December 12th is a very important day and just as important is the night before.  Whether you are in Mexico, or in the United States, the Virgen de Guadalupe is the Mother of all Mothers and the Female of all Females.  Our Lady of Guadalupe, as she is also named, is for everyone.  She embraces all and encourages all of us to see the light in ourselves.  She encourages us to come to understand how important all of us are and the power in trust and belief in oneself, regardless of whatever walk of life we are in.

As a young child, each year on December 11th, the ladies of the community would come to my Nana’s house. There would be food, music, rosaries, and above all, the altar of the Lady of Guadalupe in the center of the living room.  It was a time for celebration, but most importantly, a time for honoring the Mother.

When it was time for the lead woman to begin the rosary, the whole house fell silent.  Whatever we were talking about, or eating, or playing, it stopped so that we could all pray the rosary.  With the room filled with all of us saying the same prayers in sync, it became a rhythmic ceremony of sound to be sent to the Virgen de Guadalupe in honor of our love and devotion to her.  When December 11th began to merge to December 12th, the house was filled with songs, dancing, and even more celebration.

She is a symbol of feminine strength, perseverance, tenacity, and faith. The Virgin de Guadalupe is there to represent the love, strength, and wisdom of every grandmother, aunt, mother, daughter, and friend who has gone through it all.  She is the femininity that is grounded, fierce, demands that we are respected, and above all, to acknowledge we are who we are because we were created this way and this is sacred.

Wherever we are placed on this Earth, we are born to inspire and persevere, and to spread the love.  Regardless of our economic status, our ethnicity, our race, our religious beliefs, we are who we are and equal in importance by preserving our individuality, not conformity.   The power of the community is profound and so is the one person who can still practice compassion, empathy, and unconditional love.

However, no one is perfect all the time.  The Virgin de Guadalupe is there to dust you off and encourage you to do better, now that you know better.  She has helped me realize that I probably would have made a better decision if I wasn’t so tired that day, or for the last few weeks.   Persevering takes practice.  In doing so, we do our best with what we have, even if our best was different from yesterday.  She has remained with me and I have remained with her because of this.

When it was time for me to merge into woman hood with my Quinceañera, she was there. When it was time for me to celebrate my marriage, she was there. When it was time for me to be initiated into motherhood, she was there. She has been there through the greatest times and in the darkest moments of my life. She is the first one you see when you enter my house because she is there to welcome you like any other matriarch in the family.  She is Mother.

In honor of the beautiful Matriarch, I created this Mandala a year ago for her.  May this bring you inspiration and blessings.  May this inspire you to search for the strong feminine wisdom within yourself.   May she also bring you encouragement to see the light within you and to trust in your own importance, just as she has done for me.

​Many blessings,

Christina Grossman, M.A, C.A. 
Founder of Sacred Reminders, LLC

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All Content and Photos on www.sacredreminders.com are
Property of Sacred Reminders, LLC and Christina Grossman
Copyright 2016-2020                                All Rights Reserved

The center of each Mandala is like your own heart to your body.  The center of the Mandala is so important because it brings about life to the rest of the creation process. In each time I begin a new one, I take a breath as a reminder of how Sacred this moment is.  With that breath, I let go of perfection and ego…just for that moment.

It took me time to really understand how much taking that breath would save me from  giving up.  At first, there was no confidence whatsoever of creating one in the first place, until I let go of trying to strive for perfection.  Then the Mandalas transformed to something incredibly more meaningful for me and to those who I made them for. With each experience of every Mandala, I take that back to practice with my own life in as many moments that I can. There still lies faith in remembering to take a breath and letting go of perfection so that the moments I have with my family will transform themselves to something more meaningful over time. That takes work.

Each day and every day, in our household, we rely on routine.  Well, when you have as many different personalities and talents in our household, finding a generic “one size fits all” routine does not exist.  Over the years, I have come to terms that new routines will present themselves when the old ones do not work anymore.  Truthfully, I still do get frustrated and am nowhere near perfect in handling the change.  However, I keep thinking back to the creation process of a Mandala and that reminds me of what is Sacred.

What is Sacred, at this moment, is the relationship with family and the memories we create together.  Since my name is also Mother, I need a tool to serve my wellness because I continue to take care of the wellness of my family.  That tool is breath.

Allowing myself to take a breath gives me that reminder that at the center of it all lies my heart.  The heart that loves, the heart that forgives, the heart that asks for forgiveness, and still continues to beat over and over again in order create this beautiful Mandala of moments.

Many Blessings,

​Christina Grossman, M.A, C.A. 
Founder of Sacred Reminders, LLC





All Content and Photos on www.sacredreminders.com are
Property of Sacred Reminders, LLC and Christina Grossman
Copyright 2016-2020             All Rights Reserved

This Seed Mandala, that I created so many years ago, was an offering of gratitude to Nature and the gift of having seeds and plants.  Even during such challenging times that all of us have not ever seen, or experienced in such magnitude, the hope that has shown up in many homes is the gratitude and power of the seed.  

It has been such an inspiring and humbling moment to be present in watching so many  beginning to grow home gardens, vegetables, or herbs. Many of us have been coming back in making salves and infusions for our own wellness.  Others have been learning to re-use and up-cycle what we already have at home.  What it comes down to is that we are gaining a perspective of doing something healthy that can be an essential part of creating a sustainable life of self-care.  Growing, harvesting, creating, and getting back to simple, is a level of ownership and power that may be the avenue to restoring a  level of wellbeing. 

There are many ways in how we have changed our perspective of what is important.  For now, what seeds will you plant in your life?  As for me, self-care is getting back to a level of sustainability to reconnect, even deeper, with the abundance of Nature, to learn and to continue creating what is simple, natural, and at times organic for the benefit of my well being, my family, and yours.  

Many Blessings, 

Christina Grossman, M.A, C.A. 
Founder of Sacred Reminders, LLC





All Content and Photos on www.sacredreminders.com are
Property of Sacred Reminders, LLC and Christina Grossman
Copyright 2016-2020                                All Rights Reserved