Emergence

Archangel Michael - Defender and Protector of the Blessed Virgin

St Michael is one of the three angels mentioned

by name in Holy Scriptures.

The name Michael signifies

'Who is like God'

I visited the grotto and the Archangel Michael festival

in 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

He is called Chief of the Order of Virtues,

Chief of the Seven Archangels

Prince of the Angels

A beautiful vintage holy card

perfectly mounted and removable from the frame

A swarovski crystal chaplet and miniature

gold miraculous medal

crowns

wings

sacred heart

michael blue

rhinestones

vintage statue

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 Her with me forever.

Amen.

All my pieces come with a catalogue label, name and number 

Dimensions : 13.5 x 16.5 x 3.5 cm 

Each one of my pendants, shrines, paintings and other sacred art are first infused with holy water from Lourdes (which I brought back), and then infused with holy relic oil of more than 53 Saints & pure essential oils. A mixture of one hundred oils are used, including frankincense, myrrh, spikenard, agarwood and rose. It is also immersed in blessed pink dead sea salts, infused with rose petals steeped in holy oil of a third relic of St Therese of Lisieux and it is packaged with blessed salts, frankincense and sprinkled with holy water collected form many sacred places in the world. So it becomes sort of holy object to be handled with reverence and care. 

All my items come beautifully packaged and securely wrapped and parceled. I mail first class international shipping with a tracking number free of charge to you. 

Memento Mori - Mater Dolorosa

Memento Mori

Remember the Dead

Mourning Jewellery

Her Grace on Etsy.com

She will take the racked treasure

of our suffering

and place it beside the tortured relic

of Christ's body.

Her arms contain all the suffering

of the whole of humanity,

the countless ever-growing number of wounds
of a human race which is continuously crucified

                   - Edward Schillebeecks

Most Tender Queen

O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.

Bring flowers of the rarest
bring blossoms the fairest,
from garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
our full hearts are swelling,
our glad voices telling
the praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!

Their lady they name thee,
Their mistress proclaim thee,
Ah, grant that thy children on earth be as true
as long as the bowers
are radiant with flowers,
as long as the azure shall keep its bright hue

Sing gaily in chorus;
the bright angels o'er us
re-echo the strains we begin upon earth;
their harps are repeating
the notes of our greeting,
for Mary herself is the cause of our mirth

Notre Dame de Paris

Ave Maria

Pardon me

If in front of you

I can’t stand on my feet

Ave Maria I, who cannot kneel

Ave Maria

Protect me

of the misery, the evil and the madmen

who reign over the world

Ave Maria

Strangers, they’re coming from everywhere

Ave Maria

Listen to me

Tear down those barriers between us 

Who are all brothers

Ave Maria

Watch over my days and my nights

Ave Maria

Protect me

Watch over my love and my life

Ave Maria

- lyrics from Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

Médaille Miraculeuse - sacred altar

The Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Paris

Crowned by Grace

Stella Maris

Star of Bethlehem

Chapel of the Miraculous Medal on Holy Night in miniature

Vintage Miraculous Medals

Christmas night in miniature

under the tree

The angels sing in heaven

Holy card of Catherine Labourre on the back

Sacred Altar ready to hang

Now in my shop

www.etsy.com/shop/hettiennegrobler

Blessings

Hettienne

A review of Matthew Fox's Autobiography 'Confessions'

In a poem that I wrote that accompanies the book
I describe the bear as 'popping marshmallows all
day and all night dipping honey'.  That is to say, this
bear knows how to enjoy life (mysticism);  on the other
hand, he is also 'getting ready to stick out his chin'
for justice's sake (prophecy). - Confessions

The revised edition of Confessions, the autobiography

of Dr Matthew Fox, was released yesterday.

I had earlier received a digital copy of the book

and even before I had read the book, I had offered

to participate in the blogtour of reviews and this book
does not disappoint my expectations.

I have read four of Matthew Fox's previous books

and each one had resonated with my heart and mind

in a profound way.  They have inspired me into action
and compassion and Confessions follow suit.

Matthew Fox writes with an inimitable wit and
often tongue in cheek and it is almost as though I can
hear the smile in his words.
Even when the subject matter is quite serious and downright
horrible and painful.
That does not mean that he does not take his subject matter
seriously, on the contrary!
Dr Matthew Fox, as an author, has that wonderful
sense of humility and presence of one
who truly knows.

And this book is about spirituality and not
theology.  It is about the courage and
commitment it takes to truly follow your
Heart and your Guidance and of the many
sacrifices that may be expected of you.
Although it is an autobiography, anyone
who is serious about his or her own spiritual journey,
will find great nourishment in the reading
of this book.

Dr Matthew Fox's works are alchemical in nature.
His vision and his words marry religion with spirituality;
spirit with body, mind with heart.  He is courageous
to break with the status quo on ALL levels
and he dissolves divisive structures and systems.

In 'Confessions'  Matthew Fox shares himself
and of himself with his readers and the world.

Although the book is a historical overview
of Dr Fox's work, he also shares the inspiration,
vision, understanding, passion and dreams
which led to his actions and creations.

He shares himself as the mystic, as the visionary,
as the prophet and as the artist.

...one would think that compassion
would be a rather operative category in Christian
spirituality.  But it was not and has not been.
Instead, contemplation - a word that never crossed Jesus' lips,
for it is not Jewish - and perfection - a word mistranslated from
Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount but truly
defined by Luke as compassion - have dominated Western
spiritual theology. 
Compassion means justice, says Ekhart. 
But it also means celebration.

There are many obvious words that jumps to mind

as you read Confessions.  A

courageous man with great inner strength;

clarity of purpose and commitment to that

purpose, but above and beyond all those,
what stood out for me,

from the first word of the introduction, is

the absolute clarity and honesty and compassion
with which this book is written.

As I read the book, there

is a second reading happening, of the story behind

the story, so to speak.  As I read the typed words

and their narrative, I am aware of the stream of 

consciousness, a river of conviction and knowing,

a river of compassion flowing from his heart to mine.
  a

In a poem that I wrote that accompanies the book
I describe the bear as 'popping marshmallows all
day and all night dipping honey'.  That is to say, this
bear knows how to enjoy life (mysticism);  on the other
hand, he is also 'getting ready to stick out his chin'
for justice's sake (prophecy). - Confessions


http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Revised-Updated-Making-Postdenominational/dp/1583949356/ 
blessings
Hettienne

St Joseph, loving father to the Divine Child Within

St Joseph, symbol of our sacred labour

The Sacred Altars capture the essence of the 
prayer card and brings it to life

In the depths of winter the divine child is born.

On the darkest of days we celebrate the birth of the divine child. 

It is on the darkest nights of winter that God’s creative 

urges wells up to give birth to his child: the divine child. 

Christ is God’s child. But God is not alone.

God is always with the mother,

though she may be hidden or transparent. 

Jung says :

“How am I to be creative?

 Nature knows only one answer to that: 

Through a child (the gift of love).” 

The child is born, ‘the gift of love.’ Nature births us into world. 

The divine couple births the soul into the eternal.

 In the Christian myth,

 the divine child is born from the virgin womb of the mother Mary.

 In 431 the Council of Ephesus said that Mary is Theotokos:

 “God-bearer”, “Birth-Giver of God”, “the one who gives birth to God.” 

Here, within our hearts, God procreates with the Mother, the divine vessel, 

giving birth to a possibility: call it the divine child, 

the potential of the soul. This divine birth within is no easy task. 

There is something within us that wants to kill it off, 

a murderous instinct within psychic life.

  The revelation of the divine child is so disastrous,

 so threatening to the old guard, 

that it must be killed. 

According to the Gospel of Matthew 2:16–18, 

Herod ordered the execution of all babies in Bethlehem,

 desiring to assure the death of the divine child.

[Herod] “gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem 

and its vicinity who were two years old or under, 

in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”

The divine child must outlive the murderous instincts of the superego. 

Our soul must survive the murderous rage of the envious tyrant

 who seems to rule the inner world.

 The murderous superego does not believe in the potential of our own soul. 

He does not trust in the good, in the enduring.  

He cannot see the soul’s potential: the child of the divine mother and father.

 It is our spiritual labor to protect the child. 

To be like Joseph, listening to the angels, protecting the child.

 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

 “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

 Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night 

and left for Egypt,where he stayed until the death of Herod. 

And so was fulfilled what the Lord 

had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:13–15)

Joseph, the good father - Altars of the Mysteries Oracle Deck by Hettienne Grobler

Joseph sees the angel of the Lord, 

and the angel says that he must flee Egypt, symbol of tyranny. 

We must leave behind the tyranny of Herod ruled by fear,

 finding a place for the soul’s birth,

 and protecting the soul so that it may grow.

On the back of the shrine I added an old

image of a holy card which I scanned and distressed

I covered the back of the shrine with pages

from a very old Bible

I used pearls everywhere to add to the

sensual feeling of the colours and lilies

the calla lilies or arum lilies (indigenous to my
plantlife in South Africa)
is a symbol of Jesus' resurrection and is
also seen as a symbol of faith.
 This is a powerful
reminder of what still lies ahead for this loving father
and how much our faith will be tested on our own
personal journeys of doing the sacred work.
the lilies are the exact same colour

as the lilies held in St Joseph's hand

I added a tiny rosary with a connector

with St Joseph lilies on the back!

I used vintage measuring tape and yard sticks

every where to bring in the carpenter aspect.

I sell very few of these shrines as I am working

on a Mystical Mary Tarot Deck.

When I see the Saints and Holy Ones, I

also see the Great Stories of Humanity and the

archetypes as set out by Jung, Campbell

and others.

And here is one of my absolute favourites :

St Joseph the Good Father
Here you can see how I emphasizes the carpenter
and worker ethic of St Joseph.

I used many vintage wood pieces
and the shrine is standing on wooden feet.
I also used many miniature tools of the trade.

as well as a child's ABC blocks to
show how in touch this Holy Father
is with his Child and his level of devotion

PritiLisa sent me one of her old vintage
books a while ago.  This was a text book
for masonry workers.  I used the creed
of the masons as the background page in this
shrine.  The rest of the papers are from
old Bibles.

I like to layer in my shrines as I feel that
it all adds to the energy and feel of the
shrine and so increases its emotional
and spiritual value in our understanding.

I had collected these miniature tools and
tool case over the years and had been saving it
for the perfect piece of art - and here it is!

I hope these shrines inspire you almost as much
as they inspire me.  To me they just speak of
such incredible Divine Love for us and our
personal stories as they are echoed in these
Holy Stories.

love to you
Hettienne