The final three…

Kether: Beginner’s Mind

Da’ath: Abyss of Meaning

Chesed: Merciful Gifts

Technorati Tags: digital collage, sacred art, qabala

These first two (Bridghid on the left, Inanna on the right) were done in August of this year. I just realized that I hadn’t posted them yet.

These are two version of Kether. I’m like the one with the more glowing background, but like the embryo of the other better. I haven’t figured out how to get the just the right affect yet.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think, and what insights/thoughts are sparked by these images.

In the last couple of days, I have finished two new qabalah collages.

I have been collecting images on this one for a while, but they didn’t come together until I found the top image of the woman pointing and screaming. Her rage at injustice, the breaking of chains, and the destruction of a bombed out 1940s London seemed to pull together nuanced aspects of Geburah.

I was inspired to work on Tiphareth just yesterday by something another sister on the path wrote in her LiveJournal about the sphere:

To part the veils of pride…to seek voice in asking for aid…to be the sacrificed one for the many, the devoted mystic.

I’d love to hear your take on both the images and the spheres.

My other qabalah images are on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: qabalah, sacred art, collage, tiphareth, geburah

Last October, I took a class on the Pearl Pentacle with Thorn Coyle at Reflections Mystery School. During an guided meditation in which we expanded our awareness of our being to feel the love of the Star Goddess, I had a vision of “a violet heart as if seen under black light, surrounded and penetrated by the flowing, inky dark smoke of starry space.”

I tried soon thereafter to bring this vision into a digital collage, but couldn’t get the smoke right. I thought I might have to paint or draw this image, but never got around to it. But as always with these spontaneous visions seeking to be brought into this realm, it would not leave me be.

Yesterday, I began playing around with the images again. I knew from the beginning that I would use this image of a heart x-ray. I have used it in several other works, and now my subconscious uses it when speaking to me about the divine heart. I found an image of “substantial” smoke coming from one stick of incense, and used that to begin creating the starry dark smoke.

When I am in the artist zone, several hours can flow by without me noticing. I am following a river of potentials and possibilities. The process, when it is working, feels almost effortless, as if everything falls into place. When it is not working, or when it is time, it is very frustrating — I can’t find the right images, get the right placement, or execute the right technique. And I love the feelings of triumph, relief, and completeness that accompany getting the image on the screen or shrine in harmony with the image before my etheric eyes.

Technorati Tags: black heart, star goddess, pearl pentacle, sacred art, artwork, digital collage

I went to Arizona last fall for a combo vacation/elopement/honeymoon. We traveled to Phoenix, Tuscon, and Sedona, but my favorite stop (besides getting married or hiking up Bell Rock) was the little Mexican import store Suenos, where I danced with glee at finding inexpensive Day of the Dead statues. I decided to buy some Loteria cards. The images and colors struck me as being potentially useful for future collages and such.

I showed the Loteria cards to my dear friend Ryni. Upon seeing the card of the mermaid, titled Sirena, she told me that her father used to call her that. So, I decide to create a shrine for her using that image as a central element. Ryni and I also have a strong bond to water, so a mermaid/water shrine seemed a natural fit.

Soon thereafter, I stumbled upon Kim Antieau’s web site through Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaia Tarot Artist’s Journal and read all about the Church of the Old Mermaids. I was entranced, and immediately went to Ryni (who as of yet does not have a blog!), to tell her about the Old Mermaids — they were right up her alley. But she had beaten me to the punch, having learned about them and their sanctuaries through her own hyperlinked travels.

It seems a foregone conclusion that the shrine morph into a Old Mermaid Sanctuary. The interior of the box came together swiftly. When I saw the original of the image I used for the exterior, I immediately saw a mermaid rather than a girl on her tiptoes. But the first iteration of the exterior did not come together at all. There was something wrong with it.

Playing on the Internet at work one day, I came across a map with the words “Arroyo de Agua.” Yes!!! Use maps as the background!!! I looked for map sources that would fit with the split between the Old Sea and the New Desert.

This Old Mermaid Sanctuary now lives at my friend’s house. Every new moon, she reaches into the box and pulls out a curled scrap of paper. Each holds a suggestion from the Old Mermaids.

I love it when the labyrinth of life leads me to such beauty. Thank you, all you wonderful, talented people who inspire me.

Technorati Tags: artwork, digital collage, church of old mermaids, mermaid sanctuary, Kim Antieau

I want to share with you The Tree Show, an art exhibit in Los Angeles that I found through a posting on Jason Pitzl-Waters’ The Wild Hunt blog.

The Cernunnos sculpture and The Tree of Life study and painting (as seen in this blog) are haunting, creepy, and intriguing. Mark Ryden’s work has a kind of through the looking glass quality that beckons you to step through into a faery world that borders on the macabre. Ryden morphs a post-modern collection of children’s toys, kitsch art, and animistic awareness into a compelling, almost surrealist, vision of the black heart of innocence and wildness in danger of turning malevolent due to threats of destruction.

OK, I’ll step out of art historian mode. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to enjoy the pretentious jargon of that world… and I like to stretch those muscles occasionally. Really, something about this work intrigues me so much that I wish I could hop on a plane to LA right now to see the show in real life.

On Wednesday, I wrote a poem based on the name given me during my Reflections initiation this last weekend.

WaterMaker,
Out of your womb,
Flow the waters of life;
Out of your eyes,
Flow the waters of our souls;
Out of your heart,
Flow the waters of love.

WaterMaker,
Rejuvenate us;
Cleanse us;
Love us.

Teach us how to pour
Forth your compassion
To each other and our ailing world.

I will catch your love and
healing in my arms, in my heart.
And I will share it with
the dry, parched world.

I am RainCatcher.

The poem touched off the beginnings of an image that I am supposed to paint/draw, but I only saw the borders — abstracted ocean waves and river flows.

Yesterday, as I was walking back from lunch, it began to rain — droplets of water hitting my head and face. Yes, this is to be in the image as well — rain drops emanating from the center. But I still don’t see the center. I do some online reading about the Feri guardians, particularly Water Maker.

Today, I am listening to music on iTunes and a song popped up on random two days in a row — “Simbi Dio” from Rhythms of Rapture. Struck by this coincidence, I decide to look up Simbi.

In Haitian Vodun, Simbi (also Sim’bi) is a large and diverse family of serpent Loa (Vodoun spirit) from the West Central Africa / Kongo region. Some prominent Simbi Loa include Simbi Dlo (also Simbi d’l'eau - Simbi of the Water), Simbi Makaya, Simbi Andezo (Simbi of Two Waters), and Gran Simba. Traditionally in their Kongo context they are all associated with water…

Milo Rigaud (City Lights, NY; c1969; “Secrets of Voodoo”) speaks of Simbi as the Vodou Mercury, the messenger of Legba (the Sun). In this aspect Simbi is the bearer of souls to all places, and the creative principle.

As I am reading this, I see the next layer in — a blue water serpent/dragon ouroboros that is spinning and sending off drops of rain from its skin in a whirlpool/spiral motion.

Yes. Yes! But what is in the center? I don’t know until I daydream and loosely word and image associate.

…Spinning…
…Creation…
…Spiral…
…Galaxy???

So, being at work, I go back online and do an image search for “spiral galaxy.”

With a quick intake of breath and recognition, I know. Yes. Yes! That is in the center. I sit and stare beyond the wall, slackjawed at the beauty of the full, moving, breathing picture. Oh! But I want to show it to you.

Now I have the vision, but it is blurry. I cannot see the details. Those will come with the actual drawing, as pencil interacts with canvas and paper.

But I am so excited.

So excited!

When M. and I moved into our new home together, we decided to create shrines around the house. These shrines are works of art that are pleasing to me and to my gods. By creating space for the gods in my home, I honor them and parts of myself that I could easily forget in the rush of mundane life. The shrines also serve as a visual reminder of the important things in my life and as a way to slow down and listen to my heart and my gods as I light the incense and pour the libations.

Our first altar-creating effort together is located just under the stairs in the dining/living room. The intent was for it to be the “family altar,” but as we have lived with it, the meaning for me has shifted. I use this altar as a place to give offerings to the spirits of the house and of the land on which we live. When one of us has misplaced something or if the energy of the house feels wonky, I light the incense and pour an offering of whiskey. We leave a large smudge stick of lavendar and cedar on this altar as well.

Ganesha is one of M’s deities and his shrine lives in a little niche in the front hall. M does daily offerings and prayers of sweets. We have found that Ganesha seems to not like my peanut butter cookies, as we find them usually pushed out of the bowl but not off of the altar and onto the floor.

Also downstairs in the living room is what has become in my mind the family and ancestor shrine. Neither M or I are Mexican, but we have collected some Mexican folkart, and I am a big fan of all things Day of the Dead. We have placed photographs of my family and his alongside some Dead of the Dead sculptures.

In the upstairs hallway, we have created a healing shrine to Asklepios and Hygeia. Here we make offerings of coins and wine as we ask the gods to help us with our healing work (M is a psychotherapist and I am beginning to learn hands-on healing). We have decided with this next month to start a familial tradition of doing a healing rite to Asklepios and Hygeia at the new moon.

In our bedroom, we have created a marriage altar to visually remind us each day to keep our marriage a priority in word and deed and to help us visualize and work toward the kind of loving relationship we want to have.

In my studio, I have my personal working altar and shrine to Hanuman. Each morning I light a green pine-scented candle and reflect on my work with the element of Earth this year. I then light some incense as an offering to Hanuman and ask him to help me open my heart to those I serve and to help me be devoted and strong in my vocation.

If you have shrines, however simple or complex, in your home, I encourage you to share them. I know that I would love to see them.

I have been busy working on my second-year paper for Reflections Mystery School. I have found my work to push beyond the boundaries of the written word to visual art, and I want to reflect that in this paper. So, I have created three images (so far) that will introduce each of the three sections of the paper.

Introverted Healer : The Labyrinth Within and Without

Extroverted Artist : The Eye of Manifestation

Artistic Healer : Holding the Dream

Since December, I have been busy learning more about Photoshop and “riding the dragon” (I think she is green) of creativity by creating more collages. Rather than post all of them here, I direct you to my image gallery. This work has inspired me to do more of my own photography, rather than rely on the vision of others. New work will be posted soon.

Blessings,
Angela