What can you expect at the Second Initiation into the Mysteries of Maria?

Moonflower in garden at Sancta Maria

 

The Second Initiation will contain many practical tools and rites; mantra yoga, praying the IsisMariaSophia rosary; and working with the Four Elements in the self and the powerful practise of working with personal polarity.

 

Here follows an extract from the introduction to the underlying

principle of these powerful rituals and teachings, visible to higher spiritual

awareness.

 

 

INITIATION INTO THE SACRED MYSTERIES OF THE TEMPLE OF MARIA/MARY

The Great Work is often defined as the process of becoming more than human.  It involves a concentrated and consciously directed effort to overcome imbalances, weaknesses and limitations while unfolding the inner potentials and opening to higher consciousness.  It is the turning to one’s personal growth and development, purification and consecration.  It involves the acquiring of self-knowledge, self-mastery;  a creation of the alchemical container in which the alchemical marriage will be consummated and the Christ within, be born through the work of Shekinah, MahaShakty.

ln the ancient traditions, there are references to the procedures involved in the process.  There are various threads of commonality.  They all involved a spiritual discipline aimed at altering, transforming and expanding human consciousness.    They involved a philosophy of life by which one could live according to that higher state of consciousness while within the physical world.

This great work is divided into three mysteries : the lesser, the greater and the supreme mysteries.

The lesser has to do with ethics, behaviour and our relationships with other people.  They involved the unfoldment and development of the personality.  The level of the Seeker.  The greater mysteries involve the development of our individuality, our own creatively distinct energies.  It involves moving from psychic sight to spiritual insight.

The supreme mysteries are the teachings around the spiritual essence of life and its true effects within the physical.  They involve understanding how everything is connected and works.  They involve learning to set things in motion for the benefit of all and not just for the immediate.  It is the aligning of one’s own energies with the more Universal rhythms and energies of life.

One of the Delphic Oracles states : Vocatus atque non vocatus Deus aderit – Calling or no calling God will be present.  All of the lessons, the teachings and mysteries of life unfold within the natural course of our own existence.  We do not achieve higher consciousness and spirituality through artificially contrived situations, but through the applications of our realizations within the day-to-day life circumstances that we encounter.  Learning to look upon life from a universal rather than a personal perspective is what helps unfold the sleeping potential that lies within each of us.  As students of the Mysteries, it is our task to recognize these relationships and then to begin the process of creating new ones – ones that are more in line with the divine.

In the Second Initiation into the Mysteries of the Temple of Mary we will focus on Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ.

Christ exists in all things that are – Gregory of Nazianzus

This third nature of Christ (neither human nor divine, but cosmic) – has not noticeably attracted the explicit attention of the faithful or of theologians – Teilhard de Chardin

The Via Maria, the Temple of Mary way of imparting teachings and initiation is the way of Wild Gnosis or Crazy Wisdom which traditionally relies on the sacred relationship between Guru and Sisya, and the commitment as Flamekeeper to the Hearth and the Temple of Mary as spiritual community.  Transmission of teachings happen through diksha (spiritual energetic transference), through Shaktypat (the transference of kundalini energy by the Guru) and through the play of the Holy Shekinah in satsang, weekend retreats in energetic powerful spaces, meditation, sacred art, sacred ritual and temple rites.

 The aim of the members of the Temple of Mary is direct spiritual and mystical experience of the Shekinah, the Cosmic Christ within, the Golden Self born from the Hieros Gamos which occurs through Divine Grace - our spiritual life and practise representing our cooperation with Grace, the action of the Divine Kundalini.

A Guru who embodies something of the Holy Shekinah, the Divine

Shakty (the Divine Presence and Power) can help to facilitate a movement of Divine Grace, as can exposure to the Shakty of temple rites. However, it is the spiritual life and practise which forms the ground for the alchemical marriage and Self-Realization.

GNOSIS

True gnosis is a special quality of knowing – a knowing that has at its core personal transformation through personal experience.  It demands and requires an original experience – a source experience, as defined by Carl Jung.  It requires an awakening to the world of shadows and an awakening of the transcendent energies of the heart.  It requires the individual to learn to walk the road of shadows where secret knowledge of the soul exists.

The Gnostic teachings set about describing the practises and mysteries of attaining Gnosis.  The Gnostic teachings declare that the Divine Feminine is the hidden key to understanding the esoteric teachings of Christianity and Hinduism, as well as the Kaballah;  that the Divine Feminine is the key to experiencing the mysticism and power of the Divine on a more personal level.

In the Temple of Mary we work with the Love-Wisdom principle – we refer to the God of Love and the Goddess of Wisdom.  In the Kabbalah this principle is the Shekinah.  This great Love and Wisdom Principle is also known as the Cosmic Christ.  The Cosmic Christ is the great Love-Wisdom principle that manifests in the Sun Gods and the Love Goddesses, most popularly known as Jesus Christ or Yeshua in the Western Christian tradition.  The Cosmic Christ is also known as Sophia, Shekinah and Wisdom in the Gnostic traditions. Other manifestations of the Christ that are known to mystery schools are Vishnu, Krishna, Buddha, Osiris, Odin, Mohammed, Zoroaster, Adonis, Prometheus, Eros, Thor, Baal – many of these myths include the Virgin Birth by the Theotokos – the Mother of God, indeed the Mother that births God, that births all.

The Cosmic Christ is the divine Golden child born within us as a result of the Hieros Gamos, the alchemical marriage within.

In the Western tradition of Kabbalah, Gnosis, Theosophy and other derivatives of western thinking and religion, the Christ is seen as the masculine principle, the Logos, the Radiant Sun.

In the Bhakty tradition, it is Krishna Consciousness.

Western Tradition of the Christ Consciousness and the Cosmic Christ

In the esoteric and occult Western traditions, the inner Christ is wisdom itself, the Christ-Sophia is the Cosmic Christ;  She Who births the Christ within the individual Soul.  The Cosmic Christ is the overlighting principle of divinity which is embodied in the world soul (the anima mundi) and the Solar Logos (the Sun or Father Principle).  It is the impersonal cosmic force of ‘goodness’ or ‘compassion’ or ‘prema’.  It is beyond individuality and expresses Itself through a prepared, sanctified container of the human Soul.

The inner Christ, the Christed Self, the golden child has up till now been seen as the masculine principle, the male Sun child born from the union of the Sacred Masculine and the Divine Feminine.  But now we know that the Christ is both masculine and feminine, Jesus and Mary, Radha and Krishna, Osiris and Isis, both mother to my son and lover to my father – these are metaphysical expressions to illustrate the inner consciousness;  to give it a symbol and an image in order to understand the inner processes of the soul and the mind.  The Self births falls in love with the Self, joins the Self in divine union and gives birth to the Self.

Among the Chinese, Christ is Fu-ji. Among the Mexicans, Christ is Quetzalcoatl, who was the Messiah and the transformer of the Toltecs. Among the Japanese he is Amida who has the power of opening the doors of Gokurak (Paradise). In the worship of Zoroaster, Christ is Ahura-Mazda. The German Edda cites Christos, the God of their theogony similar to Jesus of Nazareth, born on Christmas Day, December 25th, at midnight, just as the Christian, Nordic Odin, Wotan and Belen.

The gospel of Krishna in millenary India is similar to the Christian gospel. In the ancient Egypt of the pharaohs, Christ is Osiris, and every person who incarnated him was Osirified; Hermes Trismegistus is the Egyptian Christ, the incarnated Osiris.

Introduction to the Second Initiation of the Mysteries of the Temple of Mary

 

 

 

 



Archer, are you missing the mark?

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. 

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. 

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; 

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Quote from Kahlil Giban's The Prophet

Earlier this week I caught a snippet of a programme on the History channel

on television on the spiritual practise of Japanese archery.

I cannot remember the exact commentary, but the few words that jumped out at me and

stayed with me for days were :

'the goal is to sacrifice the personal desire to hit the target and to rather allow

for the spirit and body to harmonise'.

Not that profound I suppose, but ponder on these words.

It also brought to mind the definition of  'sin' to mean 'an archery term that means

to miss the mark'.

Now, if you put these two thoughts together, it does become profound.

In the game of leela, in this world, you have two players, the proverbial

angel and daimon, the ego and Spirit.  At times you feel opposed,

at other times you feel as though you have the champion in your corner, but how often

do you feel in harmony with your Spirit?

What do you measure this harmony by? 

Do you look at how 'successful' your life is?

Do you measure it by how often you meet your goal?

I suppose, the important question is,

what is your goal?

And what would you say is the 'sin' of missing the mark?  One can only

know the answer to this if your know what the mark is.

When we let go of our desire to be clever or successful
or to change the world, or to create beautiful things,
we may begin to be open to the sacred truth 
of our experience as it is, not how we want it to be.

For you, as a spiritual person, in search of direct immersion in your Self and

Spirit, the mark cannot be the hitting of the target set out for you

by your personal self!!

I went to read up a bit more on Japanese archery and it seems that the spiritual practise

is regarded as a secret.  I would think that is because people have the tendency to take things out

of context and the mind has the tendency to claim ownership of that

which he does not understand at all!!

Here are some extracts of what I found, and these few lines are all you need

for your application and understanding of the teachings of the Temple of Mary.

(I am not suggesting that you take up archery!)

Kyudo is practiced in many different schools, some of which descend from military shooting and others that descend from ceremonial or contemplative practice. Therefore, the emphasis is different. Some emphasize aesthetics and others efficiency. Contemplative schools teach the form as a meditation in action. In certain schools, to shoot correctly will result inevitably in hitting the desired target. For this a phrase seisha hicchū, "true shooting, certain hitting", is used.

According to the Nippon Kyudo Federation the supreme goal of kyudo is the state of shin-zen-bi, roughly "truth-goodness-beauty",which can be approximated as: when archers shoot correctly (i.e. truthfully) with virtuous spirit and attitude toward all persons and all things which relate to kyudo (i.e. with goodness), beautiful shooting is realized naturally.

Kyudo practice  includes the idea of moral and spiritual development. Today many archers practice kyudo as a sport, with marksmanship being paramount. However, the goal most devotees of kyudo seek is seisha seichū, "correct shooting is correct hitting". In kyudo the unique action of expansion (nobiai) that results in a natural release, is sought. When the technique of the shooting is correct the result is that the arrow hits the target. To give oneself completely to the shooting is the spiritual goal, achieved by perfection of both the spirit and shooting technique leading tomunen musō, "no thoughts, no illusions". 

Perhaps the best way to explain the spirit of kyudo is to put it in Onuma sensei's words: "When shooting, sometimes we will hit the target but miss the self. At other times we will miss the target but hit the self. Our purpose, though, is to hit the target as the self and hope that the sharp sound of arrow penetrating paper will awaken us from the so-called 'dream of life' and give us real insight into the ultimate state of being."

 Their belief is that matters of the spirit are not teachable and that it is a waste of time to devote any part of your study to anything other than technical proficiency. In one sense that view is correct. The development of the spirit is an ongoing, personal experience. A teacher may lead the way by his or her example but there is very little they can do to actually "teach" spirit. But as Onuma sensei also liked to say, "If one day you wish to have a large, beautiful pine tree as the center-piece of your garden you do not wait until you are old to plant the seed. The seed must be planted early and the tree nurtured over the years if it is to be truly grand at the end of your life." The same can be said of the development of the spirit.

We are often asked what makes kyudo so special; what does it offer the kyudo practitioner that they cannot find elsewhere. Without hesitation we always answer, "nothing." That is because kyudo is only one pathway among many as we travel through life. The three essential elements of kyudo, Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, are by no means exclusive to the practice of kyudo. These qualities have been an integral part of every culture throughout history and are fundamental to the creation of our arts, philosophy, and religious activities. So why do most great kyudo masters impress upon their students the relationship between spiritual development and kyudo practice? Because it is an excellent vehicle for the study of the human character and condition, and it works well in concert with all of life's other spiritual paths. Everyone that watches an accomplished kyudo practitioner is struck by the simplicity of the act, and it is easy to imagine that the same thing goes through their mind as went through ours upon seeing kyudo for the first time: That there doesn't appear to be much going on. It's just a matter of memorizing a few simple moves and holding the bow steady. The target is not so far away. There is no extreme physical exertion. No screaming and jumping about. All said it appears simple enough to be learned in a few sessions. Our teacher even supported our thoughts when, at our first meeting, he said, "Kyudo is a simple art consisting of just eight basic movements which take no more than a few minutes to complete. The practice of kyudo requires only that you align your body with the target, stand straight, fill yourself with spirit, and shoot with a pure heart and meaningful purpose."

Simple enough, we thought. But, we were in for a shock. Both of us are quick learners with good powers of observation and the ability to correctly translate physical movement into being. Kyudo looked easy enough, but that view quickly changed when we first picked up a Japanese bow. Never mind about shooting with a pure heart and meaningful purpose, it was completely overwhelming to simply keep the arrow nocked to the bowstring. It was very frustrating to say the least. For a long period of time all of our training sessions were of a strictly technical nature, giving weight to the idea of teaching technique and ignoring the spiritual aspects of Kyudo. So why did Onuma sensei insist that spirit was equally, if not more, important than technique? Because there are many levels to the development of the spirit and the first goes hand in hand with the process of learning anything new: It is the recognition and, later, the development of one's personal character. It is human nature to experience frustration, anger, joy, pride, and embarrassment when learning. And while it is extremely difficult to eliminate those emotions it is possible to temper your responses to them. And that should be one of your first considerations as you begin your practice of kyudo.

In order to control your reactions to a situation you must first recognize your reactions to a situation. Sounds simple, but while emersed in the trials of learning the last thing on our mind is self-reflection. As a kyudo practitioner, however, you must make a conscious effort each time you shoot to mentally document not only the technical aspects of your shooting but your emotional response to the shooting as well. In time, a recognizable pattern of behavior will emerge. Kyudo is an art and, as with any art form, personal emotion is reflected in the content of the art. In kyudo, anger will make your shooting tight and uncontrolled, frustration will create unsettling nervous tension, and excessive pride will rob the shooting of its beauty and elegance. It is that knowledge, and the ability to use the knowledge to control emotional self-expression that separates a true master of kyudo from a person who is merely technically proficient. It is also why an aging master, though they may suffer from diminished physical and technical capability, can still inspire all who watch them with a shooting style that is far beyond that of a younger practitioner. And it is that knowledge and control that every new kyudo practitioner should seek out for themselves, even in the early stages of their study. It is the essence of kyudo, and a sure path to a deeper understanding of truth, goodness, and beauty.

So, what is the point I am trying to get across?

Firstly, as a spiritual seeker your goal is to be in harmony with Soul and Spirit, in other words

with Self and that requires sacrificing the ego and mind and its personal desires.

If you can imagine yourself as the archer, who sacrifices the need to hit the target

in order to harmonise himself with the bow and arrow

and with the flying of the arrow, regardless of hitting the target.......

At first, the student has to practise the skill of archery.  Mastering the technical skill

takes many many years and eventually the target is hit.

The target probably could have been hit right from the beginning, if the ego was

allowed to prevail.

But through the shift of focus, the desire of the personality was sacrificed.

The need to be successful was sacrificed.

The need to look good in the eyes of the world was sacrificed.

The habit of measuring your 'okayness' by the desired outcome of your

actions was sacrificed.

The need to achieve was sacrificed.

The need to be happy because the personal goal was achieved was sacrificed.

The need to receive attention and acclaim was sacrificed.

The need to feel good about the personal self was sacrificed.

The need to prove a point was sacrificed.

The need to validate yourself was sacrificed.

The need to feel good about yourself was sacrificed.

The need to feel satisfied was sacrificed.

The need to feel happy was sacrificed.

Maybe you have a few of your own that you can add here.

When your goal is truly at-one-ment, and direct mystical living and experience,

then the personal will and desire has to be sacrificed.

I invite you into a process of transformation.  As you apply
the daily practises, try not to set a particular goal for yourself,
other than showing up to what is offered and being open to the experience
of your sacred life.

The ego and mind uses rationalisation and justification in order to maintain

its existence.  It creates belief system in order to keep you tied to

it (the mind) and in order to maintain its existence.

If you truly want to have a direct mystical experience, you have to

be willing to let go of your deepest belief systems.  They disguise themselves

in such a way that you forget that they truly are not a part of your True Self.

You have come to accept their voices as the voice of your True Self, or as the Voice of God.

The Voice of God is not a voice.  It is a feeling that resonates in every cell of your being.

It is a feeling of lightness, expansion, joy, ease and bliss.

It is actually a place of no-thing within yourself and everything - an emptiness,

devoid of reason and will and drive and knowing.  It just IS.

Expectation can preclude the opportunity for discovery.
When we try to reach a goal, we become fixated on it and we miss the
process.

Beginner's mind is the practise of coming to an experience wth an 
openness and a willingness to be transformed. 

It makes sense that if you want to become harmonised with Self which is no-thing,

you have to allow the personal self to be removed.

And here your personal will enters the picture as you have been given freedom of choice.

You can choose to cling to old habits, stubborn belief systems and comfortable

knee-jerk reactions, or you can crucify the personal will.

'Know thyself' is the epitaph in most traditions.  Know the world that

we live in.  Know the culture that you move in.  Through immersion you come to

know the world, but there comes a time when you need to wake up and realise

that you are not that.

Dr Matthew Fox has written a Litany of Deliverance from Patriarchy. (this is

and extract)  It may be worth your while to 

print this and stick it up somewhere where you can see it often - to remind you

that this is the world that you live in - your mind has been conditioned

to accept this 'sin' as reality :

A Litany of Deliverance

From Patriarchy's dualism

From Patriarchy's proneness to self-pity

From Patriarchy's sentimentalism

From Patriarchy's violence

From Patriarchy's lack of imagination

From Patriarchy's intellectual laziness

From Patriarchy's lack of authentic curiosity

From Patriarchy's separation of head from body

From Patriarchy's preoccupation with sex

From Patriarchy's fear of intimacy

From Patriarchy's reptilian brain

From Patriarchy's envy and manipulation of children

From Patriarchy's abuse of women

From Patriarchy's homophobia

From Patriarchy's righteousness

From Patriarchy's forgetfulness of beauty and art

From Patriarchy's quest for immortality

From Patriarchy's matricide, spare us O Divine One!

Secondly, as in archery, the seeker has to go through the seemingly simple

practice, day after day, year after year.  It seems so simple and unnecessary.

To the mind it seems outdated and old-fashioned.

Why is all of this necessary, when I can merely aim at the target, shoot

and hit the target and walk away feeling satisfied with my efforts and results?

Because then you have missed the mark, my friend.

Aum Isis-Maria-Sophia

In Bhakty

Bhaktymayi Ma

Om Ave Maria

Om Ave Maria

Oh Glorious Universal Mother of all
Divinity endless encompassing all
I thank you for showing yourself always
For opening my eyes to see

Your face Your presence
Infinity large
Minuscule small
The cloaked cloud
The constant breath
The rushing river
The focused roaming wind
The piercing sun
The rain of grace
The Light of thunder
Calm during the storm
Comfort
Refuge
Joy

All reaching infinitely
A force of and beyond
Tangible, solid as the biggest mountain
Gentle, subtle as the caress of the slightest feather

Your face
Bhakty Ma Ji's face
My face

Your grace
Maria
Maria
Maria

Thank you for choosing Bhakty Maji Ma
Thank you for the depth
Thank you for the darkness
Thank you for the serpent sigh
Thank you for the chaotic stillness
Thank you for the endless flowering petal
Thank you for the comforting scorch
Thank you for the place of one-ness
The sweet shudder


I am loved
I am love
All is love
All that is and all that is not
The binding of it all and the scattering of every aspect
All arranged perfectly

Your endless caved womb
Your breast
The bursting heart oozing endless
Golden syrupy nectar of love
Of life
Of death

AUM
Zaneta Astera DeviMaria

Via Maria

 

 

Via Maria - The Way of Maria, the path of Mary


The physical world and all of creation is sacred and a gift of Grace. The Divine is present in all things and all things are in the Divine.

God is both Mother and Father, Lover and Beloved and the Absolute One

This physical universe is a manifestation of the Love of the Belove;
God and Goddess, Lover and Beloved in an eternal embrace of ecstasy.

 Our highest values are Love, Wisdom and Beauty.

 Through spiritual practise (sadhana),
devotion (bhakty),
divine inspiration and 
commitment to keeping the flames of inspiration and spiritual vision al and
compassion in the world and taking the work out into the communities as Flamekeepers of the Temple of Mary, we find our true selves.


This is a path of bhakty (devotion and worship), mysticism and creativity. We express our devotion and worship through acts of dance, song, mantra, ritual sacrament and puja; we access the Divine within ourselves and everything through deep meditation, through Vision and Beauty (the highest expression) as well as through contemplation on the suffering and painful challenges of our daily lives.

 We express our love for and devotion to the Divine through acts of creativity and compassionate giving. This is defined in the following text :

 Let my every word be a prayer to Thee
Every movement of my hands a ritual gesture to Thee
Every step I take a circumambulation of Thy image
Every morsel I eat a rite of sacrifice to Thee
Every time I lay down a prostration at Thy feet;
Every act of personal pleasure and all else that I do,
Let it all be a form of worshipping Thee.
From verse 27 of Shri Aadi Shankara's Saundaryalahari

 Via Maria draws from many traditions. There are many wells in the sacred Ganga and we drink deeply from all these wells, bringing together many pieces of the greater picture. We use wisdom from occult Christianity, the teachings of the Cosmic Christ and the Cosmic Mother, the Tree of Life, Hindu Tantra, Bridal Mysticism, the Gnostic teachings,  and Goddess religions amongst others.

In prema,
Ave Maria

 

Goddess full of Grace

Painting : Sacred words by Sri Hettienne Bhaktymayi Maria Ma

Hail Mary, Goddess full of Grace

The God is with you

Blessed are you among women

and blessed is the fruit of the creativity

that spirals forth from your womb.

Through your art and rituals of beauty,

we find our forgiveness and healing.

Holy Goddess, Mother of Earth,

work the mystery for your children

now and forever

Living by Grace

Most of us start the journey towards awakening in an attempt to escape our current state of mind or to heal the body. In the beginning various tools are applied, such as affirmations, releasing techniques and various other modalities, but then eventually, the truth dawns, that actually you are only re-arranging the furniture! Carlos Castanedas said that when you wake up and you realise you are in the house of the mind, do not waste time exploring the various rooms, get out of there as fast as you can! Well, that is one approach. But ultimately, we are walking between worlds and we have to learn to live with the tension of the opposites. This constitutes the middle road – that of living by Grace.

The mostly negative and fearful ego-mind is the greatest obstacle that stands between you and the direct experience of Soul. In order to live by Grace and to live in freedom, you need to let go of your need to suffer and to receive Love in every breathing moment! I agree that when you first read this sentence, you tend to react, what utter nonsense, who chooses to suffer willingly and knowingly? But the mind, through its conditioning and its ‘learning’ chooses suffering more often that what is obvious.

It revels in its own sense of suffering. The mind identifies with the story of ‘me’ and ‘me’ cannot exist without the story! Thus it is easy to become so enmeshed in the story that it becomes your identity and all of who you think you are. When in actual fact, you are not the story and you need to remember who you are.

The truth is that you are never separated from the Divine Soul. Your True Self is the one behind the web of the mind. Your mind is your active opponent when it engages in self-rejection, self-deprecation, criticism of the self, breaking down your self-esteem and filling you with thoughts of not being good enough, not lovable, and so on. So now you are probably thinking to yourself, well, I know that is the problem; how do I change it?

First of all, change your belief system. At first you may need blind faith. Blind faith in an ever loving Presence that has never abandoned you and has never rejected you. Accept that you in fact do not know the true nature of the divine Presence. All that you think you know about it, you have acquired through the perception of your experiences and thus your conditioning. The mind wants to keep you safe and protected against re-experiencing any painful feelings. Thus it contracts and armours itself and does whatever it takes to keep you from revealing yourself, or from taking any emotional risks. But when you apply the mind in its higher function of self-enquiry and you follow the bread crumb trail back to the origin of the thought and the belief system, you will find that your mind’s reasoning is absolutely crazy! There is no logic and no rationale. It is a story woven and fabricated by your mind and it will most probably not even make sense to anybody else. So this is where Carlos Castanedas’ statement makes so much sense. Why do you want to spend time unravelling the many, many stories that your mind created? It is so much simpler to merely jump from the plane, knowing that you carry a parachute and free float down to a new reality.

Obviously this is not as easy as I make it sound, but with consistent effort this is well within your reach. At first it is difficult to do as you now have to break a life long habit. A habit of being angry, or feeling justified in your behaviour, or feeling sorry for yourself. And obviously, it is not that obvious!! The mind has an excellent trickster and a wizard at its disposal and through the use of smoke and mirrors, it conceals these mind sets and attitudes behind a veil of justification and 'reasonable' self-centredness!
What does it mean to ‘desire God’? It means that you accept that there is a Principle of Love – complete, unconditional and infinite Love. That this Love Principle is Perfection and that its power is omnipotent and omnipresent. You accept that ultimately your will is God’s Will and God’s Will is your will and that God’s Will is only Love. So, I suppose you have to believe that your mind is not in control, it has never been in control and that personal willpower will not get you what you want!! And then by implication, this means that ‘your will’ is not the personal will of the mind. And mostly, we only get to this point in our consciousness and awareness, through hardship and suffering, and often through disease of the body! So we have gone full circle.

You can choose to look at disease or challenges in your life as signs of ‘not doing it right’ or ‘not being aligned’, or whatever terminology the mind choooses to use. OR you can look at it from the perspective of LOVE, and that is that All Is As It Should Be at all times. You may not understand, you may not be able to see the bigger picture, but knowledge of God and the true nature of Love, will set you free to accept and surrender at all times. And through acceptance and surrender, the resistance dissolves and thus the mental pattern that created the disease in the first place.
You see, you do not need self-improvement. You are innately whole. You entered this world in absolute innocence and wholeness. And then the journey started. And the pain that you felt, was the pain of believing you are separate from God, that you had been abandoned by God. And one of the many 'reasons' why these feelings were created is because this world cannot validate your sacred Individual Self. So, when you looked into the eyes of another, you could not see your True Self reflected back at you. Nowhere could you see evidence of your innocence and your purity. Your True Self was rejected in experiences with others. When you revealed your exuberance, your absolute Self-absorbed happiness and joy, it was labelled as inappropriate; your pleasure in the beingness of your physical body may have been called perverse. In many different ways, your Being were rejected. And this is the truth for all human beings, in varying degrees.

When you find someone that you resonate with, your experience is always one of ‘he/she gets me’, they understand me, they ‘see’ me. But sooner or later, this is no longer true and problems start in the relationship. Do not look for acceptance in the eyes of another, rather reflect acceptance for yourself as the other through your own eyes, back at the world.   As you are learn that you are so much more than your story and so much more than others’ reflections, and you start to gain this conviction, you become the Grace.

blessings
Maji

At the grotto I fell in line with the other pilgrims, waiting my turn to touch the walls of the cave and its dripping water. The atmosphere was light and joyful, although many stood and kneeled deep in prayer. As I approached the statue of Our Lady where She appeared to St Bernadette, I could feel an

intensification of the energy, a slight vibration and a humming sound. The closer I came, the louder the sound became. The sound was over and above the sound of the rushing waters.

As I put my hand out to touch the dripping water and I raised my eyes,

a column of light was visible to me,

shimmering and dancing.

My first impression was that it is a giant candle, but then my logical mind

realised that this is not possible.

The only way I can describe it is 'a flame of living organic light' :

Her Divine Presence made manifest in this world,

visible to my eyes.

And overwhelming and immense feelings which I am at a loss to name.

A feeling of such incredible fullness and completeness which has stayed with me ever since.

A hundred thousand harps take you

like wings and sweep you up out of silence.

And your primitive wind is blowing

the fragrance of your marvelous power

to every being and to every creature in need.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

This is how I described my experience at Lourdes!

Start saving your pennies for 2014! It would be wonderful if each member of The Temple of Mary could join in this pilgrimage, so, if it is your desire, put it on your wish list for Love to fulfill.

This is a very preliminary outline of the itinerary and dates. The dates may vary by one or two days either way, depending on the cheapest available flights. I will towards the end of 2013 look for affordable flights and for specials to Paris - these often come up at R5000-R6000 per return flight. I will use my past travelling experience in France to find us affordable accommodation and modes of travel. Meals can be al fresco and picnic style which will not cost a fortune. A budget of R15000 should be enough to cover everything (flights, accommodation, meals and travel) including shopping. But again, it depends on the rand-Euro exchange and we will see closer to the time.

Dates : Saturday 18 May 2014 - Friday 31 May 2014

The month of May is sacred to Mary.

You can read about some of my pilgrimages on the below links :

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/day-five-of-art-novena-for-our-lady-of.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/day-two-of-art-novena-for-our-lady-of.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/day-two-of-art-novena-for-our-lady-of.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/day-two-of-art-novena-for-our-lady-of.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/day-two-of-art-novena-for-our-lady-of.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2011/06/pilgrimage-to-st-marie-madeleine-mary.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2011/06/pilgrimage-to-st-marie-madeleine-mary.html

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2011/07/sacred-heart-shrine-part-two-in-lourdes.html

there are more if you are interested (search pilgrimage, mary magdalene, paris, lourdes, sarah la kali, notre dame, sare coeur)

Chapel of the Miraculous Medal

When I visited this chapel I wrote about my wonderful experience, bathing in Mary's Love while sitting there. 

Soon the images seen by my eyes disappear and only a brilliant golden light is visible. The light has a silver rim to it and it is alive and palpable with wisdom and knowledge which cannot be translated into words. This is the Presence of Divine Mary. The light translates into my physical body and energetically there is deep movement in and through my body. Then my heart fills with a feeling that seems physical. Everything and everyone around me is bathed in this beautiful light and they all glow in love. The Light becomes stronger and more powerful and I see the intense Light at the centre of it all and also at the centre of each and every person. And the quality of this Light is Good and only Good - pure and beautiful and innocent! And it does not matter what happens on the exterior : nothing can corrupt or diminish that Light which is you and me. - http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/10/mary-grace-of-miraculous-medal.html

We will visit :

PARIS

Notre Dame de Paris

Sacre Coeur de Montmartre

Chapel of the Miraculous Medal

La Madeline Temple

and

Chartres of the famous Chartres Blue glass and the Black Madonna!

Yesterday we visited the Sacre Couer in Montmartre along with hundreds of tourists. The beautiful and sacred atmosphere of the church was virtually non-existent with tourists disobeying the instructions not to take photographs, children touching everything, you get the picture. However, my daughter and I was determined to immerse ourselves in the energies and we were not disappointed. We both felt the light humming in our hands and arms as we approached the beautiful golden statue of Mother and Child. It felt like a door opened in my chest and throat and a million birds flew out, suffusing myself with the Love that includes everyone and everything. Next we entered the Virgin chapel. The walls were covered in images of the sacred woman in Her different roles and aspects. The compassionate and nurturing energy was intense and palpable. The air here was cool and soothing and it felt like an expanse of space. We stayed as long as we could. - http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/07/drinking-from-waters-that-truly-quench.html

Travel by air or train to Marseille and then to Saint Maximin de la St Baume where we will stay at the old convent next to the Basilica de Madeleine

and from there to Saintes Maries de la Mer for the Sara la-kali Festival on Friday 24 to Sunday 25 May

and then on to Lourdes

I Love You Always

Blessings

Hettienne Bhaktymayi Maria Ma