Pre-orders of the Mysteries tarot decks

 

Thank you for your amazing support.

The pre-order for December/January is now sold out.

I will offer a final batch on pre-order (for the year) during February/March 2023.

Two of us are checking, sorting and packing all the orders and shipping will start on Monday 24 January 2023 and it will take approximately three weeks to get all the parcels off to you.  I thank you for your patience.  This is a long and slow process as everything is done by myself.  

You will receive a notification from my website to say that your deck has been handed in with DHL Courier Express.  This will be followed by an email from DHL within 48 hours with tracking details.  If you have any issues with missing parcels, please let me know.  DHL has a very good track record with my deliveries.  Deliveries take approximately ten days worldwide; some countries are a bit slower.  I am shipping from Cape Town, South Africa.

Please consider supporting my Walking with Mary community and the Order of the Dove on Patreon : www.patreon.com/walkingwithmary

blessings

Sri Hettienne BhaktymayiMaria Ma

Our Lady of the Living Fire

 

A new tier on the Temple of Mary on Patreon has replaced Divine Mary Speaks :

Our Lady of Living Fire

a5 $2 a month.

             My face is black with the wisdom of the Cosmos - Our Lady of Living Fire

The living liquid fire burns the 'samskaras', the patterning that has been imprinted in every cell of the body. This is an on-going process and it is experienced in the physical body, the mental and emotional bodies. Once the process has started, nothing can stop it and transformation will take place. - Our Lady of Living Fire

This is an extract from the first teaching received from Our Lady of Living Fire during samadhi.  The full post is available on Patreon.

blessings

Hettienne

The Mysteries of Mary tarot deck out of print

 The Mysteries of Mary tarot deck is now out of print. 

I am working on a second edition with a few changes to the original deck.  The deck will be republished later this year with the details of the frames of the cards changed, but still keeping the essence of the original deck.  I may open it up for pre-orders once everything has been finalised and the printing has started.  If you would like to know when the deck will be ready, you can subscribe to this blog or join the Temple of Mary community on www.patreon.com/templeofmary.  I will also share updates on my Instagram feed @walkingwithmary.The pre-orders will be available in the online shop at www.hergracesacredart.com

'the light of our sister Mary's lamp fills the world and will not be extinguished until the end of days, so that those who have decided to be saved will receive assistance from her.  And if they receive the image of light, (fire), they will receive her rest and her blessing' - the Book of Mary's Repose

The creation of the Mysteries of Mary deck is the result of a truly mystical journey with Mary.

My journey with Mary started 25 years ago when I noticed the Woman with the Blue Flame, dressed in a calico type garment with an unusual headdress, appearing at my side during meditations.  My belief system did not include the possibility of the appearance of Mother Mary and definitely not appearing to me.  I could accept the angelic presence that walked with me, but not the divine mother.  I was known in our local community as the 'angel lady' and I spoke publicly at events and on radio shows to an audience that included religious people and other skeptics, about the presence of angelic beings in our lives.  Thus my journey started under the guidance of Archangel Michael and he led me to recognize that it was Mary that appeared to me and guided me. (I share this journey in more detail on my Patreon)

Mother of the great Cherub of Light from the Book of Mary's Repose makes the relationship between Mary and Michael very clear.  The ancient traditions of Mary's Dormition and Assumption is shared in the Book of Mary's Repose and it had a great following.  This is the oldest known writings of Mary's Dormition and this tradition is known as the Palm traditions.  Here in this card of the Queen of Distaff in the Mysteries of Mary deck, she is seen carrying a palm leaf under the book of wisdom held by her.  The Great Angel appeared to Mary and handed her this unknown book.  The Great Angel refuses to give her his name but when she ascends the Mount of Olives she recognizes him as her son Jesus.   The earliest dormition traditions followed the narrative known as the  Angel Christology.  This Christ Angel is believed to have been absorbed into the icon of Archangel Michael after the fourth century.

Mary addresses him as 'the Great Cherub of Light who resided in my womb'.  The author Stephen J Shoemaker writes that he has found an amulet referred to that speaks of 'The Great Cherub of Fire'

Mary, Mother of the Great Cherub of Light and the dormition tradition is discussed in the Mysteries of Mary tarot guide book.

blessings

Hettienne

The Spirit of Tarot - the search for God's picture book exhibition

 The Spirit of Tarot : The Search for God's Picture book is an exhibition at the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley California from 28 October 2021 to January 28, 2022. At the moment is it only an in-person exhibition, but it will probably become an online one next year, according to the exhibition archivist David Stiver.

The exhibition is entitled The Spirit of Tarot : the search for God's picture book and is introduced with a quote from the book, The Tarot of Lenora Carrington.

The tarot is not meant solely for divination purposes. Each suggest navigation devices where a poetics of the unconscious is available for immediate exploration. These cards may be consulted as subliminal objects, separate from rationality; they give access to magical environments. Because the subliminal body might be conceived as an out-of-the-body experience, it also entails a liberation from the rational corporeal form. The body is able to travel through subconscious doorways. - Susan Aberth and Tere Arcq (Fulgur Press, 2021)

The Graduate Theological Union is a private college founded to support graduate theological education and promote ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, the GTU’s location enabled access to the resources of the University of California, Berkeley, as well as with Stanford University according to the website www.gtu.edu

My work was submitted for consideration to be included in the exhibition by Prof Kate Barush, author of Imaging Pilgrimage. See my previous post.

http://bookofmarysacredheart.blogspot.com/2021/10/imaging-pilgrimage-art-as-embodied.html

 

A selection of 12 tarot decks were chosen for the exhibition, reflecting an inter-spiritual, intercultural spectrum and both the Mysteries of Mary and the Mysteries of the Black Madonna have been included. According to David Stiver, the exhibition is done in a circle with each display facing the centre. My decks are flanked by Vicky Noble's Motherpeace and Paul Foster Case's Bota tarot deck.

 

Other decks included are The Cards of U'Ut by Ellis Nadler, The Tarot by Lenore Carrington, The new tarot for the Aquarian Age by John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Sharpe, The Jungian Tarot by Robert Wang, The Native American Tarot by Magda Weck Gonzalez, The Bay Area Tarot by Melina Alexa Ramirex, The Hoodoo Tarot by Tayanna Quillar and the Rider-Waite tarot.

What an incredible honour for the Mysteries of Mary and the Mysteries of the Black Madonna to be included in this selection!

blessings

Hettienne

Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience by Kathryn Barush

 

Imaging Pilgrimage: Representations of Sacred Space in Contemporary Art

by Kathryn Barush published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts 2021

In her book Imaging Pilgrimage, Kathryn Barush brings together the study of medieval representations of pilgrimage to a number of contemporary art that is created after a pilgrimage and intended to act as a catalyst for others to experience, grace, healing and contemplation.  I am so honoured that she included my work with sacred altars and pilgrimage into this beautiful and enlightening book.

Images from Kathryn Barush's Instagram posts

One of the chapters in the book is dedicated to 'South African artist Hettienne Grobler (Sri BhaktymayiMa), who creates shadowboxes of assemblages of souvenirs collected

from Lourdes, in dialogue with medieval art which is rooted in the same impulses

of memory, imagination, and devotion.  

In addition to Marian imagery, Grobler also draws from Bhakti theology, and widening the aperture, her work forms an important case study to show that art that

engages two or more traditions can be used as a window into a dialogical

approach to comparative religion.'

The chapter is sub-divided into

'How and why an apparition was first 'made material''

'Mary, materiality, and message: a pilgrimage through art'

'Water, water everywhere! The Lourdes replica tradition

'Bhakti the essence of this love relationship that one experiences with the Divine.

I think one can describe bhakti as 'being absolutely madly in love.'

At first one is in love with God and the realizations that God is 'in love'

with you; then this expands and you start to see love in everything

and eventually you see the 'face of God' in everyone and everything.'

'For Grobler, 'love' is the foundation of her personal beliefs and the visual

expression it finds, and she acknowledges that this means that she can relate

to many religions and paths.  

As with her other Marian art, Grobler's Black Madonna deck has been a deep dive

into this imagery and a prayerful experience.  It has also been a way to explore

'how far back racism has been forcefully applied and internalised. One cannot really separate the Black Lives Matter ideology and the Black Madonna and I have at times felt such

awe that this deck is being created in these times'

Her social media posts with images of these works-in-progress have been interspersed

with essays on the Black Madonna as a way to celebrate Black Lives.

Although less overtly political, Grobler's project has every

potention to be a powerful tool for reflecting on, and advocating the

abolishment of, anti-Black racism through the Hindu and Catholic

theologies that her work engenders, via both her artistic process

and the iconological content.

Kathryn first approached me a few years ago and we have had 'conversations' online

and through email.  This is an incredible book;  Katryn has a wonderful way of using

language and she has opened my eyes to the incredible wealth of medieval texts and

research and her own incredible understanding and sensitivity to art as a vehicle of religion across all traditions.  This in-depth work has underscored all that I experienced within myself.  I regard

myself as 'one who walks between two worlds' and Kathryn is a kindred soul.

Dr Barush is Thomas E. Bertelsen Jr. Associate Professor of Art History and Religion

Dr. Barush received a D.Phil. from Wadham College, University of Oxford in 2012 and has held positions as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and as curatorial assistant at the Yale University Center for British Art.  She is the author of the monograph Art and the Sacred Journey in Britain, 1790-1850 (London: Routledge). Shifting the focus to the present day, Dr. Barush's current book project (Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience, Bloomsbury Visual Culture) explores the transfer of 'spirit' from sites to representations through a critical examination of contemporary art (including assemblages of souvenirs, built environments, and reconstructions of sacred sites) created after or during pilgrimages with the intent to engender the experience for others. 

Dr. Barush takes an interdisciplinary approach to art history and is especially interested in expressions of belief across a number of religious traditions. She values a contextual and hands-on approach to learning - her students closely study ritual objects and sacred artworks up-close and in person wherever possible. Such objects, especially in places of prayer and worship but also as re-contextualized in the secular space of public museums, offer crucial insights into the study of historic and contemporary lived religion, devotional practice, and popular piety.

In addition to her research and writing, Dr. Barush is an advisor to the British Pilgrimage Trust and a member of the advisory network of the Yale Center for Material and Visual Cultures of Religion. She is also an avid walker and has led a group of graduate student pilgrims along the Camino Ignaciano in Spain.  

Follow Dr. Barush' adventures and research on Twitter @pilgrim_travels

From the website of the Graduate Theological Union -  https://www.gtu.edu/faculty/kathryn-barush

Crucible of the Heart

 

We are forged and fired in the crucible of the heart and art gives life and meaning to our stories.

My prayer is that I share the right medicine for you and that my words will create a sacred altar reflecting the beauty, truth, wisdom and justice which is potent and potential in our world.

The ancient tradition of creating sacred altars used to belong to the Great Mother and her devotees and it was incorporated into religion by the nuns and convents. I call it Sacred Altars and it is my offering on the Altar of Life. Twenty years ago I became a pilgrim to sacred places on the Earth and especially to where the Divine has stepped through the veil to reach us and where Mary had appeared to others. I bring waters from the holy springs and rivers; I bring back oil and salts sanctified by the Presence of the energies at these sacred places.

Pilgrimage and sacred ritual is my foremost spiritual practise. Raised Dutch Reformed Protestant, the rich lustre of sacred and holy places offered a well of inspiration for my parched soul. My travels have taken me to many different religions, cultures and traditions. Until I came into contact with the mystical side of Christianity. 

My first ritual I attended was the festival of Archangel Michael in Mont Sant'Angelo in Italy, then visiting Padre Pio. Then followed walking the pilgrimage of Bridgid, the sacred well and labyrinth in Kildare, Ireland. And that is when my art appeared in the form of paintings. 

Ritual grounded in the knowing of the unconscious, awakens us from the dream of habitual seeing and thinking. The conscious mind lacks the ability or maybe the neural pathway to communicate the new-found wisdom intellectually, and thus the expression through art steps in. Well, that is only my experience and understanding, of course. But I had not been an artist till I participated in sacred ritual. My stay at Lourdes and participating in the rituals daily, turned me into a full time artist. When one participates in a ritual (probably any ritual, but when you regard it as sacred, you add a certain 'light' to it) you are transported into a different time and space : colors are different; the light is different; everything has meaning and the ordinary become extra-ordinary. My art novena for Lourdes in particular, highlights my statement that our lives are the altar to the Divine and I strive to capture that numinosity of the sacred ritual in my photographs and altars. I only started creating sacred altars on my return from Lourdes. These small shadowboxes are vignettes, a moment in time in the life of ordinary human beings, lifted out of the mundane into the numinous, merely by seeing life as sacred.

I create from the eye of the heart, rather than the eye of the mind and hope to illuminate and show the underlying image and Divine Presence in the vignette of our personal stories.

blessings, Sri Hettienne Bhaktymayi Maria Ma

A gold version of the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck

 

The Mysteries of Mary deck with gilded edges!!

Patreons were given first choice of the limited number of deck being printed and there 

are still some left.  They are now on my website

Her Grace Sacred Art at special prices.

The Mysteries of Mary deck with gilded edges available without the book and I am offering a limited number of decks at specially reduced prices.  

I have wanted a gilded deck for myself since I first printed the deck but it was unaffordable. Printing in South Africa I do not have the choices for gilding or inking of edges unfortunately. Now I have been offered a small batch as part of the bigger Black Madonna order at a special price.

I am printing a very small batch of the Mysteries of Mary deck with gilded edges and to make it more affordable I am offering it without the guidebook 

The deck includes a handmade gold velvet pouch but you will also have the choice of the traditional calico pouch.

I am also offering five full sets of the gilded deck, book and small gold statues of Mother Mary

I include holy cards and a plastic rosary with all items.

I am only shipping with DHL Courier Express as international shipping from Africa to the rest of the 

world as international shipping to the rest of the world is too difficult to negotiate right now.  

I do have a special reduced rate that I negotiated with DHL  

Decks will be delivered by courier during the last week of November and the first week of December.

In time for Christmas

I share on Instagram

@bhaktymayi_ma

@walkingwithmary

blessings

Hettienne

Walking with Mary September QnA - updated post

I am sharing some of the personal tools and ritual which I garnered

through my experiences and spiritual practices over the years.

I have found these practises and blessings to be of great value in my own journey  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 expression
and consciousnesness.

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 deeper into the well of wisdom.

Energy Clearing

I will share some inspiration on how 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 : these are just a few that I like to use : 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 may be 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 (on lit charcoal)
 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.

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. 

Essential oils

I will share with you the secret recipes for meditation blends

during the weeks to come.

We will use lemon oil, eucalyptus oil, rose oil and if you can afford to,
sandalwood oil.  Frankincense oil also has a very high vibration but is very expensive.

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 do a draw, layout and reading from the 
 Mysteries of Mary tarot deck

for each week, but you can use any deck that you choose to.

The overarching theme for the entire 30 days will be

Mary, Our Lady of the Rose

The themes for the four weeks are :

Week 1 - Saturday 7 September to Friday 13 September 2019

The Nativity of Mary 
- the inner child -
The Suit of Vessels

 BLUE AND GOLD

Week 2 Saturday 14 September to Friday 20 September

Mary as Beloved, Bride and Magdalen
- the tree of life -
The Suit of Holy Rood

RED and GREEN

Week 3 Saturday 21 September to Friday 27 September

Mary as Sophia, Our Lady of Wisdom, Shekinah
- high priestess -

The Suit of Distaff
DARK BLUE

Week 4 Saturday 28 September to Friday 4 October
Mary as the sacred rose garden
- Cosmic Mary -
The Suit of Roses

RED

I will share posts during each week with support, 
discussions and other tools such

as creating soulcollage cards, keeping a journal, dream work and so on.
You can share and connect with the Walking with Mary community
on Instagram #walkingwithmary #thirtydayswithmary 
@walkingwithmary

We are also on www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna
and I share on FB on the Mysteries of Mary tarot page

blessings

Day 21 of Thirty Days

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