The Witch, the fairy godmother, the princess and goddess

Fairy tales evoke images of childhood, magic, miracles, supernatural events and dreams coming true. 

Iconography and amulets of the story of Cinderella is included in the Lourdes story as it corresponds with the story of Bernadette.  In many a fairy tale the protagonist is a young girl. Think of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstilskin and Snow White.  Sometimes she is a princess and at other times she is a poor servant girl.  But the focus in the fairy tale is always on the young girl, the mother and step mother and the fairy godmother or the thirteenth fairy or some interaction with a supernatural Blessing Lady.

Princess/heroine

In most fairy tales the main character is a young girl or princess.  Think of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Snow White.  Sometimes she is a princess and at times she is reduced to a cleaning girl or servant. The focus in the fairy tale is always on the young girl, the mother and step mother and the fairy godmother or thirteenth fairy or some interaction with a supernatural Blessing Lady.  Where is your inner princess?  Pay attention to which part of the casting cloth she appears on and see what she needs from you by looking at the nearby amulets.  The amulets tell a story and by paying attention to the pattern that they form, you can read the story for yourself

For many of us the journey towards wholeness starts with the impulse and desire to heal the Inner Child.  The inner child carries the openness and vulnerability of the soul and during our growing up years, these qualities become suppressed and hidden away. And the feminine qualities of the inner child gets conditioned away from an early age, as we grow up in a patriarchal culture with masculine values of goal setting, achievement, physical beauty, material gain and advancement. These are all positive and essential qualities,  but without their counterpart feminine attributes, such as inner appreciation, imperfection, chaos, individuality, compassion and nurturing, the inner world can become one of deprivation, depression and burn-out.

No-one knows for certain how old fairy tales are but the experts who have written on the history and meaning of fairy tales agree that fairy tales started to appear at more or less the same time that Christianity started to oppress pre-Christian beliefs and religions which developed into the horrific Inquisition and eventually the witch hunts. Unfortunately fairy tales have been mangled and their
original stories changed to fit in with patriarchy - many of the magical and supernatural women characters have obviously also been demonized, as has the meaning of fairy and witch. But there are still some amazing resources and research available for those who are interested in exploring this fount of wisdom Many, myself included, regard fairy tales as secret bibles of feminine wisdom and divinity. 

Fairytales are a font of wisdom, a secret book of Wisdom and Divine Feminine tales.  Fairy tales have certain basic structures, and in a nut shell one can describe them as stories in which the hero is always a woman guided by the supernatural, surrounded by magic and miracles and a wondrous healing tale for all!     The story of the Bright Lady in shining white Light that appeared to the starving little girl of Massabielles,  has all the elements of a fairy tale.  At Lourdes you step into the Otherworld; into a Land of Enchantment where miracles are possible. Fairy tales can be regarded as mythical religious stories with the focus and emphasis on the divine feminine as a balancing contrast to the patriarchal Roman and Greek myths which we have come to know.  In other words, a thealogy (female deity) in contrast to an exclusive theology (male deity). In this year's Art Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes  I explored the feminine wisdom and guidance of fairytales and specifically as it pertains to the miraculous story of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The fairytale has certain predictable elements, the heroine or young girl or princess;  the witch that tries to stop her; the queen mother or fairy godmother and magical animals and elements.

 

Amulets from the Fairytale Amulet Sets

I created the Fairytale Amulet sets which contain elements of the fairytales that are in the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck and specifically the story of Our Lady of Lourdes.  It contains a printed casting cloth

Casting cloth for Fairytale sets

The casting cloth has the image of my painting entitled "Sophia" and the Witch, Goddess, Fairy Godmother and Holy Child layout.  It also includes 30 amulets with ones coloured lilac, pink and blue.  Each set comes in pink, lilac or blue.  It includes a Virgin mary statue with matching Christmas tree, matching tin, rosary, a set of mini tarot cards from the Mysteries of Mary deck and a full booklet, explaining the art of casting, the practise of Benedicaria and explanations for each charms.

blessings

Hettienne