Simple Devotions Saturday, May 3 2008

Starting on the Path of Devotion could not be easier. Our Celestial Mother, like every mother, is always ready to accept the love of Her children.

It is good if you have a picture or a statue of Her. It should be one that you find attractive. One that speaks to you of Her love and beauty. It might be a picture of Mahalakshmi, or a statue of Mother Mary. It might be a picture of Kwan Yin. You might wish to feel the protection of Dea in her mighty form as Sri Durga. Whatever form you love, choose that. Then you can look upon Her form when you talk to Her.

It is traditional also to bring Her gifts. Light candles before Her; burn a little incense. Once you have your picture or statue of Her and have placed some candles and perhaps an incense burner before it, you already have your first Shrine. If you can, it is nice to bring fresh flowers to the shrine and offer them to Dea.

These are very simple things, but simple love always pleases our Mother. Say good morning to Her when you arise and bid Her goodnight when you go to bed. These are the elementary courtesies that a child pays to her mother. It is also considered proper in many circles to bow when you approach Her image or when you pass it.

Another common practice is to offer food to Her before eating it. This is something like saying a simple grace, but the difference is that instead of merely thanking Her for Her bounty, we are giving the food to Her. It is said that she consumes the true essence of the food and that we eat Her leavings, which is the material part of the food. But by Her eating it, the food is blessed and we ourselves taste something of its true essence, which our worldly tongues are unable to do.

These are some simple practices that will start you on the Path of Devotion. If they become part of your life, you will be a devotee of Dea.

Full article: Devotion to God the Mother

No Responses »

 

An Oasis Tuesday, Apr 15 2008

Miss Carola wrote:
I got a vision of a beautiful place in Elektraspace, with gorgeous and sentimental pictures of Dea. A place where Devotional practices like chanting are explained and also a basic and easy to understand philosophy. It is so beautiful and created with so much love, that the hearts of the visitors rejoice. Can we make this possible? I believe many travellers in this dry and hostile desert of the pit, will be glad to rest and refresh in such an oasis.

Miss Annalinde replied:
Interestingly, we have been thinking about just such a place. I think there should be a “library” there for the more serious philosophy as we have been discussing it. But for most people it is not necessary to go into such depth. As you say, the philosophy should be expressed as simply as possible, with the facility for any one who wishes to go more deeply into it.

Devotion should be the main theme of the site, and as you say, it should be an oasis for the thirsty soul, with beautiful pictures of Dea and simply-explained devotional practices, as well, perhaps, as some important texts.

I hope our discussions here are preparing us and leading up to the creation of such a place.

This discussion occurred about three years ago at the Aristasian Spirtuality Group, and may have contributed to the eventual creation of the Chapel of Our Mother God last year.

No Responses »

 

The Sucrishi Way Wednesday, Mar 26 2008

One way to Dea is the path of love, in contrast to the path of light (of knowledge or intellectual contemplation). There are certain groups in the motherland called the Sucrishi who lay much emphasis on chanting and a child-like simplicity in devotion.

Cuivahya wrote:
Do you know the word Sucrishi? It is an Aristasian word. It means “following the path of love”. It is like the Hindu bhakti. In the Motherland there are many approaches to Dea. There are great and complicated rituals. There are  studies and meditations and austerities. But the simplest way of all is the Sucrishi way, the Way of Love. And that way is open to everyone, no matter how far she may be from the Golden Temple of Rayapurh.

The Mother cannot resist your love, because no mother can resist the love of her child. Love is the straight way, the direct way, the perfect way to Dea.

So, perhaps you will say: “I do not know if I love Dea. I do not even know Her.”

Oh, yes, you know Her. She is your Mother. She made you. She is the deepest thing that you know. When all else is blown aside by the winds of time and impermanence, She is the thing that remains.

Ask the Mother to come to you as a perfect love for Her. For it is by Her Power that you will love Her. It is Her Love with which you will love Her, for She is the source of all love. Just ask Her, and She will come, for a mother never refuses her child’s cry. You may feel Her or you may not. Something very instant and obvious may happen, or it may take a long time - even years. But if you have asked Her, She has come. She has come now. How She comes, She will decide, and Her decision will be right.

No Responses »

 

On Sentimental Religious Art Tuesday, Mar 11 2008

Miss Annya Miralene wrote:

In many Catholic religious pictures and statues, as well as many modern Hindu pictures, we see a sentimentality that is absent from earlier iconographic works. These have been criticised as “sentimental” both by traditionalists who deplore their lack of intellectual content and by modern “realistic” rationalists who dislike “prettiness” and prefer the dark and stark as part of their inverted aesthetic. Once again we see the Law of Tamasic Inversion — both the Sattwic and the Tamasic mentality attack Rajasic sentimentality, one from above and the other from below.

Now clearly the traditionalists are right and the modernists are wrong. But what we must reply to the traditionalists is simply that this is the latter end of Kali Yuga. The majority of people are ruled by sentiments and it is important to direct those sentiments upward rather than downward.

To say that sentimental religious pictures are devoid of intellectuality is true on one level. But one must also remember that it is intellectuality that discriminates, intellectuality that decides whether to direct our sentimentality toward images of Dea or (as almost every modern women’s magazine seems to do) toward images of sexuality and impure thoughts.

In my view, as a modern, sentimental person, I find sentimental religious art attractive. I like to see pictures of my loving Mother looking sweet and beautiful. I have on my shrine a very pretty picture of Sri Lakshmi that even has little bits of glitter. I also have more traditional icons. I understand that some people genuinely do not like the more sentimental pictures for reasons that are traditional or artistic rather than modernist and cynical. They have more sophisticated tastes than I have. That is quite all right.

What should be remembered is that such sentimental images, for those who do appreciate them, serve only good purposes. They are there to direct the heart upwards, toward Dea. In short, they are Good.

No Responses »

 

Hail Holy Mother Thursday, Mar 6 2008

What is the right way for we who love Our Lady? Who understand the value of tradition and the wrongfulness of the Pit, and yet cannot cease to love the Mother? Outside the West there are countless millions who know Her and love Her. In the West even the most traditional are holding to tradition only by the slenderest thread.

They say that in this Kali Yuga, chanting the name of Dea is the best way. Some say one should be initiated to do so, but I have heard that there are certain mantras that everyone may use. One for those who love the mother is

OM SRI MATRE NAMAH

This means “OM Hail Holy Mother”. OM is the primordial syllable that contains all things. It goes as near as we can go to the root of sacred language - to the unheard Word from whence all words proceed.

So let us set up a picture or statue to Her. Let us light candles and incense to Her. Let us chant:

OM SRI MATRE NAMAH

Let us simply offer prayers and incense to the Mother and chant Her mantra, and in our very simple way (for we are very humble children in a very low and foolish age) are we not one with the Ladies of Jerusalem who offered honey-cakes to the Queen of Heaven? With the Collyridians who offered cakes or bread to Her? With Her ancient worshippers through the millennia that are not written down? With the millions who love Her still in the East?

All of us may be united in the love of Dea, the pure and perfect heart of our tradition, which is the oldest tradition of all.

OM SRI MATRE NAMAH

No Responses »

 

Many Devotions Sunday, Mar 2 2008

In Aristasia Pura, one will find many devotions. One will find temples to Sai Raya, the supreme Spiritual Sun, to the Divine Love, known in many places as Sai Sushuri, to the Divine Wisdom, known as Sai Mati. To the pure and consuming Fire of the Spirit, known as Sai Annya, to Dea as the Great Ruler of the Cosmos and the Sacred Harmony of being, known as Sai Thamë. One will find maids devoted to the Path of Pure Love and others to the Path of Intellect and contemplation. Others to the path of ritual and works. One will find whole peoples devoted primarily to the Sacrificial Daughter and others who seem only to know the Mother.

Now none of these are “different religions” in the Western sense, or even opposing sects. They are simply different Ways.

Do they all agree on anything? Yes. They all agree that there is one supreme Spirit, our Mother, who is everywhere called Dea (or Dia). And furthermore — and this is important — they disagree (in the Western way) on nothing. No one disputes that the other Ways are Ways. No one “disbelieves” in another’s view of Dea.

The concept of “religion” in the Western sense comes closest to being realised in Western Aristasia Pura where the worship of the Mother in some places and of the Mother and Daughter in others (the latter being the closest Aristasian parallel to Christianity — though the superficial similarities are in some ways deceptive) takes place in “churches” organised with some similarity to those of Western Tellurian religions. Even here, though, the exclusivism of Tellurian religion is unknown. The most dedicated follower is aware that hers is one Way among others (even if she considers it the Greatest Way).

From The ‘Religion’ of Aristasia

No Responses »

 

Moura Bhajan Friday, Feb 29 2008

Miss Carola Strub wrote:

In Moura season it is appropriate to examine the heart and become aware of ones kears and shortcomings, the thorns that keep us from complete union with the Divine Mother.

Such an examination is a humbling experience, at least for me, because there are a lot of thorns in my heart. To know that there is nobody to blame for this but myself is even more humilating. But strangely enough being humilated such, my mind becomes peaceful. There is no need anymore for hankering after this or complaining over that, for I have earned every hardship that I experience and even worse, if Dea by Her grace would not have taken a part of it away. Yes, the kears of pride, envy, hatred, ingratitude, disrespect etc are there in my heart and at times I even enjoyed them. I am weak willed and would have no hope for deliverance, if Our Saviour the Divine Daughter had not travelled to the heart of darkness and by Her sacrifice drawn the Mother to break the doors of hell.

On my knees, my pride humbled, my eyes wet with tears of remorse I repeat the name of my Lady. I pray to the Mother not to allow me to develop pride again, because in a humble mood I am able to progress on the path of love for my Lady, for Her creatures and for my true self.

No Responses »

 

The Jewel in the Lotus Wednesday, Feb 27 2008

Miss Miggles asked why Aristasians sometimes use Sanskrit mantras such as Om Mani Padme Hum (which may be translated as “The Jewel in the Lotus”).

Lady Aquila answered:
Mantras are very special words, because Dea is immanent in Her names. In pronouncing them, we are - through Her grace - literally in-voking Her.

It must be borne in mind that our connexion with Aristasia Pura is an aethyric one. While conversations are “translated” into words, they are not actually verbal, which is why, for example, we cannot say whether Westrenne closely resembles English in a “literal” sense or only symbolically.

It must also be understood that, both in Telluria and Pura there are Sacred Languages and languages that are not sacred. Sanskrit, Chinese, Hebrew and Arabic are sacred languages. Latin, although it is an Ecclesiastical language is not a sacred language. And neither are any modern languages.

What this means is that a Sacred Language has a more direct connexion to “the first, the Mother-language” and its words are more closely related to the metaphysical actuality of the things they speak. In the original Angelic Tongue, each word would be the precise sound-analogue of an Archetype. In the Sacred Languages that have survived into the Age of Iron this, of course is very far from the case, but they have, especially in sacred contexts, a sufficient remnant of the Angelic Tongue to be effective for Divine Invocation.

In Aristasia Pura, Westrenne is not a Sacred Language and true Raihiralan Cairen is: so words of sacred efficacy will be retained from older languages.

There is further the case of certain very special special syllables, notably OM and HRIM (HREEM) which are directly analogous to the Primordial Word (OM in the pure, beyond-form aspect, HRIM as the Supernal Mother). These are transmitted from the earliest Tellurian times and are as near to the Primordial Universal Language as we can possibly come. It should be noted that even in the Far East these Mantras are unchanged from their “Indo-European” forms: and we place “Indo-European” in inverted commas precisely because we have here to do with something that far transcends and predates any surviving (even if “dead”) Tellurian language.

No Responses »

 

Great and Terrible Dea Sunday, Feb 24 2008

Thou art both gross and subtle,
Thou art terrible and a great power,
Thou removest all great sins,
O Mahalakshmi obeisance to Thee.

Both gross and subtle indicates that Dea manifests herself in both “gross” (bodily) form and in Her subtle (formless) state. She rules both the material world and all the subtle degrees of manifestation.

The word terrible (perhaps confusing because of its colloquial usage) is also applied to the Christian vision of Deity. It indicates the “holy terror” felt by lesser beings when confronted with the awesome majesty of supreme Deity. The Devi Gita describes the awe and terror felt by the angels when faced with Dea in Her unmodified majesty; whereupon She graciously showed Herself in Her beautiful feminine form in order to reassure and comfort them.

For the full hymn and commentary:
The Great Hymn to Mahalakshmi

No Responses »

 

Three-Fold Dea Wednesday, Feb 20 2008

The Mother is the Creator of the world, and Ground of all being. She is pure Life, pure Light and pure energy. All life, all action and all thought flow from Her.

The Mother, the Creatrix, is Dea seen in Her expansive or creative mode. The term “energy” needs to be treated carefully. It should certainly not be confused in any way with the conceptions of modern physics. The Sanskrit term shakti, understood in its highest sense, as the creating, enabling and animating power of the cosmos, is much nearer to the sense intended here. The Mother can also be seen as Maya, the all-beneficent provider of the world She has made for us to inhabit.

Her Daughter is pure love. As Princess of the World, She governs all the cycles of life and nature; as Priestess of the World, She gives us Communion with Her Mother; as Queen of Heaven, She shall bring us at last to the Celestial Throne.

The Daughter is Dea in Her aspect of Love. We may see that She is, in some senses, continuous with the Mother — continuing Her creative play, manifesting the love that is inherent in the Mother and mediating these things to our fallen state. Some would argue that the separation between Mother and Daughter is to some extent artificial, but the Filianists regard Her as the form in which we should approach Dea because She makes our approach to the Mother possible, especially in this dark age.

The Dark Mother is Absolute Deity, Who existed before the beginning of existence and is beyond being and unbeing. She is outside space and time; She is all that is and all that is not. The exhalation of Her breath or Spirit is our Mother, the Creator of the world. Of Her other Acts, our minds cannot conceive.

The term “dark” refers to her unknowability, and, to an extent, to the darkness we feel in relation to the final dissolution of the light-world we know: a dissolution which is, in reality, a merging into the love and oneness of Dea. In a certain sense the “Darkness” of the Dark Mother is seen as a Higher Light; a Light so elevated that it does not dazzle our “eyes”, as does the Light of the Mother, but is wholly imperceptible to them. This Mystery is expressed in the words:

Absolute Deity,
Dark beyond the Light, and Light beyond the Darkness.

From A Short Catechism of the Children of Dea

No Responses »