Pre-orders of the Mysteries of the Red Madonna, Mary Magdalene tarot deck

Pre-orders open on the website hergracesacredart.com

on Thursday 12 December 2024

You can read the ful reveal on the free feed of my Patreon/WalkingwithMary

I created the first elements of the Mysteries of Mary Magdalene, in early 2020 with the Swan Mysteries of Venus and Mary Magdalene and this was the first altar!

Four and a half years later I can finally offer you the deck! It is a true labour of devotion, bhaky and great passion.

This journey started with the Mysteries of Mary and us releasing Her from the strangling vines of dogma and patriarchal religion; we followed the sacred Path of the Distaff and Needles deeper into the darkest, wildest forests. And then with the Black Madonna as our secret Blessing Doll we travelled under the protection of the Red Cloak and came face to face with Black Mary. And nothing would seem the same ever again.

The dreams started and unfolded over a few nights and then she appeared to me, the Red Madonna of Alchemy.  She appeared as a red lion dressed as the Madonna with cloak and crown. She handed me a red bejewelled egg that opened to reveal a golden chalice inner, a fish and a black stone.

The red lion is also another name for the Philosopher’s Stone, which is required to transform base metal into gold. The chemicals mercury (quicksilver) (the god Hermes/Mercury) and sulfur, both highly revered for their alchemical properties, turn into a vermilion red compound when combined into mercuric sulfide. Many alchemists considered this red chemical the key to the Magnum Opus, the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone from raw materials.

 The process of the Magnum Opus begins with the blackening (nigredo) and goes through the whitening (albedo) and yellowing (citrinitas)  before ending with the reddening (rubedo). Many writers after the 15th century combined the yellowing with the reddening to make just three steps — black, white and red

Mary Magdalene is first referred to by name in Chapter 15 of St Mark's gospel, in the Bible, towards the end of his account of Jesus's crucifixion on Golgotha, 'the place of the skull', the Hebrew name for Calvary, just outside Jerusalem. Among the women who stayed after the men had fled were 'Mary Magdalene' and 'Mary'.  These women had followed Christ in Galilee and had ministered unto him.

Our Lady of the Red Cloak started the dance of the Muse of Love slowly in 2020.  She took mantel after mantel off, setting the scene to share Her deepest and most hidden heresies. With the Red Madonna the themes that were showcased in the first two decks will now be cleaved open to the bone and we will travel deep behind the Red Veil. In this deck I am sharing the incredible shamanic nature of Christianity in Mary Magdalene's story and that of Jesus, Her Beloved.

I cannot share the actual cards with you yet, so these are the pre-printing proofs - cards will be corner rounded and cut to the same size as the other two Mysteries decks.

Themes of the Deck

There are a number of major themes in this deck. The various historical and mythical stories and devotion to Mary Magdalene is one of them. I include some of the Cathar history; Sophian Gnosticism; the traditions that are particular to the South of France, to name a few. Evolutionary astrology and speficically the movement and myth of the asteroids play a big role; the shamanic journey of Venus-Inanna-Magdalene in evolutionary astrology is integral to the deck as well.

This deck is rooted in the Sacred Bridal Chamber tradition of esoteric Gnosticism and the Tantric practises of the East.

The four suits reflect the major themes. I will discuss these in more detail below.

Title Card

Backs of cards

The four suits are :

The suit of Chalices, the element of water (Cups in the RWS) - the theme of Mary Magdalene as Vessel for the Church of Love and all the ways in which this is celebrated in both myth and culture

The suit of Myrrh, the element of Fire, (Wands in RWS) - the theme of anointing, the holy oil, flower essences, entheogenics and the states of ecstasy that is available to the human being through the chrism and kundalini

The suit of Doves, the element of Air (Swords in RWS) - this is the theme of Visions. Each suit is based on a particular vision that I had received and experienced in imaginal realms. This suit focuses on the role of the dove in the stories and in particular the Temple of Doves and Mary as 'the Dove'

The suit of Swans, the element of Earth (Pentacles in RWS) - the Swan plays such an important role in the Mysteries. In the suit of earth, the Swan represents embodied spirituality as opposed to transcendence; it is the power of spiritual practise and growth and the sacred marriage between body and spirit. The swan is the feathered serpent and the winged dragon.

The Court cards are :

Hearthkeeper, Flamekeeper, Temple and Tower

The deck is being printed on exactly the same cardstock as both the new editions of the Mysteries of Mary and the Black Madonna; the same size; uv varnish coated; deep red metallic edges, with a beautiful handcrafted pouch AND a beautiful printed storage box with lid; as always, each set will arrive with a red rosary and red mini Mary figurine. And a substantial paperback guidebook in the same style as the previous two books

Shipping with express courier delivery worldwide

The price includes international delivery worldwide with DHL Express Courier; delivered within 7 days of shipping.

Shipping is expected to start during March 2025; if the decks arrive earlier, I will share that with you and you will receive your deck sooner.

Black Madonna of the New Dawn

An extract from an exclusive post on Patreon during the Novena to Our Lady of Living Fire

Nine days of images, art, contemplation and prayer

 Our Lady of the New Dawn sacred altar available

on www.hergracesacredart.com

It is a soft dawn sprinkled with the drops of birdsong.

In the sky the new moon is hanging just above the rising sun. I ponder my statue of Mary, placed in the most eastern corner of my garden, directly in the light of dawn during the astrological new year. 

Cloaked in the haze of the morning light, intense bliss rises in me, both tightening and releasing my heart and chest simultaneously and I hear the voice of Mary.

'You are not who you think you are.  It is not necessary, and at times quite pointless, to hang on to your weaknesses, foibles and strengths with such intent and focus.

Your nature may not always please you, or suit your idea of who you are.

The more you resist what is happening in your life and the more you resist your nature, the greater the wall which is blocking the light.

Only the warmth of the Light and its spiritual qualities of acceptance, compassion, understanding and peace, can bring life back to the barren wasteland that lies behind that wall.

Those who seek do not realise that it appears to them that they are making free and liberated choices, but this is very seldom true. You are a compilation of impressions, feelings, reactions, memories, half-felt emotions, fleeting desires and wishes and unexplored and half-lived dreams.

You carry within you the memories of all time.

At times you may appear to be a book, its pages the Keeper of all stories ever told and at other times you may feel like the blank pages, ready to be written onto. 

Both of these ideas may drive you to frustration, and into trying to become either or both or even 

to transcend the human experience by side-stepping the creative dance of creating and destroying.

But you are so much more than all of the above.  Within you lies the Holy Seed, dormant, waiting on the Kiss of Light.  Only the mind, with its ideas like clouds in the sky, is obscuring the Light from awakening the Tree of Life within you.

A mind locked down with ideas and concepts and beliefs of how you should be, is like concrete poured down onto a pavement.  It is only with the wearing away of time and weather that cracks can form, through which the tendril of a soft new plant can grow.  This tiny plant has the potential to become the beanstalk that will take Jack into the heavens of the giant.

A mind concretized with set ideas and theories, is the greatest obstacle to peace and ongoing blossoming and fruiting.

 That moment of absolute alignment with the Spirit within, is the kiss of the Light.

And all you need for that to happen, is to drop everything.

By that I mean that you can let your mind and its many doors and passages and rooms, drop away.

Over and over.

Repeatedly

Every day

Every time

You are standing in the Light and each moment that you open your heart and you accept yourself and your nature and the many selves that you have created, you will receive the kiss of Light.

And I ask you to share your love with everyone, as we are all the One.'

- Our Lady of the Living Fire

Full article is availabe on Patreon

blessings

Hettienne

Novena to Our Lady of Living Fire Day 4

 

Our Lady of the New Dawn

Contemplation

We contemplate the darkness as we wait for the

Gate to the New Dawn

"Who is she that rises forth like the dawn,

fair as the moon,

pure and bright as the sun,

and as terrible as a many-bannered army?"

- Song of Songs 6:10

Black is the colour of night and the shade of soil.

It cloaks midnight and blankets the depths of caves

and grottos.  In previous cultures, the most

popular totem for a chief male divinity was the sun and,

by extension, light;  goddesses have been

associated with the moon and, by extension, night.

                                -Leonard Shlain (The Alphabet vs the Goddess)

Many medieval churches, extending in a wide arc from

Russia across Europe to Spain, had as their most sacred

object a statue of Black Mary.

Like the black, abiding earth, her simple being is so vastly 

present that we have not noticed it.

           - Caitlin Mathews

In a quest for a mother who will accept us when we can't quite

make peace with our errors, or with ourselves, it is easier

to turn to a simple mother acquainted with the darkness of life

than to the image of the Virgin distorted by religion into a perfectly obedient and always pure being.

In the heart of our dark mother, love for us endures without

judgement or pretense.  She helps us deal with the undeniable

fact that we live in a world we can neither control nor

comprehend, a world with which we often cannot cope -

in which we can at times only endure.

She is the silent companion who stands at our elbows

as we toil ..... daily grappling with humanity's

problems ...... striving to reflect the light of the

spirit in our world.

                    - Caitlin Mathews

In the Gnostic book of the Apocryphon of John it is written that we are never alone as the  power of the mother, the shakty in Hindu terms, the Epinoia in Gnostic terms, kundalini in tantric terms and Mary in my own personal experience,  is here with us and within us.

the blessed One, the Mother-Father, the beneficient and merciful One,                had mercy on the power of the mother .........

And he sent, through his beneficient Spirit and his

great mercy, a helper to Adam, luminous Epinoia which

comes out of him, who is called Life.

And she assists the whole creature,

by toiling with him and by restoring him to

his fullness ........ and be teaching him about

the way of ascent.

And thus we ponder the dark Madonna within ourselves -

the unknown who springs into action during an emergency, or who rises to the occasion as need be without thought or hesitation.

We also have the queen within who wants everything perfect and who, when not treated just so, can take offence unnecessarily.

Disciple, 'know thyself'

We are she.

These polarised appearances - as Hag or Queen of Heaven -are the two sides of the coin, one archetypal power.

Just as coal and diamond are both carbon - that basic substance of life - so does the Goddess of Wisdom manifest her power through seemingly opposing appearances. The Goddess of Wisdom is seeded in us all.

  -  Caitlin Mathews

However, the Great Mother of Wisdom, in all her

many aspects, are the One, only perceived

in polarity and duality.  By the darkness of night

we perceive her as the moon and in the

brightness of the day, as the sun.

But there is only One Light

and we come to know this through detachment. - Mary Gate of the New Dawn, Mysteries of the Black Madonna

Prayer

LAUDS - DAWN

Oh Mary Gate of the New Dawn

come to me

Oh Mother of both night and day

come to me

The blackness burns until only white bones remain

glimmering in the Light of new possibilities

I follow your black cloak down the well of the night

You receive me once more

as we await the New Dawn

Ave Maria

blessings

Hettienne