19 May 2021
May, Mothers & Magic
Magical Mothers is our third monthly attempt to bring some of the Mystery of Magic to Light.
Mothers and Magic do indeed go together. We touched on that wonderful creative power which women share with each other in our first essay in March. Sadly, all men are largely in the dark about many aspects of Magic just because of our sex. Today, we take a few steps further to explore more Magic. This time entirely from the Motherly side.
Mothers, to this observer’s view, stand at the very center of so much magic. You might counter that – the renowned magicians of the past have been men – priests, philosophers, physicians, astrologers – wizards amongst them.
There are three quick responses to that assertion and undoubted fact:
1) Only men have been admitted to these professions until recent eras for all sorts of reason, most of which have served and protected males and not their communities. Such was the tradition, practice, and law for ages.
2) Many cunning folk, wise women, and witches were persecuted, tortured and worse over the ages – most often because of trumped-up, deceptive politics rather than evidence of harm to the public. Sadly, the church was responsible in large part for a long bloody period in history.
3) Even “genteel” women have been hidden away, closeted and imprisoned so as to keep them inviolate – as well as silent and disempowered. The supposed stronger sex has long fearfully guarded and secured its power.
Despite tattered and tainted history, women and especially mothers maintain some of the most important keys to the seemingly locked World of Magic.
Those keys are kept alive and abundant and available in the bosom of Mother Nature. Nature, the Garment of God, maintains the means of creation and re-creation. And thus all manner of possibilities are open through the Mothers of all Beings.
You may say, “This is all sweet but petty poetry.”
Still, it is poetry and fact at one and the same time.
Life to the outer view began as the “face of the deep” took shape as Mother Nature created her myriad wonders. Then, it passed and passes on through the fairer sex to bring about conception, gestation and delivery of new forms of expression.
In the human world, mothers are the matrix, the crucible, the oven, and the laboratory in which all new bodies are magically woven for old incoming souls.
The 40-week period of the day-by-day and moment-by-moment process is hidden almost totally from our view. Yet, even to jaded eyes, the outer changes have to appear as most magical, wonderful, and amazing.
The sonograms and testing of the 21st century add little to real understanding of how the process develops. Were we clairvoyant and could sit silently in time-lapse mode for weeks, we would experience what goes on at the inner, energetic levels of being. Where conception originates as the soul-spirit overshadows a woman to animate the outer conjunction of sperm and egg in the new mother’s fallopian tube.
Everything which happens outwardly as cells become tissues, systems, and a whole being, is influenced and directed in inner mental-spiritual dimensions. Scientific investigation with “state of the art” studies give bare glimpses of what goes on at the depths of our natures.
The female, woman, mother is the place where these things are generated. While we think of an embryo, then fetus maturing in a woman’s womb, it is her whole being which is engaged – unknowingly – in the process. History tells us that all manner of physical obstructions can arise which might prevent an embryo from growing and being born. But, a willing spirit can quite easily overcome such obstacles.
The whole motherly being is the seat in which a seed is implanted and matures. The form and aura of the mother transmits life, nourishes and nurtures body and soul of the incoming being. Still, she is not the source of life. The mother is rather the holy conduit for the subtlest of forces. She is used as a channel, passage, and protector for stupendous life energies which make existence in the outer worlds possible. Where would we be without mothers and their sacrificial gifts?
The whole process, overseen and guarded by “holy spirits,” must be unutterably beautiful. If we ever directly sensed the full scope of one birthing episode, we would be awestruck.
At the same time, it seems to this writer that the beginnings of life are quite comparable to those at the end. When the soul releases hold of its temporary apartment and is drawn back to the realm of greater light whence it parted a lifetime past.
Mothers of the world deserve our honor and gratitude for their part in the holy sequence. But, for much more. Let us consider their parts in two more processes in the context of this brief essay.
Bonding: Conception and birthing accomplished, the newborn still has long months and years to pass prior to the day of maturity and independence. That time when the soul’s own powers developed in dozens of previous lifetimes can be drawn from its individual banks of memory and deposited into the present form for daily use.
Most animals pass from birth to adulthood in weeks, humans in many years. The talents, memories, and data banks for humans are so much more complex and massive. With the exception of child prodigies, the vast majority of us need years of nurturing, preparation and growth before we take on the full load, so to speak, drawn from our past existences and use them competently in the present one.
Maternal bonding over time is essential to bring forth a functional healthy adult. While the first stages of life in utero are largely governed by spiritual and physical forces, the early years require active sentient nourishment. This seems quite obvious.
Who but Mother is the major source of this emotional feeding? This is accomplished through bonding which builds forces on the inner levels of feeling in ways similar to those occurring in outer physical ones. It is in fact a building process.
The stresses on a mother’s life merely begin during the months of gestation. The early years of bonding and building thanks to loving mothers are hugely important for the child growing into wo/manhood.
Yes, there are exceptions. Some humans have wonderful mothering and poor results. Some have poor mothering and wonderful results. The soul growing into adulthood has its own responsibilities and resources. Furthermore, every human being has his/her own guardian angel as a protector and arbiter of personal karma.
Child bearing and bonding are not the only wonders which mothers of the world perform. The third on our list is that of healing.
Mothers of the world are the original healers.
Nature heals.
Physicians often fall back on Nature as a last resort
– rather than an early one.
Mother Nature heals.
Mother Nature created forms and bodies once.
Surely, She can do so again – and again.
Mothers heal naturally.
Mothers do so in several ways.
Through their loving presence.
Through healing hands.
Through visual touch –
the eye is known [at least to some]
as a powerful conductor of radiant life energy.
Nature heals.
Physicians often fall back on Nature as a last resort
– rather than an early one.
Mother Nature heals.
Mother Nature created forms and bodies once.
Surely, She can do so again – and again.
Mothers heal naturally.
Mothers do so in several ways.
Through their loving presence.
Through healing hands.
Through visual touch –
the eye is known [at least to some]
as a powerful conductor of radiant life energy.
The eye directs the energies of the heart, for good or evil purposes. The evil eye has long been recognized – and feared. The loving eye has been relatively unnoticed and unappreciated. Nonetheless, mind and heart can affect others at close or long distance positively and negatively. This is actually one of the “secrets” which witches and wizards, mages and magnetizers have used for centuries.
Mothers were the original healers. Long before physicians, mothers acted as doctors in the family through instinct and intuition. Over time, mothers and the whole of society have tried to emulate physicians using pills and potions. But, mothers’ best work is done merely through radiant presence, physical touch, and loving gaze.
In this quick-fix, instant-gratification, media-focused society, we have forgotten to draw on the resources of both Mother Nature and on Mater-Familias. Man-made, artificial, technological pills and products are relatively inanimate, lifeless. [Note: Every thing is alive and vibrating, but manufactured things have been manipulated by sterile, relatively lifeless machines. So, those products lack the subtlest vitality which lie at the base of all life and are natural avenues to healing.]
Living, loving mothers carry vitality, life force, prana in abundance. Why shouldn’t we turn to sources like Mother Nature and Human Mothers who are vibrant and caring, holy and healing?
Bona fide healers have been with us for ages and continue to be in our midst into the present time of belief in techniques and technicians. The spiral will turn. Cycles will shift us back to the simple, the sincere, and the sure means of healing. Mother Nature and her human daughters will stand at the front of that renewed wave of truth, beauty and goodness.
Mother’s Day and the Month of May will inevitably be a time to honor Mother Matter as well as your Mother and my Mother.
author's mother - circa 1955
Helen Aldora Colvin McNary
May is the most appropriate time to honor the gifts of human mothers as well as Mother Nature. You see, May was name for the Roman goddess Maia who was both midwife and nurturer as well as the symbol of growth in ancient times. Maia was explicitly identified with Earth – Gaia – Terra. Known as the Bona Dea, Good Goddess, she was also recognized as Magna Mater, the Great Mother.
Easter at the Spring equinox brings us signs of rebirth and resurrection. The Month of May follows shortly after and should be a time of celebrating Human Mothers and the Great Mother Nature.
MAY we hence forth recognize and celebrate these three fundamental gifts of our own Mothers as well as the Mother of the Earth:
1) Conceiving and bearing life with forms and bodies.
2) Bonding and nurturing embodied beings.
3) Healing and restoring ill beings and their bodies.
Comments always welcome at
theportableschool at gmail dot com.