Novena to Our Lady of the Living Fire Day 6

 I shall try the only thing a devotee can do :

I shall always keep thy divine image

and thy holy divinity

locked in my heart and

conjure them in my imagination

- the words of Lucius, the hero of The Golden Ass

The image is an inner shrine,

an interior refuge.

It is beyond words

but the poet and sage knows how to

invoke the imagination and  the

Sacred One up into the psyche

in an enduring

and nurturing way.

An image includes not only a picture but the way

we experience it, the way we feel it.

Every image we perceive,

every feeling it evokes,

is a living prayer.

Prayer

I open myself to your presence, o Great Mother;

I commit myself to your priestesshood of miracle thinking

and the practise of faith in the extraordinary.

I am willing for my eyes and heart to be broken open

by your divine and blinding presence;

as I priestess your love and compassion in the world.

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 

Priestess of the Dove

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

Mary's presentation in the Temple of the Dove
from the Suit of Vessels
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Tarot
www.hergracesacredart.com

My card from the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck 

depicting the young Virgin Mary as

Temple priestess in the Temple of the Dove

as told in The Mystical City of God:

Joachim and Anne set 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 deposited in the holy temple of Jerusalem.

They arrived at the holy temple, and the blessed

Anne, on entering, took her Daughter and Mistress

by the hand, accompanied and assisted by Joachim.

All three offered a devout and fervent prayer

to the Lord, the parents offering God their daughter,

and the most holy Child.

She heard a voice saying to her :

Come my Beloved, come my Spouse,

come to my temple where I wish to hear they

voice of praise and worship.

The mystical city of God 

by venerable Mary of Agreda

If you want to read more about the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck

and the Black Madonna tarot deck (work in progress) please

read my blog at www.hergracesacredart.com.

Please visit and spread the love

blessings

Hettienne

Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

Maria Bambina
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck
www.hergracesacredart.com

Today is the final day of the

Art Novena for Our Lady of Lourdes

Today I am reminded of the universality of Mary

and the mystery of who she really is.

To some she is the literal figure in a Bible story;

to others she is a Western goddess;

some know her as Queen of Heaven and the Angels

and still others know as her Mama, Gaia,

Mother Earth and our nature.

Coronation of Mary
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck

Who is she to you?

What are the whispers in your ear? 

What are the winds stirring up in your heart?

It takes great courage to answer that call

and to step out of the comfort and security

of the unexamined room in which we live.

Has she been calling  you?

Then today is the day to answer.

Courage
Sacred Mysteries of Mary

Then today is the day to accept the call to step out

into the unknown

Lady with the Lamp
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck

To do that which you have been avoiding,

to see and hear that part of yourself that has

been tugging on the hem of your coat,

begging for attention

Maria Bambina - spinning gold
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck
www.hergracesacredart.com

'I realized that all the powers of the Mothers, of Tara, Durga, Kali are in Mary.

She has Tara's sublime tenderness;

Durga's inaccessible silent calm force;

the grandeur and terribilta of Kali.

But Mary is also a woman,

a poor woman

and a human mother.

Death
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck
www.hergracesacredart.com

In her the full path of the sacred feminine is lived.

In her we have a complete image of the Divine Mother,

an image at once transcendent and immanent,

other-worldly and this-wordly,

at once mystical and political and practical.

In Mary the Divine Mother comes to earth and lives on earth

and lives, the passionate, strong, serious,

simple and transforming life that shows us all how to live.

Mara
Sacred Mysteries of Mary Deck

Mary is the bridge between heaven and earth,

between the human and the divine worlds,

between human and divine justice."

                                                                             Andrew Harvey in The Return of the Mother

Blessings

Blogs merging

Photograph by Hettienne Grobler - Shrine at Sancta Maria

This blog will soon be merging with

Cloister of the Heart.

The Temple of Mary blog will stay up as a living archive
of our footprints into Her mysteries in this world.

The website for the Temple of  the Mysteries of Mary is at
www.hettiennema.wix.com/sancta maria

Blessed Mary painting by Hettienne Grobler

There you will be able to read about my pilgrimages to sacred sites,

my Soulcollage journeys

the Recovery of the Inner Child of the journey of awakening

share in my art making process

and the upcoming

Art Novena for Our Lady of Lourdes.

So if you have not subscribed yet, or wish to join

please go to www.path-of-divine-love.com

Cloister of the Heart.

Soulcollage card by Hettienne Grobler

Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary

I also invite you to join my journey with the soon to be published

Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck.

The blog is at www.hergracesacredart.blogspot.com

Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary

Our Lady of Guadalupe  from the Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary
by Hettienne Grobler

Her Grace by Devata on Etsy.com

Then there is also the blog of my shop on Etsy

which showcases items as they are put up for sale.

www.hergracedevata.blogspot.com

Namaste, Hettienne

The first newsletter of The Temple of Mary, Our Lady of the Dove, was sent out this week. 

The newsletter is available on-line and there is a direct link on the right hand side of this blog.

If you would like to subscribe, please send me a request to hettiennema@gmail.com.


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Temple of Mary training,
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and so on .........


please visit the new website


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