A month of walking with Mary - February 2020

Walk with Mary for thirty days

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 myself, the Hearthkeepers of the Temple of Mary
and the Walking with Mary community in a 30 day practice
with the metaphor, Sacred Presence and iconography of Blessed Mary. 

This practise is based on the initiations into the Temple of Mary
for the past ten years, and the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.
(You do not need to own the deck to participate)

Each Thirty Days with Mary is slightly different, but the basic
outline stays consistent.

This year we start on Monday 3 February with the
Nine Days Art Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes.
The novena has been a tradition on my blog
Cloister of the Heart for the past ten years.

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 

the Blessed Mother 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 retreat.

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

Subscribe to this blog on the right hand side under the tab 'subscribe by email' and you will receive weekly blog posts setting out the teachings of Mary and her many roles;  I will share sacred healing practises with you and you will receive instructions on how to do the Silent Heart meditation and how to receive the Sacred Heart diksha which you will practise on a daily basis.

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.

The outline of these thirty days are :

Week 1 Monday 3 February to Sunday 9 February 2020

Mary the Immaculate Conception

Our Lady of Lourdes

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Week 2 Monday 10 February to Sunday 16 February 2020 

The Sacred Heart of Mary 
and the archetype of Mary as the Holyrood

Celebration on 11 February of Our Lady of Lourdes feast day

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Week 3 Monday 17 February to Sunday 23 February

Mary as Sophia, Our Lady of Wisdom, Shekinah

Celebration on 18 February of Bernadette Soubirous - this is the original
feast day of Mary's promise to Bernadette

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Week 4 Monday 24 February to Sunday 1 March

Mary Queen of Roses, the Earth and Theotokos

blessings

Hettienne

Day 2 - September

Puja in my garden with japonica petals from the

bush that grows next to her image

Welcome to the Hearth of Mary and our
second day of Walking with Mary online retreat 

Today is the feast day of the Nativity of Mary and
for me personally,  a very special day and devotion.

For a few consecutive years I spent this special
feast day both at Lourdes, Notre Dame and the
Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in France
and on occasion it was full moon.  I blogged these experiences
on my blog Cloister of the Heart.

This morning we step into our sacred space once again
and we will add a special puja (ritual of devotion) for
Mary's birthday.

A puja is a ritual dedicated to the worship of one's personal deity or devi.
(also called the Ishta Devata)

As in all ritual there is a certain set of actions;

each one designed with a particular focus and effect

in mind.  In these Thirty Days with Mary we

are devoting our focus, intent, emotion, senses,

passion and vision to evoke our

spiritual selves and to connect with our

own divinity as well as the integration between psyche and body,
masculine and feminine, mind and heart.
These rituals and tools are all part of ancient traditions known
as tantra or the hieros gamos or the sacred marriage.

Through repeated entry into the spiritual realms

we shed the perceptions and projections of the mind

and access a wider vision, a deeper connectedness to

all of life and  transpersonal wisdom.

My altar with some of my collection of dolls

For today's ceremony or puja we use fresh flowers,

fresh flower petals, incense, music and if you can,

and you feel drawn to do so, movement and spontaneous dancing. 

Today's puja is dedicated to the

birthday of Holy Mary.

You may create a special altar for today or add special items 

that have meaning to you.  Add special flowers.

Have a musical instrument ready, a hand drum, or a bell

or any instruments that you may use in ceremony.

Find a piece of music that has meaning to you

or pick a piece of music that is devoted to Mary.

If you have space, you can use  spontaneous movement and dancing
as part of your puja.

My Black Madonna frame drum

We open our sacred space with the daily prayer.

 Put your music on and you may want to put it on 'repeat'

so that it plays continually

Light the candles.

Light the incense and offer the sacred smoke to the items
on the altar and to the image of Holy Mary

Pick up your instrument and offer your devotion to
Blessed Mary on her birthday
You may choose to chant or sing along and use your instrument of choice
or you may feel drawn to move your body in movement and offer
the devotion (bhakty) of your sacred dance to Her
Or you can combine it all.


After offering your heart through song and dance, we offer
the fresh rose petals to Mary by showering her image with the petals.
You can also sprinkle some of the rose oil and water
from the altar as a blessing.
This is a very evocative and heart opening practise which
you can do every day or once a week and not only on holy days.

You can do the daily mantra after the puja.

Daily Prayer

Hail Mary

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

You bestow your Blessing upon us

Now and Forever

Daily mantra

Om Jai Mata Mary Ma Namaha

Sit quietly for a few minutes, just allowing yourself absorb the energy you have invoked.
Enjoy it ...... feel the presence of the Sacred embracing you, flowing all around you.
We rejoice in our physical nature, appreciating this time to pause and remember the holy
purpose of our lives.  We feel gratitude for those travelling with us on this path of love
and freedom.  Feel a smile forming on your face.  You are happy to be here in this
peaceful inner place.  Let there be peace.


You can choose to draw a daily card at the end or to contemplate
your weekly card and see which insight arise after the ritual.

Nativity of Holy Child-Daughter

By honouring and acknowledging the birth of the holy child-daughter, Mary Herself, the masculine story is changed and the daughter and girl-child becomes sacred in the collective unconscious.

‘A hermit had on a certain night for many years heard music in the heavens. When he asked the cause an angel answered, : the Virgin was born this night, and what is ignored on earth is being celebrated by angels’ – Legends of Mary, Thirteenth Century

In this card we see the birth of the holy daughter, the female bearer of the Christ.  When one considers that the term Christ or Christed One is a title and not part of a name, then the sentence ‘female bearer of the Christ’ has a completely different meaning.  Mary is the feminine companion to Jesus or Maryam to Yeshua in the original Aramaic.  As we saw earlier three Marys always accompanied Jesus one of whom was his mother and one his companion or beloved.  Reading these words and stories with the inner mystical eye of vision and understanding, we understand that the psyche has four aspects : two masculine and two feminine and these are referred to as mother, father, daughter and son.  The picture reflected a whole psyche is incomplete without the daughter.  What would change within both men and women when the Christ appears in female form?  Or when the Christ appears as a divine couple? 

 In the Gospel of the Birth of Mary, it is described that the angel visited both Joachim and Anna (Mary’s parents) on two separate occasions.  Mary’s conception and birth was a miraculous one.  Anna, her mother was barren until the Archangel Gabriel visited her and declared that her barren womb will be opened by God and that the Holy Spirit will descend into the body of her daughter Mary whilst still in the womb.  Mary referred to herself as The Immaculate Conception when She appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes.   The sanctuary of the nativity of the virgin Mary is in Milan and her tiny effigy wrapped in lace and swaddling clothes is known as Santa Maria Bambina.  Her nativity is on 8 September and is one of the twelve major feast days in the liturgical calendar.    In the years between 1720 and 1730 a Franciscan nun from Todi (Sister Chiara Isabella Fornari) created wax statues of Mary as a baby. One of these dolls was donated to the Capuchin Sisters of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Milan. Eventually the statue arrived at the General House of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere , in Via Santa Sofia in Milan, and these sisters are called "Maria Bambina" .

The miraculous image of Maria Bambina was made prior to 1730 by a Franciscan nun who afterwards entrusted Her to others. During the ensuing years, she came into the care of the Sisters of Charity at Lovere, Italy. In 1856, these Sisters of Charity were asked to take over the management of the Hospital of Ciceri in Milan and, in 1876, this waxen image was carried to their Mother House there at Via Santa Sofia 13, where she has remained ever since.

The beautiful image of the Maria Bambina was exposed for veneration only on the 8th of September, the Feast of Mary's Nativity. In 1884, those who were devoted to the Maria Bambina received a reward for their devotion. Due to paralysis in her arms and feet, Sister Josephine Woinovich was bedridden and in unbearable pain. On the 8th of September, she begged the Mother General to get Maria Bambina and leave the image near her overnight. The following morning the Mother General was inspired to take the image, so old, worn and grayish colored to the other sick Sisters in the infirmary so they could kiss her.

There was in the infirmary a good novice, Giulia Macario, who was unable to move because of her serious illness, but who, overcome by her ardent faith, took the image into her arms and pleaded with her in tender and loving words for the grace for her recovery. She was immediately and miraculously cured, for such Faith moves mountains. And at the same time this image itself underwent an amazing transformation from the former dull gray color to the warm flesh hues it has today, as can be seen, where she is enshrined in the Sanctuary of the Mother House in Milan.

Luce Irigaray in her work says that ‘there is no woman God, no female trinity: mother, daughter, spirit.  This paralyses the infinite of becoming a woman since she is fixed in the role of mother through whom the son of God is made flesh’

By honouring and acknowledging the birth of the holy child-daughter, Mary Herself, the masculine story is changed and the daughter and girl-child becomes sacred in the collective unconscious.

Santa Maria Bambina with golden wool
Handmaiden of Suit of Distaff
Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck
www.hergracesacredart.com

These stories of the divine are powerful myths which activate and animate archetypes in our consciousness.  Mary calls Herself the Immaculate Conception and as such Her birth is truly a divine birth of a divine female and feminine which has been lying fast asleep like the princess in Sleeping Beauty (Card IV of the Suit of the Distaff).  Creating art and seeing images of Mary as the holy girl-child  and images of the Sacred Mother and Daughter will change our understanding of the world and our Soul completely.

blessings to you

Hettienne

Day 1 Walking with Mary September

Blessings to you on this our first day of Walking with Mary

Welcome to our virtual community where we connect with each other,

with our devotion to the Divine Feminine in Her Grace as Mary

and with our innermost selves.

If this is your first visit to the blog and these thirty days,

you may want to scroll down and read the previous posts

with information on the idea of this project.  You will also

find links to my other blogs and stories on this road of

walking with Mary, in the side bar of this blog.

Sacred Altar in the Temple of Mary garden

Welcome to the Hearth of Mary where we will dedicate ourselves to the Sacred Heart
of the Mother for the next thirty days.

Together we will tend to the holy hearth within and fan
the fires of  devotion and transformation.
The Yoga of the Mother leads us to the mystical marrying of the physical
and spiritual in the bridal chamber of the heart.

This first week runs from Saturday 7 September to Friday 13 September 2019

and is dedicated to The Nativity of Mary;

and the archetype of the Virgin, Woman Unto Herself;

the healing focus is on the Inner Child;

and the suit of Vessels (cups)

White, blue, gold and pink

Today we step into our sacred spaces.
(See my previous posts on preparing and purifying which
you can do before you sit down to start this communion with Divine Mary.)

Never underestimate the power of ritual and ceremony.

You only need a small table or surface on which to create your altar.

The ritual of preparing the altar, lighting candle and incense, etc

indicates to the subconscious and unconscious that you are now entering

sacred time and space.

I use white for my altar cloth and a white candle
for today and most of this week.

You can add the colours of the elements of each week if you choose to do so.

Work at your own pace.  You can catch up at any time.

If possible, enter into sacred communion with Mother Mary  more or less at the same time

of day every day.  The most powerful time for meditation is just before dawn

as the energies are new and fresh and it is a daily re-birth.  And on a practical level, one is

often too tired to do so after a long and busy day. But do not let that stop you.
If the practise does not fit in with your lifestyle then you will not keep it up, so no
hard and fast rules here, other than the discipline
of turning up.

I will try to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible.

I will start slowly by sharing only one or two sacred practises and rituals at a time.

These will build the heat in your inner furnace and ignite the sacred fire

slowly and gently.

The Immaculate Practise

This body of ritual and devotion is called
the Immaculate Practise of devotion to Mary.

There are various layers of ritual in the Immaculate Practise

Today we will invoke a blessing and sacrament from Mary on our sacred work
to be done over the next month.  We will also sanctify our meditation shawl, rosary
(and/or mala) and any other items to be used as sacred altars and tools.  
Include your tarot and oracle decks and any amulet sets that you
intend using for these thirty days.
 Place  a glass or bottle of water on your altar.
You can drink this water after the
blessing ritual.
Should you want to, you can repeat this invocation daily. The more
often and the more people that repeat the same mantra, the more
powerful it becomes.  Traditional mantras which have been chanted
for many years, have great healing effect on the vibrations of our
physical and spiritual world.



Mantra for blessing and sanctification

Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
Ave Maria Sanctum Gloriae
OM

Repeat the full mantra 3 or 6 times.  You can keep count with your rosary
or prayer beads. Then place your hands on your shawl and move to the rosary
and all items on your altar.  Hold the deck of cards in its pouch or maybe a cloth wrapping
and repeat the mantra. Place your hands on the container with water.  If you choose
to drink the water afterwards, keep a small amount for the next day.  You can
daily add to the water and by the end of the thirty days you will have water
with powerful healing properties. 

You can add this healing (holy) water to your bath or food.  

After you have blessed your space, open the ritual with a prayer to Mary.
You can use one of your own and I invite you to share
these with the Walking with Mary community.
I will share a different prayer each week.


The first prayer follows below.

Hail Mary

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

You bestow your Blessing upon us

Now and Forever

Next pick up your deck of cards and choose one card for the week.
 Place the card on your altar and leave

it there for the remainder of the week.  
Do not interpret the card as you normally would,

but let her speak to you.  
You may want to keep your journal or a piece of paper at hand

and make a few notes every morning.

Every morning when you sit down for your communion with Mary, 
gaze on the card for a second and when you have completed your mantra, 
write down any 

thoughts, feelings, sensations, without judgement and analysis.

At the end of the seven days you will have a deeper understanding of not only the

card, but of Mary and of yourself.

We will keep all four weekly cards and read them together on the final day.

Close your communion with repeating the prayer again.

As you feel your heart filled with peace and gratitude to the blessings received from
Mary, the Rose of the World, you can scatter some of your fresh flower petals, or sprinkle some
of your blessed water, over her image.


thank you
thank you
thank you

And so it is.

Sit quietly for a few minutes, just allowing yourself absorb the energy you have invoked.
Enjoy it ...... feel the presence of the Sacred embracing you, flowing all around you.
We rejoice in our physical nature, appreciating this time to pause and remember the holy
purpose of our lives.  We feel gratitude for those travelling with us on this path of love
and freedom.  Feel a smile forming on your face.  You are happy to be here in this
peaceful inner place.  Let there be peace.  Gently refocus on the outer world and carry this peace
with you into the world.



Food for thought - an extract from the Mysteries of Mary Tarot guide book

The Suit of Vessels
Mary in the archetype of Virgin-Mother, Prophetess and Priestess
of the Mysteries.

In the suit of Vessels we encounter Mary as the element of water.
Mary is a derivative from the Latin Maria which means waters.  In French 'mare' is the word for water.  Water has the power to drown us or to quench our thirst.  We know Mary as the loving nurturing mother, but also as the Mater Dolorosa, the grieving, mourning mother,
dressed in black.  She represents the oceans of consciousness as well as the energetic flow
of the soul and her powerful emotions.  Vessels also relate to the metaphor of the cosmic womb of the soul and the dark void of the Source of all creation.  We see the element of water represented in mystery in the blue of Mary's robes.  In this suit we enter the alchemical process of the miraculous conception within ourselves and we prepare to birth the sacred one in our own psyche.
In alchemy the vessel is the container in which the various ingredients are mixed and transformed by each other.  It was believed that the alchemists were looking for a way to turn lead into gold, but it is also believed that it is actually a metaphorical journey of transforming darkness into light and one of finding joy and peace amidst sorrow and hardship as we live in a world of holy paradox.
As we follow the calling of our heart, we are led to dig where no-one else thought to look and we will uncover a spring that will feed and nourish thousands.

Tomorrow is the feast day of the Nativity of Mary.
We will do a special ceremony or puja for this feast day.

In preparation of the puja, please gather fresh flowers, fresh flower petals,
 incense or a smudging stick,

a bell, or a drum or a music instrument,
a piece of music that you can play to sing and dance to,

a glass of water and something to eat which you can
place on your altar and enjoy after the ceremony.
This is known as prasad or blessed food as it has been blessed
by your soulful offering and the meeting of Mary in response.

blessings
Hettienne

In preparation of Thirty Days with Mary spiritual practise

Our search for a God who looks like us begins in our own lives.
She will be found there -  Patricia Lynn Reilly

This is the second Thirty Days with Mary incorporating the
Mysteries of Mary tarot deck that I am hosting.
This is an invitation to embrace sacred consciousness and to
reclaim the sacred weaving and crafting of the sacred
practises of a priestess/priest devoted to Mary.



The annual Thirty Days with Mary started as an annual online devotional practise
of the Temple of Mary and her initiated Flamekeepers.

But I have been called to share with you in an ongoing way and to deepen
our understanding of the mystical aspects of the Mysteries of Mary.

Each Thirty Days of Mary is slightly different but mantras and initiations
are only changed every year as part of the initiations.

In these Thirty Days with Mary you will enter and re-enter into a direct and personal relationship with the Divine and in particular the Divine Mother in Her many names, aspects
and manifestations.

An initiate is one who chooses to turn his or her focus inward, into a metaphysical reality and upward into a wider context and upward into a higher consciousness.

An initiation is a ritual which takes the initiate through a doorway and threshold from the mundane ordinary reality into the sacred life.   

Creating a sacred space

It is a powerful practise to have a sacred space in which to meditate and focus on your activities. 

You can prepare this space beforehand with a special chair or space on the floor to sit on.

If you already have a meditation shawl, place it in your sacred space.  I suggest that you find

a special (meaning one that you use for this purpose) shawl with which to cover your shoulders or head.  In the bhakty tradition we wear white.

Create your altar with candles, incense, an essential oil burner, fresh flowers and of course a statue 

or image of Mother Mary.
Add your Mysteries of Mary tarot deck and healing amulet oracles.

You will add items to the altar over the thirty days.  

Blessing and consecration of space and items

On the first day of this journey I will share with you the diksha to bless and

consecrate all your items.  

You will need to gather the following items :

meditation shawl

rosary or mala or prayer beads

a few fresh lemons - at least one or two 

one or two cups of coarse sea salt

candles
colours : white, red, dark blue, gold, yellow

small bottles of essential oils : eucalyptus, lemon and rose
(frankincense and sandalwood optional)

frankincense or myrrh incense

a journaling book

a couple of old magazines, calendars or picture books for cutting out images
cardboard to cut into A5 size for collaging
glue

start collecting holy cards, or any images of Mary

a blank book that you can alter with crayons, or paints

crafting items for a shadow box - a small cardboard box or deep frame

baby pictures of yourself
any items that you may have from childhood
any favourite childhood picture books

None of these are essential.  You will have enough time to collect whatever you want to create.
You may wish to create nothing at all which is also perfect.
I add these items for those of you who like to be prepared from the get-go. 

blessings

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