The Amulets of Mary Blessing Set

Blessing Amulets of Mary Oracle Set

The Amulets of Mary Oracle is a two-fold oracle, blessing and healing set incorporating various ancient traditions including the Benedicaria, the sacred path of the pilgrim and priestesshood in the Temple of Mary and the sanctification of the ordinary through the blessing way.

The Amulets of Mary Oracle and the Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck are a culmination of my own conscious spiritual journey of the past 25 years.  It incorporates the practise of Sacred Altarmaking, the devotion of the pilgrim to sacred places, the use of holy waters and relics, the creation of sacred oils and elixers and my work as Diksha giver (Blessing giver) and Guru in the Shaktipat tradition of the Great Mother and my devotion to the Blessed Mary.

Recently, through various books (all listed in the Bibliography of the accompanying booklet) 

I learnt about the ancient tradition of Benedicaria and the work of a Benedetta.  Although I am not born into the Italian culture, my journey as pilgrim did start in Italy with the call issued by Archangel Michael to visit his grotto in Mont Sant’Angelo and I see myself as a modern Benedetta, continuously uncovering more.

The Amulets can be used with and alongside the Mysteries of Mary Tarot cards.

Benedicaria, the Blessing Way, is an ancient

Catholic and domestic folk tradition practised by the Italians in Southern Italy.  This tradition is fast fading from modern society, but many of its practises are still part of syncretic worship and devotion.

One who practices the Benedicaria, is known as a Benedetta, or a Wise Woman and a Benedetto, a Wise Man .  Benedicaria is a private form of practising your religion and it blends with many domestic practises, such as the blessing of animals and herbs, infusing oils and elixers, creating an altar, using flowers and holy cards for blessings and wisdom.

Benedicaria is predominantly a woman’s practise.  A Benedetta has much in common with the goddess archetypes of Demeter, Hestea, Bridgit and even Athena.   She is the homemaker, mother, herbalist, gardener, chef and healer.  This role is not regarded as of any importance in modern society, but for one who is spiritually aware and who undertakes these tasks with great intent, she understands the spiritual force that is being wielded.  The preparing of food is not only a physical act, but a spiritual one.  If this is done in love it will bless the family;  if done in anger and ignorance, it will curse the family.  The motto ‘cleanliness next to godliness’ means much more than meets the eye.  When you keep your spiritual space, ie the home clean, you also keep your spirit and its physical space clean.

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

Every Benedetta will have a home altar and a personal altar.  The Amulets of Mary Oracle set can be placed on your altar along with the Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck.

With the Amulets of Mary blessing set you will receive guidelines for

creating an altar, using coloured candles, how to use the casting cloth,

the holy cards and more.

The novena prayers are an important part of the Benedicaria.  A novena is a prayer that is said for nine days consecutively.  It is said that the first Apostles prayed for nine days between Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.  The number 9 is a very powerful number in numerology (the science of numbers).  Usually a novena is accompanies by candles, rosaries and ritual such as sacred shrine making (see my blog http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com) for my art novenas to Our Lady of Lourdes.  The ancient novena prayers are used in conjunction with all of the above as well as an image of the Saint and those who you are praying for.

It is also practise to include the colour of the Saint or Holy One that you are asking for help.

The Amulets of Mary Blessing set consists of a blessed casting cloth, a set of 54 charms in a small bag, nestled in a tin;  a set of holy cards in a linen scapular bag;

an accompanying spiral bound guide book; a small statue for the altar and other options.

Each set is completely unique and one of a kind and cannot be replicated exactly as I use vintage charms, hand cast silver charms and vintage holy cards amongst others.

There are various sets available :  some are dedicated to a particular saint or saints; others to Mary and Her apparitions or a specific apparition, etc. 

You will find more information on the various available sets at The French Madonna on Etsy.com or on my blog.

The casting cloth has been blessed by touching it to the second and third holy relics of Mary’s sacred chemise and roses from St Terese’s sacred garden, as well as roses from the garden of St Francis and other holy relics.  It has also been sprinkled with holy water from Lourdes and Ngome.

On the casting cloth is a hand drawn diagram.  

Hail Mary, full of grace,

The Lord is with thee

Blessed art thou among women

and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb

Holy Mary,  Mother of God,

oh Rose Queen

Bestow your Blessing upon us

Now and Forever

Blessings

Hettienne

The French Madonna

www.etsy.com/shop/thefrenchmadonna

The New Light

On Sunday 1 September 2013, each Flamekeeper was initiated into the

radiance and grace of the New Light.

This transmission was received by myself and transferred to you

just after Shaktypat.

Some of you may have experienced it as a sense of lightness,

ease, bliss, or a seeing into 'heaven' beyond this dimension.

It is a Universal Diksha, and the transformation

took place in the Consciousness of the Temple of Mary.

The Temple of Mary is a Divine Consciousness and

a Being of Divine Love of vastness and Grace

and Compassion beyond our understanding.

Each one who takes initiation and a spiritual name

and who acts in service in The Temple, is a facet

of this divine energy.

The Presence of this heavenly Being was palpable

and visible at times, during the weekend and especially

on Sunday.  I will refer to this consciousness in the feminine -

not because it has any gender, but because the fragrance and touch

of this consciousness has a feminine quality to it.

She first appeared to me in the winter of 2001, in Glastonbury,

where I stayed in the home of Koko (who has since passed over)

priestess of Avalon.  It seems very apt that She makes herself known, twelve 

years later, on the first day of Spring, the symbolic day of the Eastern Gate,

the gate of rebirth and a new dawn.  

A full cycle.  The painting above is the one that I made of Her

at that time.

She revealed to me the New Light and the Twelve Petals of the Lotus

in the Heart.  

The Ishta Devata meditation was the first step onto this expansion

of the path of love.  I suggest that you create a journal or notebook

for your Ishta Devata meditations as the insights and revelations

will grow and you will be guided to connect deeper and directly

with the Guru Within, the Inner Teacher, the great I Am.

We will touch on this new information during the

workshop in October and immerse ourselves into it,

step by step, during upcoming workshops

and during the fourth initiation.

I am considering making the workshops available

online for Chandi MariaDevi who cannot travel to 

Cape Town for regular workshops.  All in the works still.

My intent is to paint the mandala of the New Light and her

embodiment in order to bring the visual manfiestation

into our reality.  I will make altar cards of these and bring

along to our workshop.  

Pay attention to the symbolism contained in this sharing

and become aware of changes in your inner reality.

I will share more as it is revealed to me.

blessings

Hettienne Ma BhaktymayiMaria

From the Underworld to the Next

an exciting new blog from one of the members of The Temple of Mary .......

The Journey Begins
This blog crept up to you from the vast echelons of the collective we like to call the internet. This is how it starts. They ask me to give you descriptions of what it is that is happening here, but who am I to try? I can't, wait...No, it has nothing to do with what I believe I am capable of: I won't, I will it not. However, I am not so stupid as to believe that this entry will evade being forced to represent the greater whole it forms part of, so I will allow that and maybe even embrace it, a little, for a while.

Great men are seldom spoken of and I do not wish to change that truth. In fact, what you will find offered here is always, probably, mystifying and sometimes maybe even disenchanting. This disenchantment will not be my fault, as you will see: here, I indulge in the moral frivolity of guilt not because I wish to apologise but rather because I would like to allude to, what I believe right now, is imminent.

I, here, believe that the words found in this entry will be demanded of to represent what is and what will be. I don't actually care if it does or does not. I cannot express this better than a man we are best to be cautious of, if we trust what they say is best, but as you will see, I believe, I have little regard for what they say must be considered "best".

What I am saying here is this: the reader of my blog is expecting a wall which does not want to be climbed to be constructed here. This is what we expect from any being which takes itself to be an authority or, in other words, human. They tell you that you are ruled by what they call nature and its "laws". You must accept these laws to live well, live good. You must not fret at the insurmountable walls posed by its laws, there is no point in this, you are better off accepting it. Just accept it. Just accept that you are descended from apes and are ruled by the same, normal, natural, desires. Accept that two times two is four, it is the law of mathematics, do not bother challenging it.

But, we may ask, and here we encounter one of the men I would like to speak of against all good reason, what if...what if "I don't happen to like those laws and that twice twice two is four?" Here, we encounter the "lazy devil" and he is not the laughing kind. A brooding, miserable, being who has very little consideration for what is "best" for him. We will encounter more of these men here, you can be sure, one may even say that this organisation you are, here, encountered with aspires to the heights of these type of men (and be sure that I, as do they, shed no regard for the "gender" here). However, caution to those who trust my words: what do I know? Indeed, I have caught myself listening to Nietzsche's, another man we are best not to speak of, "malicious bird" who twitters: "What do you matter? What do you matter?". Now, I hope you see, this wall does not care if you will to climb it or not, whether you will to believe that you may or not. If you will: do, be dared!

Now you know why I do not apologise and why I do not, here or anywhere, matter. I do not wish to place upon you the curse of law. This you may question, this you may vehemently disagree with: you demand this curse! "Well, so much the better".Here, you are presented with an entry as a disgusting agreement with the man who wishes to dismiss nature and its laws as becoming "too human" becoming a calculable, necessary, path. We will find nothing as light as what they consider to be "best" here, we will not find humanity here. Instead, we will find wanderers such as the great Zarathustra who knew that: "There are a thousand paths that have never yet been trodden—a thousand healths and hidden isles of life. Even now, man and man's earth are unexhausted and undiscovered." Then, there is walking to do, then: let us walk!

I commit myself to the inhumanity of these dangerous men and in this you witness my siding with the promises of lovers. Here, you find me straying from The Path. Come one, come all, this is a sight appreciable to anyone: if you dare. This my journey from the underworld to the next! I start my journey with a parable, read it...my friends. Will love and be willed love:

"Wake and listen, you that are lonely! From the future come winds with secret wing-beats; and good tidings are proclaimed to delicate ears. You that are lonely today, you that are withdrawing, you shall one day be the people: out of you, who have chosen yourselves, there shall grow a chosen people and out of them, the overman. Verily, the earth shall yet become a site of recovery. And even now a new fragrance surrounds it, bringing salvation—and a new hope." By: Friedrich Nietzsche. From: Thus Spoke Zarathustra: On The Gift-Giving Virtue: 2.


http://underworldandthenext.blogspot.com/ - you can subscribe by email

jai jai maa!

Prem Se Bolo Jai Mata Di

A beautiful hand-made mala or rosary

dedicated to Durga Maa.

Ideal to wear as a necklace and to use

in japa and chanting

She is the fierce aspect of Shakty, the Divine Feminine.

I made this mala in the same pattern as the Rosary of the Holy Mother.

She is one and the same, by whatever name you call Her.

I used freshwater pearls in four different shades of white, pale pink, bronze and cream, interspaced

with swarovski crystals and

beautiful bronze rose beads and a glass heart foil in the centre.

The pendant I bought from one of the traders outside the temple at

Haridwar, India and it is stamped with the OHM on the back.

Here is a beautiful mantra to Durga Maa

to use with the rosary

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Maa rupena samsthita 

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Shakti rupena samsthita 

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Buddhi rupena samsthita 

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Laxmi rupena samsthita 

Namestasyai II Namestasyai II Namestasyai 

Namo Namah 

To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of universal mother

To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of energy

To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of intellegence

To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of true wealth

We bow to her, we bow to her, continually we bow to her

--------------

Asato Ma sadgamaya

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya

Mrityur Ma Amritam gamaya

Which means:

From untruth, lead me to the Truth,

From Darkness, Lead me towards the Light,

From Death, Lead me to Life Eternal.

(Ma does not mean 'mother'..its an 'avyaya' used for negation (Mayank)

Sharanaagata dinaarta

Paritraana paraayane

Sarvasyaarti harey Devi

Naraayani namostute

Which means:

Salutations be to you, O Mother

You who are intent on saving the downtrodden

and distressed that come under your refuge.

Oh Devi! you remove the suffering of everyone

Om Sarva mangala Maangalye

Shivey Sarvaartha Saadhikey

Sharanye Trayambikey Gauri

Naraayani Namostutey

Which means:

Oh Gauri Ma!, consort of Lord Shiva,

You, who bestow auspiciousness on all,

And fulfill everyone's' wishes,

I prostrate myself before Thee,

Take me under your care.

The following Mantras describe the various qualities of Ma:

Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu

Shakti Rupena Sanshtita

Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai

Namo Namaha

Which means:

Prostrations unto Thee, O Devi (Ma)

who dwells in all beings in the form of Shakti 

This mala, along with other rosaries are available in my shop

www.etsy.com/devata

and more is being added daily for the next two weeks.

Jai guru maa!

Holy Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

11 February is the Holy Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

As though we are Divine

Ancient friend

Our Divine Mother looks at us

as though we are divine

Flinging flower petals onto our path

she worships the very air we breathe

Adoringly she pulls us onto her lap

embracing her beloved children 

with the passion

of one who has waited for eons

for this reunion.

She whispers softly into our ear

'my darling son' my darling daughter'

once and for all shattering any doubt

hat we are the only reason

for her existence

Ethan Walker III

blessings

Hettienne

Anandamayi Ma

"There comes a time when the Beloved does not leave one anymore;  wherever one may go, He is ever by one's side and His presence constantly felt.  At an earlier stage one perceived Him within all objects; but now He is not seen within the objects anymore, for there is nothing but He alone. Trees, flowers, the water and the land - everything is the Beloved and only He.  Every form, every mode of  being, every expression - whatever exists is He, there is none beside Him.

If everything is the Lord and nothing but He, then one's body must also be He - the One Existence.  In this state, when one is deeply absorbed in dhyana, no physical activity - be it the performance of ritual or acts of service - is possible.  For He alone IS.  One no longer exists apart from Him.  Nevertheless, for some who have attained to this condition, the relationship between the Lord and His servant remains and is felt thus : He is the Whole and I am part of Him, and yet there is only the one Self.  Verily, everything is identical, undivided.  To realise this means to be immersed completely into the ocean of Oneness.

After this has been accomplished, one can again do puja and service, for the relationship between the Master and servant persists.  If, after the One Self has been realised, the relationship of a servant to his Master still continues, why should anyone object?  At first this was the path to one's goal.  After realisation it is He, the One, who serves.  This is real service.

Does then 'to merge into IT' mean to become stone-like?  Not so, indeed!

For form, variety, manifestation are nothing but THAT'

We are THAT

It may be asked why there cannot be one and the same path for all?

Because He reveals Himself in infinite ways and form and verily, the 

One is all of them.  In that State, there is no 'why'. 

Quarrels and disputes exist merely on the way.

With whom is one to quarrel?

Only while still on the way is it possible to have disputes

and differences of opinion

‘At dawn, we went by cycle rickshaws to the railway station. Even at that early hour, pilgrims flocked to the Ganges in a steady stream. Finally, hooting, with a cloud of smoke trailing overhead, the train from Varanasi pulled in, and screeched to a halt. Four young men in spotless white dhotis entered the first class compartment, and carried Ma out on a chair, to which four handles were attached. Ma looked fragile and delicate, wrapped in white cotton cloth. Her black, oiled hair fell over her shoulders. She looked at us with calm eyes. There was no reaction on her face, no sign of recognition of her devotees, many of whom she would have known for decades. She simply looked and her eyes moved slowly around the group. It was pleasant, and I had the strange feeling, that nobody was there behind those eyes. Inexplicably, tears started rolling down my cheeks. “That’s normal when one is touched by a great soul,” someone next to me reassured me. Indeed, I had the feeling that I had been touched by a very pure soul.

While waiting for Ma, we were singing bhajans or reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. Once, a girl of about 10 sat next to me. She sang full-throatedly, though a little out of tune. Listening to her, I liked her more and more. My heart was overflowing with love for her. Then the verandah door opened, and Anandamayi Ma appeared, supported by two women. Even before she reached the cot, she briefly stopped; half turned, and looked somewhat irritated in my direction. When she finally sat down on the cot, her glance settled on me for a long time. Yet this time, Ma’s glance did not strike me or induce any feeling. It seemed as if there was no centre that could have been struck. I simply looked back at her.

Probably Ma’s glance was attracted by the love that I felt for that girl, and probably she really did not perceive us as separate persons. After all, she often declared that it is a mistake to consider one as separate from others. However, almost certainly all of us, as we were sitting there on the verandah during her daily darshan, wished that she appreciated us personally. In addition, if we were honest, we most likely even wished that she appreciated our own person a little more than she appreciated the others.

However, Ma didn’t oblige. She was not consistent in her attention and affection. A genuine guru can see, even if his disciple can’t see it, that the ego is the culprit which makes life difficult. Naturally, he is not interested in flattering the ego and strengthening it – on the contrary. “The association with an enlightened being consists in getting blows to the ego,” Anandamayi Ma once remarked. My ego felt the blows. For example, when she didn’t look at me for long, and it reacted with heavy, resentful thoughts. It wanted to leave. On the other hand, I felt attracted to Ma, because I learnt around her almost effortlessly a new way of life – for example that everything is just right as it is.

“Trust in God. He certainly will look after you and all your affairs, if you really put full trust in Him, and if you dedicate all your energy to realise your self. You then can feel completely light and free,” Ma claimed and it sounded convincing. By ‘God,’ she meant the formless essence in everything. Nevertheless, this essence is not something abstract and cold. It is love, and can be experienced as the beloved. She also said, “You are always in His loving embrace.”

Extracted from www.lifepositive.com/spirit/gurus/the mother supreme

How much more time will you spend at a wayside inn?

Don't you want to go home? How exquisite it all is....

One is, in his own Self, the wanderer, the exile,

the homecoming and the home....oneself is all that

there is...

Do you want deliverance from the bonds of the world? Then weeping profusely, you will have to cry out from the bottom of your heart: Deliver me, Great Mother of the World, deliver me!.... When by the flood of your tears the inner and outer have fused into one, you will find her whom you sought with such anguish, nearer than the nearest, the very breath of life, the very core of every heart....

It is by seeking to know oneself that the Great Mother of all can be found
(Matri Darshan Ananda Mayi Ma).

Aum Sri Anandamayi Ma Namaha

La Feile Bride

Bridgit, Mary of the Gael, Goddess and Saint of Poetry, Crafts, Healing and Fire :  Inpiration of poets, artists and artisans.

Brighid, excellent woman,

Sudden flame,

May the fiery, bright sun

Take us to the lasting kingdom.

Song of the Virgins of Kildare

St. Brigid's church in Kildare was built on a site sacred to Brigid. Where Her eternal flame had once been tended by 19 priestesses, 19 nuns took it in turn to each tend the flame for a day and a night. On the 20th day, the Goddess (or the saint) tended the flame herself.

February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the wheel of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere It falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of spring and in the Southern Hemisphere it is the beginning of autumn.

In Western Europe, this was the time for preparing the fields for the first planting. This was an important day for grain growing communities who depended on the crops of the earth mother. This is the time of year, when the ground is first awakened and the seed placed in the belly of the earth. The fields were purified and offerings were made to the goddess.

This medieval Anglo-Saxon plowing prayer was said by the farmer while cutting the first furrow.

Whole be thou Earth 

Mother of men. 

In the lap of God, 

Be thous as-growing. 

Be filled with fodder 

For fare-need of men.

The farmer then took a loaf of bread, kneaded it with milk and holy water and laid it under the first furrow, saying:

Acre full fed, 

Bring forth fodder for men! 

Blossoming brightly, 

Blessed become; 

And the God who wrought the ground, 

Grant us the gifts of growing, 

That the corn, all the corn, 

may come unto our need.

 February 2 is also Imbolc, and Candlemas, the holy day of Brighid, Goddess and Saint, La Feile Bride. (pronounced Breede)  

The Sacred Well and Shrine at Kildare

Brighid is a Goddess of many names. In Ireland She is called Brigid, Brigit, Brighid, Brid. In Scotland She is called Bhrighde, Bride Breo-Saighit, Brede. The Welsh call Her Ffraid and the French call her Brigandu.

She is called Brigantia by the Northern English and Bridget in Sweden. Her name is pronounced Brighid or Bree-id.  Some have said that Her name may have come from the word Brihati, which means "high" or "exalted one" in Sanskrit. Her name in Gaelic means "fire tipped, exalted one, high one."

 Imbolc, also called Oimelc ['ewe's milk'] marked the first stirrings of spring when young sheep were born, and when ewes came into milk. On this day, the first of the Celtic spring, Brigid was said to use her white wand to "breathe life into the mouth of the dead winter", meaning the white fire of the sun awakened the land. 


An old poem stated; "Today is the day of Bride, The Serpent shall come from the hole." An effigy of the serpent was often honoured in the ceremonies of this day, making it clear that Brighid had aspects as a serpent goddess. As the serpent sloughed its old skin and was renewed, so the land shook off winter to emerge restored; the snake symbolised the cycle of life. When Brighid's cult was suppressed, then St Patrick had indeed banished the snakes [Pagans] from Ireland. However, Brighid's popularity was so great that the church transformed her into a saint, allegedly the midwife of Christ and the daughter of a Druid who was converted to Christianity by St. Patrick, and who went on to found the Abbey of Kildare. 

Her festival became Candlemas when church candles were blessed. 

My painting of Bridgit

Brighid was invited into the home by the woman of the house, in the form of a doll or corn dolly dressed in maiden white. Oracles were taken from the ashes of the hearth fire, which people examined for a sign that Brighid had visited, i.e. a mark that looked like a swan's footprint. If found, it was considered a lucky omen. The swan was an ancient attribute of the goddess Brighid. Many Irish homes still have a Brighid's cross hung up somewhere. This was originally a solar symbol.


A small community of Brigidine nuns are keeping the sacred light of Brigit burning at Solas Brihde in Kildare.  I spent a week in Kildare, walking the pilgrimage of Bridgit, visiting her sacred well

Her favourite oak tree

a candle blessing at one of the stations of the Brigid walk

prayed at the Abbey of Brede

Weaving the St Bridgit cross is traditional on this day.

I found this step be step instruction on the site of the Brigidine sisters :

1.     Take the first rush/reed and hold it vertically.

2.     Fold a second rush/reed in half at the mid point of the first.

3.     Take a third and fold it around the second parallel to the first. This will now form a T-shaped piece, with one arm having one strand, the second having two and the third having three.

4.     Fold the fourth around the third to form a cross.

5.     Fold a fifth around the fourth, parallel to the single strand. Make sure you hold the centre tight!

6.     Continue folding each reed around the previous reeds.

7.     Work in a circular way until you have created enough of a woven centre. When your centre is as large as you want, hold in the reeds tightly so that the centre is tight and will hold the cross without any difficulty.

8.     Tie the end of each arm carefully and trim ends.

If you would like to read more about my pilgrimage to Brigid, Mary of the Gael and her presence in Glastonbury, please go here :  http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com/2011/04/brigidbrigitbridebrede-mary-of-gael.html

Carving of Bridgit milking a cow - on Tower of Michael,
                                                                                  the Tor, Glastonbury                                                                                  

A blessed La Feile Bride to you!!

Lakshmi's gilded basket spills over with wealth
But it is Saraswati's humble mat on which sits wisdom.

Bengali Proverb

Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, knowledge, and wisdom. Her name derives from the Sanskrit words  sara meaning "essence" and swa meaning "self." She is the wife of Brahma, the creator of the universe. Saraswati is worshipped by students, teachers, schoolchildren, scientists, academics and anyone interested in learning.

She has many titles including Goddess of Speech, Dwelling in the Front of the Tongue, She who Dwells on the Tongues of Poets, the Power of Memory, and She who is Intelligence.

She is usually depicted wearing a white sari, representing purity, sitting on a white lotus which symbolises supreme knowledge. Sometimes she is shown with four arms, and sometimes with two. Her rear left hand holds a book, which betokens that knowledge should be used to better humankind. Her rear right hands holds a rosary, which signifies that knowledge must be based in spiritual truth and not the ego, since knowledge dominated by ego can be destructive. She is accompanied by a swan, a symbol of transcendence and perfection. Saraswati is shown playing a veena, a type of lute, which denotes that the seeker after learning must learn to live in harmony with the world.

One aspect of Saraswati is the early goddess Vac ['Speech'] who played a major part in creation: the god Prajapati's mind produced Vac, who then wished to multiply and extend herself. It is said that the world was created through sound; the syllable Om is said to contain the whole process of creation.

In later myth, Saraswati also played a part in creation as the god Brahma divided his body into two parts, male and female. The female half was Sarasvati. She and Brahma mated and produced Manu who went on to make the world.

In a similar legend Krishna divided himself into male and female, purusa and prakriti [spirit and matter]. The female half had five shaktis or dynamic powers; Sarasvati was the shakti whose task was to provide insight, knowledge and learning.

Her feast day is celebrated in early spring, in January or February. on this day, pictures and statues of her are displayed in schools and universities and books, pens and musical instruments are blessed. It is considered auspicious if children speak their first words on this day.

Sarasvati is the inspiration behind all learning, culture, science and the arts, music and dance. She gave the gift of writing to humankind so that her songs could be written down and preserved. She is also the goddess of the spoken word, and eloquence, and words are said to pour from her like a sweetly flowing river'.

She is not a domestic goddess, and would rather give birth to works of art and learning than children, her essence is entirely spiritual, unlike most of the other Hindu goddesses, who are concerned with fertility and motherhood. 

Saraswati is the goddess of learning and acquired knowledge, rather than innate knowledge, whether in the arts, sciences, or spiritual thought. She is the patroness of students and academics, as well as musicians, poets and dancers. As the patron of rhetoricians and writers, she aids in the flow of words and eloquence.Saraswati is invoked to overcome the frailties of mind and poor memory. Above all, she is entreated to bestow the power of conveying knowledge to one's students. It is said that she is a jealous rival of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and that pursuing wealth alone will assure that Sarasvati's gifts will desert you.

This beautiful piece was written by Anna Franklin. With thanks to :

http://www.merciangathering.com/saraswati.htm