Category: the swan blessings;

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The Swan Blessings Part III

The Swan and Goddess in Uffizi, Florence, Italy

The Swan Blessings is an energetic change or transformational
shift known to those who work with their own inner Shaman,
the Christ within or The Beloved.
Subtle messages continually reach us from within, but these
are often in opposition to our conditioned mind.
In an attempt to block these messages we push down the
energies which arise from the heart and flows to the
head centres and the lower centres. 
There are many ways to push these energies down or to
try to not become aware of them.  It can be through
habitual actions, such as being busy, creating new
challenges, running from one endeavour or undertaking
to the next, depression, illness, persistent worry and many more.
What makes it even more complex is that all of the above
also has a place and a function in your life and it is
not easy to discern when it serves and when it merely
serves as justification for the ‘ego’ mind.
The best approach for me has been to consistently work with getting to
know myself, dragons and all.  It takes years
of dedication and focus to truly learn to understand
yourself and your shadows and your archetypes
and the many tricksters.  The tendence to ‘just go with the flow’
and ‘to let things go’ is only one half of the picture.  These
receptive attitudes also need a frame and a foundation 
and a firm hand which can use a sharp bladed sword of
objectivity and discernment.  Often the guiding hand and eye
of a skilled teacher, therapist or guru of spiritual knowledge
is necessary and of course the willingness to see that
which we really do not want to see.
Our Lady of Lourdes during Full Moon procession
October 2015 Lourdes, France
Inner work pushes the tidal wave of lifetimes of habits
and conditioning and fear and oppression back
until the metaphoric Red Sea parts and you are led
to Israel, the Holy Self.
The Swan Blessing is a gift of Grace – and there are many
of those available to the true dedicated pilgrim of life.
The Swan Blessing can enter through a shamanic therapist
in a therapy session or during a shamanic journey or
to those who are consciously aware of the Eternal Present
in the daily ordinary.
It is usually accompanied by a powerful spirit being
and most often by the spirit of Jeanne d’Arc.
The Swan Blessing bring a letting go and an undoing
of energy forms and manifestations over many lifetimes.
It is as though a knot in this lifetime is untied which
unfurls deep seated belief systems and thought forms
which are woven into actual mental and emotional experiences
in previous lifetimes. 
It is called the Swan Blessing for a number of reasons and maybe
even more than what I am aware of right now.
The Annunciation taken in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy
The swan is a symbol of Air, Spirit, Dreams and the Union of Oneness.
The image of the flying swan is similar to the appearance of the balance
between the left and right hemispheres of the brain when the
pineal gland is erect.  It frees the meditator or the shaman or pilgrim
from the physical body mind and the duality of this world.
You and your soul then soar through the many worlds in
absolute unity with All.
This state of being is usually attainable during very deep and skillful
meditation and once you return it fades.  Every time you return
you return with a deeper insight;  a wider vision of what is Real
and what is possible and you are challenged by the Beloved to
change your lifestyle, your actions, your outlook, your perceptions
to become more and more aligned to your Soul’s dream for this lifetime.
Thus the cloud parts and the ugly duckling becomes the beautiful
swan flying through the blue clear sky.
I wrote about the Swan Blessing previously in Part one and two and
since then I have completed two more pilgrimages to sacred sites.
I visited the walking grounds of San Francesco and Santa Chiara
and was immersed in their sacred and soulful love affair of
the pure heart.  I visited the convent, home and relics of St Therese in Lisieux
in France.  I spent a week in Lourdes participating in one of the greatest
mysteries and celebration of the Divine Mother in the West.
I visited the cloister of Fra Angelica and the musuem of San Marco and the
Uffizi in Florence and gazed upon the works of the masters and their
genius in telling the many ‘secrets’ of our world.
I visited the oldest Church dedicated to the Divine Feminine in Europe.
And the threads fell with each image, each smell, each experience.
And still the unfurling continues.
As the knot was untied by the Swan Blessing and the Light
which accompanies Jeanne d’Arc when she appeared to me
as bright as daylight, I am continued to be guided into
a completely new lifestyle.  I am continually challenged
to put down and give up many endeavours and undertakings
which did serve me and others well.
It is not easy to explain to your self and even more
difficult to explain to others.
Know that the unfolding into the sacred marriage with the Beloved
is an infinite journey.  As a pilgrim of Life one continually
travels into the Light of the One and it does not end.
The love for this life and each and every emanation
and manifestation of the Beloved merely intensifies
and with that the sensitivity and the awareness and the
compassion, also intensifies.
A strange paradox takes shape (once again) as
one becomes more energetic whilst at the same time
‘doing’ less as the striving falls away completely.
All desire is replaced with a wave which forms
and grows and washes out into manifestation
of creativity and abundance and it flows down again,
without leaving a void or an emptiness as it
never filled anything as there is nothing to be filled.
Complete fullness and absolute emptiness at all times.

Through the Grace and many blessings, such as the
Swan Blessing, one comes home to yourself.
The journey to the self is truly an remembering
of who you are and being completely YOU
at all times;  an undivided, unseparated being,
a Oneness with yourself.

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The Swan Blessings Part II

Statue of Compassionate Mother of the World
in my garden shrine
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

My quest is, and has been, to give expression to
the mystical vision that is alive in my inner world,
both in a way that will add beauty and meaning to my own life
and to the world of which I am an active
participant, and to, very importantly,
understand that mystical vision.
And then to go out and share my understanding
with others so that we may all benefit
from the fruits of the Tree of Sophia.
Soulcollage images created by myself
Blessedly we are living in a time of
religious freedom, and if we have the courage
to break away from our mechanistic following of
our religious traditions and heritage
and our familial conditioning, we can read
and study the many religions of the world.
Even more powerfully, and importantly, we
have the freedom and option to heed the
Inner Voice which is without sound,
and to craft our own Religion of the Soul.
I have a strong sense of the inner world
and see it reflected in fairy tales, myths, legend
and religion.
Some of these inner visions have stayed with 
me for all my life and they have acted as my
Guide and Guardian Angel, as well as Daemon.
Sometimes they have guided me into very difficult
places of great challenge and loss but always,
eventually, to greater understanding and meaning.
In the first part on the Swan Blessings, I visited
the image of the Swan and how some of it has
played out in my story.
Today I am focusing on the second part of the
vision, and yes, they are related, in a very
unexpected way!!
The second vision is that of 
Snow White and her glass coffin.
Through the different phases and cycles in my life, this image has had
different meaning and interpretations for myself on a
personal level.
I did not fail to notice the correspondence between the
fairy tale and the incorruptible bodies of the saints
in both the Hindu and Catholic traditions
Image from www.bluehearttravel.com
The body of St Terese of Lisiuex
Notice the similarity in the flower wreath around the head
www.lifeinitaly.com
Santa Chiara in Assisi
There are various interpretations on the level of
the psyche as to what these images mean.
I choose to rely on my own intuition and feeling.
When the ‘colours’ of the image and the meaning
that I uncover in my own understanding, lines up,
then I experience a great sense of release,
a letting go, followed by a birthing of inspiration
and renewal on many levels.
Probably because of the belief, in Western patriarchal religion,
 in separation and the original sin and fall
of humanity from their existence in Eden,
there is a deep-seated belief in personal
unworthiness.  Or maybe this is a deep-seated
stream in the human psyche, a basic duality
as seen as the other side
of the double-headed face of Janus,
symbolising our dualistic understanding and beliefs.
On the flip side of this coin, there is the also deep-seated
knowing that we are indeed the Holy Sons and
Daughters of God, holistically one and whole,
no separation and no distinction between good and
bad, dark and light :  both the light and its shadows
praising the Creatrix.
This deep seated belief in personal unworthiness
gives rise to a  need and yearning for
perfection and purity.  As an artist I am privy
to this need for perfection and it really spells
death for all creativity and art.
Creating art, as does life, demands great courage and risk taking.
Our Western way of thinking and striving for material
success, negates all creativity and art-making
and denies the beauty of Creation, both in its
light and dark aspects.
Snow White and the Saints in their incorruptible bodies,
spell death.  Yes, that is obvious, you are saying.
But they are resurrected in various ways.
 So it is a form of a living death; 
 a suspended state of neither being awake nor
being asleep, but outwardly perfectly beautiful,
 staying forever young.
And as we know, our society values eternal youth
beyond gold and jewels.
I see in these images the desire for perfection.
The glass encased face of eternal beauty.
She is not ravaged by the demands of life;
she does not create nor make art, nor participates in life
and the living. 
A perfect mask that will be acceptable
to the mind of the self.  A role that is to be enacted
under the maestro of the archetype of the ego.
And the opposite for this perfection
is messy living with its huge emotions and conflict.
So in that belief system, it follows that soul and body
are in conflict with each other :  that the earth
is not paradise and that humanity  is doomed
by its own mortal flesh and blood, its senses and
sensuality, its primal instinct and wayward nature.
Humanity is stuck in a glass coffin of perfectionistic
and purist ideals as God, the All, is only present 
in the Light.
In this light (I could not resist the pum),
the mind blocks the consciousness from
understanding and awakening to the tremendous
and awesome meaning of God equals ‘Good’.
I see that many have moved away from the
patriarchal religion and are desperately looking
for a new way.  A way of wholeness.
A path that is based on Beauty, Compassion,
Truth and Wisdom.
But, alas, unless you do your own soul-searching and
your own wild-crafting, you will in no time find
yourself walking a well-trodden path leading
to the same places of separation and division,
of transcendence as opposed to participation,
now merely parading new names and banners.
Now these places are often called Light Spirituality,
Enlightenment, self-improvement and
mostly Light and Love and once again, there is
an attitude of either-or.
In trying to bring balance to a Western patriarchal
system by only focusing on the matriarchal, a new imbalance
is being created. 
Can you see how the opponent serves your transformation?
How the ever-happening imbalance brings
growth and new birth and new life:
 Balance equals perfection.
Perfection equals stagnation and death.
In trying to control conflict, in denying
tension and differences, no new life
can be created.
If one only looks at the cruficixion and you forget
about the resurrection, then you miss the entire
message of the Christ.  A Course in Miracles
devote many chapters to this understanding.
One plus one equals three :
new life is born from struggling and discord.
Living with the tension of the opposites,
allowing disagreement and another’s
voice that differ from yours, to be heard,
brings awareness to the glassy mind,
of the awesome beauty of creating a life
that has meaning.
Unity and a wholistic understanding of
God and Its Kingdom, which is Us,
is a paradoxical approach of both/as well as.
A sacred trinity of one plus one equals three.
There is a place where all the rivers converge
and that place is the Sacred Heart of humanity.

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The Swan Blessing

The Swan Blessing
Soul Collage Card by Hettienne
I shared part 1 and part 2 of the Swan Blessing
before my trip to some of the holiest cities
in India and I never wrote the entire story.
In hindsight (wonderful hindsight!)
I see that was because I did not have
the final chapter of the story, so
it did not make enough ‘sense’ to share
it here.
But now the picture is complete.
I am sharing parts one and two here
and as soon as time allows,
I will write part three.
Full moon at Notre Dame – Swan Blessing Pilgrimage September 2014
I woke up from my afternoon nap, blinded by a great
golden spotlight turned on in my room.
At first all I could see was thick golden light,
like a golden carpet and then I saw her,
standing in this light.
I immediately recognized her as
Joan of Arc or Jeanne d’Arc
 as she is called
in France.
Joan of Arc's banner

I bought a tiny Jeanne d’Arc statue,
on the last day of my recent trip, at the
 incredible town Chartres.
We had a train to catch and there was no time to ask myself
why I am buying a statue of 
Jeanne d’Arc when there are so many others,
seemingly more fitting to Chartres, on the shelves.

I gazed at this compelling apparition
and presence
or does one call it a Vision?
Nothing small about her.
In fact very little about her presence
is captured in the tiny statue other
than the banner that she carries.

I gazed at her as long as I could
absorbing the message that I
could hear with my heart.

Never waiver from your Vision.
Stay committed to your heart’s desire
and passion and continue
to walk towards the Sun.
Let no obstacle nor challenge
prove too big to overcome.
Use your power of prophecy!

She showed me an intense and clear
path of light, as thick as a carpet of gold!

Let me start at the beginning.
Before I set off for my pilgrimage earlier this month
(September 2014)
 to Paris, Lourdes, Lisieux, Chartres, Rome and Assisi,
I received very clear guidance that the Swan and her
energy will play an important role in this pilgrimage.
My very first pilgrimage I set out on was to Italy in  September 2000
to attend the Archangel Michael festival in Mont’ San Angelo.
On that trip I bought my very first Mary statue and my very first
rosary.  I visited the ancient city of Rome and was
fascinated by the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, especially when
I discovered the story of one of the priestesses, named Claudia.
My own daughter was born two years previously and I had
named her Claudia, not for any particular reason.
I never managed to get to the Temple of the Vesta as they were
busy with archeological work and I had to be satisfied with looking
at images in books.  But this led me to her counterpart Hestea and
to her Irish counterpart Bridget and my subsequent pilgrimages
to Glastonbuy and St Bridget in Kildare.
(You can read about these pilgrimages elsewhere on this blog)
St Michael Tower with engraving of Bridget on the Tor, Glastonbury

St Bridgit shrine in Kildare

Myself at St Bridgit shrine in Kildare
One of my first paintings of Bridgid and her Swan
A shadowbox I made a while ago – see the beautiful white swan,
the two swans in the right hand side and the wings on
the little Victorian skater girl – also the bird in a cage!!
The first few nights we stayed in Paris, right on the doorstep
of the magnificent Notre Dame.  At night we went to sleep with the
pealing of the bells of the Notre Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris.

The very first morning that we stepped out of our apartment,
we saw the incredible sight of three white swans on the Seine
and I was reminded of the guidance of the blessing
of the presence of Swan.

part two to follow …………………..

blessings

Hettienne