Today is the day Madria Olga marked on her calendars as Rosa Mystica, the feast of Our Lady of Fátima (no doubt because it is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun). No other Madrian source at my disposal deals directly with Fátima (apart from Prologue 10, of course), and so I fear I have nothing very clever to say about it. I would love to hear what may come from all of your contemplations on that vision today.

I did observe something interesting, however, in another Madrian account of a prophetic message. In TCA 7:17, an anonymous author recounts a series of communications reported to have been received by an American woman from the spirit of Sappho. The article seems to take a cautious stance, but it clearly entertains the idea that these communications may have been legitimate, and it quotes from selections that indicate that “a return to matriarchy would begin in forty years” following “a period of change and upheaval” involving “intense chaos”.

Following Sr Sophia Ruth’s very handy chart, TCA 7 was published in the summer of 1978. We all know, of course, that the Aquarian Age did not arrive in 2008 in the sense we normally imagine it, but Madrian publications often seem to intimate a kind of cusp period between the end of the Kali Yuga and the beginning of the next Golden Age (see TCA 10:6–8, for example, TCA 18:20, or TCA 5:30). It could well be that the return has begun but we are still in very early stages of it. It is worth asking, then… did anything notable happen in 2008?

As it happens, 2008 is the date that I have been using since assembling the “Brief History of Filianism” (ECE Appendix C) to mark the end of what I have been calling “the Matristic Period”. I chose this date as a key cutoff for three reasons:

1. It was the year Madria Olga died.
2. It was the year the Chapel went online.
3. It was the year that the first (mostly) complete compilations of the Scriptures were published (both Sarah Morrigan’s NCUV and Philip Jackson’s Sacred Myths and Rites of the Madrians).

I cannot help but wonder, then, if the predictions of “upheaval” and “chaos” don’t refer not only to larger world events (which certainly offered enough instances), but specifically to ekklesial ones as well. Were these intimations of the calamity at Burtonport, the abuse of the priestesshood, the dispersal of the Madrian households, and the end of the initiatic lineage? I do not know the answer, but that the priestesshood as it had been held by Lux Madriana should pass away in precisely the year marked out as culminating a time of great tribulation and inaugurating a new phase in the unfolding of Providence seems more than coincidental.

If that is the case, what happens in the new phase? That I don’t know either, but I did run across another interesting observation in TCA the other day. TCA 4:27–8 contains a book review of Olivia Robertson’s Ordination of a Priestess. The Madrian reviewer comments that:

The title in some ways may seem misleading, for what the Rite creates is not a full vocational priestess, but what may be called a lay-priestess. The rite is not a Sacrament, but a ‘symbiosis of religion and the arts’. But the idea is very much in keeping with such practices as the Cult Domestic, which makes every mother a sort of quasi-priestess in her own home. In this Rite candidates dedicated themselves to a particular Genia [Janya] or aspect of the Goddess each choosing according to her own calling to service in life. They also offered their own votive gifts, ranging from craft-work to a pilgrimage to Nepal. The Rite itself, in ancient style, complete with temple-maidens, is both elaborate and beautiful, and it is to be hoped, such Rites of personal dedication become more widespread.

It is not my place, for obvious reasons, to draft the organizational future of the Ekklesia or to dictate what anyone should or should not call themselves, but this lovely idea of the ‘lay-priestess’ as the valid product of a self-dedication to Dea and the community, realized non-sacramentally through sacred art, did seize me with a hope that it might offer a path forward that both honours and validates the seriousness of the calling that some of our sisters have felt (and that the Madrians continually expressed their hope more maids would feel) and, at the same time, recognizes and respects the legitimate concerns raised by the Aristasians and others about both the initiatic validity of future spiritual leaders for the community and the propriety of any sacerdotal order after the abuses that occurred at Burtonport. Those tensions are for others than myself to resolve, but I would like to think that perhaps, in their engagement with Lady Olivia’s work, the Madrians left some encouragement and inspiration for those whose challenge it shall be.

Over the weekend, I took my son to the Burnsville Fire Muster—a local small-town parade centred, as its name implies, around the fire departments of the various nearby municipalities. It is really a lovely little event into which a lot of love and care has evidently been poured by the community. My son had a delightful time (the demonstration by the police K-9 unit was his favourite, since right now he wants to be a policeman when he grows up) and I rather felt as though I got a little window into… I hesitate to say, “an America that once existed”, because it does still exist here and there. Perhaps better to say, “an America that was once much more prominent”—an America before Robert Putnam had to write Bowling Alone.

The very fact that the Burnsville Fire Muster does such a good job of capturing a sense of civic engagement and pride in the local community, however, is what made one particular detail so glaring as an omission. While there was no shortage of people atop trucks and parade floats, there was no one dressed to be on one. The smiles and waves that poured down upon the crowd came, vehicle after vehicle, from seemingly random assortments of plain-clothesed well-wishers, none of whose faces gave any indication that they themselves understood why they had been chosen from among so many to crown their respective displays. Certainly, nothing gave any indication to the onlooker.

I realize, of course, that the designation of parade queens and similar offices is no longer considered consonant with the values of the Republic. I work in state government (for the next week and a half; more news on that to come) and the department for which I work used to hold an annual pageant whose winner served for the year as the public face of the department, attending ribbon-cuttings and engaging in PR work to connect with local communities. The only time this custom, which was discontinued decades ago, is ever mentioned now is as an occasion for derisive laughter and an opportunity to criticize the sexism of the mid-20th century.

Now, the sexism of the mid-20th century was certainly worthy of criticism, even while one is aware that much of it was so invisible to people of the time that it not infrequently appeared to them in quite a contrary light (just as some of the most heinous sexism of the 21st century is actively praised by our cultural elites as exemplary feminism). I don’t doubt that many such events were treated by the men involved in them just as the office cooler talk of today alleges—as a kind of socially sanctioned opportunity for objectification and as a paradigm used to frame women’s potential range of contributions to the department’s work within an unjustifiably narrow lens. To the extent that, for many, such traditions had decayed to the point where they might have consisted almost entirely of such abuses, their loss is not to be lamented.

However, we should not lose sight of the fact that every abuse is parasitic on a legitimate use, even if it sometimes so obscures it as to conceal it from us altogether. The pageant winner and the parade queen, even if reduced in some times and places to objects of the male gaze, have their origin (and thus their true nature) in the same fundamental impulse of the mythic imagination that draped the honoured sacrifices of the Andes (woman and men alike) in gold and gemstones, parading them on palanquins sometimes hundreds of miles before sending them to the gods. Our sensibility rightly recoils in some measure from the means of their dispatch and certainly, as a Filianist, I am not about to wax nostalgic over human sacrifice (cf. Teachings 10:1), but what the cultures of pre-Columbian South America (as of countless other places and ages) exemplified was their fundamental belief in the ability of a human being to embody something more-than-human. To them, a human being could be more than merely beautiful; she or he could, at least for a moment of ritual time, be Beauty itself.

The modern parade queen arose from this same reflex of human understanding, assuming a more humane (and often more metaphysically accurate) form in a different cultural context. It is precisely because modernist materialism has so thoroughly deadened that reflex in so many that it has become possible for them—in keeping with the broader modern tendency to understand all human things as gaudily overdressed “natural impulses” rather than as imperfect reflections of higher principles—to think of pageants as a misogynistic eugenicist’s version of a state fair livestock competition, rather than as a distant and secularized echo of both the designation of a sacrifice and the consecration of a monarch (which, in ancient Bronze Age cultures that often ritually sacrificed kings at the end of a set reign, were two parts of the same action). We call them “queens” and not “specimens” for a reason—the designation is not a means of selecting a person for a pre-existing quality, but of marking a person as the recipient of a grace that renders them, during ritual time, “open behind” (to borrow Thomas Mann’s phrase) and thus enables them to mediate graces in turn, as the temporary cameo-icon image of Our Lady, Who is Mediatrix of All Graces.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to ‘rejoice’ as much as by anything else.” A parade is not merely an occasion of fun or a show of a community’s strength and solidarity (though it is certainly those things also); it is, when done properly, a kind of divine service in which we fulfill that injunction, rejoicing in the divine blessing of community, from the most fundamental unit of the family to the village, the city, the province, the nation, and, in those places and times fortunate enough to see its true existence, the Empire. The Parade Queen, likewise, is not just a pretty face for men to gawk at, though she will certainly be pretty and men will therefore unavoidably gawk, which may be excused in such measure (and only in such measure) as they manage to do it with a chivalric courtesy and civility (chivalry itself being largely constituted so as to gently refocus this gawking tendency on the higher principle that the gentleman’s Platonically longed-for lady represents). Rather, the Parade Queen is, for an afternoon, the living embodiment of the community, whose smile and wave returns to the crowd their own sacred joy in one another, impressed upon and by a figure that can humanize and realize (in the most literal sense) the inchoate emotion of their shared pride and mutual belonging. The town of Burnsville has erected huge metal letters at the end of the parade route reading, “You Belong Here”, but it is not in the nature of maid to feel that from the slogan of a city council’s bureaucracy. Only the warmth of a human being, who simultaneously speaks (with or without words) in the royal “we” of the community as a whole, can convey that message in a way that reaches the heart and imbues the members of the community with an inalienable conviction of its truth.

Without a parade queen, there is no parade, but only a convoy to show the power and wealth of “leading citizens” who like to be gawked at.

(…Unless you’re in Canada—then you may consider this a belated post for October. If you’re in the UK, you can read it whenever, I suppose. There’s no rush.)

Once again, it has been silent here at Apron Strings for a little bit simply because I have been so busy. In addition to my two part-time jobs, I have just this month become the Open Access Publishing Intern for the American Theological Library Association (where I am learning many wonderful things that can be applied to the Ekklesia’s publishing efforts) and I am as always grinding away at finishing my library science degree and making sure that my four-year-old still gets my attention as much as he possibly can. Amidst all that, I continue working late into the night finalizing the ECE’s 4th edition, which is a huge improvement over the third in textual accuracy, layout, and content, as well as collaborating with so many talented people in the community on a Spanish translation of the Clear Recital and on some new publishing efforts for next year, which should include a wall calendar, some prayer cards and icons, and the launch of a regular devotional magazine for all the wonderful things that I see all of you write on Tumblr, the Concord, and elsewhere so that they don’t just disappear into the aethyr.

As I take up this new internship, though, stare down my May graduation date, and plan my moves for that first real, full librarian job next year (Dea volente), I want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you for making the Ekklesia what it is. I was one of those young people who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, who skated through college taking easy classes and testing out of what he could, who bounced from one dead-end job to another without vision or direction or even hope of finding any. There were always lots of things I was interested in, but no one thing that I cared enough about to really give myself over to and move from apprentice to journeyman.

That changed when I found Filianism five years ago. I had been looking for answers in religion a long time—even done a master’s in it—but these too were intellectual interests, passively pursued. I was motivated to read, to learn, to appreciate, but not to do or build or make anything. The Clear Recital, however, pierced me through and drew my head down into my heart. I agreed with a lot of the things I had been taught in many schools and in many houses of worship, but this was something I believed in. And so, for the first time in my life, I didn’t just play at something, but rolled up my sleeves and worked. The ECE represents just one part of what that work has become.

But work is hard, and there were times when I wondered if it was worth it. There were times when I doubted… whether the religion was true, whether it could do any good in the world if it were, whether there was a place for me in it. And when I doubted, what kept me working was, in part, all of you. It was the knowledge that my work didn’t just serve me, and didn’t even just serve some abstract notion of a theoretical good in the world, but that it would be of real use to real people—people whom I’d never stood in a room with (and, sadly, still haven’t), but whom I’d come to care about, and whom I believed (and dare still to believe) had come to care about me, too.

Thus it was that, again for the first time in my life, I stuck things even when they were hard and even when I wasn’t sure, and in sticking with things—editing, archiving, research, indexing, cataloging, web design—I became good at them and, even more importantly, filled with the desire to become better at them still. I can’t begin to tell you what all that has done for me, but it has changed my life. It has made me a student in my second master’s that I was not able to be in my first, and thus it has broken me loose from a string of pointless jobs and set me on a career that now promises to pull my family out of poverty and to give us a future in a way that, not long ago, seemed impossible.

And even while spurring me to develop technical skills, Filianism and the Filianic community that welcomed me inspired me to stick with other things that were even harder—patience, listening, gratitude, hope—and I became better at these, too, and filled with the desire to become better still. Beyond the tools to make a living for my family, it has thus helped me forge the tools to live with them, making me a husband in my second marriage that I was not capable of being in my first, and a father to my first child that I have to be the first time, because there aren’t any second chances at that.

I guess this is a testimony, but it is a testimony with a point, and that point is that this religion can do powerful things in people’s lives, but it can only do them if they keep showing up, and a huge part of what keeps many of us showing up for our Lady is that we keep showing up for each other, even if only to chat online and affirm together, as the Madrians did decades ago, “our belief in that which alone is true”. So many of you have inspired me, reassured me, comforted me, welcomed me, and strengthened me in moments when I’m sure you had no idea you were doing so. I can only pray that I may have done the same for some of you, and that I may do so in the future.

Thank you. Thank you all so much.

PS Among all those many people showing up I want to highlight two who have come to my attention in the past couple of days. River S has just relaunched her magnificent blog over at Silver Scripture. Those who have seen her work before will, I know, be excited   to see some new things from her, but I also know there are plenty of new folks in the community who may not be familiar yet and who are in for a treat. Also, I just discovered that Sorella Minna is blogging at Maiden of the Lady. I don’t know how this escaped my attention previously, but I definitely don’t want it to escape anyone else’s; her writing is as deep as it is lovely.

A quote I saw recently, lovingly illustrated in multiple colors of dry erase, declared that “We can despair because rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”* This put me to thinking.

I have sometimes heard it said by people of secular persuasions that the religious view of life, predicated upon some manner of “fall” (a near-universal idea, though different religions conceive it somewhat differently),** is a gloomy one, but I have never seen it so. It seems to me instead that it is the secular view—that all things have hauled themselves up from the muck—that inspires so much of the modern malaise. While some certainly see evolution as a means for fulfilling the Divine intent of Creation, more often this idea of the “bootstrapping” of life is used instead to explain how life can have arisen as an accident. The things about accidents, however, is that they are arbitrary. In an accidental cosmos, the composition of the soil could have taken ten thousand different forms, and any of the plants that sprang from it could accordingly have taken ten thousand different varieties. In such a world of infinite possibilities, it is quite a reasonable question to ask whether rose bushes must have thorns, and it is but a short step from asking the question to engineering an answer. For the one who believes that the world has arisen by chance, it is possible that it could have been otherwise and that it could be otherwise still if enough cleverness were brought to bear. As Sister Alethea said, such a maid comes to think that “all the unpleasant things in the world are ‘accidental’ and that if enough scientists and politicians could be got together to iron them out, everything would be alright.”***

So it is that we go about dreaming of a world where all things are pleasant and magnets have only one pole. Sai Jesus warned us that “The poor you shall have with you always,” (Matthew 26:11; John 12:8), but that did not stop the American president Lyndon Johnson from declaring a “War on Poverty” as though it were, like an opposing government, a thing that one might banish from the earth by a sufficient show of force. The secularist must live always haunted by the idea of a world of thornless roses. It is an idea that has sparked many wars.

As with most modern ideas, this one derives its strength from the fact that it is a perversion of the truth. It is not true, of course, that the soil is a clean bed of infinite possibility and that we may therefore expect it to yield roses without thorns. It is true, on the other hand, that the ultimate Reality of all things is God (1 Teachings 9), and that we therefore have every right to expect not just that there should be roses without thorns, but that all existence should be nothing other than the pure, thornless, flaming rose that is our Mother. The religious maid recognizes, however, that this expectation is reasonable and just only on a higher plane of existence than manifestation, and that it ceases to be reasonable or just when it is transposed here. The error of the secularist is simply that, in denying the existence of any higher plane, she has transferred her justified expectations of heaven onto earth, where they have no basis.

It is precisely in recognizing that there is a higher realm to which we belong and from which we have fallen—a realm in which our powerful inner belief in the idea of thornless roses is reality—that we become capable of accepting gracefully the fact that, on the level of manifestation, there can never be any such thing. Indeed, we might practically observe that all history does not record a thornless rose, but that roseless thorn bushes are quite common, and that if either side of the duality were capable of independent existence here, it would be that one.

It is the belief that we have begun in the mud and are ever climbing upwards that leads us to despair that rose bushes have thorns. It is the belief that we were born in heaven and have turned toward the mud that permits us to rejoice that, by the grace of God, the thorn bushes into which we have fallen have roses.

 

*This quote appears to circulate in a variety of forms, and attributed to a diversity of authors.

**Miriam Dalziel, “The Myth of the Twentieth Century,” The Coming Age 4 (1976): 10.

***Sister Alethea, “On Going All the Way,” The Coming Age 3 (1976): 17.

5 Culverine 161 a.L.

In our house, we have a chalk board on which is written a prayer or affirmation for the season. With the coming of spring, my wife asked me to compose the new message and, having done so, I felt moved to share it with all of you as a way of marking Lady Day. May the best I could wish for my home be found also in each of yours!

“That the spring breeze should wend through windows
of the house, body, and soul, swelling each in inspiration
and emptying each in clarity;

“that this breeze should take force with the turning of the year
and become a mighty wind to bear us across seas;
we ask your blessing, Sai Vaya, in the rhythm of breath Divine.”

In preparation for planned improvements and expansions over the coming year, the Oxford Goddess Revival Archive has been rechristened as the Digital Library for Filianic Studies and moved to the address filianicstudies.org. I am very excited to start applying some of my current coursework in library and archive management to the collection and transform it into a much more robust resource.

Happy International Women’s Day!

The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart
by W. B. Yeats

ALL things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould,
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart,
With the earth and the sky and the water, re-made, like a casket of gold
For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The new, 3rd edition of the ECE is now available. This edition makes some minor improvements to the accuracy of the critical text, but most notably adds six additional verses discovered in quotations from Madrian sources to “Fragments of Lost Sutras”, completely reformats the apparatus for ease of use, thoroughly rewrites the proposed model of the text’s transmission history to account for new insights gained from the study of Madrian records, and revises page layout to illustrate the text entirely from original Madrian artwork (thanks to the graphic editing efforts of Jules Morrison). Enjoy!

For the last couple of days, there has been a great deal of consternation throughout the Filianosphere about the recent announcements coming from the Janite Order of Priestesses. It is not clear to me, at this time, whether the whole organization is redefining itself in a non-Filianic direction, or whether only key members of their leadership are doing so, but they have provided a great deal of support to many Filianists over the last couple of years, and I know there are many who feel somewhat bewildered, not to say rattled, by this change in direction.

And so at this time, as we emerge from the season of the Festival of Divine Life which urged us to contemplate the mysteries of the cycles by which all things are born, grow, and die, only to be reborn again, I find it fitting to reflect a little bit on the nature of our Ekklesia. It goes without saying, of course, that the Ekklesia in its fullest sense is a thing eternal—a sororal order of all souls united in their love of Her, which encompasses the very Janyati of Heaven. We sometimes need reminding, however, that the Ekklesia’s instantiations on the earth are, like all things of the earth, merely temporal, and that they, too, have their births, flourishings, deaths, and rebirths. So it was that the Madrians could speak of the whole current of feminine monotheism—from deepest prehistory through the Isiac cult, the cult of the Blessed Virgin, and then themselves—as a single inheritance under the unitary name of Madrianism. All were, from their perspective, fluctuating manifestations of the same eternal teaching.

Modern Filianism can thus be seen as one wave upon this rolling tide, but can also be seen within itself to contain a multitude of projects and efforts that have come and gone, though not without lasting contribution. Lux Madriana itself flourished and then passed away, as did the Aristasian Experiment after it. Their legacy is continued both by Chelouranya and by the Independent community, which has been a kaleidoscope of groups and individuals which, despite their ephemerality, have collectively managed an enduring presence over more than a decade. What matters, ultimately, is not any particular one of our enterprises, but the cause of the faith which all those enterprises have been intended to serve.

New efforts at organizing and building on the worldly level will be needed. A 501(c)3 organization to represent our interests and qualify us for the common considerations given to other religious groups is certainly a missing piece of the puzzle to how we “go out among maids and teach them the Good Doctrine” (2 Teachings 1:17) in today’s world. Though there are some important discussions to be had about the nature of priestesshood and the apparent end of the Madrian lineages with Madria Olga’s passing, it is certain that our community will need a mechanism for designating leaders, whether lay or ordained. All of us, I think, dream of seeing some kind of beautiful and well-appointed public space for Filianic worship in our communities, however simple and small in scale.

For now, however, as we take a moment to respectfully acknowledge the passing of one significant worldly effort at building the Ekklesia in Telluria, I find it comforting to turn eyes again to the essential Ekklesia’s eternal nature, and to revisit one of the enduring legacies which our Madrian foremothers left us. (I quote directly from TCA 3:15.)

After several requests to accept lay sisters, the Order of the Silver Star have founded a new group called the Handmaidens of the Sacred Rose: ‘It is completely uncentralised — anyone can become a handmaid without notifying us — there is only one rule which all must follow: a commitment to say the Rosary each day. Beyond this, we hope members will construct a special Rule of life for themselves; this can be as great or as little as each individual feels right. We will be pleased if you would submit your Rule to us via Lux Madriana, but it is not necessary. We would like handmaids to help each other, to come together in groups, to form bonds of love and obedience — to become a real lay Order from the ground upwards. We will advise, but feel that we may not direct. Go forward, children.’

I cannot express my joy at discovering this little announcement, which was tucked away in the “Works in Progress” section of the magazine. The Madrian orders are all defunct or occulted, and their lineages of ordination appear, at least publicly, to be extinct (someone please correct me if I am wrong!), but the order of the Handmaidens of the Sacred Rose remains open, with the perpetual blessing of the Madrian priestesshood. To the eternal Ekklesia in its broadest and grandest sense, our foremothers added a practical order which, if eternal seems too strong a word, we might regard at least as enduring until the end of the Age—open perpetually to any and all who will accept its rule.

And if there were ever a time to bring this little notice again to the attention of our community, it is now, for 3 October will also be the first day of Vois, which the Madrians celebrated as the “Rosary Month”, in which all were encouraged to take up a daily practice with the Rosary or, if they were already in that habit, to supplement it by the practice of a full (fifteen decade) Rosary weekly for the duration of the month, renewed dedication to mindfulness in the accompanying meditations, or any other such intensification of their Rosary work as they might find practicable and beneficial. This year, I will be taking advantage of the occasion to convert my sporadic making of the Rosary into a daily practice, which I hope, Dea volente, to continue after the month’s end in order to maintain good standing as a Handmaiden of the Sacred Rose. I would cordially invite any of you who may wish to do so to join me in the endeavour.

You need not, of course, let me know that you are doing so, but it might be a charming way of lending support to one another in the keeping of a discipline if those of you who felt comfortable doing so did let me know. Indeed, for those willing to announce themselves one step further, I would be happy to make a page here to list the names (and blog links, of course) of participants, so that we might all take some small strength and encouragement, when it becomes difficult to make the time for the Rosary (though it is only 15–20 minutes), of knowing that we are not alone, and that the words of our recitation mingle through the long arcs of the earth’s atmosphere with many others each day.

For those of you new to the practice, I reproduce below the Madrians’ basic instructions for the Rosary, with bracketed notes giving links to additional, more detailed material in the Archive and some of my own comments.

---

Appendix 2: The Rosary [transcribed from Philip Jackson’s text in The Sacred Myths and Rites of the Madrians, pp. 84–5, which reproduces the catechetical booklet issued by Lux Madriana]

The Rosary is usually a looped string of beads (though it may also be a cord containing knots). The beads are arranged in five decades or groups of ten. There is a single bead at the beginning and end, and one between each decade. [It is relatively easy to modify a common Catholic Rosary for Filianic use, as I did. One must simply be mindful that one will be lacking the “single bead at the beginning and end”, and so must make use of the Rosary “centre” twice, both to open and to close the recitation of the prayers.] The closed loop represents both the walled rose-garden and eternity.

For each bead of the decades we say the Silver Star [see below], and for each single bead we say the Prayer of Eternity [see below].

Begin by composing yourself in quietness, then make the Pentacle upon yourself  [see below] and say the Rosary Prayer [see below] before starting.

Each decade represents a point of the Pentacle. Beginning at Earth and Autumn, we move sunwise, meditating on the Mysteries of each as we pray.

Earth; Autumn; the Golden Apple; the Mystery of Divine Life; our Lady the Mother as Ground of all Being.

Air; Winter; the Star; the Mystery of the Nativity.

Spirit; Moura; the Cross (or Labrys); the Mystery of the death of our Lady.

Water; Spring; the Dove; the Mystery of the Resurrection of our Lady.

Fire; Summer; the Rose; the Mystery of the Rose of the World; complete personal assumption in the Mother.

Although a child can say the Rosary, a lifetime cannot exhaust its depth. Frequent Rosary devotion will lead the soul ever deeper into the fivefold structure of the Universal Mystery.

In the full Rosary, the process is repeated three times, meditating upon the Mysteries in the Life aspect, the Light aspect and the Love aspect. But this is a rather advanced exercise.

The Rosary is a powerful generator of spiritual energy as well as a purifying force. Each completed Rosary not only confers great spiritual benefit on the individual, but is a real force for good in this world. Regarded as a personal sacrifice, the Rosary is a small but beautiful gift to our Lady. For each Rosary is not only a thing said and a thing done, but a thing created – it is a shining Pentacle of spiritual force.

[This treatment is greatly expanded by two articles in TCA 2. “An Introduction to the Rosary” (pp. 6–8) offer some general reflections on the history and nature of the practice, while “Three Paths Into the Secret Garden” (pp. 11–14) is an absolutely indispensable guide to the meditative practices undergone while reciting the prayers, including very helpful suggestions of individual images for focus on each bead.]

The Rosary Prayer [Jackson, p. 89]

Beloved Kyria, Who have suffered in a way I cannot understand that You might come to me, I offer You my hand; lead my soul into the garden of the Rosary, that she may rest among the mystic roses of Your love.

The Prayer of Eternity [Jackson, p. 89]

Eternal is the Light of the Mother,
Eternal is the Love of the Daughter,
Eternal is their completion in the wholeness of the Absolute;
And glorious is Eternity.

The Silver Star [Jackson, p. 87]

Silver Star of the waters
that have laughed all the world into being,
beyond all knowing is the splendour of Your light.
Enfold my spirit in Your mighty hand
that the pure stream of Your force may flow within me
in this world and in all the worlds to come.

Appendix 1: Making the Pentacle [Jackson, [pp. 81–2]

The Pentacle is a powerful protective symbol. It is a variant of the five-pointed star of the Goddess (the Madrian Rosary, the archetype of the rosaries used in all the masculist world religions, has one decade for each point of the Pentacle, or for each petal of the Rose – hence its name). To form the Pentacle, one should first touch the forehead, then, visualising a line of silver etheric light, bring the hand diagonally to touch the left hip, then draw another line to touch the right shoulder; then the left shoulder; the right hip and finally the forehead again.

One of the important symbolisms of the Pentacle is that of the elements or seasons. The uppermost point represents the fifth element: Spirit, and the fifth season Moura. The other elements are arranged sunwise (clockwise) around the remaining points in order of the seasons: Water (Spring), Fire (Summer), Earth (Autumn) and Air (Winter).

The forming of the Pentacle symbolises the Cosmic Drama. We touch first Spirit, which represents the purity of the first creation; then Earth – the descent into matter; then Water (the Easter element) – the sacrifice of our Lady in coming to us; then Air – the star of Her coming and the bringing of Her Light; she brings us to the consuming fire of Her Mother’s love – to “The Rose that is a Flame and the Flame that is a Rose”; through the Divine Fire, we are purged of imperfection and return to our first purity, touching Spirit again.

As well as its devotional value, the Pentacle can form a barrier against harmful spiritual and psychological influences.

One very effective visualisation, having made the Pentacle, is to envision a small flame at the tip of each point. Allow these to grow in size until their bases meet at the centre of the Pentacle. Thus each is a fiery petal of one great Rose of flame. This is particularly apt for the final decade of the Rosary, when completing the Great Pentacle and contemplating the Mystery of the Rose of the World.

[A handwritten copy of this text from Mr. David Kay omits the last two paragraphs and in their place supplies the following, not included in Mr. Jackon’s copy:]

The Pentacle should be made before prayer in order to banish evil influences and to attune oneself to the Goddess, and after prayer in order to ‘seal’ one’s devotion. At other times, the making of the Pentacle can form a barrier against harmful spiritual psychological influences, and can be a means of drawing to oneself spiritual energy.

A second edition of the ECE is now available for download, drawing on substantial new research that has been possible over the last few months. Changes are detailed in the section “Changes to the Second Edition” within the PDF, which you can download here.