The 24th May is The Festival of the Three Mary's, originally a Christian festival, is a great opportunity to connect on a deeper level and celebrate the 3 elements of the divine feminine which lie within us all. Whether you be male or female the maid, mother and crone live within us all. Connect to yourself on a deeper level with this downlable free meditation. For the history of this festival The divine feminine resides within each and every one of us, whether we are male or female but women resonate more deeply with this energy within.

So we perceive both dark and light aspects in the One. It is important to see that these belong together; the aspects do not exist alone. It is only in our current culture that we create the separation, take only the bits we like and ignore the rest. So Inanna is part of Ereshkigal, Medusa is part of Athene, the Black Madonna is the completion of the Virgin Mary. In life, light and dark are interdependent.  

The divine feminine also holds the three faces of woman; wild nubile Maiden, pregnant Mother and ancient Crone at the gateway to death. All women carry all three, regardless of their age. As do men but the Propriator, Provider, Protector, are stronger in men.  

Change and death are an intrinsic part of life necessary for regeneration and continuance, and both dark and light phases are honoured. Interestingly enough in ancient times the light was revered for its beauty and visability but the power was in the dark.  

Now, black or dark has become synonymous with ‘lesser’. We have polarised light and dark and made everything, ‘not light’ as evil. In the East, however, black represents the pure energy of the void from which all creation springs.  

The Dark Matter that science tells us makes up 95% of the universe from which everything is created. Black is the mystery, where everything is still possible. The Feminine is the power of dark and light. She creates and she destroys to create anew.

As the Maid she has power, she expresses herself, she knows what she wants and she demands and carves a place for herself in the world.  

As mother she loves unconditionally, she puts the needs of her family before her own, she sacrifices self constantly, and woe-betide anyone who threatens her offspring, she will rise up and destroy all.  

With the Crone comes wisdom, the knowledge of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. When you combine any two of these three faces you create the third, i.e. The Power of the Maid with the Love of the Mother = the Wisdom of the Crone. The Love of the Mother with the Wisdom of the Crone = the Power of the Maid. The Wisdom of the Crone with the Power of the Maid = Love of the Mother

According to legend

The 3 Mary’s were the first to come upon Jesus’s empty tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacob (sister of the Virgin Mary) and Mary Salome (also known as the mother of James and John). In approximately 40 AD they were either cast adrift or set sail from, Israel or Egypt with Joseph of Arimathea. They landed at what is now known as Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. A small village at the mouth of the River Rhone but was then "a sort of fortress named Oppidum-Râ". The location became known as Notre-Dame-de-Ratis (Râ becoming Ratis, or boat. But Ra originally being the Egyptian Sun God).  

With them was “Black St. Sarah” who was apparently the adolescent girl on the “boat with no oars.” Her name means “princess” in Hebrew–a strong hint that she was the “legendary” bearer of the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Lamenations (4: 7-8): “The princes of Judah whose faces were once white as milk are now black as soot; they are not recognized in the streets.” This explains the “blackness” of St Sarah: she is the daughter of the royal Davidic line, lost to history, incognito in the country of exile, stripped of power, honour and even her identity.

Many people see her as the prototype of fairy tales such as “Cinderella,” a princess from a far away land, now the servant of her relatives. The French certainly believed she was Mary Magdalene's daughter, and she is revered to this day by Gypsies who gather to honour her. She was also known as Sara-la-Kali. 

"The ceremony in Saintes-Maries closely parallels the annual processions in India, the country where it is said the Romani originated, when statues of the Indian goddess Durga, also named Kali, are immersed into water. Durga, the consort of Shiva, usually represented with a black face, is the goddess of creation, sickness and death." Kali is the Hindu Goddess of Creation, representing the Divine Feminine. The Creator/Destroyer, the mysterious source of all life.

The image is of a rock formation in the Atacama Desert Chile known as the Three Mary's.