Reflecting on her early fame, Mariska Veres once told the Belgian magazine Flair: "I was just a painted doll, nobody could ever reach me. Nowadays, I am more open to people. "
It is each human being’s duty to respect animals and to truly seen them as beings that are not only alive; they are also conscious and feeling. - Rosicrucian Declaration of Human Duties article 14
"There is more power in blue jeans and rock and roll than the entire Red Army." - Régis Debray
In my series about "Great Women Initiates" I’ve been talking about women like Jeanne Guesdon and Irène Beusekamp-Fabert, both Grand Master and both great mystics, but virtually unknown to the public at large. About our mystical Queen Juliana and her "Rasputin" the infamous Greet Hofmans, both women who were greatly misunderstood by the public.
Now it’s time to picture a woman who was famous all over the World, but almost nobody knew that she was a true mystic.
Ask a Russian what’s his all time favourite pop song and he’ll answer Shizgara! Shizgara what? Despite the fact that the heavily controlled Soviet mass media totally ignored much of Western popular culture, the Shocking Blue song quickly became a popular hit in 1970s Russia. The Russians however, didn’t know much English back in the seventies so when they heard: She's got it, Yeah baby she's got it. Well, I'm your Venus, I'm your fire at your desire, they heard Shizgara (she's got it).
"Venus" is a 1969 song by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, which the group took to number one in the Billboard top 100 in the U.S. and five countries across Europe in 1970. The song's lead vocals were performed by Mariska Veres.
The following article is a loose translation of an article written by her lifetime partner André van Geldorp.
Mariska Veres, is a name that will speak to the imagination of many all over the world! She truly personified Venus, the Goddess of Love: warm, selfless, loving.
In 1970, our little country was put on the map when Mariska with Shocking Blue first arrived in the U.S. charts with the song Venus. Since then much has been written about her, in various languages, but little is known about the "Mystical Mariska."
Perhaps it was all in her genes and did music and mysticism run into the Verus family: her father was a Hungarian gypsy Lajos Veres,(the elderly maybe remember him for his beautiful violin play) and her mother (a French-German of Russian origin) possessed a high degree of sensitivity (her father, with all his superstition, used to call her mother "boszorkány", which means witch).
Mariska once told me a very impressive story, about the transition of her mother (this happened in 1986, one year before we got to know each other) and which time and again deeply emotioned her. Her mother suffered from a stroke and she’d been taken to a hospital (where she died two days later). Mariska was in the family home laying on the bed of her mother when she suddenly saw an apparition of her mother. Her mom’s manifestation hovered over Mariska and she took her face off like a mask. This taking off of her mother's face corresponded with the exact moment of her death in the hospital. This way – symbolically - she said farewell to her daughter.
What kept Mariska busy for a long time is, that just a couple of days before her mother's stroke - in a flash - she saw a skull superimposed onto her mother's face. Shouldn't she have better told her so? It would have made very little difference. Medical test wouldn't have revealed anything about the impending tragedy; which was of course only to emerge somewhere in the future.
When Mariska's favourite cat "Lijsje" died,she also had a special experience. She made a drawing of it later; there were beautiful golden rays shining from the animal.
Another remarkable event took place not so long ago. The mother of our keyboard player had died and they were making an assessment of the home content. His girlfriend called and told us, that they'd found a deck of tarot cards. Since she knew that we were also interested in it, she asked us if we had book on the tarot, so they could learn to work wit it.
Mariska however told her that was such a book that came with these cards! She said (and I still hear her say): "You will find the book in a revolving bookcase next to a book with a blue cover, and the book itself has either a pink bookmarker or ribbon.” And so it was…
Mariska herself was the one who’d usually be the most surprised and always said "Crazy huh? That’s right", which illustrates that she was not consciously doing it. It "happened" when she was in contact with people, but also in houses or streets. Who knows The Hague a little will know that between the Paviljoensgracht and the Wagenstraat there runs a little alley. To avoid having to walk completely around, we often walked through that alley. A few times it happened that Mariska stopped and said to me: "I dare not go there." She wasn’t feeling well there. The friendly coordinator of the small theater “De Poort” (on the Paviljoensgracht) told her that that this was the very spot where in the war, Jewish people were forced to assemble in order to be deported to German death camps! Nowadays you would not tell so, because this neighborhood is loaded with Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs who have a little shop here. But back in those days it was a genuine Jewish neighborhood, with a synagogue (which is now a mosque).
To continue the story in this atmosphere: at a certain point Mariska didn’t want to sleep in the dark anymore and consequently even in the hotelrooms we’re we stayed after the shows, she always kept a light on, because it happened more than once that Mariska, in a dark room, saw pictures on the wall. Also on the screen of the TV even when switched off, she saw these images. These images used to be in black and white: people running away in panic, while in the background a bridge was bombed by an aircraft. To her great surprise she saw - some days later – these very images on the news. The beginning of the civil war in former Yugoslavia was a fact…
Another story took place at home with some acquaintances in Amsterdam; it was a relaxed and pleasant evening. Suddenly we all noticed that Mariska was not quite with us, and that she started talking about what she observed. She saw a gate opening and there stood - hand in hand - a granny and a little girl on a beautiful lawn with flowers. The little girl wore a pink dress, told Mariska.
One of the people present turned completely pale, since the little girl which Mariska had just described was his deceased sister and the dress she allegedly wore (and in which she was also buried), was her favorite dress. Mariska said that the album of verses (in Dutch best known as poesiealbum) of the girl had to be examined (the boy confirmed that there was indeed such an album at home with his parents in a cabinet). She advised them to read in it, since the album would comfort them and give them strength.
But did the story end here? No, since during another visit (at the boy’s home) Mariska's attention was drawn to a picture.
It was a picture of his sister, a picture taken at her first communion. Mariska was staring at the photo and saw the the girl's face age, to how she would have looked now if she hadn’t died at such a young age.
I think we can safely say that she had a very high degree of sensitivity. Mariska was also very talented and prolific in the field of Rosicrucian healing techniques. She helped and treated friends and acquaintances with a.o. severe back pain. One woman who was literally frozen in place was so happy that after her treatment (which Mariska called magnetizing) that she spontaneously started dancing.
Mariska, plain and simple as always said: "Quiet, just take it easy” but she was so happy that for the first time in ages she had no pain, that she just wouldn’t relax but dance in stead.
The same happened to a woman who severely suffered from knee pain. She asked if Mariska would give her a treatment and afterwards the woman walked the stairs up and down, and again and again! She then asked Mariska to regularly treat her which she of course did and where she also applied the technique distant healing. Healing in which people seek to help patients simply with the power of the mind.
In the field of vibroturgy (which she called "psychometrie") she amazed many (including me). On the basis of an object (a jewel or a picture) Mariska was able to tell a lot and in great detail, about that person. She would cry spontaneously, but that weren’t her tears but those of the person on the picture. She also felt the pains of others and thus it came to pass that she suddenly became anxious and short of breath. But fortunately it was not all gloomy, since Mariska was occasionaly asked to foretell the sex of an unborn child. With one exception she was always right!
In the sphere of auras, also a subject of our rosicrucian studies, Mariska had some special experiences. Just to tell you one anecdote: One evening she was with some friends involved in what she jokingly called magic (laying out the tarot cards, vibroturgy, pendulum work). The room was dimly lit and suddenly blue rays shone from her fingertips, 10 inches long! This was no imagination, since all the onlookers watched this. Mariska - as always - was surprised herself, but at the same time, simple and with cold logic. But it was definitely very special.
As if it were yesterday do I remember our first acquaintance with AMORC. Opposite the Grand Lodge of the Netherlands in The Hague, Groot Hertoginnelaan 36, there’s a water garden, which Mariska used to call "with the ducs" and where as a child she often played (among other things to pick roses). While we were sitting there so often and pondering we looked over our shoulder to the street-side, where the lighted windows of AMORC seemed to invite us. Wondering what was happening behind those walls, it was mesmerizing.
After reading some books about the rosicrucians we decided to ask for a brochure "Mastery of Life". After studying this we decided to apply for a personal interview to answer some of the remaining questions we still had. The rest is rosicrucian history. Mariska was a member of AMORC till the day she died...
Mariska Veres, a very loving, caring and warm person with a big heart for her fellow human beings and animals (she was once designated by a journalist the "Mother Teresa of stray animals" and, let's not forget, a very talented singer with a unique sound. There is so much to tell about the mystical side of Mariska, but that would require too much time and space here...
Only once in a man's lifetime, if you're a lucky man, you may get to know your true love, the love of your live, your soulmate. I'm very fortunate that it happened to me. Dear Mariska, our souls are linked forever and ever, eternally!
FINIS.
http://www.rosicrucian.org/about/mastery/mastery.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEhQugz-Ew&app=desktop
