Novena to Our Lady of Living Fire Day 3

 Mother of Fiery Water - Our Lady of Ngome

Mother of Fiery Water, Our Lady of Ngome appeared many times at during the 1950s in South Africa at Ngome.  Ngome is an ancient sacred site where seven streams meet and Her spirit was revered and the energies kept immaculate by the local Zulu people.  

Mary appeared as a Living Monstrance and asked to be called the “Tabernacle of the Most High”.

The Blessed Virgin stated that she wished a shrine to be built in a place where the seven streams come together—pointing to an empty area.

Shortly after Holy Communion, Mary stood before me, very close-by. Everything was seen in spirit. I was drawn into another atmosphere. Mary showed Herself in a wonderful light more beautiful than the sun. She was robed all in white, flowing veil from top to toe. Upon Her Breast rested a big host surrounded by a brilliant corona radiating life. She was a living Monstrance.

Mary stood upon the globe, hands and feet invisible. I felt like entering a cloud, drawn by Mary, away from the earth. I had my eyes closed but I saw so much light that, for several days, I was very much dazzled by the beauty and light that I had seen.

Mary said the following:

“Call Me ‘Tabernacle of The Most High’.

You too are such a Tabernacle, believe it.

as recounted by Sr Reinolda May    - these were kept a secret by the authorities for at least fifty years.

At the inauguration of the Chapel of Lady of Ngome thousands of people witnessed another miracle of the dancing sun.  The sun rolled and moved in the sky and in the words of witnesses 'shot a ray of sunlight onto the statue of the Lady of Ngome'.

The original tapestry created by the nuns, shows Mary as having a beautiful glowing dark brown skin but in official church images she is depicted with a light skin.  Annine van der Meer writes that she has found in her research that in pagan times the Lady of the Land known as Grandmother in the matrilineal traditions, always appeared as a radiant 'white' woman.  This colour had nothing to do with the colour of her skin, but everything to do with the colour of her aura and energy. I directly experienced Our Lady of Lourdes as a column of intense white radiance or white light.  As we have seen in the apparitions of Mary all over the world, She speaks the language of the one who sees her, she appears with the symbology and archetypal knowledge of the One Who is the Sacred Land in all instances.

She spoke to Bernadette in a French dialect which only that region knew; Bernadette had to translate the message for the Bishop who speak a more formal French; in the case of Guadalupe She spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, his mothertongue. The Aztec devotees of Guadalupe called her the Heavenly Mother, the Radiant Maiden, Maiden of Light, Cosmic SkyDancing Maiden and other titles that we tend to judge as 'ascension' and 'patriarchal white light' but it is not the radiant white light that teaches escape from Earth, but rather those who created a new dogma from these powerful truths.

The appearance of the Lady in White at Lourdes and at Ngome and the miracles that she brought to the world, has the ability to transform your world.

Ave Maria, Holy Mother of Ngome

Ave Maria, umama ongcwele Ngome                  (Zulu translation)

Prayer

Magnificent Mary may I remain open

to the impossible

May I remember not to ignore the very subtle

messages of Spirit;

and may I undertake each task as the sacred task that it is

Ave Maria

Om jai mata Mary Ma

blessings

Hettienne

Our Lady of the Living Fire Novena Day 2

Mary has her own folk mythology unrelated to the mainstream Christian myth. In the mythological sense she is like the goddesses in all cultures of the world. The legends about Mary illustrate that Mary is a force in people's lives. -  extracted from The Breath, the soul, the Divine female by Rasa Luzyte

Contemplation

The Living Hearth

The IV of Vessels in the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck depict the young Virgin Mary as temple priestess in the Temple of the Dove as told in The Mystical City of God.  We follow her days as a sacred priestess dedicated to the Divine, throughout the deck.

Her days as a young girl in the temple starts with Joachim and Anne setting out from Nazareth, accompanied by a few of their kindred and bringing with them the true living Ark of the covenant, the most holy Mary, borne on the arms of her mother in order to be entered into the holy temple of Jerusalem. - The Mystical City of God

We have come to know the dove as a symbol of the male Holy Spirit in Christianity, but previously the dove has been a bird sacred to Ishtar, Venus and Aphrodite, the goddesses of love.  The dove is also a symbol of Sophia and the Holy Shekinah.  In the Protoevangelium of James, it is described that Mary spent her childhood in the Temple as one of seven virgin priestesses.   The seven virgin priestesses were part of the symbolism and metaphor of the ancient Mysteries Temple.

The Mandean texts tell the story of Miriai (Mary) who spent her childhood in a Jewish temple and whom became a priestess and prophetess with her own disciples.  It was told that when she speaks, the world shake.  When she prays and teaches, even the fish and birds listen.  And that a special fragrance surround her disciples as they spend time in her presence and listen to her words.  The sacred fragrance still manifest into our reality today when the mind and heart is open enough to accept that there is no separation in realities;  this is especially prominent at holy places where the Divine has become manifest in the physical ordinary reality.

We awaken to the Inner Presence by discovering the story that lives within each one of us.

Here Mary, as Priestess of the Soul, stands as the holy Presence within the inner temple of your heart.  She is the Keeper of the Holy Hearth and the Hearth Itself.

She tends to the flame eternal of the embodied Hearth until the influences of the hidden worlds has been purified and you awaken to falling in love with yourself.

The Soul within you is priestessing the healing balm for your own personal story.

Prayer

Hail Mary, She who Priestesses the Sacred in the Ordinary;

By the wings of the dove.

Holy High Priestess, eternally balanced in the stillpoint,

between Boaz and Jachin, the Sun and the Moon

Birthing visible Grace into the Ordinary

Living Hearth

Setting my heart on fire.

Om jai mata Mary Ma

blessings

Hettienne 

Our Lady of Living Fire Altar

 

Never underestimate the power of ritual and ceremony. 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.

Blessings to you on this feast day of Our Lady of the Green Candles and the

Novena to Our Lady of the Living Fire.

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 you may want to scroll down and read the previous posts

with information on the idea of these offerings.  You will also

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

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

Today I am sharing with you the preparation of a sacred altar for both the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Green Candles and the 9 day novena.  Throughout the novena you may add colours or flowers for the specific aspects of Mary for that day.  You do not have to follow my suggestions;  you are free to create an altar that is in alignment with your own vision and desire.

I will throughout the 10 days of feast days and novena, share various prayers and practices; these all form part of the Immaculate Practice which is part of the Order of the Dove training.  Some of these practices and prayers will only be shared with the Order of the Dove in keeping with the Temple of Mary on Patreon.  All posts for the novena is shared early with patrons and specific prayers, mantras and invocations are only shared on Patreon.

Gather the following items for the altar and rituals : a meditation shawl (if you like to wear one), rosary or mala or prayer beads, a few fresh lemons - at least one or two, one or two cups of coarse sea salt; essential oils (lemon and rose geranium); candles especially green but you can also add white and red and black and yellow.  Fresh flowers and an image of Holy Mary.  

 There are various ways of clearing your space : burning sage or mpepho (a local indigenous plant in South Africa); lavender, 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.

You can add the essential oils to your oil burner.

It is a powerful practice to have a sacred space in which to meditate and work your holy medicine.  You only need a small space. You can prepare this space beforehand with a special chair or space on the floor to sit.

If you already have a meditation shawl, place it in your sacred space.  I suggest that you find a special (meaning one that you use for this purpose) shawl with which to cover your shoulders or head.  In the bhakty tradition we wear white.

Create your altar with candles, incense, an essential oil burner, fresh flowers and of course an image of Mary. Add your Mysteries of Mary and Mysteries of the Black Madonna tarot deck or any deck that you will be using. 

We invoke a blessing and sacrament from Mary on our sacred work and offerings.  We will sanctify our meditation shawl, rosary

(and/or mala) and any other items to be used as sacred altars and tools.  

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 (invocation)

Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae

Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae

Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae

OM

After you have blessed your space, open the ritual with a prayer to Mary.

Prayer to Mary

                                       Holy Mary, Mother of God                                             

oh Rose Queen

Bestow your blessings upon us

Now and Forever

To open and close any sacred work dedicated to Mary we use :

Om jai Mata Mary Ma Namah

blessings

Hettienne

Our Lady of Living Fire Novena February 22

Candlemas and the ancient Festival of the Lights is celebrated on 2 February

The feast day of Our Lady of the Candles is on Candlemas and is celebrated in Tenerife, Spain. She is a Black Madonna, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Jaro (Our Lady of the Candles; formally: Nuestra Señora de la Purificación y la Candelaria).

Our Lady Mary, the Holy Lemon Tree

We will celebrate this day as a feast day before the start of the novena on 3 February 2022. You may want to set up your altar beforehand and I will share a post with altar suggestions on Patreon before the start of the novena.

www.patreon.com/templeofmary

On this day we will celebrate the various Lady of Living Fire as she appear in both the Mysteries of Mary and Mysteries of the Black Madonna decks

The novena will start on 3 February and culminate on 11 February, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. This is the 12th year that I am offering this novena. I will share the full novena posts with patrons early here on Patreon. The novena and daily lectio divina (piece that I offer for contemplation) will be shared across all tiers, but certain ritual and prayers will only be shared on Order of the Dove. I will share the daily novena on Instagram and I invite you to join in and share your images and anything else that you would like to share.

I will have a small number of Black Madonna decks available in the shop from 1 February and I will offer a few of the sacred altars for sale from 2 February.

blessings

Hettienne