Day 1 Walking with Mary September

Blessings to you on this our first day of Walking with Mary

Welcome to our virtual community where we connect with each other,

with our devotion to the Divine Feminine in Her Grace as Mary

and with our innermost selves.

If this is your first visit to the blog and these thirty days,

you may want to scroll down and read the previous posts

with information on the idea of this project.  You will also

find links to my other blogs and stories on this road of

walking with Mary, in the side bar of this blog.

Sacred Altar in the Temple of Mary garden

Welcome to the Hearth of Mary where we will dedicate ourselves to the Sacred Heart
of the Mother for the next thirty days.

Together we will tend to the holy hearth within and fan
the fires of  devotion and transformation.
The Yoga of the Mother leads us to the mystical marrying of the physical
and spiritual in the bridal chamber of the heart.

This first week runs from Saturday 7 September to Friday 13 September 2019

and is dedicated to The Nativity of Mary;

and the archetype of the Virgin, Woman Unto Herself;

the healing focus is on the Inner Child;

and the suit of Vessels (cups)

White, blue, gold and pink

Today we step into our sacred spaces.
(See my previous posts on preparing and purifying which
you can do before you sit down to start this communion with Divine Mary.)

Never underestimate the power of ritual and ceremony.

You only need a small table or surface on which to create your altar.

The ritual of preparing the altar, lighting candle and incense, etc

indicates to the subconscious and unconscious that you are now entering

sacred time and space.

I use white for my altar cloth and a white candle
for today and most of this week.

You can add the colours of the elements of each week if you choose to do so.

Work at your own pace.  You can catch up at any time.

If possible, enter into sacred communion with Mother Mary  more or less at the same time

of day every day.  The most powerful time for meditation is just before dawn

as the energies are new and fresh and it is a daily re-birth.  And on a practical level, one is

often too tired to do so after a long and busy day. But do not let that stop you.
If the practise does not fit in with your lifestyle then you will not keep it up, so no
hard and fast rules here, other than the discipline
of turning up.

I will try to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible.

I will start slowly by sharing only one or two sacred practises and rituals at a time.

These will build the heat in your inner furnace and ignite the sacred fire

slowly and gently.

The Immaculate Practise

This body of ritual and devotion is called
the Immaculate Practise of devotion to Mary.

There are various layers of ritual in the Immaculate Practise

Today we will invoke a blessing and sacrament from Mary on our sacred work
to be done over the next month.  We will also sanctify our meditation shawl, rosary
(and/or mala) and any other items to be used as sacred altars and tools.  
Include your tarot and oracle decks and any amulet sets that you
intend using for these thirty days.
 Place  a glass or bottle of water on your altar.
You can drink this water after the
blessing ritual.
Should you want to, you can repeat this invocation daily. The more
often and the more people that repeat the same mantra, the more
powerful it becomes.  Traditional mantras which have been chanted
for many years, have great healing effect on the vibrations of our
physical and spiritual world.



Mantra for blessing and sanctification

Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
OM

Repeat the full mantra 3 or 6 times.  You can keep count with your rosary
or prayer beads. Then place your hands on your shawl and move to the rosary
and all items on your altar.  Hold the deck of cards in its pouch or maybe a cloth wrapping
and repeat the mantra. Place your hands on the container with water.  If you choose
to drink the water afterwards, keep a small amount for the next day.  You can
daily add to the water and by the end of the thirty days you will have water
with powerful healing properties. 

You can add this healing (holy) water to your bath or food.  

After you have blessed your space, open the ritual with a prayer to Mary.
You can use one of your own and I invite you to share
these with the Walking with Mary community.
I will share a different prayer each week.


The first prayer follows below.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace,

The Lord is with thee

Blessed art thou among women

and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb

Holy Mary,  Mother of God,

oh Rose Queen

You bestow your Blessing upon us

Now and Forever

Next pick up your deck of cards and choose one card for the week.
 Place the card on your altar and leave

it there for the remainder of the week.  
Do not interpret the card as you normally would,

but let her speak to you.  
You may want to keep your journal or a piece of paper at hand

and make a few notes every morning.

Every morning when you sit down for your communion with Mary, 
gaze on the card for a second and when you have completed your mantra, 
write down any 

thoughts, feelings, sensations, without judgement and analysis.

At the end of the seven days you will have a deeper understanding of not only the

card, but of Mary and of yourself.

We will keep all four weekly cards and read them together on the final day.

Close your communion with repeating the prayer again.

As you feel your heart filled with peace and gratitude to the blessings received from
Mary, the Rose of the World, you can scatter some of your fresh flower petals, or sprinkle some
of your blessed water, over her image.


thank you
thank you
thank you

And so it is.

Sit quietly for a few minutes, just allowing yourself absorb the energy you have invoked.
Enjoy it ...... feel the presence of the Sacred embracing you, flowing all around you.
We rejoice in our physical nature, appreciating this time to pause and remember the holy
purpose of our lives.  We feel gratitude for those travelling with us on this path of love
and freedom.  Feel a smile forming on your face.  You are happy to be here in this
peaceful inner place.  Let there be peace.  Gently refocus on the outer world and carry this peace
with you into the world.



Food for thought - an extract from the Mysteries of Mary Tarot guide book

The Suit of Vessels
Mary in the archetype of Virgin-Mother, Prophetess and Priestess
of the Mysteries.

In the suit of Vessels we encounter Mary as the element of water.
Mary is a derivative from the Latin Maria which means waters.  In French 'mare' is the word for water.  Water has the power to drown us or to quench our thirst.  We know Mary as the loving nurturing mother, but also as the Mater Dolorosa, the grieving, mourning mother,
dressed in black.  She represents the oceans of consciousness as well as the energetic flow
of the soul and her powerful emotions.  Vessels also relate to the metaphor of the cosmic womb of the soul and the dark void of the Source of all creation.  We see the element of water represented in mystery in the blue of Mary's robes.  In this suit we enter the alchemical process of the miraculous conception within ourselves and we prepare to birth the sacred one in our own psyche.
In alchemy the vessel is the container in which the various ingredients are mixed and transformed by each other.  It was believed that the alchemists were looking for a way to turn lead into gold, but it is also believed that it is actually a metaphorical journey of transforming darkness into light and one of finding joy and peace amidst sorrow and hardship as we live in a world of holy paradox.
As we follow the calling of our heart, we are led to dig where no-one else thought to look and we will uncover a spring that will feed and nourish thousands.

Tomorrow is the feast day of the Nativity of Mary.
We will do a special ceremony or puja for this feast day.

In preparation of the puja, please gather fresh flowers, fresh flower petals,
 incense or a smudging stick,

a bell, or a drum or a music instrument,
a piece of music that you can play to sing and dance to,

a glass of water and something to eat which you can
place on your altar and enjoy after the ceremony.
This is known as prasad or blessed food as it has been blessed
by your soulful offering and the meeting of Mary in response.

blessings
Hettienne