St Joseph shrine

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St Joseph, earthly father of the Divine Child :

symbol of humility and positive fatherly values,

faith and trust in the Will of God even when we do not know what the outcome will be nor what

is waiting for us :

living with an open heart and a surrendered mind without the need to first understand

before we accept our path as it is laid out in front of us.

St Joseph shrine - Oracle Deck :  Sacred Altars of the Mysteries

by Hettienne Grobler

The Feast of the Annunciation focuses on Mary's first initiation into the Joyful Divine Mysteries.

Humility, obedience and service are the qualities of the handmaid who sacrifices everything to fulfill

the Divine Plan for humanity.

Just as much as this was Mary's initiation, it was also Joseph's initiation into fulfilling the Divine Plan.

For him too, it was an initiation of humility, obedience and service.

The ancient esoteric legend tells us the following about the betrothal and marriage of

Mary and Joseph:

She saw in your soul's garden

The virgin lilies stand,

And knew God made you worthy

To touch her virgin hand.

'It came to pass when they were gathered together, Joseph was found with them, and as they were

waiting, behold, a snow white dove went forth from the Sanctuary and alighted upon the top of

Joseph's staff (which had spring into blossom) and then flew upon his head.

The holy virgin heart of Mary could be wedded

only to another holy virgin heart. 

St Ambrose writes that theirs was the perfect love match as the great saint was

betrothed to the Lily of Israel.

St Joseph, the Earthly Father of the Christ child,

went through his own journey of initiation, of joy and sorrow, sacrifice, loss and love.

Joseph had to accept in humble willingness a task so great and so painful : he sacrificed his personal life

for that of one of the highest service; he had to withstand his society's

scorn and disdain when he married a young girl

pregnant by the Holy Spirit; he had to father and love a child

whom he had to surrender to the Greater Mystery.

The contemplative seeker realizes that there are many esoteric layers of

symbolism hidden and stored in the Lesser and Greater Divine Mysteries.

Joseph is, amongst others, a symbol of the 'positive' father within.

He is the inner masculine self whom has to act on our inner inspiration.

Inspiration (in spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit) is in itself an immaculate conception.

Inspiration finds us, borne on the wings of the angel, in the same way

that the Archangel Gabriel delivered the news to Mary and Elizabeth.

But it is not always easy to act on inspiration.

We may be inspired to start a new project,

to write a book, to get involved in our community,

to give up a bad habit, to make lifestyle changes,

but it is not always that easy to make work of our new ideas

We may be faced with many obstacles and challenges in manifesting

our dreams and visions, the biggest one being our own doubts.

And this is where the positive inner father steps in. That aspect of ourselves

which is represented by the 'upright' St Joseph; that part who has to to guide and protect the inner child,

the enthusiasm (being filled with the passionate spirit of God) of a new

undertaking, or an inner unfolding of the heart.

The inner father who overcomes the inner critic; the inner voice who

encourages, supports and that part of the self that takes right action

to help us stay motivated and inspired and steadfast to our own dreams

and our vulnerable inner child.

This was one of the altar cards from the Oracle Deck that

I am working on;  it has since evolved into a more complex
shadowbox and card

If you would like to receive updates and news about the release

of the deck, subscribe to my emails on the website
http://www.hergracesacredart.com
The Higher Mysteries of Mary Tarot

Blessings

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