Category: walkingwithmary

Posted on by

Walking with Mary QnA



I have received some questions about timing, structure and a few other tips.
If you are familiar with all these preparations, you can skip reading this post,
but I share here for those who are not so familiar with energy work.

Also keep in mind that this is a creative journey and you have the freedom
to change things around and to apply your own timing.  

I will be sharing with you some of my personal tools 
and practises which I garnered
through my experiences and 
intimate realisations over the years.
(You can read a summary of some of my experiences 
in the profile in the side column of my blogs)

I have found these practises and blessings to be of great value in my own journey towards self-realisation  and believe 
that they may be of value to you as well.
I am not teaching a specific practise complete in itself 
with precise lists of what you
have to do, but rather I will share with you 
some of the key practises and prayers
which you can adapt to suit your own truth.
Some aspects may seem particularly vague, but that is done on purpose
as it will enable you to fill the gaps with your own inner understanding 
and to stretch
yourself into ever-deepening layers of connection 
with self and the Divine.

May these practises and energy transferences (diksha) lead you to the threshold of your own wisdom.

Energy Clearing

I have previously shared with you to create your 
sacred space in advance before you start
with the meditations. 
It is also important to clear your space before you start with the consecration
of your altar and shawl, etc and before you receive the first mantra for the blessing (diksha) and meditations.

There are various ways of clearing your space :  
burning sage or mpepho (a local indigenous
plant in South Africa); burning aromatherapy oils; 
 holy water; sacred waters and salt.

My favourite way of cleansing is the following :



A whole lemon placed in the room and one on the altar. 
 I leave the lemons in place
for weeks (until it has naturally dried out).  
When the lemon starts to rot it has absorbed negative
energy and you have to put it into the compost or garden and replace it with another fresh lemon.

Lemons are powerful energy clearing fruit and 
one of the oldest holy fruits that we know.  
The lemon also aborbs the sacred energies of the activated altar
 and space and you 
can eat it as prasadh (blessed food) after your sacrament.

Secondly I use salt.  I place a bowl of salt on my altar and this is replaced with clean salt regularly.
It is also a good practise to sprinkle a bit of salt in the corners
 of the room and to sweep
them out regularly.  
You are all familiar with bathing in water with a few tablespoons 
of Epsom salts 
added to it.  I also add slices of lemon to my bath water or to my shower, especially
after I had done personal clearing or healing work on others.



In preparation of my sacred space and before any meditation or healing work, I burn frankincense
and myrhh granules or a good quality vegan incense.
I clear the entire room with the smoke of the frankincense.

I also clear my space by sprinkling blessed water on everything.

And music is also a powerful energetic cleanser.  We all have different vibrations
and resonate with different frequencies.  I have my favourite music which includes
classical music by Mozart and Beethoven, chants by Krishna Das and my
absolute favourite are the chants of Lourdes.  You can find these online :
Les 20 plus beaux chants pour la messe
and
Lourdes : 150 Ans de chants


Blessing of the Altar

Placing sacred items and images on your altar, sanctifies and blesses everything
that is within the energy field of those items.  If you work with a pendulum you can
prove this fact to yourself.  You can test the frequency and vibration of a space
without a sacred image.  
Then place the image or holy water or rosary which had
been used for prayers, back into the space and test the space again.
You may be amazed at the increase in vibration.  
Our cells consists mainly of water
and prana and these vibrate in resonance with its surroundings. 
That is why people
and their energy around us affect us so much.
Essential oils

I will share with you the secret recipes for meditation blends
during the weeks to come.
Candles and colours over the four weeks

You can keep the same candle for the four weeks or you can
change the colour and/or image of the candle that you work with..

Feel free to change the colour of your altar cloth and flowers too.

We will draw a card from the relevant suit of the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck
for each week, but you can use any image of Blessed Mary for your altar.


Week 1 – BLUE, white, silver
Week 2 – RED, green
Week 3 – GREEN, purple

Week 4 – GOLD, red


If you have any questions or you would like further support please write

blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by

A month of walking with Mary – February 2020

Walk with Mary for thirty days



When you pray to Mary, mother of Jesus, you pray, without knowing it,
to the World Mother in her many forms. –  The Mists of Avalon
You are invited to join myself, the Hearthkeepers of the Temple of Mary
and the Walking with Mary community in a 30 day practice
with the metaphor, Sacred Presence and iconography of Blessed Mary. 

This practise is based on the initiations into the Temple of Mary
for the past ten years, and the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.
(You do not need to own the deck to participate)

Each Thirty Days with Mary is slightly different, but the basic
outline stays consistent.

This year we start on Monday 3 February with the
Nine Days Art Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes.
The novena has been a tradition on my blog
Cloister of the Heart for the past ten years.

You can participate wherever you are and you can spend as much time as you can afford to on the daily practise.  The month of Walking with Mary will include special prayers, contemplation, spiritual exercises and tools to uncover your own Sacred Heart and strengthen your relationship with 
the Blessed Mother Mary.
This is a free event and open to everyone
Over the next few days I will share here a few items that you have to collect and prepare beforehand.
If you own the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck and/or the  Amulets of Mary Healing Oracle,
you can bring them to this retreat.
We will consecrate our decks and we will set up a special Walking with Mary altar.  

Subscribe to this blog on the right hand side under the tab ‘subscribe by email’ and you will receive weekly blog posts setting out the teachings of Mary and her many roles;  I will share sacred healing practises with you and you will receive instructions on how to do the Silent Heart meditation and how to receive the Sacred Heart diksha which you will practise on a daily basis.
You will experience the flowering of peace and joy and you will see the changes in your personal life unfold as you walk these thirty days with Mary.
The outline of these thirty days are :
Week 1 Monday 3 February to Sunday 9 February 2020
Mary the Immaculate Conception
Our Lady of Lourdes

0

Week 2 Monday 10 February to Sunday 16 February 2020 
The Sacred Heart of Mary 
and the archetype of Mary as the Holyrood

Celebration on 11 February of Our Lady of Lourdes feast day

0

Week 3 Monday 17 February to Sunday 23 February
Mary as Sophia, Our Lady of Wisdom, Shekinah

Celebration on 18 February of Bernadette Soubirous – this is the original
feast day of Mary’s promise to Bernadette

0

Week 4 Monday 24 February to Sunday 1 March
Mary Queen of Roses, the Earth and Theotokos



blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by

Preparation for Walking with Mary Feb 2020

Thirty Days with Mary
Meditation shawl and rosary
#thirtydayswithmary

The Temple of Mary started off as a community of people who felt called by the Great Mother.  For four years I offered initiations in person during three and four day retreats in the 
Western Cape, South Africa.  As I worked on the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck I started to offer the dikshas* and initiations on-line to a wider group of people.  The Thirty Days with Mary is part of the first initiation into the Temple of Mary.  This is a course of self-initiation. In the ancient mystery schools these initiations were conferred upon initiates by priests and priestess.  But a new mythos is being born in our consciousness and we are each and everyone to midwife this birth within ourselves.  These practises and initiations are expanded into deeper mystical practises,
meditations and teachings on Patreon.  You can enroll in the Order of the Dove online
initiations and become an initiate and a Hearthkeeper in the Temple of Mary.

In these Thirty Days with Mary you will enter and re-enter into a direct and personal relationship with the Divine and in particular Holy Mother Mary.

I will share with you the initiation mantra as well as the mantra through which you can receive the dikshas and blessings.

An initiate is one who chooses to turn his or her focus inward, into a metaphysical reality and upward into a wider context and upward into a higher consciousness.
An initiation is a ritual which takes the initiate through a doorway and threshold from the mundane ordinary reality into the sacred life.   
You can share on Instagram with #walkingwithmary.  I invite you to become part of the
Walking with Mary community on Instagram on the page @walkingwithmary.  You can also
follow me @thefrenchmadonna.  On Facebook I share on both the Mysteries of Mary tarot, the Black Madonna tarot and also on The Temple of Mary pages

Creating a sacred space
It is a powerful practise to have a sacred space in which to meditate and focus on your activities. 
You can prepare this space beforehand with a special chair or space on the floor to sit on.
If you already have a meditation shawl, place it in your sacred space.  I suggest that you find
a special white shawl with which to cover your shoulders and/or head.  
Create your altar with candles, incense, an essential oil burner, fresh flowers and of course a statue 
or image of Mother Mary.  You will probably add to the altar over the thirty days.  
Blessing and consecration of space and items

Bring your Mysteries of Mary tarot deck or any other deck, as well as your
Mary oracle charm sets, a rosary or mala or prayer beads 
On the first day of this journey I will share with you the diksha to bless and
consecrate all your items.  
You need to gather the following items :

Mysteries of Mary tarot deck or any oracle or tarot deck that you want to work with
Mary healing amulet set if you own one (you can create your own – see my blogpost
on www.hergracesacredart.com)

meditation shawl
rosary or mala or prayer beads
a few fresh lemons – at least one or two 
one or two cups of coarse sea salt

fresh flowers

candles :  white, blue, green, red and gold (you can use just one colour if you prefer)

small bottles of essential oils : eucalyptus, lemon and rose
a journaling book
a couple of old magazines, calendars or picture books for cutting out images
*diksha is a blessing or energetic transference of spiritual power and spiritual gifts (siddhi)
blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by

Twelve Days of Mary – Day 12

Did you ever realize that the young woman

who appeared in the 16th century  
to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill was pregnant?
The type of robe she wears is the style
that was worn by pregnant mothers in that time.
There are little ties above the waistline that seem to be
meant for gradually letting
out to make room for the growing fetus.

This young woman asked the Indian man to go to his bishop and ask 
that a chapel be built in the place that she appeared.
She told him to climb to the top of the hill in chilly December
and bring her  the roses growing there.
He did that and she arranged the roses inside his tilma – 
the rough cloak that he wore.
He took this to the bishop because he thought it was the
sign she was giving him to prove her request was real.
But when he opened the tilma and the roses
spilled out at the bishop’s feet,
there was an image covering the inside of the garment –
a picture of the woman herself –
the same image that hangs today
in the basilica that was built for her.

In this picture the woman is wearing a dark robe
that is covered with the starry constellations of the night sky.
Her inner garment is rose, the color of dawn.
The type of robe she wears is the style
that was worn by pregnant mothers in that time.
There are little ties above the waistline that seem to be
meant for gradually letting
out to make room for the growing fetus.
So here is a woman who
gives us a vivid image of her identity.
She shows us, rather than tells, that she is the cosmos itself,
actually Earth taking on a persona.
She is Earth pregnant with the coming human!
She reveals that she is actually Spirit that has covered
herself with a robe of matter, as each of us has done, as well.
Without the robe she has put on,
we would not see her at all;
Spirit is imperceptible without its partnership with matter.
So here we see an image of Earth Herself,
robed around with the stars and galaxies of space!
And beneath the outer robe,
the other,
inner one peeks through – enlightenment –
the coming of Dawn.

If we are not convinced from that,
she stands on the moon
– our moon – and is lighted from behind with the rays of our sun,
so that she is truly “the woman clothed in the sun,”
from the ancient scriptures. (Revelations 7:12)
The sun both clothes her and gives its reflected light to
all the orbs covering her robe and to the moon, as well.
Her coming caused quite a stir in the 1500’s for the Aztecs and created waves of
conversion to the Christian faith. But they were not yet prepared to
know that this message was for all the years to come when we could now see
even more into the stunning revelation.
The tilma, made of very crude cactus fiber should have
lasted about 40 years,
but it is still intact and carrying its image, with its message for our time.
Conversion to Christianity was just the beginning of the
story of how God comes to humanity. We learn from the
Christian story a more universal,  larger story
that is for all people at all times.
God is an inner coming,
 as most religions of the world will agree.
We welcome that Presence into our beings as a woman welcomes a gestating child.
But the Coming is never over.
It is the cosmos itself that is pregnant with all of us
and gives birth to us one by one.
As we evolve communally, the new human comes into existence,
but it is always an inner coming to each one personally.
The Woman clothed in the sun is Earth herself,
having come to enough consciousness
to be able to communicate this fact to us. 
It wasn’t possible before that moment because we had not grown
enough in our sense of identity for this amazing miracle to happen –
the revelation of the Lady who is still calling us to come
and see and ponder this truth.
                                                          


Pisces – February 19 – March 20
Colour – Magenta
The planet – Neptune
The tarot card – The Hanged Man
The Twelfth House of
The twelfth chakra in the energy system is under the feet,
grounded into the earth and the spiritual centre are in the feet
The colour of the chakra is magenta, the complementary chakra is white
and the higher spiritual colour is pale
A blessed feast day of Nuestra Signore de Guadulupe on this full moon!

blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by — 1 Comment

Twelve Days of Mary – Day 11

My vision for the Black Madonna tarot deck is to translate the yearning
for the sacred marriage and inner union into a deck of sacred altars
and shrines, together with poetry and  love songs to the Black Mother.
I plan on recording a cd of sound journeys and meditations
that will form part of the deck.
Today I share with you the Black Madonna delle Gallini,
Madonna of the Hens of Paganini

t

One of the Seven Sisters, the famous Black Madonnas of Campania.
The story goes that an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was found buried beneath the earth. It was located by a flock of hens in the 16th century, who scratched persistently at the soil where the icon was located until it was dug out. Between 1609 and 1610, eight miracles were performed by the icon, including the healing of a cripple who was visited in a dream by the Madonna.  The miraculous image is displayed year-round. However, the wooden statue, seen in the film below, is only revealed during this feast and another in September. The doors of the sanctuary are closed from Easter until the feast day while the statue is unveiled and a throne set up in her honor. The feast begins when the doors to the sanctuary open. The procession occurs on Easter Sunday. The statue of the Madonna is placed on a chariot which is driven by motorbike. Devotees, either people of Pagani or pilgrims, make offerings to the statue. The traditional offerings are live birds, such as hens, doves, turkeys, or peacocks; or rich peasant food, including savory torts made of salami and eggs. Mothers bring their children to the Madonna to be blessed and protected by her. The procession, including the statue now covered in live birds, moves throughout the city streets and alleyways. It passes by shrines called toselli, such as the ones seen here and here, which are set up in honor of the Madonna. These are often draped with satin and lace, and sometimes contain paintings or small statues of the Madonna to whom prayers and food offerings are made. Of course, throughout the feast, the tammurriata is played and danced in honor of the Black Madonna.

Some traditions draw between the the older woman and her hen in the presepe with the agricultural goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, maiden goddess of the underworld. In African-American folk magic, hens’ feet are used to protect against harmful tricks because of the scratching they do in the ground. If someone has laid a harmful powder or charm against you in your yard where you are likely to walk over it every day, thus poisoning yourself through your feet, the scratching of the hens (literally or magically) helps to tear that power up out of the earth. It would be a stretch to say this practice and the Madonna of the Hens share a common point of origin. But the image of the hens’ feet digging magic out of the ground resonates nicely with the popular legend of the hens clawing at the buried icon of the Madonna.
Acknowledgement and thanks to the website https://www.italianfolkmagic.com
On our wheel of colour-astro dealing the eleventh card for
Aquarius – January 20 – February 19
Colour – pale coral
The planet – Uranus
The tarot card – The Magdalen (The Tower)
The chakra above the head  


Meditation

Oh Mother, Our Lady of the Hens!
Please lay on me Your healing hand!
Figlio
Oh Figlio” Come, She will heal your throat
Figlio, you can not call this a feast, unless you buy the flowers
The Madonna knows how to choose Her feast day

– from Alessandra Belloni’s Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna

blessings
Hettienne

Posted on by

Twelve Days with Mary – Day 9



Maria Santissima 
L’Incoronata
The Crowned One

She is also known as the Mother of the Poor


When I sat down in front of Her She spoke to me from a deep
and powerful place.  I instantly felt that I had known Her forever
and that She had known me forever.
I have created two shrines for Her in this deck as She is
so important to me.

The story goes that a thousand years ago, a Count who was hunting in the woods
followed a deer and found it prostrate in front of a great oak tree.  The tree
became luminous as if on fire and the Madonna appeared in the light and said
‘Non temere io sono la Madre di Dio’ 
which means ‘Do not fear I am the Mother of God’.  This is very similar
to the message of Guadulupe to San Juan.

A peasant hung a cauldron filled with oil in the tree and She blessed the oil
with healing powers.  The oil kept on regenerating in the cauldron and lasted
for many years.  Many pilgrims came and anointed themselves with the miraculous
oil and reported many healings. The sanctuary still supplies pilgrims with oil
blessed by Her presence. The oil is known as the Blessed Oil of the Madonna.

The eighth house of the wheel relates to the kundalini; the spiritual energy
that runs up the spine and forms a plume of light above the head.  This is depicted
as a crown or a halo in holy ones and in some traditions it is known as the
tail of the peacock.  In tantra, the esoteric Hindu tradition, amrit is the ‘oil of bliss’
which is secreted by the secret gland in the brain.  At times the amrit
can be tasted as a drop that falls on the tongue through the chakra in the palate of the mouth.
But it is also known as the healing and regenerative substance secreted by a
brain that has been infused with spiritual energy.



On our wheel of colour-astro dealing the ninth card for
Sagittarius – November 23 – December 22
Colour – White
The planet – Jupiter
The tarot card – The Guardian Angel (Temperance)
The house of  benediction, spirituality, religion, travels and expansion
The ninth chakra is in the palm of the left hand
and the spiritual centre of the spinal cord and kundalini
The complementary chakra colour is yellow and the spiritual
colour is the tail of the peacock or golden-white


Meditation

I breathe

You fill my nostrils
I sigh
You fill my lungs
May I receive your Love
Blessed am I
I move unexpectedly
to catch a forbidden glimpse of your face
May I sit at your feet
Blessed am I
I dedicate to You
my Heart
I give to You
the keys of my Soul
May I receive your Light
Blessed am I
I commit to you every step I take
Every realization I gain
I offer to you
My warrior poet
Every word that tumbles from her lips
May I receive your Radiance
Blessed am I
I offer to you
My art
The stroke of my paintbrush
You hold my hand
I become the canvas
You the paint
May I receive your Presence
Blessed am I
My heart belongs to You
As does my Soul
Every step is dedicated to follow
Through the freezing light
of the Underworld
into the forbidden garden of delight
facing demon and dragon
listening for the call
Oh my Beloved
Lead me into the perfumed garden
Into the temple of my soul.
               –  Hettienne Grobler

blessings 
Hettienne
Posted on by

Working with the cards of the colour wheel – twelve Days of Mary

Twelve Days of Mary has been a celebration on my blog
Cloister of the Heart since 2010.
This year I am sharing Black Madonna shrines
which will become the Black Madonna tarot deck.
And I am also sharing with you the colour energy system
that I have been using for many years.
The twelve days leading up to the feast day of Guadulupe, and the
twelve days of Ephiphany correlate to the twelve astrology
houses through the year.  Each one of the 12 houses relate
to a chakra, its colour and a spiritual chakra in the human body.
These colours can be seen in the human aura with the subtle senses
and with special equipment.  Each house has a ruling archangel,
a major archetype, and these are contained in crystals, flowers,
herbs and plants and so on.  And of course in the system of the tarot deck.
The twelve shrines that I am sharing may not end up in
those positions of the deck as the deck is still very much a work in progress.
In the post following this one I am sharing Day 9.
I thought this is a good time to explain the idea behind the colour wheel and how you
can your cards that you pull daily, a bit more.
You can also pull all 12 at the end of these 12 days or at the end of the year.
Here is a chart of the colours of the energetic system that I work with.
Each card for the twelve months of the year is supported by
by a complementary supportive card and each card has a
spiritual partner.  As we work with a colour system we look at
the colours.
For instance, if you start the year in Aries on 21 March the card that you drew in the position of the Emperor applies to the red root chakra. The root chakra applies to our tribe, our family, our foundations and how grounded we are in our life. Its complementary colour is violet (which is the colour of the crown chakra); the card that you pulled for violet on the wheel (i.e. the eighth house, house of death and rebirth, Scorpio) will influence the first card. The crown chakra is the highest in-body chakra and it relates to inspiration, enlightenment, access to the higher realms, subtle senses, wisdom and so forth.  And then thirdly, the higher centre, the brain, is your guiding light for this period. This is will be the card for the colour white, which is the ninth house, the planet Jupiter, the sign Sagittarius and the traditional card of Temperance. Immediately the two sides of the brain comes to mind, linked to Temperance and her idealogy of balance and tempering.  
The chakras work in pairs with its dualities in play. When you bring the knowledge of the third, spiritual centre in, you work alchemical magic!! The two becomes the three! You can put the cards into the sacred triangle like this :

Here you are presented with an entire picture, open to interpretation. 
 And this formula applies to each period of the year.  
Now you can see how the three archetypes of the cards can influence you and that you can move into a position of empowerment by utilising the third archetype at the apex of the triangle.
Does it make sense? Let me know if you would like me to go deeper and to explain this further. (We will continue to go deeper in The Order of the Dove on my Patreon)
I hope that you find this introduction useful. I am sharing charts of the qualities
of the colours etc on Patreon in the days to come
blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by

Twelve Days of Mary – Day 7

Our Lady of Loreto

Icon of  Justice
In the Mysteries of Mary I shared the Mariamic tradition of 
 alchemy,  prophecy and vision starting
with the lineage of Miriam.
The Black Madonna symbolizes this prophetic tradition carried
by all women, starting with Miriam, and continuing through
the sybils, who were prophetesses before and after the
christian era.
At the sanctuary of Loreto, in Italy, the very black madonna
and national icon of Italy, stand the statues of
ten sybils in front of the ten Jewish prophets.
I also share images of the ten sybils on the facade of the
church of the oldest black madonna in the world, in the
Santa Maggiorre church in Trastevere, Italy on my Patreon.
www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna
The sybils of the black goddess Cybele is said to have prophesied
the birth of the Christ child.

The casa or house of Mary which is enclosed in the sanctuary of Loreto
can be seen as a metaphor the ‘enclosed garden’ and the ‘Shekinah’,
the feminine in-dwelling divine presence of the Jewish god as told in the Kabalah. 
 In Prague there is a little known exact replica
of the House of Loreto with a magnificent copy of the statue of
the Black Madonna of Loreto enclosed into an alcove in the wall of the little house.
Elizabeth Fiorenza uncovered the significance of the sybils in the sanctuary of
Loreto.  She discusses in detail in her book ‘In Memory of Her’ their significance.
In August 2017 I spent two weeks in Bologna visiting the tarot museum but also
participating the in the important 15 August celebration and pilgrimage
of the Black Madonna de Luce.  I shared many pictures on my IG feed
of how similar the sculptures of the sybils inside the Italian churches
are to the cards of the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.
The litany of the black madonna of Loreto refers to the ark of the covenant.
Fiorenza interprets the story of Jesus and his mother, that his mother
sent him to do her work in the world.  She explains her theory that
Sophia was the god of Israel expressed in the language and imagery
of the goddess. Sophia’s messenger and son came with a message of
equality and justice for all outcasts, minorities and the oppressed :
women, the poor, the old, the sick and all living creatures.
The celebrations of the Black Madonna L’incoronata outside Foggia
takes place on the May 1, known as Mayday, the international
holiday of workers and also communist celebrations.

On our wheel of colour-astro we are dealing the seventh card for
the seventh day of Epiphany, 1 January and the seventh house

Libra – September 23 – October 24
Colour – Indigo
The planet – Venus
The tarot card –  Holy Wisdom (traditionally Justice)
The seventh house of marriage and partnership
The seventh chakra of the Third Eye
and the spiritual centre of the  adrenal glands
The colour of the forehead is indigo, its complementary colour is yellow
and its higher spiritual colour is golden-white



Meditation

Mother,
Make of my heart
A vast bed of peace
Where you can lay down your heart
and rest from the agony that harrows it
From all we are and continue to do,
As you comfort me, so may I comfort you
–  Andrew Harvey

blessings
Hettienne
Posted on by

Twelve Days of Mary – Day 5

 Cybele

 She walked with lions and rode astride one and her
priestesses rode in a chariot drawn by lions.  On her throne,
with a cymbal in her hand, she was flanked by lions.
She was the mother goddess of fertility and her special places
were the forests and the mountaintops.  Holding a tambourine
she inspired wild ecstatic dancing.
As Mistress of Animals she was accompanied by lion.
Her lover/son was her priest and one who renounced
the patriarchal world.

The priestesses of Cybele was also called the Sibyls.
Sibilla is the Latin form of the name of Cybele,
Anatolian mother goddess who was brought to Rome in the form
of a black menhir. Cybele’s priestesses used bee honey in sacred rituals;
as prophetesses they foretold that her black stone will be
taken to Rome as a sign of victory and ‘on the fourth day
of April, two hunderd and four years before the time of Christ,
Cybele’s black stone was placed in the Temple of Victory, on the
ancient Palatine of Rome.’ – Ancient mirrors of Womahood – Merlin Stone

Her son and lover Attis, similarly to the story of Mary and Jesus,
was a shepherd and he died beneath an evergreen tree and his image
was hung upon a tree (similarly to a wooden cross)
One can also see the connection between the stories of Isis and
Osiris in Cybele and Attis.

The sanctuary of the Black Virgin of Montevergine
is built on the site of the black Cybele.  Similarly to the worship
of Cybele, Mamma Schaviona is worshipped by the playing
of the tammorriata.
Another of Cybele’s great temples stood on the site of the Vatican where
the St Peter’s Basilica stands today.
According to Barbara G Walker the games that form part
of the sacred rituals of worshipping Cybele, is the origins of the carnivale.

In many Black Madonna traditions the carnivale plays an important part of the
festivities.  Small minority groups, on the fringe of society, takes part in the
carnivale to highlight the truths that no-one wants to face;  through satire, puppets
and vulgar comedy they shine the light on the shadow of our system, culture
and society.  ‘In authentic carnival festivities, carnival turns everything inside out,
bottom to top, front to rear and unveils, unmasks and uncrowns.’  This is evident
in the festivals of the Black Madonna that I attended in both France, Italy and
Belgium. The carnival has at its heart the wish to break up and dismantle
patriarchal social stratification and husbandry.

Today is the fifth day of the Twelve Days of Mary and it also relates to the fifth day of the Epiphany of 30 December.
On our wheel of colour-astro we are dealing the fifth card for



Leo July 23 – August 24
Colour – turquoise
The planet – The Sun
The tarot card – The Holy Child (The Sun)
The fifth house of creativity, self-expression
The fifth chakra of the thymus gland – also called the butterfly chakra
and the spiritual centre of the  High Heart or the Sacred Heart
The colour of the thymus is turquoise, its complementary colour is orande
and its higher spiritual colour is pale coral

The Holy Child in the Mysteries of Mary deck
King of Cups from Nosotras Tarot


This card has bearing on today as well as the the time period of Leo 
for your personal year in 2020
but also to the area of that house, the chakra, the spiritual centre etc.
At the end we will look at and explore all 12 cards, how they support
each other, complement each other and how they will affect your year.

Meditation 

Every living thing is imbued with the Spirit of Love. This one
understanding, held in mass consciousness,
will transform our planet.  Humans and animals
are equal and worthy of respect and the liberty to live.
This understanding, held in mass consciousness,
will transform the planet.
 It will increase and expand its aura
of love to be as brilliant as our sun.
In your mind’s eye see two suns in the heavens.
Two brilliant suns, one above the other.
In your inner heaven the sun’s double will be seen as Mother God
takes Her divine place.  Two suns represent our Father Mother God.
Shining in our heavens they will show us the balance of the
yin and the yang.  The sacred union, the sacred marriage
between the two, will birth the divine child within.
blessings
Hettienne

Posted on by

Twelve Days of Mary Love – Day 4

Mamma Schaviona
Madonna of Montevergine
O Madonna, you are so beautiful! We find you all the way
up this mountain!
O please, beautiful Child, open this gate to us, this gate to 
Paradise.
We have come here many times and we have always
received your grace.

Let us climb up this big mountain to visit our Mother,
the Slave Mother.
The Madonna has such beautiful eyes that look like two stars,
Two bright shining stars, shining like Her golden crown.
Be will with all your good company, Madonna.
Be glad for next year, we will come see You again
And if we don’t come again, Mamma, wait for us in Paradise.
Dear Madonna, how beautiful You are up on this mountain.
O Child, O little Child, open this gate for us!
We have come to see You so many times, how many miracles
we have received.

 Traditional chant for the Black Madonna of Montevergine
from Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna by
Alessandra Belloni


‘The true power of the Black Madonna and Her tradition is that everyone
is accepted by Her, especially outcasts and those who have experienced
trauma and loneliness.  Because of this, the Madonna of Montevergine,
is also known as the patron of gays.  She is celebrated with a unique,
uninhibited feast every year on February 2, which is Candlemas.
The name derives from the Latin Candelora, Feast of Candles, Feast of Light.
from Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna
A year ago I travelled in a group led by Alessandra up the sacred mountain
of Montevergine and we sang her chant while some played the sacred
tamorriata in preparation of meeting Her face to face.
It was an unforgettable meeting that shook me to my core!!
Today is the fourth day of the Twelve Days of Mary and it also relates to the fourth day of the Epiphany of 29 December.
On our wheel of colour-astro we are dealing the fourth card for




Cancer (June 22 – July 23)
Colour – Green
The Planet – The Moon
The tarot card – The Dancing Sun (The Chariot)
The fourth house of Home and Mother
The fourth chakra of the Heart – green
and the spiritual center of the illumined solar plexus
The colour of the heart is green, its complementary colour is red 
and its higher spiritual colour is gold


The dancing Sun in the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck


This card has bearing on today as well as the the time period of Cancer 
for your personal year in 2020
but also to the area of that house, the chakra, the spiritual centre etc.
At the end we will look at and explore all 12 cards, how they support
each other, complement each other and how they will affect your year.

Meditation 

For today’s meditation I have uploaded a recording of the
Sacred Heart Diksha from Mother Mary on my Patreon.
If you would like to listen, please go to www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna

blessings
Hettienne