Mornings with Mary






These pictures were taken early this morning
in my one Mary garden shrine.
It has been extremely hot here and the scent
of these angels' trumpets or moonflowers
are wonderfully pungent.



The Seventh Teaching from Ten Teachings, Wisdom from Mother Mary
by Gina Lake

Follow your Joy

You were given a compass,
and that compass is joy.
You are meant to in the direction
that brings joy, not in the direction 
that brings suffering. The egoic mind
promises you joy, but delivers only temporary
satisfaction and happiness.
Then the suffering that comes with feeling
you are never enough returns.



Most people do not follow their joy.
Instead, they follow the sense of not having
or not being good enough.  They allow the
sense of lack to drive them forward, seeking
here and there for fulfillment,
for what will fill the sense of lack created by
the human condition.
However, nothing that the mind suggests can fill that lack,
because the sense of lack was created by the same thing that
proposes to fix it.



The sense of lack can only be solved by
dropping out of the mind.  When you drop out of the
mind, you lose the sense that anything is lacking.
There never was anything lacking, and that is 
all you have ever had to see to feel full and
complete.

The sense of lack is so ingrained that most
people are unaware that it is there.
They just react to it as if it were true.
For most, this sense of lack, is a deeply held
belief.  It seems absolutely an
unquestionably true.



The sense of yourself and the sense of lack are both
manufactured by the mind.  They create the human condition
that is one of suffering.  You not only believe you are who you
think you are, but these thoughts about yourself tell you
that you are lacking and that your life - indeed, life
itself - is not good enough.

This unrelenting sense of lack interferes with the joy,
that is possible whenever you are willing to simply
be with whatever is showing up in your life.

The assumptions causes you to overlook the
happiness that is present at your core and ever
available in this simple and sweet present moment.
The happiness at your core is very subtle
unless you turn your attention to it and
allow yourself to experience it for more than 
a brief second.

When your attention is focused on fixing a perceived
problem, it is not available to notice the quiet
beauty, peace and joy that is already
present with you.



A wonderful Morning with Mary to you!
I changed the name to Mornings with Mary - with the
time difference and everyone's full schedules, anyone
can join in on any day.  The post stays up for the week -
just scroll down past my new posts.


Gloria was the only one who linked up last week - Gloria, I will
send you a full set of Mother Mary blessings seeds
and some of my brand new Archangel Michael Seeds!!

A blessed, joyful and art-filled week to you!





You are invited 
to walk with me through my Mary gardens


and to share your Mary inspiration
with us


Mondays with Mary

Here in the Southern tip of Africa we
are entering the balmy days of autumn
and I have been adding to one of my
many Mary gardens
The gorgeous purple flower
is an Angelico Serenity -
so fitting to grow around the
Mary statue



These pink beauties are all from the same
plant - they have a variety of pinks, lilac and
white flowers - all growing on the same shrub.


For ten weeks of Mondays with Mary
I am sharing extracts from the little book
by Gina Lake
Ten Teachings for One World : Wisdom from Mother Mary




The Sixth Teaching
To be with what is Real

What remains when thoughts and feelings are no longer believed,
when they no longer matter?  You are still here, right?
nothing really changed, and yet everything change,
because your relationship to life changed.
Before, your thoughts and feelings were seen as
primary and important;  now the fall into the
background, and the rest of life becomes
the foreground.


The problem with thoughts and feelings is that they do not
accurately reflect reality, and often they have no
connection whatsoever with reality,
although they pretend to.
In a sense, thoughts and feelings create a
parallel reality, one that contains
the you that you think of yourself as,
although that is all that that you is.
It is just ideas about you, mostly images 
and stories.
This parallel reality exists only in your own mind
(not even in other people's minds)


Imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if
someone who was angry at you disregarded that anger
or if you disregarded your anger.
How would that change relationships?
What can disturb the natural state of peace that
the evolved human is capable of?
Only a thought can ever disturb that peace.


Whatever you give your attention to becomes real to you.
Your awareness, which is peace, can experience life purely,
without the influence of the mind.



When the interfering, fearful mind is not heeded, it is possible to
discover the 'great peace that passeth all understanding'


Annie, you won last week's Mary Blessing Seeds!

Please send me your postal address and I will send them off to you.
And this week I am gifting another bag of Mary Blessing Seeds


You can read more about this beautiful idea
in my sidebar and if you search other posts about Blessing
Seeds.  Also have a look on my Etsy shop and read
some of the wonderful feedback I have received.

with love,
Hettienne






YOU ARE INVITED.

Mondays with Mary
is not a religious event -
it is a celebration of all
things Mary
in her many forms and aspects
in the many cultures and tradition
of our world.





Whatever this means to YOU.
and in whatever way you want to celebrate
the Divine World, both profane and sacred,
in your belief, in your creativity,
your religion,
your understanding and
in your ideas and expression.
A place of sharing and growth!





The philosopher Thomas Moore, in his wonderful works on Soul, 


really defines it for me. Everyone has a Soul and thus a religion of the Soul, 
and that may be found in the enchantment of everyday living, in art as a sacred undertaking, 
or it may be found in the practise and application of a holy book and its teachings.

And to spice things up,
I will offer a give away for all those
who do participate
anywhere in the world.



THE FIFTH TEACHING
from the book
Ten Teachings for One World : Wisdom from Mother Mary

Realize that your thoughts and feelings are not yours

What if your thoughts and feelings were not yours? What if by some
odd occurence, your thoughts and feelings were exchanged with someone
else's?
Would you still be who you are?
This is a profound question and worth pondering.
If you answered yes, what is it that remains if your thoughts
and feelings were no longer the same?
How much would this change your behaviour and how you see yourself?
Would you suddenly behave and see yourself differently?

The extent to which you tend to identify wit, believe and act out
your thoughts and feelings is the extent to which this thought
and feeling exchange would matter.
Or would it?
How different are your thoughts and feelings from other people's?
Don't all people have similar thoughts and feelings?
aren't you essentially more like other human beings than
different from them?
Do your thoughts and feelings make you unique or does something
else make you unique?


Everyone has the same needs, drives and desires :
for survival, food, water, sleep shelter,
security, safety, comfort, love, belonging,
happiness, peace and beauty.
All human beings also have similar feelings :
everyone feels fear, joy, love, guilt, anger, shame
jealousy, envy, hatred and greed.

So generally speaking, what makes people different is the extent to 
which they believe and act on their thoughts
and which thoughts they believe and act on.
The same is true of feelings : Your relationship to your feelings,
particularly to uncomfortable feelings, really matters.
Your relationship to your feelings determines whether you will
feel bad or not and how you will behave.
The feelings that you believe and focus on are strengthened
and become determining forces in your life,
while ones you brush off have little effect at all.


So again, what if your thoughts and feelings were not yours?
They are what give you the experience of being a human being,
while you are actually much more than a human being.
You are a spiritual being.

So, if your thoughts and feelings are not yours, then do they matter?
They seemed to matter because, after all, they were yours.
Aren't they what make you you?
Who are you if you are not these thoughts:
They are what make up the human you, but they 
are not what make up the real you.
Aren't you what is beyond all thoughts and feelings?
So, again, do your thoughts and feelings matter?
What if they do not?
Then what?
on what basis do you live life if not on the basis of your thoughts and feelings

But how to do this?
this brings to the sixth teaching ....... next week


and this week I am giving away a set of the Mother Mary Blessing
Seeds.  You can read about them and how they came to be
elsewhere on this blog and also on my Etsy shop - all links in the sidebar.

Have a great week and please leave a comment if you do link up.

with love

Hettienne




Mondays with Mary



a weekly blog post where the Mystery of Life is explored
as Divine;  where Love is the Muse
and her divine touch opens the heart and
brings breathtaking creatures forth!



Here, the Divine Mary, Mother of All,
creatrix, eternal nurturer, bringer of new life
and also witness to suffering and death, is my muse.

You may dip your quill into the glowing ink
and play along with your own musings or you
may ponder with me on the many stories
of Mary and her many names
through the length of time
and who is she today?
in our ordinary lives.

May these weekly posts bring some of the
lustre to your day that they bring to me
and my take on life!



"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
 by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare


I leave this post up for the week and
will announce the lucky winner of the week's
giveaway on the weekend - in time for the
next Mondays with Mary.

See below for this week's giveaway!


The Fourth Teaching
(extract from The teaching for one world : wisdom from Mother Mary by Gina Lake)

Accept Life as it is

It is impossible to love or feel at peace
unless you accept life as it is.
Non-acceptance closes the hart, which is the
doorway to love and peace.  There is no
other way but acceptance to open that door.
When you accept it, peace comes and
love flow once again.

This is a hard truth for the mind to swallow.
because the mind is designed to reject,
resist and desire something other
than the way life is.  This resistance is natural
and how you were built to respond to life.
Nevertheless, there is another way.

The mind's rejection of the way life is does
not have to be your internal experience - your experience of life.
There is another possibility.

Is the mind wise enough to know what is best for it?
Like a child, the mind does not know, but it thinks it knows.
Fortunately, you are inherently wise.
Something else within you knows the truth.
Look to that which is wise within you to determine
your stance toward life.  Your internal experience
is governed either by your or your mind.
Peace and love can be how you feel about life.
Find that which is within you that loves and is at
peace with life just as it is. 
That has always been awake and aware within you.

All the photographs were taken in my studio
with my new mannequin - and as you can see
I am ever so in love with it!!

This week's giveaway is a pouch of 
Mother Mary blessing seeds.
You can read more about them here

Please leave a comment if you sign up to participate



with love
Hettienne









Mondays with Mary

The Third Teaching
from Wisdom from Mother Mary by Gina Lake

Declare Your Deepest Desire

What do you really want?  This question is an
important one because the answer determines where your
energy, attention and resources go.  The answer
is therefore also likely to determine what
you will get.  Sometimes you are not even aware
of what you want, and other times that is all you
are aware of, and you suffer over it.

Following your desires provides you with
opportunities to taste what life has to offer,
and that is how it is meant to be.
So even your more superficial desires are not
a mistake;  they just are not what they pretend to be.
They are not actually important,
and they do not bring you the peace and happiness
you really want.



This is my third teaching.
Declare that you want peace and love.
Feel the depth and power of this desire
and let it fuel your will to give peace and love your attention.

Everyone's evolution eventually comes to this :
You realize that your deepest desire is for peace and love
and you declare this in your heart. 
Then life conspires to bring you exactly that.
You are love and peace.

These are some of the shrines I photographed during my trip
to Kildare, Ireland.  I was amazed to see a Mary statue 
in the middle of a traffic circle!

This week I am gifting one of these Parisian articulated paper dolls.
They are actually tags - you can clip them to a gift
or you can hang them in your studio or
on a mirror.


Be your own kind of Beautiful


or


Write your Story.

They both come with miniature wooden pegs and
a froth of hand dyed lace.





with love
 Hettienne






Mondays with Mary

Gloria you are the winner of the Mary Heart!!!
yay!! Please send your postal address and
I will send you a parcel.
(I use www.random.org to pick the winner
every week)

For Mondays with Mary I am sharing extracts
from a little book by Gina Lake
'Ten Teachings for One World : Wisdom from Mother Mary'

I found this book to be such a source of peace -
I hope it speaks to your heart as well.

The photographs were all taken in my garden


"The Second Teaching - Acknowledge the Hand of Grace



You are more precious than you realize.
There is no one else like you anywhere in the
universe.  Human beings are unique
and each of you is a unique human being...
There is nothing that is apart from the
Divine's care and consideration.
The Divine has a hand in even the smallest
aspect of creation.
It has a plan for each and everything it has
created,
and it guides the unfolding of this plan.
The hand of God within creation
is often called Grace.


 It can appear accidental, capricious or purposeless,
but always this hand moves with wisdom, love
and in accordance with a greater scheme.
This is not to say that terrible things do not happen
that are not the hand of God, for the hand of
humankind produces terrible results at times, and
this is allowed as part of the plan.



The second teaching is Acknowledge the hand of Grace in your life.

You see, you are never separate from that which created you,
but rather, you are that which created you. 
Just as a child is made from the DNA and physical material
of the parents, you are made from and of
the same love that is the motivating force within the Divine
and all of creation.

The life force and love that run you run everything,
for they are the very essence of God.
But herein lies the rub : you have been given free will ....
... and the ability to choose is Grace as well.
Your life has been designed perfectly to bring you exactly to 
point that you are right now, which is exactly
where you are meant to be.
You cannot make a mistake, for all so-called
mistakes still take you where Grace intends.


I invite you to participate in
Mondays with Mary - you can join in any day of this week.
I will announce the winner of the giveaway next Monday.

When you link up below, please leave a comment - sometimes
the link does not show up then I can find you.

This week I started playing with paperdolls
and yes, Paula, you are so right, they are very addictive.
I will post a few more here in the week -
one of these French ladies will be given to
a participant next Monday!








have a wonderful week!!
blessings
Hettienne








a frothy combination of paper, vintage doilie lace
and flowers and feathers!

See the tiny little black bird on her shoulder
whispering encouragement :


Write your Story
it says



She comes with a tag
and a miniature black peg


Her typewriter is separate
and her arms can move!



Join in on Mondays with Mary
and 
stand a chance to win
la journaliste or la photographe
or the ballerina or wait and see
on Monday when I line them up for you!



blessings
Hettienne







The First Teaching
Open and Receive


You only need to see
that love and guidance are already
present in every moment
for this to be your experience and your reality.


If you find this love and guidance
difficult to perceive,
then merely express your openness
to perceiving and receiving it.


Do not say 'I cant feel it'
because that is like saying
'I won't feel it'
and so you won't.
Instead,
say 'I am willing to feel it'
and then feeling it will become a reality.




True enjoyment of life is possible when you
open to the possibility that you are not a victim
of a cruel world but a willing participant
and an adventurer faced with all manner of challenges,
all of which can be overcome, if not actually,
then at least, internally.


Every challenge can be won with the proper
attitudinal shift, with a shift
in consciousness.
Every difficult can be used to make you stronger.

You can be what you truly are when you open
to that possibility ........
This is the first step and the first teaching.


 Ten Teachings for One World : Wisdom from Mother Mary by Gina Lake




Welcome to Mondays with Mary
and this week I am gifting one of these beautiful
Hearts of Mary -
a wooden handmade heart, ready to hang.

If you want to participate, link up below
and I and others will visit!

Have a wonderful week
blessings
Hettienne








For Mondays with Mary yesterday
I promised this shrine to a blogging friend
that participates in the hop!


Le Sanctuare - The Sanctuary

I put in four numbers (for the four participants)
into the random number generator
on random.org
and it gave me
NUMBER THREE

Kate Steeper


Congratulations Kate!! 
Please send me your postal address and
I will mail the shrine to you!

Please come back next Monday
and see what I am giving away then!
Maybe I will give a sneak preview later
this week!

Have a wonderful week
blessings
Hettienne







Cloister of the Heart


Please grab my Mondays with Mary badge
in the side margin
and play along every Monday!

The gracious Rebecca started Mornings with Mary
months ago, and it became one of my favourite
link ups.  However, due to her busy travel
schedule Mornings with Mary is no more.
But I am continuing with Mondays with Mary
and
YOU ARE INVITED.

And to spice things up,
I will offer a give away for all those
who do participate
anywhere in the world.

Mondays with Mary
is not a religious event -
it is a celebration of all
things Feminine and Divinely Feminine.



Whatever this means to YOU.


and in whatever way you want to celebrate
the Divine Feminine
in your belief, in your creativity,
in your ideas and expression


The philosopher Thomas Moore, in his wonderful works on Soul, 
really defines it for me. Everyone has a Soul and thus a religion of the Soul, 
and that may be found in the enchantment of everyday living, in art as a sacred undertaking, 
or it may be found in the practise and application of a holy book and its teachings.


So please grab the badge
and spread the word
and be back here on Monday
and I will reveal the give-away


Blessings
Hettienne



1 comment:

  1. I am happy to participate when I can, although it probably will not be every single Monday. I havent yet figured out how to take your badge, but I will...LOL...when I get smarter! Thank you Hettienne. I am happy to visit this lovely place of yours.

    ReplyDelete

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