Meri's Play Place

I think that Mother Mary as an older woman was an activist for justice a crusader for peace didn't take no for an answer when only a yes would do ate spoons full of pomegranate seeds danced in the moonlight wove flowers in her hair and slathered honey into wounds she was a healer midwife a teacher and not altogether tame she was a woman with fire in her belly. A woman for all times. A woman for our time. A Virgin a Day

Our Lady of Shape Shifting (MeriMagic on Polyvore) Oh mistress of shapeshifting, you come to us in many guises. . . as a lady in white floating above an oak tree in the fields of Portugal, with messages to shepherd children. as an image on a highway sign in Sunnyside in eastern Washington,  not once, but twice. as a statue weeping blood at a Vietnamese Catholic Church  in Sacramento, California. People see you in the browning of a grilled cheese sandwich, in the hues of a plate glass window. You told the young Bernadette to dig and when she had done so, you filled the void with healing waters.  Even now, over a century and a half later, pilgrims flock to Lourdes, seeking miracles of their own. I don't seek your appearance in an oil spot on a garage floor, though you may well choose to do that for the mechanic who needs a reminder of the ineffable nature of faith. . . Instead, I seek you...

Our Lady of the Linoleum Forest - created on Polyvore by MeriMagic One of the things that makes Our Lady so approachable is her humanity. She was a mother, laboring through natural childbirth,  raising children,  watching at least one of them  die before her. She followed the dictates of her husband, even if it meant riding a donkey to his village of origin to be enumerated in a census when she was near her date of confinement. Though she is exalted by those who wove her mythology  (scant as it is) into the texts that became scripture as an extraordinary woman, a woman above all others, what those who seek her blessings see is her humanity. She is, and was, one of us. While we know little of her life  beyond the bare facts recited, we are assured that --  in the 2000 plus years since her death-- she has worked countless miracles. How can that be, if she is one of us? Each of us is a spark...

Our Lady of the Arts - polyvore.com/merimagic Mary, the Blessed Virgin in Christian tradition, surely must be considered  Our Lady of the Arts. She has inspired frescoes on walls in ancient churches,  innumerable sculptures, gold-leafed religious icons galore. She speaks to us without words, heart to heart, bidding us to bore down to our essence and share it freely with the world. A Virgin a Day p.s Please visit Meri's Musings to see today's tribute to John Lennon. He died on this date in 1980.

"Our Lady of the Natural and Unnatural World" - created on Polyvore.com/merimagic I call her  "Our Lady of the Natural and Unnatural World." She is omnipresent, all-seeing, all-knowing. She is in the song of the birds, the preternatural stillness before the tornado, the glow on the margin of the horizon as the sun rises or sets with the turn of the earth. She is in every molecule of our bodies, in every grain of our spirits. We are breathing air that she once  inhaled and exhaled in her mortal state. She dreams clouds, showers in the rain. Her heart bursts, leaking joy, when we laugh. So laugh long and often. Our Lady has known enough sadness. you breathe miracles into being, Mary mine unloose the sacred A Virgin a Day Haiku My Heart

"Our Lady of Perpetual Woes" - created on Polyvore/MeriMagic I call her "Our Lady of Perpetual Woes." I'm sure you know her. She's the friend, the colleague, the cousin who makes a career of complaining about all the things that are wrong in her life. She sees the cup as half full. . .  or less. Any attempts you make to help her alter her perspective are rebuffed. She doesn't want to make a shift. She is the shadow of Our Lady, the part of her that wanted to lie down and quit when her burdens felt crushing. Only, unlike the Divine Mother, Our Lady of Perpetual Woes  chooses to suck on lemons instead of making lemonade. Sometimes, the only way to keep their darkness from seeping into your aura is to minimize contact or cut ties all together. We can't mother the whole world. A Virgin a Day

"Our Lady of Indigenous Peoples" created by MeriMagic on Polyvore When I think of Our Lady, I think of hope. Of compassion. Of miracles manifesting in unlikely places. Her image appears in many guises: on a grilled cheese sandwich, in colors of a plate glass window, Any place that people are moved  to look with their hearts. When I think of Mary, I think of all the indigenous peoples, converted to Catholicism by missionaries (and not always willingly), who found in the Divine Mother a source of comfort, a connection to the fertile earth, to birth and death, to the connective force that women represent. When I contemplate this image of Our Lady, I imagine her meditating. . . gathering strength to support all those who lean on her because she seems more approachable than God. I suspect that she is creating a blueprint in her mind of a world at peace, where there is enough for all, where Earth is cherished an...

"Our Lady of Fortune's Arrows"  So often,it seems like we're targets for fortune's arrows. Things happen that are outside our control, no matter how much we try to keep our lives  measured and fully predictable. Hurricanes roar ashore and wash away homes and all the ephemera  that makes up the collage of our lives. Lovers betray us and make us wonder how much of our relationship was mere fiction. Miscarriages, stillbirths, debilitating or even fatal illness, job losses or financial reversals, deaths of people we love. . .  we are not in control of  everything We can only choose  how we react to it. Will we, like the Holy Mother, look "what is" in the face and find the strength to move forward, perhaps with a heavy heart but full of resolve? Will we face down tyranny, abuse,  and ignorance with a heart of love  and the conviction that if not us, then who? Will we mov...

She is revered in Mexico the brown-skinned lady with sweet eyes like pools of chocolate, with a mother's compassionate heart. The holy lady, worker of miracles. Omnipresent in Mexico. For more virgins or to join the procession, visit Rebecca . 

Not to steal her thunder or anything but I've always loved the iconic figure I've come to call "Rebecca's Virgin." Her halo, her reverent eyes, her hands folded in prayer, all speak to me. © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian So I was really excited when Rebecca led us on a pilgrimage to see "her" Virgin and even let us take pictures. For more virgins, wander on over to Rebecca's place .  Don't miss Deb's virgin painting .  Or Annie's sorrowful Pieta . I love Noelle' s Reflections on a Black Madonna. Then there's Fran's journal page , Elizabeth's Gray Seduction , and Spadoman's Sacred Mother Earth . I'm proud to know such talented, thoughtful people! p.s. the link for Share the Joy Thursday will be posted   here by 5 p.m. pacific time today if you'd like to play along. 

Mary is the centerpiece of virgin-adulation  in the Christian tradition, though she is  not the only religious figure said  to have given birth asexually.   Nor was she the first.  Mighty Isis gave birth to her son Horus  by immaculate conception after Osiris  was murdered and hacked into tiny pieces  by his wicked brother Set. Michaelangelo's Pieta - photo © MAK 2010 This Virgin Mary, of course,  is part of the Pieta,  an incomparable sculpture  carved by Michaelangelo.  Besides being rendered awestruck  by its ethereal beauty, you can't help  but notice that this Mary --  probably in her late 40s or early 50s  at the time of the crucifixion --  has the countenance of a teenager.  There are no wrinkles,  no signs of life lived well.  There is perhaps a suggestion of shock  or perhaps surrender,  but not the overt grief that might be anticipated  from a human mothe...

When   Christianity made its way to Ireland the Celtic people weren't ready to give up the Goddess. Brigid was the goddess of the fire, the protectress of blacksmiths, of healers and poets. She was the High Mother Goddess of Ireland. Her feast day is February 1, known as Imbolc, the beginning of Celtic spring. Today, Brigit's wells dot the Irish landscape. She has been incorporated into the persona of St. Brigid of Kildare, thought to have been a nun in the 500s. She is often mistaken for the Virgin Mary, but her sacred status long predates Christianity. To see other Virgins, visit Rebecca 's "A Virgin a Day."

One of the virgin images found in Guanajuato, Mexico is that of Our Lady of Guanajuato, patron saint of the city. Her statue resides in the basilica built between 1671 and 1696. This antique figure was a gift from King Charles I of Spain and his son, Phillip II of Spain during the colonial period. Image © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian It is thought to be the earliest piece of European religious art to arrive in the New World. Each year on August 9, there is a ceremony commemorating the statue's arrival  in Guanajuato  in 1557.   The statue is placed on a huge, lavishly decorated  lighted bier for closer inspection. A special Mass and Rosary are said.  Then men of the parish carry the statue outside for waiting throngs to see. Hymns are written for the ceremony and Aztec dancers perform. In the evening there are three hours of prayer, music and general adoration, culminating in a fireworks display. The next day an embroidered velvet mantilla is draped on ...