Wonderful reviews for Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck

The mysteries of Mary tarot deck is pure union between spirit and soul.

 The energy contained in the sacred images and their 

direct line to the wisdom that lies within gives new depth and textures to the "religion of my soul" and my personal inner path as it unfolds. 

The insights it contains makes living the mysteries of this life rich -

the energy they radiate is palpable, giving a direct experience for strengthening and 

 cultivating faith and seeing beyond the veils to what is ...and it is pure devotion personified.

 Thank you for this work of art and the Mother's love xxx

Taryn Harris

www.tarynharris.co.za

Full Moon in Gemini 2016

The Tree of Choices - Full Moon in Gemini

The Gemini Full Moon in the second week of December 2016

is represented by a number of cards in the deck.

The most important card for this full moon is

The Tree of Choices (traditionally The Lovers card).

When you look at the image you see that there are three main elements present.

Mother Mary, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Black Madonna

or Mary Magdalene.  This card implies choices are to be made.

It evokes choices and discernment.

According to the Judaic stories of the Old Testament, there were two trees:

the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.

And Adam and Eve had to make a choice whether to listen to the snake

or God.  But the story has many layers of meaning and implication.

The snake has become demonised, probably because of the importance

of the snake in the Goddess worshipping tribes which the Jewish

Kings eradicated.  The snake represents the energetic force of life,

the power of transformation, the power of shape shifting and

the energies of the kundalini, referred to as the Holy Spirit in esoteric

Christian teachings.  Here we also see the split between Mary, the virgin

mother and the Black Holy Woman.  

The ancient stories condition us into divisive beliefs and automatic choices.

It is vital that you make use of these current full moon energies to make

your own choices and to let go of those that are no longer true to your understanding

and the future which you would like to step into.  

You are being called upon to make a choice, to use your discernment

to see what it is that you want in your life, and to let go of that which you no longer

want or need or that which no longer serve you.

XIX The Holy Child - Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck

Everything in our universe has a mirror image.

When you are confronted with a situation that you find challenging

or it is not what you desire, then find its mirror image and

coax that into your life.

The mirror image for the VI Tree of Choices is XIX The Holy Child.

Here we again have three elements, the boy child, the stag and the

girl child.

To balance the full moon energies of the Gemini moon, work with

the Holy Child.  This is traditionally The Sun card and represents

the highest representation of your ego or personality self.

Spend time focusing on that which you want to radiate into the world.

I Maria Prophitessa

In order to work with these energies, you need to invoke the properties

of Maria Prophitessa.  This is traditionally the Magician and the

energy of Mercury, the planet of communication and alchemy.

Here we have the Tree of Life bearing the twelve fruits as described

in Revelations 22:2  in the New Testament :

It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, 

bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. 

The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

Healing can be achieved in yourself and in your life, when you

step into acceptance and surrender.  The moment we accept a situation fully,

our resistance ceases and the tension can be released.  We often fear to surrender

as we then feel so helpless and vulnerable.  But how often are you really in control?

It is never in our own hands and acceptance and surrender opens the flood gates

of Grace into lives.  I interpret 'it flowed down the center of the main street'

as the holy kundalini flowing down the shushumna, the central column of the spine

and nervous system of the body.  This column joins the head to the heart and to the

entire nervous system and all organs and glands.  Enlightening insights and inspiration

flows from above the head, down the to rest of the body and being.

When the river flows down the main street of the body, you will harvest twelve crops

of fruit, similar to the image of the Holy Woman with the crown of twelve stars.

blessings

Hettienne

Part two of the Handless Maiden

This is the second card that unfolds the deeper meaning and relevance

of the story of the Handless Maiden in the Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck.

The first card is the Miller's Daughter, Five of Roses in the 

Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck and you can find the link here :

http://www.hergracesacredart.com/2016/11/fairytale-in-mary-tarot-deck.html

The Millers Daughter

The story of the Handless Maiden unfolds through the Mysteries

of Mary Tarot Deck.

The Handless Maiden in the Forest

Chop off her hands otherwise I cannot come near her.” The father was horrified. “You want me to sever the hands of my own child?” The Devil bellowed, “Everything here will die, including you, your wife, and all the fields as far as you can see.” The father was so frightened he obeyed… – The Handless Maiden in Women who Run with the Wolves.

Here we pick up the story of the Handless Maiden. We left off in card V of this suit where the Devil could not come near the daughter. This battle between the devil and the daughter continued as she washed her hands and drew a circle of protection around her. But then the Devil demanded from her father that he cut off her hands! A horrific scene follows in which her father sharpens his axe and both father and daughter scream as he amputates her hands.

To this vicious act the daughter answers: “I am your child, do as you must.”

Do you hear the similarity in her reply to the reply that Mary gave to the Archangel Gabriel? ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.’ We see the receptivity of the feminine in both these replies. As said previously, this aspect of the feminine is often despised and feared and maybe it is because it will undoubtedly change one’s life path forever.

The Devil still cannot take the daughter despite the loss of her hands and he storms off into the woods. The father offers to take care of his daughter in luxury and riches. But the daughter chooses not to stay with her father and to rather enter the forest in search of a new life. Here the maiden shows us the courage of one who realises that the soul is going through a transformation. If this transformation is to be completed, it is necessary to leave behind the old and the wounding. 

Hands symbolise our ability to ‘do’ for ourselves and our ability to ‘grasp’ and ‘take hold of’. Without hands one is powerless to take care of oneself on a very basic level of survival with greater implications for the survival of the soul. It is also implied that she needs to leave and to be by herself in order to grasp what has taken place here.  She has to act now to protect herself from more harm.

‘And so she had her arms bound in clean gauze, and at daybreak she walked away from her life as she had once known it.’ The young maiden sets out into the unknown forest and this is where this shrine places her in the story. The forest represents the unknown feminine psyche and the shadowy characters that lurk in the hidden unconscious. Throughout time orchards, trees and forests have been sacred to the goddess and the Divine Feminine. 

The young maiden comes to a magical orchard which she could not enter. The orchard was surrounded by a moat and she could see the beautiful pears glowing on the trees. She was starving and really needed to get to the fruit. In the version of this story in Women who Run with Wolves a spirit appeared to help her, but in the Polish folk version of legends of Mary gathered by Rasa Luzyte, Mother Mary appears at her side. She helps her across the moat and picks one of the beautiful lush golden pears for her to eat.

In this version of the story we see once again the connection between the tree and specifically the pear tree, Mother Mary and the feminine soul and the soul of women in particular. This part of the story illustrates to us that we are never lost and forgotten. We learn that we are mysteriously and magically protected and taken care of. Both in the imagery of the white spirit and the presence of Mary, do we see the promise of the Guardian Angel Within, that we are not abandoned to the cruelty of others. It does not matter what terrible deeds are done to you, your soul stays intact and whole and protected by Its Radiant Presence.

This shrine shows the two blue birds of happiness at the top indicating that it is one of the fairy tale shrines in the deck. I used a pomegranate tree to represent the Divine Feminine here and to indicate that this is a sacred forest with deeper meaning in which the handless maiden is wandering.  I combined the image of Holy Mary with the Handless Maiden to bring home the understanding that both Mary and women have been disempowered in our world.  At the bottom of the shrine are two golden hands representing the ego’s attempt to replace feminine values with golden hands of treasures and riches. On the right is the hand of Mary ‘handing’ the pear to the maiden.

This card indicates radical change and transformation. It speaks to you of change on various levels of your being and your life. This will be a window of opportunity so you are advised to act without hesitation and to cooperate with the powers of transformation.

The Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck is available on this website at this page :

http://www.hergracesacredart.com/2016/11/mysteries-of-mary-tarot-deck.html

blessings

Hettienne

Daily Readings

Daily Spread and Tarot Altar
www.hergracesacredart.com

The most powerful way to work with your

Mysteries of Mary Deck is to draw a daily

card and to 'spend' the day with it.

This way you really come to understand the nuances of the card,

how it unfolds in your daily life, and which inner voices

resonate with it.

It is very simple but profound if you work with it consistently

in this manner.

The first step is to create a tarot altar and shrine for your daily card.

The more you work with your cards and the more time you spend with them,

the more they absorb your energies and vibrations and you will 

be amazed at the synchronicity of cards that appear.

You will also come to realise that all flows from within and

that whatever you put out, manifests in your world.

The second step is to divide the deck into three parts.

Pick a card from one of the three piles.

This will be the card for the day.

Place it on your shrine and keep it where you can see it

and be reminded of its imagery.

Read its piece in the Mysteries of Mary Companion Book.

It is ideal to keep a tarot journal.

You can write down thoughts and insights that may come to you

during the day and especially in your dreams.  You will find

that these archetypes become living beings in your psyche

and has the power to bring you great insights and allow

for inner transformation.

Subscribe to this blog and you will receive regular updates and

spreads and layouts.

You can click on the Spreads and Layouts tabs where all

the different spreads for working with this deck will be published.

I would love to hear from you and your experiences with the

Mysteries of Mary Tarot deck.

You are also welcome to send questions that you may have.

blessings

Hettienne