Today is the final day of the second week of the
Suit of the Holyrood.
This week is dedicated to the Archetype of Mystical Bride,
Beloved and the Sacred Heart of Mary.
There are various archetypes and initiations in this suit
and one of them is Our Lady, the Eastern Gate.
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| Triumph Mary and her Child’s return to Nazareth Six of the Suit of the Holy Rood in the path of Beauty (traditionally Six of Wands) Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck www.hergracesacredart.com |
Many people are familiar with the fact that Joseph and
Mary fled with the infant Jesus to Egypt at the threat
of the massacre of the innocents by King Herod.
This event is well covered by many artists
and it is seen as one of the seven sorrows of Mary.
However, what is not clear, is the amount of time that
was spent in Egypt and what transpired there.
The two accounts in the books of Matthew and Luke
do not correspond at all. Luke mentions nothing about Egypt
and Matthew says nothing about a trip to Nazareth
soon after Jesus’ birth whereas Luke describes in detail
how Jesus was taken to the temple in Jerusalem
‘after Mary’s purification according to the law of Moses.’
And when they had performed everything
according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth – Luke 2:39
The town of Nazareth is in the ‘kingdom’ of Jerusalem
and here we see Mary on the donkey riding
through the gate of Jerusalem.
In The Hebrew Goddess, a book by Jewish historian
and anthropologist Raphael Patai, we learn
that the Hebrew goddess Asherah was seen as the
mother of Yahweh.
In the time of King Joshua the Hebrew goddess
had to go ‘underground’. The use of her name and images
were forbidden and her devotees replaced her with
the tree, a pole or rod and the branches of the menorah.
She was known as the Lady of Jerusalem;
the Gate of Jerusalem and the Eastern Gate.
The Lady of Jerusalem was also depicted as an arch.
According to the Dead Sea Scrolls and
The Mother of the Lord by Margaret Barker,
the ancients
believed Mary to be the incarnation of
the Lady of Jerusalem.
In Christian iconography from the East
we see Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn.
Her image is above the city gates (in Lithuania
and Poland) to protect the city and its inhabitants
and many miracles have been ascribed to her.
In Ezekiel it is written that the eastern gate of
Jerusalem has been shut
and that it will only re-open for the divine One.
So here we have Mary returning victoriously
through the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem
into the light of a new dawn.
A marriage of eastern and western iconography
and cultures and more importantly,
a marriage of masculine and feminine values
for our world.
This card is a way shower of the return of Mary
and her hidden and lost meaning to our world.
The deck takes us on a journey through the
life, the initiations and the mysteries of Mary
as the Sacred Feminine and what it means
to our natural world as well as our spiritual,
emotional and social health.
May the values of mercy, compassion, forgiveness and acceptance
of all diversity as embodied by Mary
return to a place of honour and respect in our world.
The suggested practise for Day Fourteen
Depending on how much time you have for meditation and
spiritual practise you can make the Sacred Heart Diksha meditation a part of your
daily practise or the only meditation for a few days.
Until tomorrow, when we enter a new week and a new focus.
blessings
Hettienne