customs, and by many names.

For the Phrygians that are the first of all men call me the Mother of the gods of Pessinus; the Athenians, which are sprung from their own soil, Cecropian Minerva; the Cyprians, which are girt about by the sea, Paphian Venus; the Cretans, which bear arrows, Dictynian Diana; the Sicilians, which speak three tongues, infernal Proserpine; the Eleusinians, their ancient goddess Ceres; some Juno, others Belonna, others Hecate, others Ramnusie, and principally both sort of the Ethiopians, which dwell in the Orient and are enlightened by the morning rays of the sun; and the Egyptians, which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me by my true name, Queen Isis.” (Occidental Mythology, p. 42-43 – from The Masks of God series).

 When she appeared to Apuleius she was crowned with the headdress of the moon and two vipers, with corn stalks woven in her hair. Her multi-colored robe was woven with flowers and fruit, and her black mantle embroidered with stars and the moon. There is much similarity between the vision of Apuleius and that of Juan Diego, the visionary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The mantle of Isis is covered on the outside by the night sky – by stars. Like Our Lady of Guadalupe, she is dressed in the cosmos itself as if it is her robe. 

 Spirit “wears” materiality like a garment. 
This garment is Earth’s physical nature –  her Body. 
She/we are the Immaculate Conception!


Prayer for today :


I enter the Underworld as you pull me into your embrace, 
in every waking moment of living.
Contemplating on your Presence in the world,
opens me up to the poignant beauty and suffering
of all life in order and my  heart breaks open
over and over, over flowing with compassion.  
As my rigid mind dissolves in your
presence, all boundaries between myself and all living creatures
and the earth disappears and we are all one.
Ave Maria

Om Jai mata Mary Ma
jai jai ma

blessings
Hettienne

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Day 24 – September

Week 4 Saturday 28 September to Friday 4 October


THE BLESSING OF THE ROSE QUEEN



The blessing of the Rose Queen : 
a devotion
to the power and Grace of the Blessed Mother;
to the mystery of the angelic realms
and the resurrection of the feminine mysteries.





An old legend tells that at the time of the winter solstice, 
all of those souls, who will incarnate in the coming year, 
draw close to the Earth.
The Divine Mother then takes a single petal from 
the Great Rose of Life  and places it in the heart of each of those 
souls who will be born. 
As that soul then is born and grows throughout its life and 
awakens its true self, that single petal will blossom in the
 heart of the individual, becoming a living Rose of Life 
that will bless the world.


You can do the Blessing of the Rose Queen prayers as a way
of calling upon Mary of the Divine Feminine to assist with
a special request.  It is not something to be used for ordinary
things, but for those special times in our life when what we are
doing just doesn’t seem to be enough – when we really
need assistance.



Perform these prayers for thirty days in a row.  
Visualize what it is that you wish in as much clear detail
as possible.  Write it down, so that the words are clear
and distinct, with as little room for misinterpretation as possible.





Perform it during a quiet and special time in your day :

Oh most beautiful and gracious Rose Queen,
who came down to Earth to do good and who never
left a request unanswered, grant me the rose
of _____________________

Hail Mary, Goddess full of Grace
God is with you
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of the creativity
that spirals forth from your womb.
Through your art and rituals of beauty,
we find our forgiveness and healing.
Holy Goddess, Mother of Earth,
work the mystery for your children  


Holy Mary,  Mother of God,
oh Rose Queen 
Bestow your Blessing upon us
Now and Forever




This final week has a dual focus : that of the Rose Queen
and the Immaculate Conception.
The colour is gold and the element is Earth.
We focus on two main aspects of the Suit of Roses which is
embodiment and manifestation.
Tomorrow is the beginning of my annual Art Novena to Our Lady
of Lourdes, Immaculate Conception which I have been doing
since 2012.  
We continue with our Immaculate Practise which is a combination
of creating a sacred altar, saying the mantra and prayers.
We complement these with any of the sacred working tools
such as journalling, collage making, embroidery, knitting
and tarot work.
This work is not intended only for one’s own benefit
but to share the power of one’s own healing.
The altar forms a powerful focal and envisioning centre for our
sacred work.

May this practise inspire you to incorporate it into your practise of devotion
and awakening to the divine feminine mysteries of Mary.

blessings


Hettienne




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Day 23 – September

Blessings to you.
The suit of Roses is all about manifestation and embodiment.
It is the highest suit in the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck
and it is the part of the journey where matter and spirit
crosses and blooms through the rose of the heart.
An important part of the sacred Immaculate Practise
is sacred dance.  We connect to our deepest selves through
both the free and disciplined movement of body.
Chanda Maria Devi (@shebearer on Instagram
recorded a beautiful video of a full movement
prayer and meditation as part of
Thirty Days with Mary #thirtydayswithmary.
It is a long session and you will see that you can
do it in sections.  
She invites you to step into the sacred space
and be transported to the
Temple of Dance where movement becomes prayer
and where you set your intent through the flow of your breath and body.
Below is the link for the video –
it takes a minute to upload.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/idrkiz4pjoql088/Taryn%20Dancing%20Meditation.optimised.mp4?dl=0
blessings
Hettienne
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Day 22 – September

Blessings to you on this, the first day of the final week of
Walking with Mary.
Walking with Mary started off as an online annual retreat
called Thirty Days with Mary.  When the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck
went out into the world I realised that there are many that would like
a practise or tools with which to re-connect or connect with
Mary, beyond the ways of religion of childhood.
On my blog Cloister of the Heart I annually devote
nine days to the Art Novena of Our Lady of Lourdes culminating
in her feast day.  The Thirty Days of Mary in January-February
include the novena.

The practises of Walking with Mary/Thirty Days with Mary
are filled to the brim with ritual, mantra, prayer and tarot.
Probably too much if it is your first time participating.
Ideally you should take your time and do what you can
and take the practise over a couple of months and make it your own.
And as you know by now, the more you apply and engage with the
practises and the mantras, the deeper your experience and inner connection
goes.

The fourth week is dedicated to the Suit of Roses.

The Suit of Roses are traditionally Pentacles.
The colours are red, white and black.
This is the suit of embodiment; where body, soul and spirit
connect; where light and shadow dance in an eternal lovemaking.

Through the ages the goddesses Isis, Venus, Aphrodite and the Shekinah
had been called Great Rose, the Rose Queen, Flower of Venus,
the Rose Garden, the Cosmic Rose and the Mystical Rose.
The rosary is a universal form of prayer and is present in many religions.
In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that the Universe is a necklace and the string
is the Atman that holds all things together.  The Hindu rosary is sacred to
Sarasvati, Goddess of language.  Sarasvati hears the words of the prayers
and she is the Word.  The Buddhist rosary has 108 beads, as does the Hindu
mala and this number represents the cycles of the universe.  The Muslim rosary
has 33 beads for the 99 names of God.
The rose is an ancient symbol sacred to the goddess, to the feminine
and the Wisdom tradition.  Sacred places often carry the perfume of
roses and mystics experience the fragrance of the rose during ecstatic
moments. We are not excluded from these mystical experiences.
During my first San Garmano pilgrimage I visited the church
and body of Padre Pio and when I meditated in the sacred space
I was engulfed with the fragrance of roses.  It was so strong
I will never forget it.  During my visit to the Rosa Mystica shrine
a few years later I was attracted by the strong perfume of roses,
only to discover that the fragrance was coming from the statue of Padre Pio.
I also write about the fragrance of roses and honey at Lourdes
and in Lisieux at the body of St Terese and those who went with me
had the same experience.
 The radiant Lady of Lourdes stood over a wild rose bush
and she appeared with golden roses on her bare feet.  Her image made
in roses appeared on the inside of the cloak of  Juan Diego of Guadulupe.
The original rose flower used to be an open flower with five distinct
petals.  The five petals are similar to the inner core of an apple when cut in half;
you can clearly see the pentacle.  The apple is also a traditionally feminine
symbol.  The shape of the five petals and five segments in the apple’s
inner core, is similar to the five pointed pattern that Venus forms in her 
orbit when she gets closest to Earth.
These last seven days are dedicated to Mary, the Great Rose, 
the Rose Queen, Rose of Divine Love, the Rose Garden
and Our Lady of Love and Beauty.
My altar for the week – I chose the Priestesshood card

Today we draw the fourth card for the Thirty Days of Mary.
Place all four cards in a row on your altar and start writing the story.
You may find that by the end of the thirty days you will be adding
more insights into the story.
Hail Mary 
Ave Maria
Glory is the one who is our home
Glory for the presence in our hearts
Glory since the mystery transcends all words.
all songs, all signs
Glory is the hope that makes us live
Hail Mary 
Ave Maria
Glory is the wonder that we were and are
and will become
Glory is the Spirit who invades our bones
and makes them shine
Glory in the wind and in the  fire
Glory in the one breath
giving life to all the world
Hail Mary
Ave Maria
Glory in the rising earth
Glory embracing what we lost
Glory in assuming who we are
Glory in the woman who is whole
Hail Mary
Ave Maria
blessings
Hettienne
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Day 21 – September

III of Distaff, the Rosa Mystica
Listing a few of the names that Sophia goes by makes a lovely litany
Yes, she is Judaic, she is Christian, she is Buddhist, she is Moslem,
she is and will be everywhere that anything is manifest in form
Alice O Howell – The Dove in the Stone




Today I share with you one of my favourite tarot layouts, 
the Rosa Mystica reading.
The Rosa Mystica is the Three of Distaff (Swords)
in the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.
The apparition and miracle of Mary in the story of the
Rosa Mystica is based on the three swords that are transformed
into three roses.
The roses are said to have been blue, pink and golden.
These are the exact same colours of the triple flames of the
esoteric (hidden) heart chakra, also known as the higher heart
or the sacred heart in the Ascended Master tradition.
In 1947 in Montechiari, Italy, the Radiant Lady appeared to
Pierrina Gilli.  She wore a violet dress and a white veil.
She had three big  swords through her heart.  The second
time that she appeared to Pierrina she was wearing a white dress 
and three roses had replaced the three swords.
The messages apparently had to do with the clergy of the church,
but the symbolism was that the three swords in her heart
had been transformed into three flowering roses through three
redeeming acts on the part of those that had caused her sorrow.
The pierced heart is a universal symbol.  It signifies
pain and suffering but also the awakening of the heart and the
transformation of the mind which is the gift of working
consciously and consistently with one’s pain and suffering.
This is not a morbid belief in martyrdom but the understanding
that hardship and loss need not be regarded as pointless.
If one looks at challenges and betrayals in your life 
as opportunities  to allow yourself to be informed to your
false beliefs and conditioning, as well as the inner strength
and unconditional love and forgiveness that you are capable of 
you will be rewarded with a greater sense of clarity and inner-seeing.
Spiritual growth is never possible without going through
the pain and the suffering in the same way that it is not possible
to give birth without going through the labour.
The roses at the feet of the Immaculate Conception
So, for the Rosa Mystica layout I drew the three roses
and the three swords.
Then I call on the presence of the Rosa Mystica and Our Lady of Lourdes,
the Immaculate conception and I place those two cards on the layout.
The three roses symbolically represent the three flames of kundalini
and the divine ‘braid of energy’ that is formed in your spiritual body.
The ida, pingala and sushumna.
They are not truly so distinct and separate, as shakty and shiva/
ida and pingala are not truly separate, but for the purposes of a 
reading we can separate these into three distinct aspects.
In this layout you are looking at three areas of your life;
and i separated them into action, receptivity and outcome.
The Questions :
Which challenge/obstacle do I face in each of these three areas of my life?
You can specify the three areas of your life before you do the layout.
Pick three cards, and place one on each sword.
How will these challenges be transformed into gifts/grace/positive outcomes?
What will be expected from me?
Pick three cards, and place one on each rose.
Afterwards I realised that it will on an intellectual level make more sense to turn the layout
around, that is to have the swords at the bottom of the layout and the roses on top.
But up is not always down, so I was quite happy to keep it this way.
Three of the cards that have significance on this reading
Mary, Sophia, Mother Wisdom, Gnosis, Holy Spirit or one of the many
names that have been given to her by different tradtions, speaks to and
awakens the highest point of consciousness as symbolised by the
apex of the triangle with its three sides.
She is the source of intuitive knowing and its the veils of the
mind that obscures the knowing and the bliss.
It is miraculous ….. if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of
track that has been there all the while, waiting for you,
and the life that you ought to be living is the one  you are living …
If you are following your bliss, you are enjoying … that life within you
all the time – Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
blessings
Hettienne
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Day 20 – September

Mary Sophia
Om Jai Mata Mary Ma
Jai Jai Ma
Hail Mary




My collage card for today :

I am the One who is holding you in my most intimate embrace
whilst the city that you built crumbles around you and
I am the One that re-births you into the light of a new day.
I am your mother, now and always.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Ave Maria



blessings
Hettienne
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Day 19 – September

Today is the nineteenth day of this journey with ourselves, meditation
and Mary in all her aspects.
Diving deep into our own shadows always takes us out of our comfort
zones and into seemingly dangerous places.  We are all of a sudden
confronted with unspoken beliefs;  memories that had been deep down
never to be seen again (that was the idea) and an alchemical process
starts.  
Alchemy is not only something that takes place in a laboratory.
Alchemy takes place in the kitchen, when the yeast meets the flour
and rises;  when the bread is put into the oven and it bakes to a beautiful
golden brown.  Alchemy takes place when we pick up the needle and thread
and sew two pieces of fabric together and we have a garment.
Alchemy takes place in the heart when we allow the fears and hurts
to float to the surface, to be seen, to be embraced, to be accepted
and to be viewed with compassion.
For today and this stage of our journey I offer to you
IX of Distaff, Our Lady Untier of Knots
I say that we are wound with mercy round and round as if with air;
the same Mary … World-mother air, air wild, wound with thee, 
in thee isled, fold home, fast fold thy child – Gerard Manly Hopkins




Our Lady Untier of Knots symbolises the absolute power of the divine
to untie the knots of the personal self.
Yoga teaches that knots or ‘granthis’ exist in the sublte energetic meridians
(nadi) of the body.  These knots restrict the flow of prana or chi or the life force
and emotional discomfort and physical disease is the result
When we accept that we are ‘wound with mercy round and round’
then it is a small step to accept that the Divine is as close as your next breath.
The Holy Protection of the Mother of God
Mother of Mercy
if I stay awake all night,
vigilant and grateful,
will you drop your protective veil
over my vulnerable heart?
I cannot control the world around me,
I can only be faithful to my own deepest truth.
Wrap me in your pure white cloak of devotion, Mary,
so that I can remember that my sole task
is to praise the God of Love.
Cover me in your burial shroud
as I die to my false self,
to be reborn
as a living example of peace on earth.
Infuse me with the tincture of your tears
so that I may face every challenge
with a tender and courageous spirit
– Mirabai Starr from Mother of God, similar to fire
blessings
Hettienne