Category: walkingwithmary

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Twelve Days of Mary – Day 3

The Black Madonna of Montserrat
Spain
In Christianity the goddess is personified by the Black Madonna  
In Montserrat, in the Middle Ages, the Benedictine monks
saw their craggy mountain, lush with flowers,
as an image of the Virgin herself. 
Referring to this shrine, Marina Warner writes :
‘While Mary provides a focus for the steeliest ascetism, she is also the ultimate
of fertility symbols.  The mountain blossoms spontaneously;
so does the mother maid.
The old significance of the moon and the serpent as divine attributes
survives in such sanctuaries as Montserrat,
for there she is venerated as a source of fertility and delight ….
The Virgin of Montserrat presides especially over marriage and sex,
pregnancy and childbirth 
                                                           – Alone of all her sex

For a woman without a positive mother, this ‘dark’ side of the Virgin
can bring freedom, the security of freedom, because she is a
natural home for the rejected child..  The child born from the rejected side 
of the mother can bring her own rebel to rest in the outcast
state of Mary. 
The fact is the domestic world alienates her.
She is an outcast, a gypsy.
There is no room for her in the inn.
Saving the abandoned child within her is the woman’s own version
of the Virgin and Divine Child.
Her virgin is the other side of Mary,
‘the ultimate of fertility symbols.’
In loving the abandoned child within herself, 
a woman becomes pregnant with herself.
The child her mother did not nourish, she will now nourish,
not as the pure biblical Virgin who knew no Joseph,
but as the dark Montserrat Virgin who presides over marriage and sex,
 pregnancy and childbirth. 

                           extract from The Pregnant Virgin by Marion Woodman

Today is the third day of the Twelve Days of Mary and it also relates to the third day of the Epiphany of 28 December.
On our wheel of colour-astro we are dealing the third card for




Gemini  May 22 – June 22
Colour Yellow
The planet Mercury
The tarot card The Lover
The Third house of communications and duality
The solar plexus chakra
complementary colour is violet and third eye chakra
spiritual centre are located in the hands


This card has bearing on  the time period of Gemini 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.

Meditation

Visualise the hands as centres of healing, peace, love and wisdom.
Be still and listen. Focus on the in and out breath.
Profound peace comes over me in the stillness.
Be still and know that the I Am in you is really the I Am in all.
All is one life, one Spirit, one magnificent AM uniting all, creating
a matrix of divinity.
The I Am of each one is the I Am of Me.
All is in Me and I AM in all.
My body is in your body and your body is in my body.
My soul is in your soul as divine love, will and wisdom.
I am a channel of my greater divine self and through my hands
I create beauty and healing and communicate 
acceptance and compassion.
I am here as I am required to express my soul and her creativity
into this world.
blessings
Hettienne


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Day 30 – September

I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of Lebanon

Blessings to you as we reach the end of our
Thirty Days with Mary journey.
During these days we have covered so many
aspects of the Divine Feminine and who and what
Mary is to us. We have peeled away the layers
and have stared deeply into the mirror darkly.

Thank you for sharing your images, your experiences,
your insights and your own resistances.
I could relate to each and every one.

Today I offer you these thoughts to ponder :

The Mysteries of Mary and the mystical mystery of the incarnation
of the Divine into earthly matter, is the ultimate sacred marriage,
the hieros gamos, the marriage of the greatest opposites,
that of heaven and earth.
We cannot fathom how does heaven and earth unite as one
and we cannot fathom that all of earthly matter is sanctified
by the divine essence that lives in all.
But we can accept the open invitation that the Soul
does exist in this body and we can accept that all is
blessed by the Presence of the Divine.
There is no separation between holy and ordinary
The Mystery of the Incarnation of the divine into the ordinary
has been told through many aeons of time and through
many cultures and traditions.  It is not only now
in the new unfolding age that we are being reminded
that woman metaphorically and in human
consciousness, represent matter (mater) and that
matter mothers the Divine.




Who I Am
I am neither Moslem
nor Jew.
Buddha does not tie my feet.
I gave up being a Protestant long ago.
Too wild for the Taoists,
too tame for the Tantrics,
neither breathing
nor transfixed
nor saying magic words.
Yet for years I yearned,
followed formulas in ancient texts,
listened to the saints
and philosophers
seeking wisdom.
Finally I gave up searching,
stood very still
and fell
into who I am.

Dorothy Walters

Om Jai mata Mary Ma
Jai jai ma


Thank you for travelling with the caravan of Mary
for these thirty days once again.
Thank you for touching our hearts
with your wonder-filled stories
of unfolding life and its joys and shadows.
Blessings on your own journey of remembrance
 into the embrace
of the Sacred Heart

Blessings to you

Hettienne
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Day 29 – September

Mary’s Nimbus of Flowers and Light

and the divine promise that never lets us down
As many of you are entering Autumn and the quiet of winter,
I am entering Spring and the revitalizing sun and summer
Marigolds are now blooming here in glowing colours
as though reflecting the promise of sun filled days and
renewed energy for projects and undertakings.
Marigolds are a sacred flower in so many cultures of the world
and she often forms an important part of ritual and offerings.
Marigold is Mary’s Gold and is said to have derived that name
from earlier christianity when these glowing flowers were placed
on Mary altars instead of coins.
In India I came to know her as Astera, also the name of a devi.
The marigold is one of the most important flowers in Hindu
culture;  you will receive a marigold garland during a homa or puja
or when entering a temple or haveli (pilgrim house).
Marigolds are also offered during ceremony and placed on the altar.
Here in my home continent they are known as African asters, or in
Afrikaans as Stink Afrikaners, not a complimentary name at all
and referring to its wonderful pungent fragrance.
In Mexico, the flower is also important in altar decorations and offerings
for many religious festivals including Dia de los Muertos
and they are called Flowers of the Dead (flor de muerto) or Cempasuchitl, 
In Cheralyn Darcey’s oracle The Language of Flowers,
the meaning of marigolds are
‘time to begin again, stronger, better’.*
They are also linked to the sun and has healing properties for the liver.

“What you seek was seeking you.”
Rumi
How is it
that when I was
looking for You,
You were seeking me also?
Silently You watched and waited.
Sometimes gave me
a brief glimpse
or taste
of who You were,
like a shy deer in the forest
that vanishes when
you turn to look.
And so I roamed,
looking here and there,
gazing at the hieroglyphs on trees
or peering into the throats of flowers for secret revelations,
listening to the waves
pounding the shore for messages,
examining books and stars,
seeking essence.
Finally I gave up my searching,
surrendered my deep desire
to stillness.
And then You gave me a kiss

that lasted forever.
Dorothy Walters

As we are approaching the end of these thirty days of 
Walking with Mary I would like to extend an invitation to
those who would like to deepen the journey.
I am offering a limited number of places in 
The Order of the Dove.  
I am offering the opportunity to existing patrons first
and if there are still places available I will open it to everyone else.
If you are interested, please visit
www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna
on 6 October for all the details.
blessings
Hettienne
*Thank you Kasia @tarotmap for sharing these cards with me.
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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 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