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There are many stories and myths telling us that the jewel that we have searched for all of our lives, are buried in our own backyard.  This of course, is applicable to many levels of interpretation and to many areas of our lives.

I have shared many posts with my readers on http://shaman-shewhoknows.blogspot.com about how far and wide my search has taken me to find the healing for myself and others who were born and raised in the Western culture and Judeo-Christian traditions.

My seeking took me to more than one teacher in the East and training in  spiritual paths of the Hindu traditions.  In his book Cutting through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa writes about how Westerners adopt Eastern traditions without understanding them.  Other Buddhist teachers have also spoken out against the Western ‘supermarket mentality’, referring to our need for quick and easy solutions.

When I started working with a Guru in the Hindu tradition, I was dismayed at his lack of understanding of our Western psyche;  of the wounding that women and men carry from such a patriarchal society and the soul wounding due to the materialism in our society and worldview.

 My emphasis has always been on a psycho-spiritual approach, believing that the application of spiritual practises will not alleviate nor heal personal wounding and pathology.  In Many of the Eastern traditions there are no psycho-spiritual approach.  In my own personal experience, I was instructed to forget about all things of the mind and that all pathology will disappear when spiritual practise is faithfully applied. In many of the Hindu traditions there are no terminology for the diseases of the soul that exist in the Western world and the path to enlightenment is seen as a path without any reference to the process or how to process or integrate the changes that the practices of the spiritual path will incur.  I witnessed many Westerners trying to stay afloat in this mindset and being washed ashore with a deep sense of inadequacy and ‘not being good enough’ to be acceptable to the Divine.

 Many Westerners seek out spiritual traditions in order to find a solution to their psychological pathology and wounding.  Some  of them have never developed a strong personal self-identity and ego.  In the spiritual world, the ego is seen as the Devil itself, but one needs a strong sense of self and therefore a strong ego with good boundaries, before the process of surrender to Spirit can start.

When there is no self-identity and strong sense of self in the world, then the seeker is vulnerable to self-destruction, being taken advantage of and to other forms of abuse at the hand of those self-same spiritual Gurus and teachers.  Many have served Gurus and spiritual and religious leaders slavishly, because self-sacrifice and service to others have been idealised as spiritual idols.  One who is suffering from the pathology of low self-esteem very easily becomes enslaved to victim-consciousness in this scenario, as the Shadow Self is covered over by the veneer of spirituality.

‘Spiritual’ solutions can often be applied as a form of self-denial and escapism.  It is often evident how we can distort and change the true meaning of spiritual or religious doctrine to justify our own pathology and neurosis. The human mind has an incredible capacity for self-deception and it takes a mature and brave heart to see the self-deception and inner darkness (Shadow) with awareness, to accept self-responsibility in humility and in compassion for the self and to surrender to the transformation process and to stay in Wisdom  of the True Self, through all of the above!!

In my post    http://shaman-shewhoknows.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-many-seeds-of-sacred-pomegranate.html  I say that :      In order to know our authentic selves, it is necessary to spend a certain amount of time in darkness in our own underworld. During these times of trial and difficulty, we will be taken into a deep sleep-like state, such as told in the stories of Psyche and Sleeping Beauty. Those for whom the task has been too gruelling, may lose heart or fall into despair and self-blame during these dark times. Learning from personal experience is often painful, self-revelatory and embarassing; it may initially feel like an admission of failure to face the reality of a relationship founded upon projection or to discover that what you thought was one of your personal attributes was in fact non-existent. These are just some of the many masks worn by the inner daimon.

Many are speaking of really feeling the changes in and around them and veils are opening.  Always always surrender to the process and to the love of the Divine Mother and keep a watch on that internal dialogue.  It is such a small step, but it has such great effects in your life.  When the critical mind is switched off, you can get a glimpse of the peace which is you and your true nature!

It has been a time of great opening in my own life.  I have written many articles on the significance of the dove in my life on my other blogs, particularly on http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com.  The past two months the Dove (Shekinah, Holy Spirit) has made herself known in many extraordinary ways.  In the one case, a beautiful red-colored dove landed on my head (in my garden) and there she sat.

It was rather strange and funny and incredibly powerful at the same time!!  I had tears streaming down my face while my daughter stared at me and the dove in amazement.  And she would not leave.  My daughter took a very poor photograph of it on her camera and I will post it soon.  A few weeks later, a dove flew into my art studio – this in itself is not strange, but what happened next, is.  The dove chased my cat out!

I took all of these signs very seriously and decided that She wants me to move out of my haitus and bring Her and Her energy into the world so that many can drink from Her eternal waters of Love and Compassion.

So, The Temple of Mary is starting a ‘new’ year of initiations and training into the path of Bridal Mysticism and Bhakty Yoga.  I am in the process of putting up a new website :  http://www.shekinahdove.org.  Have a look and check back regularly for updates.

Here you will find an outline of the trainings and events and also links to blogs, bibliography and more. If you are in the Cape Town area (South Africa) and you would like to become an initiate of The Temple of Mary, please read the articles on this blog, The Book of Mary and especially the Messages received from Mary as these form the foundation of the teachings.

It is very important to be familiar with the Silent Heart and Sacred Heart meditations.  If you follow this link http://bookofmarysacredheart.blogspot.com/2011/09/blue-cloak-of-protection-from-divine.html you can read how to receive the Blue Cloak of Protection directly from Her.

Here is the link on how to receive the Silent Heart Diksha http://bookofmarysacredheart.blogspot.com/2011/09/silent-heart-diksha.html.  Follow up every day with the Silent Heart meditation and from there you can move to the Sacred heart meditation.  All of these will be expanded on and followed up with other blessings such as the Christ Consciousness Diksha, the Mother Flame blessing (Shaktypat) during retreats.

Apply this every day and experience the difference for yourself.  We do not learn through reading and watching :  we BECOME through application and practise.

The Temple of Mary will also be hosting Sacred Feminine Conference and Festivals and a Goddess Festival in October 2012 and 2013.  To stay updated with these, follow my blog http://goddessfestivalsa.blogspot.com and Like Us on Facebook!  That way you will stay in touch.

If you would like more information, please send me an email on [email protected]

Hail Mary!

Litany of the Blessed Mother Mary [Adapted] 

The word LOVE has so many meanings, so many connotations.  In Greek there are eight different words for love, but in English we are impoverished as we have only one word.  Love means forgiveness, unconditional love, letting go, surrender, divine love and acceptance.

Love can be regarded as a Trinity (as in the Father religions and thoughts of thinking) and as the Triple Goddess (in the Mother religions and thoughts of thinking).

This material world is a world of matter (mater/mother) which is being projected from our inner psyche or Spirit (father in heaven – higher mind).  At all times we are both Observer (Higher Mind/Father God), the One being Observed (spirit in matter or Mother) and the Observer.  In Sacred Geometry this is depicted as the Vesica Piscis.  The process in which the One plus One merges and forms the third, the Vesica Pisces.

This is indeed the image of the Self-begotten human being who evolves into Love and the loving action of forgiveness and compassion for self and others.  It is also the third, the principle of Unity Consciousness and Advaita or that which is not limited by the duality of the two, nor polarises into either Spirit or Matter, but that which unites and thereby creates a third principle, Love and only Love;  Or in the yogic-tantric traditions of India : facets of a single, non-dual awareness-self. In kundalini yogic terms it is the union of Will (Shakty-kundalini) with Knowledge (Prana-kundalini) giving birth to Action (Para-kundalini).

Here is a lovely extract from the website :  www.blueprint4creation.com that explains the image of the Vesica Pisces and the Holy Trinity very eloquently in terms of Sacred Geometry.

So back to the daily here and now.  The first step towards accessing the Sacred Heart of the Universe, where all is One and beyond the duality of good and bad, is sacred awareness.  The second step is acceptance.  (If you would like to learn more about these concepts, please read my other articles on this blog and also on http://shaman-shewhoknows.blogspot.com on awareness and acceptance and also Alchemy of the Heart).

And implicit in Acceptance is Forgiveness.  And before one can contemplate the possibility of becoming one with all that is and accept that everything is divine and love and only love, one needs to become forgiveness or prema (in Hindu terminology).

Forgiveness is such a loaded word – it evokes great resistance, especially in us who have lived in a patriarchal society.  Forgiveness evokes memories of being told that you are born in sin and that you have to beseech the Patriarchal Father for eternal forgiveness.

And this is what we often see in many of the images and statues of Mary.  But Mary is indeed the triple Mary.  She is Mary the Mother, Mary Magdalene, lover and consort and Mary-Sophia, wisdom  and in all three of the Triple Mary or the Triple Goddess are implicit and present the Holy Trinity.

This morning, Mary, Blessed Woman, has a message for us.  She says that Forgiveness is the Heart of the Matter. And understanding that forgiveness has been labeled and conceptualised by our wonderful intellect, She sets out explaining what She means by ‘forgiveness’.

Many are the stories that you live and share.  At the heart of these stories are always the feelings;  the feelings of the heart.  These may be sadness, anger, joy, happiness and suffering.  Suffering are the most difficult part of the story to alchemize in the sacred heart. Often the pain is so intense and so all-encompassing that the heart closes down and the mind does not want to open the doors to the oven.  But in order to ‘eat’ or ingest the suffering and the pain in your story, one has to cook it first before it is edible or maybe even tasty!

And there is only one way and that is through forgiveness.  When I use the word forgiveness I see that it immediately evokes the picture of a penitent self, born in sin, crawling on knees to ask the archetypal father’s forgiveness – for something that you do not believe that you deserved to feel, or that your actions could possibly have evoked such cruel selfishness and heartlessness from another?

But that is not true forgiveness.  True forgiveness will descend like a dove from the heaven and enter your heart and it will be as though none of that suffering ever happened.  But how to get there?  Through the triple goddess of hope, faith and charity.

Through the simple act of finding hope : in the beautiful colour of a flower;  in the image of the rainbow;  in the smile of another.

The simple act of faith :  you do not need to understand concepts or intellectual thinking or which path is the right path.  Faith like a child will inherit the heavens.  Faith that you are created in Love;  you are a reflection of Love on this earth and that your very being is Love.

And charity to yourself, first and foremost.  Charitable thoughts to yourself and your own struggles and resistances and efforts to love.  Learn to love yourself;  accept yourself as you are right now, in this very moment.  Accept that your imperfections are part of the perfect design and that by implication, you are perfect in love.

Then, smile inwardly or outwardly, put down all the feelings of heavy heartedness and step out, trusting that peace will find you and forgiveness will settle in your heart.  Forgiveness for all that still lies behind the veil of the human mind.

And do something kind and loving for yourself today.  Give yourself what you need today.  The rest will follow.

Hail Mary.

The path to peace and wholeness is a trinity, that of mind, body and spirit.  It is necessary to pay attention to all three aspects of the self in order to arrive at and to know yourself as Divine Love.  A three-fold path dappled with shadow and light for indeed without the shadows, there is no existence.

In the works of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung, the power of the collective consciousness and the face of the evolving archetype, are powerful allies on the path of psychological maturing towards individuation.

As we live in a patriarchal society and have done so for thousands of years, these archetypal images have been changed through that lens of perception, both within men and women.