Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On Sharings of the Heart




From 1 to 12 December I journeyed A Virgin a Day with Rebecca of Recuerda mi Corazon and many others in her circle.

What a joy, grace and blessing this was.  Each day I sensed a deeper sense of joy and gratitude bubbling within.


I visited incredible websites, learnt many new things, made wonderful new friends and never did I use the word 'beautiful' so often.  As Lisa of PritiLisa said, it called for a Thesaurus to find some more ways of expressing our wonder and joy.


The power of sharing our deepest held feelings, values, traditions and truths.  The depth of devotion, to the Divine, each in our own particular and personal way, shared in a space of respect and honour and witnessing. For twelve days a circle of Light was held and the talking stick shared equally.

I am still making my rounds to each and every participant in a good bye, till next time our paths meet.

And such good news, it does not have to end!  Rebecca has extended an invitation to participate in Postcards from Paradise.  Please visit her at http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon on a Sunday and you will find myself and many others there.

Dont hide your heart but reveal it
so that mine might be revealed,
and I might accept what I am capable of


Rumi

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Day Ten of Twelve Days of Mary



Eternal Mother of mine
I belong to you
as you move in me,
I move in you.






Divine Mother, mother of mine
You hold me in your arms
Loved for evermore
You fill me with my eternal self
Carried in your embrace




A flower for your hair,
Today I paint your feet

The Light of your Grace
Shines in me,
A treasured truth
In my heart’s embrace



A Jewel am I
In the crown on your head 



Forgotten are the dark dreams
Of childhoods past
Now I am yours
Now I belong
For ever more


Divine mother, mother of mine




'remember my heart'
http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/

Friday, December 9, 2011

my haiku a virgin a day

Over at Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon it is Haiku my Heart on Friday as well as A Virgin a Day.






innocence radiant in 
its purity, waiting, prepared
unconditional love




If you would like to join in, visit the following link for clear instructions on soulful Haiku, simplicity in seventeen syllables.

Wingedhearthaiku.rs

http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2010/06/haiku-.html


thank you for reading, commenting, sharing and celebrating!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Day Six of Twelve Days of Mary

Mary, Heart of Fire

My Sacred Heart

My heart sinks,
On fire,
Setting into the ocean
Flaming arrows of light

I breathe in the Sun
The sweet saltiness of the sea
Receive its soothing warmth
To paint a path of golden light

Amber liquid
Searing my throat
Flowing down into my hurting self

Sewn together with love’s intent
Accept the agony of the piercing needle
Winding in and out
Attaching the bridal gown
With the silken thread

New choices
Sanctity to be restored
Free the sacred heart
Undo the silken cord


If you have not done so yet, please join us in Twelve Days of Mary here.  There are many others who are also sharing their visions and images of Mary, please visit.

blessings
Hettienne

Monday, December 5, 2011

Della Carita Capolavoro - Twelve Days of Mary

Della Carita Capolavoro - Masterpiece of Love

The Madonna and Child are God's supreme truth - Michelangelo

Della Carita Capolavoro

We are blessed with three mothers in the course of life; our biological mother, mother nature, and Mary, our spiritual mother. Mother is a metaphor in the case of nature and of Mary. They are mothers in the sense that they represent a structure that acts in a motherly way; forming, transforming, protecting, instructing, directing and redirecting, warning and initiating. This is an energy in the universe called mother nature and an energy in the soul personified as Mary. The life-giving powers in nature were sacred in ancient times. This referred not only to the physical but to the inner Source that is always alive and and one and the same in the world and the pscyhce. Nature has laws that exert an energy that compels and draws but also accompanies us through the phases of life.

Loved Beyond Measure

Aldobrandesca, a medieval mystic of Siena, when close to death had a vision of Mary with this message : 'Daughters, be obedient to the law of the Mother'.


Spanish Madonna

Mechtild of Magdeburg saw Mary as the spiritual mother of all humankind : 'I suckled the prophets and sages before God was born'.


Our Lady of Lourdes

Juliana of Norwich saw visions of the motherhood of God and also said 'Our Lady is our mother in whom we are all enclosed ..... and our saviour is our mother in whom we are endlessly born ..... To motherhood belong nature, love, wisdom and knowledge, and this is God'

Heart of Power


Allah has chosen you, Mary. He has made you pure above all women - The Koran

Shrine of lost children

You will open the hearing of the wayfarer's heart (fu'aadi min saalikin) because the subtle knowledge of Her is Her proof. Grant us union with Her always and cause us to withdraw from every sensory existence.- Songs of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib


Inciting love in every heart, you bring forth generation after generation - Prayer to Venus, Mother of Rome, by Lucretius (d 55B.C.)

House of Gold

The Tao is the great mother, empty and yet overflowing, bringing forth the infinite universe. And it is forever inside you - Tao Te Ching

Mary held all these things within her, pondering them in her heart - Luke 2:19

I appreciate each and every one of you reading my heart's sharings and if I do not comment on your Virgin a Day immediately, it is because I am savouring this wonderful journey and am taking my time to visit each and every one who is participating.

I am also participating in the Twelve Days of Mary on my other blog, The Path of Divine Love, if you would like to join me in this pilgrimage.

Join us in these Twelve Days of Mary here


Her blessings to you!
Om shanty


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Inspiration Avenue - English Literature and Twelve Days of Mary



As a member of Inspiration Avenue I participate every week in the weekly challenge.  This week I am participating in both Inspiration Avenue and Twelve Days of Mary.  You can find my Fourth Day of Mary here.

This week the challenge at Inspiration Avenue was English Literature.  I had actually already started planning a Miss Havisham storybox before Lisa announced the topic, so I was very happy!!


I remembered this passage from Great Expectations so clearly from my university days and this is the exact image that I imagined :

She was dressed in rich materials — satins, and lace, and silks — all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on — the other was on the table near her hand — her veil was half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass.

It was not in the first moments that I saw all these things, though I saw more of them in the first moments than might be supposed. But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its luster, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone. Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly wax-work at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress, that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement. Now wax-work and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could.



My son's girlfriend, Jana,  is an excellent crafter and artist herself and she loves to sew doll's clothing.  She made Miss Havisham's entire wedding dress, bouquet and veil from an old blouse of mine.  She stitched every bit by hand and this is the beautiful result!


As you can see, she is still sewing her trousseau, hat box and trunk half packed.  On the table is her wedding cake as well as her quill and the wedding invitations that she is still writing!  So tragic!

I used a wooden box and turned it into Miss Havisham's house complete with victorian weathervane on top.  I wanted it to look like a big book that has been opened, so I covered all the edges with book binding tape and added a collage of old book ends and book labels and some metal book corners!!





I had so much fun creating poor Miss Havisham - by the end of the box, her skeleton self had become quite pretty to my eyes!!

blessings
Hettienne

The Fourth Day of Mary

Mary, the Sacred Vessel by Hettienne



DIVINE MOTHER

Your presence fills me
Your child I am

You move through my heart
Painting it with love’s design

Compassion flows forth
from your hands
Your touch opens me
I am your Voice

I carry you in my hips
I carry you in my gait
My womb holds your Secret Mystery

My breasts aflame with light
Radiant through my sacred heart
Feeding your children
Wherever we are

Oh Divine Mother
You move through me
You move me
You transform through me
You transform me

Eternal is my gratitude
Blessed are You

You are my wealth
You are my beauty
You are my gift

You I give to the world.


If you have not done so yet, please join us in Twelve Days of Mary hosted by Rebecca - link is in my sidebar. - a wondrous time of walking to Her feast day in the Americas.

blessings
Hettienne


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Twelve Days of A Virgin a Day

Prayers



Grace

I drink from Her cup
Filled to the brim
She shares drops of pure love

My beached heart
Soaks in the lapping waves

White horses galloping
Fear tamed by Grace

Like a child I can be
Trusting
Lying basking in the sun
Trusting
Loved in my deepest self
Collecting shells on the sand

I have been found
Wandering aimlessly in the dark
Struggling to reach a ghostly mountaintop
No steady footing
No sure guide

She saved me
Rescued me
Such love I have never known

What seemed far in the distant past
What seemed impossible to reach in the future
Is here now

So I reach for the stars
Filling my basket
With apples of Love

Peering into the pools of Her eyes
In the Grace mirrored

Of my deepest Self


Her Love sets your Heart free



May your day be filled with Her Grace
blessings
Hettienne

Friday, December 2, 2011

A beautiful mosaic on the side of a building in St Maries de la Mer, France 
Lady of Lourdes in the Basilica of Mary Magdalene  in St Maximin, France
taken during my recent trip

One of the many Mary altars in my home


Oh Divine Mother
Your Grace fills my heart
Blessed am I
For you have blessed me
Whole am i
For you have healed me
Oh Divine Grace
I walk in your Light
Your Love
A lantern for my feet




Ave Maria

Thursday, December 1, 2011

a virgin a day


A Virgin a Day

From today, the first of December till Mary's Holy Day, the twelfth, I will be sharing Her with you as part of Rebecca's A Virgin a Day at Recuerda Mi Corazon.  If you want to join in, the link is here on my blog and her invitation is below.



Ave Maria
Mary, Maryam, Maria, Mares
Holy Woman

So much more
Than a head bowed down

Arrow fierce and fast
Directed at the heart
No sin of error here

Cloak of power
All-embracingly blue

Heart on fire
Flowing from the sacred well

Eternally walking on the bed of coals
You seduce me into dancing in the flames

Eyes blinded
Only the heart sees
And hears
The howling winds of compassion

Screaming through my ribcage
Cracked open
Finger by finger
Pomegranate juice flowing in my veins

Persephone’s ashes
Caked with the tears of Demeter
Entangled in the hair of Medusa

I follow where you lead
The perfume of your feet
The guiding light my holy woman

Sacred Am I

Ave Maria






You can find Recuerda Mi Corazon here http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2011/11/a-virgin-a-day.html and here is Rebecca's beautiful invitation :

each year beginning december 1, 
i post "a virgin a day" every day until december 12,
mary's feast day.

today i am 
calling all virgins...
enchanting, traditional, contemporary, 
exotic, edgy, campy, irreverent, irresistible,
unusual, joyful, rapturous, lovely,
glorious, ordinary, astounding,
simply
 bring her on!

i hope you will join me in a pilgrimage of marys.
feel free to re-post this invitation on your blog,
and link back to
recuerda mi corazon.
as december grows busier we will
quietly greet the new day one mary at a time.
mr. linky will be here to gather all the virgin sightings.
just add your name and direct link back to your virgin 
so we can effortlessly share the divine. 
***
Guadalupe_and_juandiego.rs
(here's the virgin a day participation button linked to this post)
P1000199.rrs