Novena to Our Lady of the Living Fire Day 8

 Sacred Altar VI Holy Mother and Child from the Mysteries of the Black Madonna tarot deck

Contemplation 

We are blessed with three mothers in the course of life; our biological mother, mother nature, and Mary, our spiritual mother. Mother being a metaphor in the case of nature and of Mary.

They are mothers in the sense that they represent a structure that acts in a motherly way; forming, transforming, protecting, instructing, directing and redirecting, warning and initiating. This is an energy in the universe called mother nature and an energy in the soul personified as Mary.

The life-giving powers in nature were sacred in ancient times and revered as deities, deva, angels and fay.

Nature has laws that exert an energy that compels and draws but also accompanies us through the phases of life.

The early Christian Didache communities followed the Way of Life and used gender-inclusive language throughout.  Women were called on to lead all sacraments and rites and they called their spiritual Mother, 'the Lord'.

Aldobrandesca, a medieval mystic of Siena, when close to death had a vision of Mary with this message : 'Daughters, be obedient to the law of the Mother'.

Mechtild of Magdeburg saw Mary as the spiritual mother of all humankind : 'I suckled the prophets and sages before God was born'.

Juliana of Norwich saw visions of the motherhood of God and also said 'Our Lady is our mother in whom we are all enclosed ..... and our saviour is our mother in whom we are endlessly born ..... To motherhood belong nature, love, wisdom and knowledge, and this is God'

Inciting love in every heart, you bring forth generation after generation - Prayer to Venus, Mother of Rome, by Lucretius (d 55B.C.)

The Tao is the great mother, empty and yet overflowing, bringing forth the infinite universe. And it is forever inside you - Tao Te Ching

You will open the hearing of the wayfarer's heart (fu'aadi min saalikin) because the subtle knowledge of Her is Her proof. Grant us union with Her always and cause us to withdraw from every sensory existence.- Songs of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib

A Mary-Psalter

O Mother of beautiful Love

You who are our moon and our lamp

Our Lady of Heaven and Our Lady of the World

Holy Mother of All

Aurora radiating the Eternal Sun,

the rod smoking with incense,

The Lord is with you as the sun is with the dawn going before it,

as the flower is with the flowering rod

Mother of Dawn, Sun, Rod and mother of all

blessings

Hettienne

Novena to Our Lady of the Living Fire Day 6

 I shall try the only thing a devotee can do :

I shall always keep thy divine image

and thy holy divinity

locked in my heart and

conjure them in my imagination

- the words of Lucius, the hero of The Golden Ass

The image is an inner shrine,

an interior refuge.

It is beyond words

but the poet and sage knows how to

invoke the imagination and  the

Sacred One up into the psyche

in an enduring

and nurturing way.

An image includes not only a picture but the way

we experience it, the way we feel it.

Every image we perceive,

every feeling it evokes,

is a living prayer.

Prayer

I open myself to your presence, o Great Mother;

I commit myself to your priestesshood of miracle thinking

and the practise of faith in the extraordinary.

I am willing for my eyes and heart to be broken open

by your divine and blinding presence;

as I priestess your love and compassion in the world.

blessings

Hettienne

Novena to Our Lady of the Living Fire Day 5

The Madonna with the Fiery Eyes

Madonna Nera di Montevergine : Mamma Schaviona

She is one of the Seven Sisters of Calabria in Italy and I visited Her last year. She is known as the Slave Mother, Mama Schaviona and She is the patron of the LGBTQ community, the poor and the oppressed.  She has two feast days that are assigned to her, 2 February and 15 August.  Both these feast days are celebrated with the tammuriata, the song, drumming and dance of the region and sacred to the Black Madonna.  The legend goes that there were seven sisters and the blackest one was the ugliest but then She became the most powerful!!  And this is Mamma Schaviona.

She is located on the top of the mountain and where an ancient Cybele shrine used to be. Cybele has a long history in Africa and Egypt, and was also known as Kybele and it is believed that She was brought to Italy by the people of Africa who migrated to and lived in Italy and Sicily. Maybe when African slaves arrived much later they recognized their mother goddess in the Black Madonna of Montevergine.

She is located on the top of the mountain and where an ancient Cybele shrine used to be. Cybele has a long history in Africa and Egypt, and was also known as Kybele and it is believed that She was brought to Italy by the people of Africa who migrated to and lived in Italy and Sicily. Maybe when African slaves arrived much later they recognized their mother goddess in the Black Madonna of Montevergine.

Madonna of Montevergine has the most piercing gaze and her eyes follow you wherever you move.  By touching the railings and the marble around her inner shrine, one can feel the ages of devotion and faith in Her almighty power.

Contemplation

Mother of the Eucharist

Bread and roses

Mamma Schaviona is on the top of the mount on the site where an ancient Cybele used to be.  The feast of Cybele also celebrated the harvest and a hieros gamos ritual bread and wine. Mamma Schaviona's great feast is also celebrated by her devotees, the femminielle.  Here is a literal hieros gamos which erases all boundaries between the opposites as embodiment by gender. 

The Black Madonna of Montevergine opens the portal into altered states of consciousness and blesses you with a vision of your own Being.

Priestesshood and priesthood is a sacramental aspect of oneself.  Bread and wine are the vital symbols of the Eucharistic sacrament : bread and wine are shared as nourishment and transformation and has been a part of the transformational mysteries celebrated by women outside religion for ages.  Bread is a powerful symbol of the transformation of the alchemical process.

The physical life and its objects are manifestations and representations of the life and existence of the spirit. Taking care of our physical life is a sacred task and when performed with intent and awareness we realise that the ordinary is indeed sacred.

 

Prayer

O Mother of the Eucharist

You are the bread. You are the wheat

You are the field. You are the dough.

You are the fire and you are the loaf.

You are food for the world and you are the world.

O Holy Mother Eucharista

blessings

Hettienne

Day 2 Walking with Mary 2020

Welcome to Day 2 of the thirty day online retreat

Walking with Mary as well as the

Nine Day Art Novena to Lady of Lourdes

This morning we step into our sacred space once again.
Over time you may become aware of how the energy
'builds up' and gather in your space.

The more often we repeat the same prayer and mantra, the more
powerful it becomes.

Yesterday we started with a mantra to invoke a blessing and sacrament from Mary on our sacred work
Should you want to, you can repeat this invocation daily.


Today, place your deck of cards on your altar for consecration.  
We will draw a card for the week.
If you own a set of Amulets of Mary, then place these onto your altar as well.

My deck of cards placed on altar

Today I also added my journal and will start writing down any insights
that flow to me.

Then repeat the  mantra of invocation to bless your deck of cards.



Mantra for blessing and sanctification of altar and cards

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.  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 or drink it.

As always we start with a prayer to Mary

Daily Prayer

In the Mysteries of the Mother

all the opposites are joined

Hail Mary

Ave Maria

When you have said the prayer with intent and focus, pick up your rosary
 and repeat the daily mantra.
Please complete the rosary at least twice and a 108 bead mala at least once.
As you become more comfortable, or if you are already a seasoned meditator,
then repeat this mantra up to 6 times around the rosary.
For a mantra we use the rosary in the same way as we do a mala or prayer beads :
you move the beads one by one through your fingers,
repeating the line of the mantra on each bead.

The Mantra

Om Jai Mata Mary Ma

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.

Now pick up your deck of cards and choose one card. 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.

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.

I invite you to participate in the Nine Day Art Novena

of Our Lady of Lourdes.  For nine consecutive years,

and for these nine days of the year I have created a piece

of art dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.

You can read about this sacred practise and my previous

sharings on my blog Cloister of the Heart.

The second day of the Art Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes.

For these nine days of devotion and inspiration, I chose

to focus on the fairy tale aspect of this miraculous event

in our world.  One may be taken aback at first glance :

how is it possible to diminish the incredible power and

miracle of the apparitions of the Lady of Lourdes

to that of a mere fairy tale?  But I am proposing that

fairy tales are not mere childhood fantasies and bedtime stories.

They are a powerful collection of mythic and archetypal tales

as well as a secret and esoteric guide book for the wisdom

and understanding of a divine feminine path.

Aerial view of candles in procession at any night of the week
at the Lourdes sanctuary - these are people from all religious and spiritual
paths, drawn here by Mary

Fairy tales have certain characteristics in common which distinguish

them from other stories.

- Fairy tales take place in an enchanted world where

natural laws do not apply.  In this world animals can speak

and invisible beings of light become visible to the pure of heart.

- The heroine of the fairy tale understands that the miraculous

and supernatural is a natural part of our world.

- A fairy tale always starts in the ordinary world and the

main characters always return to the ordinary world, with new

gifts and understanding.

- Fairy tales always take place somewhere in nature, be it a valley,
a cave, or a field outside a village or city
- In many fairy tales the protagonist or heroine is set certain
challenges which she has to overcome in order to reach some goal
- in fairy tales both the helpers, guides and antagonists
are women :  we see mainly the young girl as the protagonist and
helpers and antagonists in the guise of old women, queens,
stepmothers, grandmothers, wise old women and witches.
- and in fairy tales good magic always triumphs over the bad. 

St Bernadette, Handmaiden of Roses
Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck

Over the next six days we will explore how the story of
a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, from the small village
outside Lourdes, fits into the frame work of the fairy tale.
And what does this mean for us?

Fairy tales can be regarded as mythical religious stories
with the focus and emphasis on the divine feminine
as a balancing contrast to the patriarchal Roman and Greek
myths which we have come to know.  In other words,
a thealogy (female deity) in contrast to an exclusive
theology (male deity).

The Handless Maiden whose hands miraculously grew back
when she reached into the well to save her child
IX Roses in Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck

“We are now, I believe, on the threshold of a third stage which I call the stage of the sacred marriage. This is the only position we could possibly take and still survive. This is a stage beyond both matriarchy and patriarchy. It involves the restoration to human respect of all of the rejected powers of the feminine. But it is absolutely essential that this restoration should be accomplished in the deep spirit of the sacred feminine. Not only should we invoke the sacred feminine, restore the sacred feminine, but this union between the matriarchal and the patriarchal, the sacred marriage, must be accomplished in the spirit of the sacred feminine for it to be real, effective, rich, and fecund. It must occur in her spirit of unconditional love, in her spirit of tolerance, forgiveness, all-embracing and all-harmonizing balance, and not, in any sense, involve a swing in the other direction.”

― Andrew Harvey, The Return of the Mother

Amulets of Mary Lady of Lourdes
The French Madonna @ etsy.com

Novena for Day Two :

I open myself to the spirit of the sacred feminine as embodied

and demonstrated by Blessed Mary and Bernadette Soubirous and the temenos
of Lourdes.  I invoke the sacred feminine

presence to cultivate the inner garden for the hieros gamos, 

the sacred marriage within myself and my world 

blessings

Hettienne