Tuesday, October 21, 2014

St Michael, Defender of the Virgin


Prayer to Michael






Saint Michael the Archangel, Powerful Spirit of Truth

Take my hand and lead me to Divine Truth.

Protect me from all the evil in the world.

Guard me and compensate for all my weaknesses.

Change, bless, and restore the consquences of all my mistakes.

Carry me on the wings of your love and might to the

Throne of God and pray to Him with me forever.

Amen.




I Am Michael. The -el stands for Elohim or son of God. Prince of Light, the Great Protector, the almighty Michael who commands the Legions of Light.


Michael (who is as God) in Biblical and post-Biblical lore, Michael ranks as the greatest of all angels, whether in Jewish, Christian or Islamic writings, secular or religious. He is chief of the order of virtues, chief of archangels, prince of the presence, angel of repentance, righteousness, mercy and sanctification. 


He is depicted most often with unsheathed sword, the warrior of God and slayer of the Dragon. In Legends of the Madonna, Michael is shown as the angel who announces to Mary her approaching death.

An aged and distressed shrine, with glints of Michael's golden crown and sword, against a background of the Madonna; a miniature book of Love with the image of the blessed Virgin on the cover; an aged image of Michael in a frame. Attached by rusted wire are unique medals, enameled images and parts of Michael's armour : his mighty sword, his helmet and his shield.






The back of the shrine is adorned with vintage sheet music and it comes ready to hang.


I visited the grotto and the Archangel Michael festival in the 800 year old Mont Sant'Angelo in Italy. Michael appeared here, in a cave, more than once to the local villagers many years ago and he is revered by his devotees during an annual pilgrimage to Mont Sant'Angelo. Read about my personal pilgrimage to Michael on my blog at http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com/2011/03/archangel-michael-wayshower-and-animus.html


Included with this shrine is a tiny bottle patina'ed and decorated with Michael's crown, containing some of the holy water collected in the grotto, as well some of the particles of dirt collected in the grotto during the three day festival and procession.





The Rose of Peace

If Michael, leader of God's host

When Heaven and Hell are met,

Looked down on you from Heaven's door-post

He would his deeds forget.

Brooding no more upon God's wars

In his divine homestead,

He would go weave out of the stars

A chaplet for your head.

And all folk seeing him bow down,

And white stars tell your praise,

Would come at last to God's great town,

Led on by gentle ways;

And God would bid His warfare cease,

Saying all things were well;

And softly make a rosy peace,

A peace of Heaven with Hell.

WB Yeats




blessings, 

Hettienne

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Swan Blessing Part II - the Mystery of Incarnational Spirituality

Statue of Compassionate Mother of the World
in my garden shrine

You must give birth to your images. 
They are the future waiting to be born ....
fear not the strangeness you feel.
Just wait for the birth .....
for the hour of new clarity - Rainer Maria Rilke


My quest is, and has been, to give expression to
the mystical vision that is alive in my inner world,
both in a way that will add beauty and meaning to my own life
and to the world of which I am an active
participant, and to, very importantly,
understand that mystical vision.
And then to go out and share my understanding
with others so that we may all benefit
from the fruits of the Tree of Sophia.

Soulcollage images created by myself


Blessedly we are living in a time of
religious freedom, and if we have the courage
to break away from our mechanistic following of
our religious traditions and heritage
and our familial conditioning, we can read
and study the many religions of the world.
Even more powerfully, and importantly, we
have the freedom and option to heed the
Inner Voice which is without sound,
and to craft our own Religion of the Soul.

I have a strong sense of the inner world
and see it reflected in fairy tales, myths, legend
and religion.
Some of these inner visions have stayed with 
me for all my life and they have acted as my
Guide and Guardian Angel, as well as Daemon.
Sometimes they have guided me into very difficult
places of great challenge and loss but always,
eventually, to greater understanding and meaning.


In the first part on the Swan Blessings, I visited
the image of the Swan and how some of it has
played out in my story.
Today I am focusing on the second part of the
vision, and yes, they are related, in a very
unexpected way!!
The second vision is that of 
Snow White and her glass coffin.


Through the different phases and cycles in my life, this image has had
different meaning and interpretations for myself on a
personal level.

I did not fail to notice the correspondence between the
fairy tale and the incorruptible bodies of the saints
in both the Hindu and Catholic traditions


Image from www.bluehearttravel.com
The body of St Terese of Lisiuex
Notice the similarity in the flower wreath around the head

www.lifeinitaly.com
Santa Chiara in Assisi

There are various interpretations on the level of
the psyche as to what these images mean.
I choose to rely on my own intuition and feeling.
When the 'colours' of the image and the meaning
that I uncover in my own understanding, lines up,
then I experience a great sense of release,
a letting go, followed by a birthing of inspiration
and renewal on many levels.

Probably because of the belief, in Western patriarchal religion,
 in separation and the original sin and fall
of humanity from their existence in Eden,
there is a deep-seated belief in personal
unworthiness.  Or maybe this is a deep-seated
stream in the human psyche, a basic duality
as seen as the other side
of the double-headed face of Janus,
symbolising our dualistic understanding and beliefs.
On the flip side of this coin, there is the also deep-seated
knowing that we are indeed the Holy Sons and
Daughters of God, holistically one and whole,
no separation and no distinction between good and
bad, dark and light :  both the light and its shadows
praising the Creatrix.

This deep seated belief in personal unworthiness
gives rise to a  need and yearning for
perfection and purity.  As an artist I am privy
to this need for perfection and it really spells
death for all creativity and art.
Creating art, as does life, demands great courage and risk taking.
Our Western way of thinking and striving for material
success, negates all creativity and art-making
and denies the beauty of Creation, both in its
light and dark aspects.

Snow White and the Saints in their incorruptible bodies,
spell death.  Yes, that is obvious, you are saying.
But they are resurrected in various ways.
 So it is a form of a living death; 
 a suspended state of neither being awake nor
being asleep, but outwardly perfectly beautiful,
 staying forever young.
And as we know, our society values eternal youth
beyond gold and jewels.

I see in these images the desire for perfection.
The glass encased face of eternal beauty.
She is not ravaged by the demands of life;
she does not create nor make art, nor participates in life
and the living. 



A perfect mask that will be acceptable
to the mind of the self.  A role that is to be enacted
under the maestro of the archetype of the ego.

And the opposite for this perfection
is messy living with its huge emotions and conflict.
So in that belief system, it follows that soul and body
are in conflict with each other :  that the earth
is not paradise and that humanity  is doomed
by its own mortal flesh and blood, its senses and
sensuality, its primal instinct and wayward nature.
Humanity is stuck in a glass coffin of perfectionistic
and purist ideals as God, the All, is only present 
in the Light.

In this light (I could not resist the pum),
the mind blocks the consciousness from
understanding and awakening to the tremendous
and awesome meaning of God equals 'Good'.


I see that many have moved away from the
patriarchal religion and are desperately looking
for a new way.  A way of wholeness.
A path that is based on Beauty, Compassion,
Truth and Wisdom.
But, alas, unless you do your own soul-searching and
your own wild-crafting, you will in no time find
yourself walking a well-trodden path leading
to the same places of separation and division,
of transcendence as opposed to participation,
now merely parading new names and banners.
Now these places are often called Light Spirituality,
Enlightenment, self-improvement and
mostly Light and Love and once again, there is
an attitude of either-or.

In trying to bring balance to a Western patriarchal
system by only focusing on the matriarchal, a new imbalance
is being created. 
Can you see how the opponent serves your transformation?
How the ever-happening imbalance brings
growth and new birth and new life:

 Balance equals perfection.
Perfection equals stagnation and death.
In trying to control conflict, in denying
tension and differences, no new life
can be created.

If one only looks at the cruficixion and you forget
about the resurrection, then you miss the entire
message of the Christ.  A Course in Miracles
devote many chapters to this understanding.

One plus one equals three :
new life is born from struggling and discord.
Living with the tension of the opposites,
allowing disagreement and another's
voice that differ from yours, to be heard,
brings awareness to the glassy mind,
of the awesome beauty of creating a life
that has meaning.
Unity and a wholistic understanding of
God and Its Kingdom, which is Us,
is a paradoxical approach of both/as well as.
A sacred trinity of one plus one equals three.

There is a place where all the rivers converge
and that place is the Sacred Heart of humanity.





Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Swan Blessing - part 1

Full moon at Notre Dame - Swan Blessing Pilgrimage September 2014





I woke up from my afternoon nap, blinded by a great
golden spotlight turned on in my room.
At first all I could see was thick golden light,
like a golden carpet and then I saw her,
standing in this light.

I immediately recognized her as
Joan of Arc or Jeanne d'Arc
 as she is called
in France.

Joan of Arc's banner



I bought a tiny Jeanne d'Arc statue,
on the last day of my recent trip, at the
 incredible town Chartres.
We had a train to catch and there was no time to ask myself
why I am buying a statue of 
Jeanne d'Arc when there are so many others,
seemingly more fitting to Chartres, on the shelves.




I gazed at this compelling apparition
and presence
or does one call it a Vision?
Nothing small about her.
In fact very little about her presence
is captured in the tiny statue other
than the banner that she carries.

I gazed at her as long as I could
absorbing the message that I
could hear with my heart.

Never waiver from your Vision.
Stay committed to your heart's desire
and passion and continue
to walk towards the Sun.
Let no obstacle nor challenge
prove too big to overcome.
Use your power of prophecy!

She showed me an intense and clear
path of light, as thick as a carpet of gold!


Let me start at the beginning.

Before I set off for my pilgrimage earlier this month
(September 2014)
 to Paris, Lourdes, Lisieux, Chartres, Rome and Assisi,
I received very clear guidance that the Swan and her
energy will play an important role in this pilgrimage.

My very first pilgrimage I set out on was to Italy in  September 2000
to attend the Archangel Michael festival in Mont' San Angelo.
On that trip I bought my very first Mary statue and my very first
rosary.  I visited the ancient city of Rome and was
fascinated by the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, especially when
I discovered the story of one of the priestesses, named Claudia.
My own daughter was born two years previously and I had
named her Claudia, not for any particular reason.



I never managed to get to the Temple of the Vesta as they were
busy with archeological work and I had to be satisfied with looking
at images in books.  But this led me to her counterpart Hestea and
to her Irish counterpart Bridget and my subsequent pilgrimages
to Glastonbuy and St Bridget in Kildare.

(You can read about these pilgrimages elsewhere on this blog)

St Michael Tower with engraving of Bridget on the Tor, Glastonbury

St Bridgit shrine in Kildare

Myself at St Bridgit shrine in Kildare


One of my first paintings of Bridgid and her Swan





A shadowbox I made a while ago - see the beautiful white swan,
the two swans in the right hand side and the wings on
the little Victorian skater girl - also the bird in a cage!!

The first few nights we stayed in Paris, right on the doorstep
of the magnificent Notre Dame.  At night we went to sleep with the
pealing of the bells of the Notre Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris.


The very first morning that we stepped out of our apartment,
we saw the incredible sight of three white swans on the Seine
and I was reminded of the guidance of the blessing
of the presence of Swan.





part two to follow .......................


blessings

Hettienne

Thursday, August 21, 2014

SoulCollage® - daily practise for enlightenment and inspiration

House of Mary


I am the One Who protects you.
I Am the One Who protects your corona.

I protect your growth into the blue sky
of enlightenment.  My blue cloak embraces
your every experience and every step
into the new wilderness.

I Am Life that protects, embraces,
supports and guide you in every
experience and dream.

I AM Life that creates every
experience and dream.

I AM Life.



Wednesday, August 20, 2014

SoulCollage® - daily insight


Grief


I Am the One Who sets you free 
from the burden of regret.
As you grieve, all that has been
is released in order for 
the new to enter.

Grief is the moment before 
you tied off the thread
and began the next one.
That was when you made your choice
 about what you 
are going to sew next.

One has to sink into acceptance
and bow down into surrender,
in order for transformation
to take place.

I Am the One who sets you free
from the burden of regret.
As you grieve, all that has been
is released in order for the new to enter.




Friday, July 18, 2014

We are the Storytellers

The Rose Queen and Rose Child - Sacred
 Altars Oracle Deck

We are all Storytellers. We share our stories,
open our hearts and become inspired through our own
stories and the stories of others.  Through difficult times
we hold on to the stories, waiting for better days.
 Most of what we believe and know
is based on stories, our own, our tribe and our family stories.

And we are all seekers.  We all seek a sense
of purpose, connection, meaning and belonging :
in other words we are all seeking Spirit or God.

The one thing that stands out for me, is that regardless
of culture, religion, politics, beliefs and country,
these stories all share the same thread, commonly
called the archetype.
And when we look at the metaphor of the story,
the archetype that weaves through all these
stories, we find guidance, inspiration and the greatest love
story ever told!!

We set out in search of the Beloved and we 
return to tell our sacred stories and in doing so,
we gather knowledge of the Self, Soul and Spirit.

St Joseph, the Builder - Sacred Altars of the Mysteries Oracle Deck

I am working on the Sacred Altars Oracle Deck
and have been doing so for the past two years
and by the looks of things it may take another two years.

Each shrine will be turned into a card in a deck
of stories, weaving the red thread of continuity and infinity
with its message of Divine Love.

What I like about stories is that we do not have to take
someone else's word for it, nor their 'because I say so'.
We do not have to have blind faith.  We can just look
around us, listen to the stories we tell ourselves and others,
we can listen to the fairy tales, the myths and the religions
of the world, and we can hear the message.
'you have the power to change your story'

The Magician - Sacred Altar of the Mysteries Oracle Deck

Each one of these shrines are 'born' from my Soul.
I started collecting the Roman Catholic statues during a visit
to the Queen of Heaven shrine in Florida.  As I have blogged
previously, my journey has been one of unfolding,
similar to that of a rose.  From a tight worldview of
Calvinism, it unfolded into a wider, more holistic view which
included the Solar Myths, the Lunar Myths;
 Goddess religions which led to a
deeper understanding of the Sacred Feminine, a study
of the specific Christian viewpoint of the Gnostics and Cathars,
and alchemy.  Yes, indeed, I have been around the block.

Only to find myself back to where I started, realising
that it does not matter which path you walk,
it all brings us back to the same destination,
to Home, to the loving embrace of the Divine,
the Sacred Heart of Unconditional Love and Compassion
and the challenge is to live that knowledge each and every day.

So, back to the shrines.
A while ago I started making Mary shrines with some
of the statues that I collected.  These I sold on Etsy
and many hang on the walls of my home.
As I worked with these little shrines, and blogged
about them, I started to see that they resemble
the many myths and fairy tales and very often
images from Alchemy.  These alchemical images
are everywhere in the Bible as well as the Gnostic
Bibles, the Nag Hammadi and fairy tales.

I do not contrive the shrine.  I allow it take shape under my hands
and then sometimes it takes days and weeks, even months
for the name of the shrine to reveal itself to me.




This shrine of Jesus the Christ, started off as a
Sacred Heart shrine.  Then one day I picked it up
and added the halo with the roses.  And I added
the chalice, the sword, the rose and the holy medal.



And as I sat back I realised that I had coloured in the
leminiscate, the infinity sign on the halo and
I had created a table below.

This is the Magician card in the Tarot deck :


In this version of the card you can see the Aleph
on the right hand side which immediately brings
to mind "I am the Alpha and the Omega.'
There is the leminiscate above his head, the chalice, 
the sword and the pentacle, also referred
to as a coin.  These four represent
the four suits of the elements, water, air,
fire and earth.
These four elements are also present in ourselves
in the physical, and as importantly, in the
emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of ourselves.

The Magician is the first and the last step in the circular
journey of the Seeker.  The Magician has the power
to access the divine realms and to manifest in the
physical.  The Magician has the power to work miracles.

In the same way, in the story of Jesus, we are told
that He was a magician.  He transformed the consciousness
of mankind and he worked miracles.
The Christ is present in every human being.  The Christ
is the greatest Love principle and has the power to
work miracles and to liberate minds!

At first, it was tarot images that unfolded :

The Sun - Sacred Altars Oracle

Here it is the Sun Card from the Tarot, representing
the risen Christ Child, the awakening of the higher human,
the awakening of a deep joy flowing from the
knowing that you are not separate from the Divine.

But then, I started to see other similarities.
Fairy tales started to appear in these mystical events;
the lives of saints contain the same elements
as the archetypes seen in myths;
and the High days and Holy days as seen in the
astrotheological wheel of time.

And thus the weaving continues and wherever
we look, there is God.


blessings
Hettienne




Friday, June 27, 2014

Featuring MessieJessie, the art of Sue Griffiths

Featured here


I came across these beautiful images on Pinterest
of these awesome creations!  I fell in love
instantly!


art dress assemblage - Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Assemblage Art Dress Made From Paper and Fabric -  Cathy,  Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Cathy, Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Assemblage Art Vintage metal case -  A surprise for Mr Darcy via Etsy
A surprise for Mr Darcy!


I can just keep on posting dress after dress!

These are all examples of Assemblage Art created by
Sue Griffiths of MessieJessie

Random header image... Refresh for more!


You can find her blog here at
www.messiejessieblog.co.uk

and she has a beautiful Etsy shop

This one is a paper and wire sculpture
called the Pearl Spun Princess

Wire & Paper Sculpture.

Sue's creations include figurines, assemblages, paper and material
creations and more!
each one unique and wonderful!

This one is my favourite :

COLLAGE MINIATURE DRESSES | Art Assemblage The Red Shoes by MesssieJessie on Etsy


and this one

RESERVED Assemblage Art  The Red Shoes Hans by MesssieJessie


oh and this one .........


Messie Jessie


you get the idea?????


Please visit her work.  She is also on Pinterest
and Facebook - all links on her blog.

Have a happy week
with love, Hettienne


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Archangel Michael, protector of the Divine FeminineArch

Archangel Michael shrine and altar and blessing seeds made by Hettienne
Her Grace by Devata www.etsy.com/shop/devata

Archangel Michael blessing seeds
St Michael is one of the three angels mentioned
by name in Holy Scriptures.
The name Michael signifies
'Who is like God'



He is called Chief of the Order of Virtues,
Chief of the Seven Archangels
Prince of the Angels



The image of Michael on his icons is based on his role in the final
battle described in Revelation.



Archangel Michael has a close relationship with
Our Lady Mary, Mother of God.
She is the Rose Queen and they belong to
the Order of the Divine Rose.
Michael is the one that brings Blessed Mary
the news of her approaching death.


In The Legends of the Jews it is said that
'the fire that Moses saw in the burning bush had the appearance
of Michael, who had descended from heaven as
the forerunner of the Shekinah.  
Michael has a long history as protector of the Divine Feminine

The blessing seeds have all these images and others
from the scenes of the stories of Archangel Michael
including images of appearance at the grotto
in Mont' San'Angelo in Italy


The blessing seeds are sprinkled with sacred water collected
at the grotto, as well as blessed salts mixed with roses blessed
by a second relic of roses of St Teresa d'Lisieux
and holy oil of 53 relics, 
water brought back from the springs and wells of Glastonbury,
sacred to the Feminine
and water from Lourdes where our holy mother appeared
and is still working her miracles.



These blessings seeds can be used for healing,
ceremony, ritual and to bless the earth and pot plants.