Hello Sacred Ones,
We begin a new week ignited by the presence of Mary on her feast day, August 15. During this time we are invited to unite with people around the world in a celebration of the sacred feminine forces that flowed through this holy woman. This day is important no matter what you believe about Mary, because Mary reminds us that we are all able to ascend and grow into our divinity just as she and her son Jesus did.
Before he died, Carl Jung believed that the church's elevation of Mary's divinity marked a huge shift in human consciousness that is taking place during our time. This change is bringing healing and balance to our collective as the sacred feminine takes her rightful, equal, place in heaven and on earth.
For much of recorded history, humanity's dominate religions have focused on masculine images of God. But look back farther in our history and you will find that the Goddess ruled the center of spiritual and social life. We are coming to a time in human history where Goddess consciousness is returning. Many of us are remembering and waking up to our innate sacred powers, we are rediscovering our latent gifts of intuition and our call to co-creation. For far too long the gifts that the sacred feminine offers to humanity have been devalued by our dominate culture, demonized and made taboo. (For more on this see my blog: Divine Like A Girl.)
In the past I struggled in connecting with Mother Mary. I think the way history and patriarchy painted her--as a virgin, meek and mild--made her seem out of touch to me. As a woman recovering from child sexual abuse, I craved a divine female role model who also knew what I was going through. All of the praise I heard about Mary's virginity growing up left me feeling dirty and unholy. In my own personal healing I needed to discover a sexuality that was sacred, relationships that were holy and not abusive. I thought a virgin mother wouldn't be able to teach me those things.
I remember when I was a teenager I had a belief system that something was wrong with my natural body. I bought into the idea that science could make something better than nature to fix my body. As an adult I wondered: where did those thoughts come from? For me, I heard in church a lot about the flesh being bad and sinful. I also was inundated with ads on TV and magazines trying to sell me products to fix my naturally, 'imperfect body'. I was unconsciously caught up in an ancient program of self-hatred and self-destruction of the female form that was manufactured in order to make a profit and silence women's ancient wisdom.
Finding my soul path and the healing I needed required looking deep into the self-hatred I bought into and unlocking the truth of my being again. With the practice of yoga and meditation, I am healing and rediscovering my sacred essence. I am dissolving those old programs and illusions, embracing my natural beauty and my deep feminine knowing. I am reconnecting with the journey my soul came here to take, a journey of incarnation, of spirit dwelling in flesh--an ascension of the divine within the human frame.
In my meditation today I called upon the Mother Mary to share with us her wisdom for these times. In my Cosmic Q & A, Mary reminded me that our journey is about self-love. She told me that she is here with us to help raise the divine child within us all so that we can unlock our divine potential just as her son Jesus did.
As I was orating Mary's wisdom, I caught myself calling her Mary Magdalene. I was shocked to hear my words after the transmission, which didn't even phase me as I received them, even though I know better. After the session I asked why I would call her that? Mary reminded me what my favorite singer, Tori Amos once said: that she would recommend the practice of marrying the Mary's. The Mother Mary and the beloved Mary of Magdala are essentially derived from the one divine feminine essence; they both belong to the same source, so we don't have to choose a Goddess. We get to experience all of Her 10,000 faces, forms that include her virginal oneness and her sacred sexuality.
After reading Marion Woodman's book, The Pregnant Virgin, I began to understand the essence of virginity as having nothing to do with sexual activity. (Actually in the Greek 'virgin' simply means young woman). Virginal wisdom has more to do with being one in yourself. Virginity is renewable (Aphrodite was known to renew her virginity every spring.) We all have access to this renewable energy that can make us whole again.
Listen to my meditation with Mary here:
Our Oracle Card of the week is naturally, Mother Mary (from Doreen Virtue's deck, Saints and Angels.)
I am excited to experience how braiding the Mary energies will connect me deeper to the mystery of the one divine feminine source that is rising now.
As Mary greets our week we will find the divine feminine forces of sacred mothering and beloved friendship more tangibly present in our lives to help us discern what parts of us are ready to grow in divinity and ascend into our higher nature.
Maybe Mary's energy was blocked from your experience for some reason too. I felt in my meditation today that she wants to be understood in a deeper way as a mother of our wounded child selves. She wanted us to know that no matter what we have been through, her compassion and her sheltering presence will provide us space to grow into our divine essence just as her son did. Mother Mary knows how to mother the divine child within us. The Magdalene works in tandem with Mother Mary as she shares her wisdom of healing and the knowledge of love that is possible even when we have experienced many wounds.
Call on Mary this week when you need wisdom and healing. Let her compassion protect and shelter you as you grow into your full potential. And let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Yoga Pose of the Week: Goddess Pose/Utkata Konasana
In Sanskrit, Utkata Konasana means 'fierce' or 'powerful' and 'angle'. Get yourself into Goddess pose when you are feeling insecure or disconnected from your own sacred mother, and your fiercely compassionate energy. This pose is similar to the squatting that women have done in labor throughout history; this is a powerful pose to usher in the energies of new life. This pose will help you open up your hips, strengthen your pelvic floor, and unleash more Kundalini (the life force) from the base of your spine to flow upwards towards your head. This will aid you in speeding up your enlightenment, growth and ascension. Heal your relationships as you cultivate love with these goal-post arms and feel the strength that comes from living from a compassionate open heart. Remember those images of Mary and Jesus pointing at the heart center to remind us that love is the way.
This week I'm sharing a prayer I set to music. Enjoy!
Have a great week!
The light in me salutes the light in you. Namaste, namaste. <3
Jessica