The Mysteries of the Black Madonna tarot deck

 

I am so excited to share with you some of the artwork of the

Mysteries of the Black Madonna tarot deck.

The deck will be launched for pre-orders on my website

Her Grace Sacred Art

on 12 December 2020 for patrons of my Patreon with special discounts and other offers.  These will be shared with all patrons in posts on Patreon closer to the time.  I am still waiting on pricing, delivery dates and other details.

On 19 December 2020 I will open the purchasing of the deck to everyone else.

I will also make clear the expected delivery dates and shipping methods. At this stage I am planning for delivery in February or March via DHL Express Couriers. You can read more below.

I will be offering a gilded version as well and it will be accompanied by a handmade pouch and other small details and extras.  

I share regularly on Instagram and Facebook

You will find me on Instagram @bhaktymayi_ma and @walkingwithmary

I know many of you have been following along on social media and are as excited as I am to start working with this deck.  When I created the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck I never anticipated that there would be such a demand and love for the deck.  I really created the deck for myself and for my own use as there was no deck available that included esoteric Christianity and its ancient roots.  As an artist I also wanted to capture the mystical metaphor of these stories in a visual artwork.

Shipping challenges

Just before the global lockdown earlier this year I shipped a large number of decks worldwide and many of them were caught up in the chaos that followed.  It has taken days of following up, answering enquiries from buyers and trying to track parcels and then South Africa shut its borders and closed all businesses for five months!  The parcels that were eventually shipped once our borders opened, are taking weeks and months to arrive and tracking is turned on and off as other countries are going back into lockdown.  

Limited numbers of decks to be printed

I will print a limited number of decks of the Mysteries of the Black Madonna tarot in January 2021 when the printing industry return to work after the annual Christmas break (which is three weeks).  

Shipping with DHL Express Courier

And I will not ship international airmail unless shipping conditions have completely improved at the time of shipping.  I have negotiated a lesser rate from DHL Couriers and have been using them with great success.  Delivery by DHL takes place, with the parcel being delivered into your hands, within a week and they also have a no-contact delivery option. 

Walking with the Holy Black Mother

I have been creating this deck full-time for the past four years.  Some of the sites holy to the Black Mother, I visited as a pilgrim over the past 25 years and I reflected my relationship with their Essence in poetry and paintings.  My understanding and relationship with Black Mary deepened and intensified and the past three years I was presented with deep soul work in my personal life which can only be attributed to her incisive and transformation action in my inner world and reflected in life around me.  I lived through deep and tragic loss of loved ones and other potent changes. My research into her stories, myths, miracles and history opened my eyes and removed many veils of ignorance and assumption about the true nature and meaning of the Black Madonna. 

The backs of  the cards

 I do not regard myself as an academic expert on the Black Madonnas nor their historical background, but I do know her intimately.  At 17, during a deep crisis in my life, I had a life altering  kundalini awakening and for many years I struggled with deep grief and depression and chronic illness and my spiritual path led me to a great healing of the soul.  Working so intimately with the Black Mother of us all, I stared into the face of the abyss again, and I was dragged through the flames of the inferno.  This deck carries that energy and it is presented as a path of initiation to embodiment of Lady Wisdom and the other aspects of the black mother. 

The Hearth of Mary on Patreon

 Eighteen months ago I started a Walking with Mary community on Patreon and it expanded into the Order of the Dove, a path of self-initiation in the shaktypat tradition of the Mother.  From the start it was an agreement from my side to my loyal patrons that they will have first access to purchase the deck and that they will get special discounts.  Without the support of my patrons I would not have been able to complete this deck in this time.  They provided an income for myself and my assistant, to continue with the creative process and being able to spend enough time away from the world in order to integrate the path and its many twists and turns.

More decks to be printed

I will follow up with the printing of bigger numbers of decks but I may have to stagger the shipping dates as it is too difficult to currently ship such big numbers out.  South Africa is still in level 1 lockdown and the local DHL agent is a small office with one dedicated staff member.  I understand that buyers become frustrated and impatient when promised something and it takes much longer than expected. 

blessings

Hettienne

Walking with Mary September QnA - updated post

I am sharing some of the personal tools and ritual which I garnered

through my experiences and spiritual practices over the years.

I have found these practises and blessings to be of great value in my own journey  and believe that they may be of value to you as well.

I am not teaching a specific practise complete in itself with precise lists of what you have to do, but rather I will share with you some of the key practises and prayers which you can adapt to suit your own expression
and consciousnesness.

Some aspects may seem particularly vague, but that is done on purpose

as it will enable you to fill the gaps with your own inner understanding and to stretch yourself into ever-deepening
 layers of connection with self and the Divine.

May these practises and energy transferences (diksha) lead you deeper into the well of wisdom.

Energy Clearing

I will share some inspiration on how to create your sacred space in advance before you start with the meditations. 

It is also important to clear your space before you start with the consecration

of your altar and shawl, etc and before you receive the first mantra for the blessing (diksha) and meditations.

There are various ways of clearing your space : these are just a few that I like to use : burning sage or mpepho (a local indigenous plant in South Africa); 
burning aromatherapy oils;  holy water; sacred waters and salt.

My favourite way of cleansing is the following :

A whole lemon placed in the room and one on the altar.  I leave the lemons in place for weeks (until it has naturally dried out).  
When the lemon starts to rot it has absorbed negative

energy and you have to put it into the compost or garden and replace it with another fresh lemon.

Lemons are powerful energy clearing fruit and one of the oldest holy fruits that we know.  The lemon also aborbs the sacred energies 
of the activated altar and space and you 

can eat it as prasadh (blessed food) after your sacrament.

Secondly I use salt.  
I place a bowl of salt on my altar and this is replaced with clean salt regularly.

It is also a good practise to sprinkle a bit of salt 
in the corners of the room and to sweep

them out regularly. 
 You may be familiar with bathing in water with 
a few tablespoons of Epsom salts

added to it.  I also add slices of lemon to my bath water 
or to my shower, especially

after I had done personal clearing or healing work on others.

In preparation of my sacred space and before any meditation or healing work, I burn frankincense

and myrhh granules (on lit charcoal)
 or a good quality vegan incense.

I clear the entire room with the smoke of the frankincense.

I also clear my space by sprinkling blessed water on everything.

Music is also a powerful energetic cleanser.  We all have different vibrations

and resonate with different frequencies.  I have my favourite music which includes

classical music by Mozart and Beethoven, chants by Krishna Das and my

absolute favourite are the chants of Lourdes.  You can find these online :

Les 20 plus beaux chants pour la messe

and

Lourdes : 150 Ans de chants

Blessing of the Altar

Placing sacred items and images on your altar, sanctifies and blesses everything

that is within the energy field of those items. 
 If you work with a pendulum you can

prove this fact to yourself.  You can test the frequency and vibration of a space

without a sacred image.  
Then place the image or holy water or rosary which had

been used for prayers, back into the space and test the space again.

You may be amazed at the increase in vibration. 
 Our cells consists mainly of water

and prana and these vibrate in resonance with its surroundings. 

Essential oils

I will share with you the secret recipes for meditation blends

during the weeks to come.

We will use lemon oil, eucalyptus oil, rose oil and if you can afford to,
sandalwood oil.  Frankincense oil also has a very high vibration but is very expensive.

Candles and colours over the four weeks

You can keep the same candle for the four weeks or you can

change the colour and/or image of the candle that you work with..

Feel free to change the colour of your altar cloth and flowers too.

We will do a draw, layout and reading from the 
 Mysteries of Mary tarot deck

for each week, but you can use any deck that you choose to.

The overarching theme for the entire 30 days will be

Mary, Our Lady of the Rose

The themes for the four weeks are :

Week 1 - Saturday 7 September to Friday 13 September 2019

The Nativity of Mary 
- the inner child -
The Suit of Vessels

 BLUE AND GOLD

Week 2 Saturday 14 September to Friday 20 September

Mary as Beloved, Bride and Magdalen
- the tree of life -
The Suit of Holy Rood

RED and GREEN

Week 3 Saturday 21 September to Friday 27 September

Mary as Sophia, Our Lady of Wisdom, Shekinah
- high priestess -

The Suit of Distaff
DARK BLUE

Week 4 Saturday 28 September to Friday 4 October
Mary as the sacred rose garden
- Cosmic Mary -
The Suit of Roses

RED

I will share posts during each week with support, 
discussions and other tools such

as creating soulcollage cards, keeping a journal, dream work and so on.
You can share and connect with the Walking with Mary community
on Instagram #walkingwithmary #thirtydayswithmary 
@walkingwithmary

We are also on www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna
and I share on FB on the Mysteries of Mary tarot page

blessings

Thirty Days with Mary September 2019

Walking with Mary for thirty days
7 September 2019

When you pray to Mary, mother of Jesus, you pray, without knowing it,

to the World Mother in her many forms. -  The Mists of Avalon

You are invited to join me and the Temple of Mary in a 30 day practice with the metaphor, Sacred Presence and iconography of Blessed Mary.  

We will start Saturday 7 September 2019 on the eve of the Nativity of Mary
 and continue till Sunday 6 October, the eve of the feast day
of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Walking with Mary focuses on the tarot deck
Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.  If you do not own the deck you can still
join in.  There are daily practises, mantras, chants, ritual, dance,
soulcollage, tarot spreads and more.

A  Walking with Mary community exists around the globe and
we are united in our love for the sacred feminine in the embodiment of Mary.
If you wish to, we share on Instagram with the hash tags
#walkingwithmary
#thirtydayswithmary
#30dayswithmary

and on Facebook on the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck page.

You can subscribe to this blog on the right hand side column
'Subscribe by email' and you will receive the posts via email.
You can also follow this blog.
I have a group on Patreon called Walking with Mary.
You will find us on www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna
and for $5 a month you will receive monthly posts and background
information on the deck and an on-going spiritual practise.

You can participate wherever you are and you can spend as much time as you can afford to on the daily practise.  The month of Walking with Mary will include special prayers, contemplation, spiritual exercises and tools to uncover your own Sacred Heart and strengthen your relationship with 

Blessed Mary.

This is a free event and open to everyone

Over the next few days I will share here a few items that you have to collect and prepare beforehand.

If you own the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck and/or the  Amulets of Mary Healing Oracle,

you can bring them to this event.

We will consecrate our decks and we will set up a special Walking with Mary altar.  

The Walking with Mary online retreat in January and February is
devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception.

The Walking with Mary online retreat in September is devoted
to Our Lady of the Rose.

You may like to read my Art Novena to Lourdes or Mondays with Mary posts
on my blog Cloister of the Heart at
http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com
for some background to my sacred path of art as spiritual practise
and what you can expect of Walking with Mary.

You will experience the flowering of peace and joy and you will see the changes in your personal life unfold as you walk these thirty days with Mary.

blessings

Hettienne