Moura rosary meditations.

Picture from Pexels, Ksenia Chernaya, photographer

Dear Reader,

It is the holy, yet mournful season of Moura. As Our Lady descends into the Netherworld, she faces challenges that all make for strong meditative foci while reciting the Rosary.

Decade One: The temptation of Our Lady and her fear in the face of it.

Decade Two: The abasement of Our Lady as she is stripped of her signs of power and authority.

Decade Three: The humiliation of Our Lady as she is forced to kneel before the Dark Queen and suffer the insults of the Dark Queen's daughters as if she were not royalty herself.

Decade Four: The death of Our Lady. This one is pretty self explanatory. 

Decade Five: The desecration of Our Lady's corpse by hanging it upon the world pillar.

These meditative foci can be used at other times of the year. But they are especially well timed for Moura, Kala, and Hiatus.

Video Post: Filianic take on the Catholic Style Rosary.

 I haven't a transcript because I already did a write up on the mirror blog of the Catholic style rosary. The video is my reciting the rosary and explaining how to do it. There's a few bloopers where things like my notes fell off the desk and I had to pause recording to pick them up. But here's the link for the write up: https://cydira13.wordpress.com/a-filianic-rosary-catholic-style/?frame-nonce=a084a0f696

A series of Rosary Meditations for Moura.

 Dear Reader, 

If you happen to have a copy of my book Garlands of Grace, then you may be aware of this series of meditations. This is performed whilst reciting the Catholic style rosary. It leads us deeper into the mysteries of Moura, Kala, and the entire Eastre cycle. I present this with the hope that you might join me in my contemplation of these mysteries.

Decade 1: The Temptation of the Daughter

The focus of this decade is the fear and the struggle that Our Lady had when faced with the demons of temptation and suffering. A special emphasis is placed upon her response to their prophecy of how she will be received in the realm of the Dark Queen. This mystery, when meditated upon regularly, encourages faith in the face of temptation. It also fills one with empathy for others who are suffering with temptation to abandon faith.

Decade 2: The Abasement of the Daughter

The focus of this decade is how the Daughter is stripped of her signs of power and authority as Princess of the World; how she is divested of the signs of her protection from her Mother; and her loss of the outward signs of her dignity on her journey through the realm of the Dark Queen. This mystery is one that bestows humility upon the one who meditates on it regularly. It reminds us of how far we have fallen from Déa and how far the Daughter must journey to bring her light into the whole of creation. This mystery engenders in us a sense of compassion for others who are suffering a loss of their own dignity and security.

Decade 3: The Humiliation of the Daughter

The focus of this decade is how the Daughter, the true sovereign of creation in her own right, is forced to kneel before the Dark Queen and suffer the insults and abuse of her daughters. To the unaware, the forcing of a Royal person to kneel and act as a person of lower station when they are of equal (or higher) rank to you is a grave insult to that person. To add the insults and abuse to the equation makes this humiliation all the more egregious. This mystery bestows endurance in faith during times of hardship when meditated on frequently. It encourages one to have compassion for the Daughter and all others suffering humiliation and abuse.

Decade 4: The Death of the Daughter

The focus of this decade is the absolute death of the Daughter. This is slightly different than the focus of the orthodox Filianic rosary which considers the death of the Daughter from an abstract perspective. Here, we enter into the mystery of mortality and with regular contemplation, we find ourselves more keenly aware of our mortality and frailty. This mystery bestows upon one a greater reliance upon the matters of Spirit and of the world. It encourages us to seek out thamelic ways to draw closer to Déa out of the sheer horror and despair that comes of absolute death.

Decade 5: The Hanging of the Daughter's Body

The focus of this decade is the desecration of the Daughter's body at the command of the Dark Queen. It is the Dark Queen's hubris that has the Daughter's body and her axe hung upon the world-pillar as an ornament. The pious soul would be rightly horrified by this treatment of the Daughter's body. For this is the Dark Queen's declaration of her dominion over the whole of creation. This mystery is cautionary in nature. It warns us of the danger of falling into the hand of the Dark Queen or her servants. Meditation upon this mystery brings one prudence and wisdom in their decisions. It also encourages one to seek out Déa when they encounter temptations and troubles that move them farther on the road towards the Dark Queen's sway.

This rosary with its sorrowful and painful meditations is proper for the season of Moura. It encourages a penitent mindset. Indeed, this rosary is a good one to offer up as an act of penance for behavior that is athamelic and as an act of contrition for errors that one has committed in thought, word, deed, or neglect. As one prays this rosary, such feelings of repentance and contrition arise naturally with the contemplation of the suffering and sacrifices of the Daughter for our sake. This rosary is especially well suited for the day of Kala, when the Daughter is slain. The sorrowful nature of this set of rosary meditations could have it named the Mournful Rosary.

Veiled Witch Video No. ? - Filianic adaptation of the Anglican Rosary

 I have no transcript. The prayers can be located in my book (Garlands of Grace: Filianic Rosary Meditations) or at the mirror blog on >THIS< page.

Monday is the day I pray to Déa in all her forms.

Dear Reader,

First off, I am using the new blogger format to write this post. If it seems a bit wonky, please let me know and I will attempt to adjust.

I have this habit of praying the Filianic Rosary every Monday. I figure it is Sai Candrë's day and an auspicious day to set aside some time strictly for reciting the rosary. I have three different versions of the rosary that I pray. The first is similar to the Catholic rosary and my focus is upon the Bright Mother, Marya. The second is similar to the Anglican rosary and my focus is upon the Daughter, Anna. The third is a garland of 100 beads and my focus is upon the Dark Mother, Deam Mysterium.

My prayers alternate between what I need for my family and what I feel the world needs. Lately, I have been praying for the healing of Covid-19, the abolishment of the ICE detention centers here in the USA, and for the world's economy to strengthen again and everyone have what they need for their fiscal security and well being. Where one would regularly state the meditative focus at the beginning of a decade of the Catholic rosary on the Our Father bead, for example, and meditate upon a holy mystery, I state the need and meditate upon that as I pray. This can also be used with the Anglican style rosary when one reaches the beginning of the next septad when they are at the cruciform bead. For Filianic and Déanic usage, obviously, the Our Father bead would be an Our Mother bead.

Copies of my versions of these prayers can be found in my book Garlands of Grace: Filianic Rosary Meditations. The ones that are influenced by Christian heritage are fairly obviously in it because it shapes the structure of the prayers and their order. Garlands of Grace is a companion book to Rose Petals: A Filianic Psalter. In the latter portion of Rose Petals, there is a version of the Filianic rosary that is based off of the Catholic rosary. It is a bit different from the version that you can find at the Chapel of Our Mother God. 

I have passing familiarity with the Janite tradition's rosary practices. They were so kind as to organize a very informative page that just happened to include a link and copy of a previous post of mine on this topic. 

Filianism and Magic.

Dear Reader,

Some may wonder if Filianism or Déanism have a prohibition against the practice of magic. In my research, I have yet to find conclusive statements for or against the practice of magic. I would argue that the practice of magic is a non-issue here. As long as one refrains from demonic invocations and theurgy calling upon demonic beings, I think that one can practice magic within this belief system with out much difficulty.

It is my understanding that theurgy that calls upon the Janyati and Dea herself would be highly effective. This would differ from the theurgy of other faiths to some extent because the ritualistic elements are still being developed. Some established worship practices, such as praying the rosary, can be adapted to theurgy. The act of praying the rosary while meditating upon a goal is a form of theurgy. For example, I pray the rosary every Monday. Since learning of the existence of concentration camps within my country, I have been praying for the liberation of the people held within them and their reunion with their families. Instead of meditating upon the holy mysteries of the life of Our Lady, I meditate on this desired outcome and pray for it through the rosary prayers. This is a simple form of theurgy that is accessible to most anyone who knows the rosary.

Novenas and septenas are theurgy. They can be highly effective forms of theurgy. The trick to successful theurgy is the same as the trick to successful magical work of any school, focused intention and aligning your will with it. Once will and intention are focused and aligned, releasing the magical energy to do the work is all that is necessary. Repetitive prayers are just like chanting a spell. It builds magical energy with each repetition and when the chant is complete, that energy is released. Unlike other schools of magic, one leaves the direction of the magic for manifestation in the hands of Dea and the Janyati. Thus, once the prayer/spell session is complete, one need not do any additional work to focus the spell craft.

New Book is Available for Purchase!

Dear Reader,

You may have recalled I was working on a book last month. After the editing and reviewing of the proof, I am happy to announce that Garlands of Grace: Filianic Rosary Meditations is available for purchase. The digital edition will be up in the near future on Lulu.com. If you want your book by Nativity, now is the time to order.

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement in the adventure of writing this book.

♥

Video 13 & 14: Rosary Magic.

Dear Reader,

Rosaries have been used for prayer since antiquity. They are part of a long history of using a set of beads to count prayers and meditative phrases. Most people are familiar with the Catholic Christian rosary. The five decade rosary is the most commonly seen one and the practice of praying the rosary is associated with everything from holy devotion to Mary to penance for sins. The Catholic rosary is the inspiration of the Anglican four week prayer beads. Where the beads between the Our Father beads on a Catholic rosary has ten in number on the Anglican one there are seven.  It is argued that both were inspired by the Orthodox Christian prayer rope of 33 knots.

The Filianic rosary is structured quite similarly to the Catholic rosary. The terminal bead is not a cross or a crucifix. It can be a pentacle, as in the one that I show, or a goddess figure as I have on my one that I keep in my purse. The prayers are adapted from the Catholic rosary as that is what most people are familiar with. But there are new prayers being developed for the Filianic rosary by different sects of Filianism. I try to make a weekly habit of praying the Filianic rosary on Monday's (Sai Candrë's day). This is partly because I feel called to this form of devotion and partly because I feel that it is a valuable part of my prayer life that I can use to make changes in the world.

How can one make change through praying the rosary? Well, it is a form of magic. Repeated prayers with a focus upon a given change will encourage said change to happen in the universe. Doing so often makes that change more likely to happen faster.

The above video gives a rough overview of these matters. I also attempt to describe what I stated earlier.

This video is a sampling of my collection of rosaries. (This is actually only a small part of my collection.) I also begin to explain how to use a rosary. I discuss rosary prayers in my book Rose Petals: A Filianic Psalter. I'm currently working on a book discussing rosary prayers and rosary magic in specific. That should be available late Autumn/early Winter as an e-book.

Pictures!

I am pretty sure it's been a while since I shared a picture of the altar space. It is in a north facing window. An entirely intentional thing but fits with how I was trained in Wicca. The Northern quarter is the one associated with wisdom and mystery.

I organized it according to how I was trained as well with the figures depicting masculine oriented deities on the left and the feminine oriented deities on the right. Moving from left to right there is a stag figurine for Freyr, a framed prayer card for Mani, a peg doll figure for Freyr, a statuette of Buddha, and a peg doll figure for Loki.

At the center is a cutting of white inch plant. Note it is growing towards the left where the icons for Freyr are located. To the immediate left of the plant is a rough hewen slab of rose quartz. In the foreground is a silver plated copper pentacle. On the immediate right of the plant is a rose quartz sphere.

On the goddess side, there is a peg doll icon of Freyja, a Quan Yin statuette, a tiny statuette for the Disir, a female jester statuette for Femme!Loki, a statuette of St. Anne and Mary (which represents Marya and Anna) and a statuette of Mary with a chaplet style rosary. The tiny medallion is very similar to the iconography of the miraculous medal.

I have boxes on there that hold offerings, prayer bead sets I use, and magical tools. I also have a bag with a set of prayer beads that my aunt made me on the goddess side of the altar. On the god side of the altar I have a bag with my personal fetishes for magical use (not the kinky type, this is a mostly kid friendly altar). There is also a huge chunk of rose quartz that I have and my eldest child's shrine-jar for Zeus. His clay monster offering to the gods sits on the goddess side, right where he placed it so carefully a few months ago.

Above, you have a better picture of the prayer bead sets I have made. The freshwater pearl and glass goddess rosary with a star terminal and blue beads between each decade is available. The copper and recycled plastic Anglican style prayer bead set with the Marian medal and flower terminal is available. The 5 decade catholic plastic beaded rosary set is a gift for family. The medal on the opposite end of the Crucifix is a depiction of the sacred heart of Jesus.

The amber resin beaded prayer set with the star is available. The synthetic pearl and glass bead prayer set is available.

The stone bead, with metal beads between the decades and one decade of synthetic pearl has an interesting history. It was fashioned based off of the Filianic calendar and holy mythic cycle. The first grouping of dark red agate is for the primordial time of creation. The first grouping of the black agate is for the first night or the descent of the Daughter into creation. It depends on the season. The synthetic pearl beads are for the Daughter. The second grouping of black agate is for Deam Mysterium. The final grouping of dark red agate is for the Mother. This rosary set has been loving used for regular prayer over the last three years. It is time for it to move on to a new home. It is available.

The knotted rosary with a literal rose terminal is available. I don't even know how this one came into my possession. The three decade set of amber resin beads with copper beads between the decades is available. The hematite five decade rosary with steel beads between the decades and a steel pentacle is not available. It matches the fifteen decade rosary that I have from the same beads with rose quarts between the decades and a goddess figure for the terminal. That one is not pictured because it needs repaired. The pink three decade rosary with the faux Marian medal is not available.

If you are interested in one of the rosaries or prayer bead sets, contact me.We can discuss payment and shipping. If you would like me to make you a rosary, I will be happy to for the cost of materials, fees, and a donation.

Blessed Exaultation & Beltaine.

The first of May marks two holy days. In the general pagan community here in the US, Beltaine is observed. It is said that Beltaine marked the beginning of summer in the ancient Celtic calendar. It is one of the high holy days of Wicca, considered to be the day that the Goddess is wed to the God. (Consummation of that holy union is celebrated at Litha, also known as mid-summer.)

This is also a very holy day within the Filianic and Déanic communities where the Daughter aspect of Dea is crowned as Queen of Heaven. Many of the observances of this holy day are directly related to the Catholic Christian celebration of Mary as Queen of Heaven. Flowers play a very large part of this celebration. Floral crowns are placed upon icons of the Daughter as homage to her role as Queen of Heaven.

My day was quite summer-like weather wise, though it was rather odd to not have the trees in full leaf. I prayed the rosary this morning and then spent my morning making prayer bead sets. Pictures of them will be coming tomorrow and they will be available for purchase through private arrangement.

I have two prayer bead sets that I am keeping for myself. One is a three decade chaplet with a knock off Marian medal on it. The other is a five decade rosary with a pentacle as the terminal. This replaces the smaller one that I made using stones. It will match the fifteen decade rosary that I plan on restringing tomorrow. (I put the cord for that one in a safe place and I haven't found it yet. That rosary is in fragile condition right now.)

My focus when I'm praying the rosary right now is for the healing of the world's ills. I try to pray it at least once a week (usually on Mondays). I invite you to join me for the time between today and the next holy day of the Filianic calendar (Florimaia, May 25th, the feast of flowers) to pray the rosary, if you are so inclined.