French Altar Chandelier Earrings - I Am Thy Handmaiden

I Am Thy Handmaiden
at The French Madonna
www.etsy.com/shop/frenchmadonna

In her humanity, in her human suffering as the mother of Jesus,

Mary brings the divine world closer to human experience,

closer to human longing and human suffering.

Only Demeter in the Greek world is as human as Mary.

As all the Great Mothers did before her, Mary embodies 

the principle of relationship.

As the Divine Mother, she speaks to the values of the heart

 the values that spring from the deepest instincts and

feelings in all of humanity.  So Mary is the most intimate

and human of Mothers, as the offerings to her

in thousands of shrines bear witness.

If we look at the Christian myth in a deeper sense, then we

see that as the Divine Mother, Mary endures the suffering

of all of humanity, we her 'child' until we return home

to her in the divine spheres.

Sacred Mysteries of the Bee and Mother Mary

Sacred Mysteries of the Bee
www.etsy.com/shop/thefrenchmadonna

Sacred Mysteries of the Bee.  A hand crafted pair of earrings containing a holy card image
under glass and irridescent rainbow czech fire beads.

Today Mary is the Keeper of the Feminine Wisdom in the modern western world.  Through the ages woman and goddess has always been recognized for their Divine Feminine power which brings balance, intuition and compassion to this world.  The bee and their activities and life centered around the Royal Queen Bee mirrors that balance and power and the fact that bees are disappearing from our world is an important event that needs to be understood and balance need be restored.

The Temple of Artemis and the Priestesses of Eleusis

Guarding the outer entrance of the sacred precinct of Eleusis stood the temple of the goddess Artemis. When the mystai arrived, they rested outside the temple walls and 

paid their reverence to the goddess.

 Artemis is an Indo-European goddess of life and fertility, who survived in ancient Greek culture as a moon goddess. Artemis was highly associated with bees, as beekeeping and agriculture were very ancient and vital crafts in Western Asia and Crete.

 Many artifacts depicting small metal bees have been found in places where Artemis was worshipped.

 Phoenician historian Porphyry (234–305 CE) states that the ancient Greeks referred to Artemis by the name Bee, and that the soul was conceived as coming down from her in the form of bees. Perhaps the connection between Artemis 

and the bee resulted in the adoption of bees as symbolic creatures of the underworld.

Consistent with this, classicist A.B. Cook held that the metal bees 

were votive sacrifices symbolizing the divine soul.

Bee shamanism may well be the most ancient and enigmatic branch of shamanism. It exists throughout the world--wherever in fact the honeybee exists. Its medicinal tools--such as honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly--are now in common usage, and even the origins of Chinese acupuncture can be traced back to the ancient practice of applying bee stings to the body’s meridians.

Bee wisdom includes

The knowledge of the healing and ceremonial powers of the honeybee and the hive;
 bee shamanism’s system of acupuncture, which predates the Chinese systems;
 and mparts teachings from the female tradition and explores the transformative powers of the magico-sexual elixirs they produce

(See http://www.amazon.com/The-Shamanic-Way-Bee-Practices/dp/1594771197)