THE JOYS AND THE SACRIFICES OF OUR MOTHER - MARI AS NURTURING MOTHER GODDESS

Meditation at the BBB 2015

Brux@s Brasileir@s em Brasília - link about the event

the Workshop:

THE JOYS AND THE SACRIFICES OF OUR MOTHER - MARI AS NURTURING MOTHER GODDESS

SUMMARY:

Description: Each participant will come into contact with their concepts about the joy of living and the sacrifices related to life they learned through the relationship with their mother, and experience a healing of that relationship through meditation, a dynamic activity, and an experience with culinary magic.

INTRODUCTION: In a circle, each participant says their name and a word related to joy. Then a second time around, each participant says their name and a word related to sacrifice.

THE NURTURING GODDESS AND THE JOYS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MOTHERHOOD - First talk about the Goddess Mari and her nurturing Powers. Remember the myth of this Goddess and how it represents JOY and SACRIFICE.

HARMONIZATION: with a beeswax candle and honey incense

MEDITATION / JOURNEY: Then, we seek self-knowledge through a meditation looking at our childhood and adolescence and the teachings received from our mother or substitute mother about sweetness and joy, as well as responsibility and sacrifice. At the end of Journey, the Goddess Mari provides a healing of our wounds.

ACTIVITY: Participants will reflect upon the proportion of joy / sacrifice that the mother or substitute mother passed on them and divide into groups of: joy, little sacrifice; balanced joy / sacrifice; a lot of sacrifice, a little joy. Then participants will do an integrating bee dance, representing collective healing.

OFFERING (Joy Potion – from the book Wicca Brazil by Mavesper Cy Ceridwen): At the end, an experience with culinary magic, a healing of this relationship and celebration of the sacred act of nurturing ourselves in connection with the Honey Goddess, by making and sharing food and making an offering to her in thanks.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The WORKSHOP:

INTRODUCTION: In a circle, each participant says their name and a word related to joy. Then a second time around, each participant says their name and a word related to sacrifice.

NURTURING GODDESS AND THE JOYS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MOTHERHOOD -

First we talk about the Goddess Mari and her nurturing Powers.

Remember the myth of this Goddess and how it represents JOY and SACRIFICE.

MYTH: (from the book Wicca Brazil)

Mari received the gift of honey from a bird called the bananaquit, and gave it to her son Kuyuparé, the Thunder. The boy ate all of it and asked for more. Mari asked her husband to go get it, and he said he was too busy. She insisted and he got irritated, so they both went. They found the Bee House, and he made Mari take the honey out. She shoved her hand into the hole and her arm was detached, stuck in the hole. She died and became the bee which today brings the Ikpeng people the gift of honey.

--- CELEBRATE THE HONEY GODDESS to REDISCOVER the JOY of living. Since she gave her life TO FEED her SON WITH HONEY, SHE ALSO IS a Goddess of SACRIFICE.

Today we reflect on our own mothers (or substitute mother) and recognize what we learned from her about sacrifice and joy in life.

HARMONIZATION: with a beeswax candle and honey incense

MEDITATION / JOURNEY:

Beat the drum throughout the meditation:

Four-count breathing (inhale 4 seconds, hold the air 4 seconds, exhale 4 seconds). Do three times and relax your body, imagining each element - earth, air, fire, and water from your body relaxing.

Imagine you are in a forest, sitting beneath a tree. It is noon, nice weather, and you are safe and relaxed. You feel the smell of flowers in the breeze and listening to the sound of some birds singing. Beside you a large glass jar filled with honey appears. You raise the jar and look at its honey color shining in the sun.

Begin to reflect on your mother during your childhood and adolescence, and the theme of joy.

When you were a child, how did you express joy? How was the joy expressed by you treated by your mother? Did she let you express yourself freely? Did she take part in your joys? Did she nourish you with joy?

When you think of your mother at the time you were a child, did she bring joy to your life?

For example:

Did your mother provide you with ways you could play alone or with others?

Did you have toys? What kind?

Did your mother give you brothers or sisters? Did you spent a lot of time with them? Was it a time of joy?

What was the school like where your mother sent you to study? Was it an environment that brought you joy? Did your mother show interest in your social development at school when you were a child?

Did your mother let you invite friends to play at your house, or you could go to a friend's house to play?

Did your mother leave you with a nanny or babysitter? Was that person pleasant?

Did your mother play with you? Do you have memories of some games you played?

Did your mother like to laugh with you? Did you have moments of shared joy? At home, with books, movies, going out, or other activities? Do you have memories of those moments with your mother?

Did your mother appear cheerful in her daily life? Did she do things for herself, to bring joy to her life?

We are walking the pagan path, the path of the Great Mother, the Goddess. A pagan value is happiness, for all acts of love and pleasure are rituals of the Goddess. What kind of value were you raised with regarding joy? What did your mother teach you about the importance of joy in your life?

When you became a teenager, how was the joy expressed by you treated by your mother? Did she let you express yourself freely? Did she take part in your joys? Did she teach you how to nourish yourself with joy, in order for you to become more independent?

Did your mother teach you that joy is a gift of life, something to seek and to enjoy throughout all your years?

Today, as an adult, you are satisfied with the joy that you live in your daily life?

(Beat the drum for a few moments).

Take a deep breath and imagine you are sitting under that tree again, the breeze hitting your face, the sun shining in the jar full of honey. You hear a sound- bzzz - and notice that there is a beehive on a branch above you. It is far away, and you are not afraid. You look at the jar of honey and remember that the bee works its entire life to provide the gift of this delicious food.

Begin to reflect on your mother during your childhood and adolescence, and the topic of sacrifice.

If the woman who raised you was your birth mother, do you know what the circumstances of your birth were like? You were planned? How were the nine months of your pregnancy? Did your mother have any physical problems? Did she sacrifice any activity in her life to take care of the pregnancy? Was her body changed by the pregnancy? And if you were raised by a mother who adopted you, do you know why your mother chose to adopt you? Do you know what the adoption process was like, and what it was like to wait for your arrival? What did your mother sacrifice to make room for your arrival in her life?

The phases of women's lives begin as the maiden, which is the young female adult, and after that comes the mother stage of mother. After her first period, did your mother have a significant maiden phase? How old was your mother when you were born? Imagine that age. Do you think your mother sacrificed time from her maiden stage in order to become a mother?

Before becoming a mother, a woman can choose what to do with her time. Did your mother sacrifice her free time after you arrived in her life?

For example:

Did your mother work? Did she stop working as much in order to look after you?

Was your mother very social and liked to go out? Did she stop going out as often in order to care for you at home?

Did she participate in a group, physical activity, hobby? Did she stop doing other activities as often, opting to stay with you?

If your mother did not stop working or doing other activities, do you feel responsible for your mother’s choices? Do you carry guilt?

If your mother continued doing various activities, was she able to organize everything easily? What were the difficulties and sacrifices? What did you learn from her ability to be responsible?

Remember what your family was like when you were a kid. Did your mother have love life? Did you notice if your mother was happy in her love life?

Many people, created in the patriarchy, believe that even in an unhappy relationship, it is important to stay together "for the children". You feel that your mother made this sacrifice? Do you feel responsible for your mother’s choices? Do you carry guilt?

Think of the time when you turned into a teenager. You began to experience independence. You started going out alone with friends, started dating or doing other activities without the close monitoring of your mother. Did your mother let you experience this phase naturally? Did she let you feel free or try to control you?

Think about your mother and the times when she chose to do something just for the pleasure itself. What has your mother taught you about self-indulgence? Was it something permitted in your life?

We are walking the path of the Goddess, which values ​​independence and freedom of choice, with responsibility and the awareness of the consequences, good and bad, of our actions. Happiness is a goal in our lives. What kind of value regarding self-sacrifice were you raised with? What did your mother teach you about the importance of a balance between self-sacrifice and self-indulgence?

Today, in your adult life, you are satisfied with the amount of balance between self-sacrifice and self-indulgence in your life?

(Beat the drum for a few moments.)

Now we will meet the Brazilian Goddess Mari and receive her healing as the Honey Mother. Take a deep breath and imagine yourself sitting under that tree again, the breeze on your face, the sun shining in the jar full of honey, and the sound of bees above you. You notice a strong energy coming from above, and you suddenly feel the urge to climb the tree. In this vision, you have the full physical ability to climb, so you begin to go up the tree. At the top, you sit on a thick, firm branch. The bees are not a threat, you are completely safe. One of the bees begins to glow, and the brightness grows and begins to turn into the Goddess Mari, and she sits on a branch in front of you - a beautiful indigenous woman, with the sweet and steady gaze of a Great Mother Goddess. You look to another thick tree branch, and there woman who raised you sits comfortably.

Mari, the Mother of Honey, is a Bee Woman, and she has all the gifts of honey to give you. Honey is sweet, bright and cheerful. It blesses you with the power to nurture yourself with the joy of living.

She blesses you both with the power to pursue your own happiness.

The bee works hard to create honey. The Goddess Mari sacrificed her life to feed her child. You remember that your mother is a human being with her own story, qualities, and weaknesses. You look at your mother, and express your thanks for the sacrifices she made for you during your childhood and adolescence.

The Goddess Mari then blesses you both with the ability to make sacrifices in life in a balanced way with the ability to think and act toward only your own happiness, health, and well-being.

You then say goodbye to your mother and she easily climbs down the tree, continuing her own path.

You stay with Mari and she blesses you again: with understanding, compassion, and renewal:

You are now an adult, and no longer depend on the woman who raised you to live your life.

You, regardless of the way you were raised, are an adult who has the power to love yourself and choose the path of joy.

Mari shows you ways to walk this path.

(Beat the drum for a few moments.)

You thank the Goddess Mari, and you both turn into bees.

Move your toes and fingers and body, and open your eyes to come out of the meditation, but continue in the consciousness that you are a bee while you do the next activity.

ACTIVITY: Integration

Reflect on the proportion of joy / sacrifice your mother or substitute passed on to you and divide into groups of: joy, little sacrifice; balanced joy / sacrifice; a lot of sacrifice, a little joy.

Let's do a dance of bees, a dance of integration, representing collective healing. Imagine also that you are a bee in the community of the Goddess Mari. You all live together, work together, and worship the Mother of Honey. The collective healing comes from the Goddess Mari, and the powers that you also have to balance these energies and seek joy in your life, vibrate with the dance. You dance freely in search of that healing and that power. (Beat the drum)

At the end of the dance, everyone leaves the bee consciousness by clapping your hands.

OFFERING:

To end the work, healing the relationship with nutrition and primary mother, we celebrate with the sacred act of nurturing ourselves in connection with the Goddess of Honey. We make and share food and make an offering to the goddess in thanks.

Cooking Magic: Joy Potion – from the Wicca BRAZIL book by Mavesper Cy Ceridwen

Everyone participates in this act. The ingredients are pre-energized with the blessings of joy and pleasure. Each participant adds an ingredient and mixes with a wooden spoon.

Add to a liter of milk:

a tablespoon of fennel

a teaspoon of cinnamon

two tablespoons of honey.

Bless to bring to mind the joy and the pleasure of living. Consecrate in the name of Mari. This is an excellent antidote to depression.

The youngest woman in the group sets this offering to Mari in nature, and all share and celebrate while drinking the potion.

End of the workshop.