"Oh Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May."
"Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail our life, our sweetness and our hope."
These words are some of the most beautiful ones given to us by the Catholic tradition, along with the practice of devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who is also considered the Universal Mother of us all despite our religious orientation or lack thereof. I didn't grow up in the Catholic faith and came to Mary devotion later in my life, in the aftermath of my earthly mother's death in 2012. I was introduced to the praying of the Rosary
by two of my Catholic friends and began wearing necklaces depicting her and participating in the placing of floral crowns on her statue in May (known as May Crowning). I have experienced comfort and joy in these practices and feel blessed by a sense of Mother Mary's Divine presence.
Astrology is also one of my spiritual practices and I'm interested in the correlation of many Holy Days and religious traditions with astrology. Mother Mary's birthday is celebrated in September, the season of Virgo, sign of the Virgin; and of course we have the secular celebration of Mother's Day during the month of May, the month devoted to honoring Mary as Queen of Heaven. The sign of Taurus is associated with heaven, and May is Taurus season.
With the recent burning of one of the greatest shrines to Our Lady, Notre Dame, in Paris, the eyes of the world are especially focused on Mary now. It seems we learn every day about special relics, works of art, and even honeybees, that miraculously survived damage in the fire!
Just as Mother Mary is the Western Madonna of Christianity, Kuan Yin is the Eastern Madonna of Mahayana Buddhism. The mantra to Kuan Yin is similar to the Hail Mary and also mentions flowers: "Hail to the jewel in the lotus." One friend and neighbor of mine has a statue of Kuan Yin in her garden, and another has a statue of Mother Mary. Both shared with me the special stories of how they were drawn to these wonderful symbols of the Divine Feminine.
Mother's Day can be a difficult holiday for many people depending on their personal experiences with earthly mothers. If you are reading this and feel "motherless" in any way, I pray that Mother Mary (or Kuan Yin or other revelations of God as Mother) will come to you and assure you of their love and eternal presence.
May the grace, beauty and power of the Sacred Feminine and Divine Mother be yours today and always,
~Marianne (aka Wild Honey)
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