Wise Woman Wisdom ... Sacred Heart of Mary by Marie Summerwood

Sacred Heart of Mary
by Marie Summerwood

 

I - My Relationship with Mary

Sometimes, stories about life begin with death. Sadly, my mother lost her first child full term. She slipped and fell, started bleeding but the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and the medical help was just not enough. It was a heartbreaking event in her life of
course, and on top of that, the doctors told her that her Rh negative blood might well prevent her from having any children that would survive.

So when my brother was born a year later, she was completely
thrilled. And two years later when she became pregnant again, she
prayed to Mary for a girl, promised that if she had a girl she would name her after Her.

So I was born Marie, for Mary, and my middle name is Anne for Mary’s mother. When I was confirmed, my mother encouraged me to take Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin. I will always bless my mother for starting me out with a trilogy of sacred women to help me hold my life. Of course
I noticed this trilogy not at all until the age of forty, when I began to reclaim the truth of sacredness in my life.

My mother always told me that Mary loved me. But really, i was unable
to find Mary or to exercise good ways to call Her energy to me or to
make a place for Her energy within me. The religion I grew up in said
that as a female, I had to bear some of the guilt for our having been
thrown out of the Garden of Eden.

I remember as a child how Mary was spoken of mostly as an intermediary.
I have reframed this and today believe that Mary is an intermediary
to the recognition of women’s sacredness. Through the essence of what I
call Mary, I feel a softening and an opening to wisdom about my own
sacredness. Give me sight that I may see she walks with snakes. We walk
with snakes.

In my early forties I began to encounter Mary consciously. I was
attending a workshop on death and dying at The Wise Woman Center.
During the workshop we traveled in a trance state to the doorway
between Life and Death. My experience, like many others’ in the group,
was that the doorway looked suspended, with no walls on either side.

That realization felt gloriously liberating but there was more to
discover. What an unexpected surprise to find Mary standing next to
the door in my own trance experience! In that moment I understood
that She had been watching over me my whole life, had always been
there. And that she will be there at my death. It felt downright
liberating. A few months after that I was waiting in a hospital while
my father underwent heart surgery. The family went to the hospital
chapel to wait and I silently called to Mary. I asked her to stand
with me at that doorway in case my father passed through it. It made
me feel more secure, that I could keep watch.

Since that workshop, I have come to see that Mary shows up when we call
Her. For me the most healing way to call Mary is with music. Chant
is the form I generally use, as it is simple and easy to remember.

Easy to let the repetition become a deepening meditation, wonderful to
feel the spiral move around every time the chant begins anew. For so
many years people have been singing and chanting to Mary. The
recalled energy that is Her is real. It so often feels to me that Her
response is palpable. I wrote this chant to celebrate the
conversation.

Call me everyday, Mother, call me everyday
Call me everyday, Mother, call me everyday
Call me everyday, Mother, call me everyday
Call me everyday, Mother, call me everyday
Daughter, daughter, I will call you,
Call you everyday, I will call you.
Daughter, daughter, I will call you,
Call you everyday, I will call you.

by Marie Summerwood
Women's Sacred Chants

Marie Summerwood is a voice for the earth, and for the women of the earth.

Through the Wild Heart of Mary;
Teachings of the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary and the Herbs
and Foods Associated With Them

by Gail Faith Edwards
382 pp. Softcover. Through the Wild Heart of Mary; Teachings of the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary and the Herbs and Foods Associated with Them is richly illustrated with original watercolors, drawings and photographs.

It presents a historical perspective on women's spirituality, an exploration of the roots and evolution of devotion to Mary, and a study of the herbs and foods long associated with the mysteries of the rosary. Its strong Mediterranean flair is inspired by the vibrant culture, customs and diet of the indigenous people of the Apennine mountains of Southern Italy, the author's ancestral homeland.

Price: $19.95

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