Awakening the Elementals, 2012

Often my inspiration spring boards from a snippet of song, some overheard words, or a found image. This piece was inspired from a vision that my husband M had and related during a Espiritismo misa (a rite for communicating with the spirits and ancestors). He saw a “wavy cross with an eye at its center.”

Over the following days, this image seed planted itself into my inner vision. I asked M if the cross in his vision was one like the Crucifixion or an equal-armed cross. Equal-armed it was, and I immediately associated with the symbol of an equal-armed cross in a circle, which is the ancient elements coming together to form the world.

I began with a textured layer of black, white, and gray — chaos and cosmos and everything in between bursting from the center of the canvas. Then I layered the colors I associate with the elements (Yellow for Air, Red for Fire, Blue for Water, and Green for Earth) in the four quadrants, so that each contained parts of all peeking from underneath the surface.

The eyes were the most surprising part of this painting for me. Originally I had planned for just the center eye, but I felt that each element wanted its own eye in addition to that of Spirit in the center.

On a canvas this small, I paint leaning over quite closely to the piece. (My eyesight is not so good and I need a new prescription.) As I put the finishing touches on the eyes, I felt a CLICK and a WHOOSH of energy sweep up from the canvas and into my body. YES, the elementals had definitely woken up!

I gifted this piece to M to remind him that his visions (when he lets himeself acknowledge them) are strong and true.

Blessings from a full and open heart,
Angela

It has been quite a while since I have last written. This winter brought my struggles with depression to a head. I have not wanted to write about that, nor pretend that it didn’t exist. Hence, the radio silence.

I have been busy in the studio. I have several new works to share here and to exhibit. I am showing at Artomatic this spring. If you are in the DC area, I hope that you make some time to come out, support the local art community, and take a look at my new works.

I have also been playing around with Instagram on my iPhone. I’m a terrible photographer, but the filters on Instagram make me look good. The image above is from Gwynn Falls Park in Baltimore. I fell in love with the rich textures of the moss on the walls.If I still have any readers here, please drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

love, Angela

O holy Brighid of the Eternal Flame
You who inspire the hearts and minds of the poets, warriors, and healers,
You of the flaming hair and starry cloak,
We honor you and give you thanks.

You breathe the words that evoke beauty, honorable deeds, and commitment.

Your spirit incites us to do great things beyond what we think we are capable of.

You lay your hands upon us and heal our hearts, bodies, minds, and spirits.

O holy Brighid of the Burning Forge,
Temper us in the heat and pressure of life,
That we may be strong and steady.

O holy Brighid of the Sacred Well,
Quench the thirst of our bodies and souls,
That we may be compassionate and true.

O holy Brighid, today we call to you
Inspire us.
Temper us.
Strengthen us.
Heal us.
Work through our hands and speak through our mouths,
That we may make this world a better place,
That we may live in freedom and fullness.

Blessed be.

I’m very excited to be conspiring collaborating with Frank Stormcatcher again. We met last night and made some plans for a working that would be powerful, meaningful, effective, and inclusive. The intent is to prepare and protect the physical space on a spiritual and psychic level for the future stability and growth of the community. If the physical community is a container for the good of the community, then our magic will wash that container, strengthen it, and then fill it with the blessings of the community and the Divine in its many forms and faces.

With that in mind, I want to invite those in the local community who desire the community center to succeed and flourish to join us in this work on Sunday, November 13, 12:15pm at the OHF community center, 1502 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Washington, DC. Circle will begin promptly at 12:30pm with potluck lunch to follow.

Photograph of Frank Stormcatcher at the Jefferson Memorial Samhain Drumming by Eric Eldritch, 2011

Five Generations and Rosemary, originally uploaded by Ninth Raven.

These are my maternal ancestors, photographed in Oklahoma in the mid-1920s . The baby is my grandmother’s older sister, Hazel Fulmer. The woman holding her is her great-grandmother, Betsy Strickland. Clockwise from her is my great-grandmother, Mabel Fulmer; her mother, Betsy McWhorter-White; and Granny Gepford, Hazel’s great-great-grandmother.

I never met my grandmother’s sister. I did know my great-grandmother Mabel. She lived the last few years of her life with my grandmother and died when I was about thirteen or fourteen.I didn’t really know these women, but their blood runs through my veins. I know that they were strong, capable women who managed homes and farms, who traveled in covered wagons from Illionois to Oklahoma, who midwived babies, who made herbal remedies, who knew more about how to survive with very little than I can imagine.

I feel thankful and strong and humbled looking at this picture. These women gave everything for their family–and ultimately me. They believed in the future because they lived in the present. They had to to make ends meet when their husbands labored in the flour mill, while they and the children worked the family farm.

How can I not honor them? I may not have agreed with them or gotten along with them, if we had known each other. But I hope that they would count me as a strong spirit, willing to do what was necessary to live and make the world a better place for my loved ones.

On this Samhain, what lessons do you live, what messages do your Ancestors give you from your very bones?

“When We Talk to Our Dead, They Talk Back” ancestor altar,
installed at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA,
for “Dia de los Muertos: The Art of Remembrance” exhibition, 2011

How do we relate to problematic ancestors, family secrets, and past betrayals of faith and trust? Honoring the ancestors seems to imply that you accept them and their life choices. But who doesn’t have issues with their blood family? Can we really look way back into our family tree to those ancestors we never knew and ignore the ones we actually had relationship with?

I am the daughter of two Spiritualist mediums who, when I was young, channeled discorporate entities on a weekly basis for the public. I wholeheartedly that the dead lived on as spirits and could communicate directly to the living. The world was a magical place where all things were possible. As I got older, I was introduced to some of the family trade secrets. Not able to see anything real beyond the illusion, I turned my back on the religion of my family.

But beyond the showmanship of Spiritualism’s physical phenomena, the ancestors continued to call to my heart. As an adult, I have struggled with what is real, hoping that the world wasn’t as cold and empty as I sometimes saw it.  As a Pagan priestess over the past ten years, I have walked between the worlds and experienced the spirits directly without the mediation of mediums. And yet, I still feel mired in a morass of self-doubt–is what I am experiencing real or am I making it all up in my head?

As I cross into middle age, I grapple to understand my family’s past and hold compassion for myself as I explore the intersection of what is real and what is illusion. I am starting to come to peace with this part of my past. As the slate on the altar reads: The Sight is real, the Show illusion. I honor my experiences because they give me insight into the complexities of life lived in a world filled with contradictions. Nothing is what it seems at the surface, especially if it seems simple. Decisions that others may judge easily and quickly as right or wrong are full circumstantial caveats, if one really looks at the constraints and motivations of the people living with those decisions.

]]> http://www.nineravens.com/archives/problematic-family-history/feed/ 3 http://www.nineravens.com/archives/short-film-remembrance-dionysus/ http://www.nineravens.com/archives/short-film-remembrance-dionysus/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:16:02 +0000 Angela http://www.nineravens.com/?p=445 Damn, I am excited.

I am transfixed, mesmerized, and pulled inexorabily forward into the world of this film: go to Youtube.com to see it.

I remember in my late teens and early twenties being fascinated by Dionysus, but never quite having the courage to surrender fully to the madness and the ecstasy.

This film, by Brielle Siomone Greenburg, is brilliant.

I am in awe of her muse.

With the upcoming transition of Celebrants on my mind, I offered a working experiment at our monthly Circle of Connection yesterday. It was an experiment that was quite elegant in my head, but I wanted to see how it would play out. The Becoming folks are nothing if not adventurous when it comes to such experiments. Some of our members are familiar with tarot; others not so much. We used the Gaian Tarot (the fan-girl edition as I call it) because they are nature based (like our group) and work well with people who are unfamiliar with tradition tarot meanings but willing to be open to the images.

Our intent was to use the cards as a way to ask and listen for a blessing from the Heart of the Universe, the core energy of Becoming, and our individual Divine Sparks.

I shuffled the cards and explained the steps in the working. Each person in the circle drew a card and held it face down until all cards were drawn. We then looked at our cards to examine the visual image. What drew the eye? What colors, shapes, animals, plants, people were present? What were they doing? How did the card feel?

We then closed our eyes and recreated the image of the card around ourselves. What did we notice now? What sounds, tastes, textures, smells? What was hooked our attention? What were people, plants, animals doing or saying? Where were we in the scene?

Opening our eyes and looking at the card again, we noticed what was absent in our imagination that was present in the card. And what was absent in the card but present in our imagination? What message was the card telling us? What blessings was the card giving us?

I asked everyone to use the phrase “May we…” to begin the blessing from their card. I said a short intro to the prayer and then we went around the circle, showing our card, and giving the blessing.  Here’s what came up for Becoming this day.

We call to the Heart of the Universe, the core of Becoming, and the divine spark within each of us to give us a blessing.

[Canoe] May we have the vision to see our destination clearly and the discipline and strength to get there.

[Elder of Fire] May we honor the diverse paths and perspectives that we all bring to Becoming and that contribute to the spirit of Becoming.

[Explorer of Water] May we fearlessly meet the challenges and adventures along our path.

[Elder of Earth] May we continue to spin the threads of connection between us and other people, between us and Nature, between us and the Divine.

[Bindweed] May the ears of Becoming never be closed to the song.

[Ace of Air] May we receive the blessing of the root of the powers of air, the mediator of fire and water, the balance which cannot exist without both. As the butterfly’s life depends on the flowers, the flowers are sustained by the butterfly—so Becoming is blessed by its members and its members are blessed by Becoming.

[Child of Air] May we be filled with grace and peace. Although we have our own paths, may we remember that we all fly together.

[Ten of Fire] May we be able to burn away the things we no longer need so that new growth may arise in their place.

[Elder of Air] May we always hear the simple music in the melody of the wind. Even if the birthplace of Becoming is beyond the horizon, together we will always have a home.

[Four of Air]May we bring all the needed pieces together to create a home to nurture us in growth.

[Five of Air] May Becoming be blessed with leadership that inspires us to connect with one another and the outside world.

[Child of Water] May we be like children before the universe, willing to wade into it and explore it, willing to stand in it and experience it.

[Guardian of Earth] may we all be good stewards of the earth. May we have the serenity to recognize the small thing that helps us achieve that task. May we also recognize those whose loyalty we have engendered to help us along this path.

Heart of the Universe, hear our prayers.
Core of Becoming, hear our prayers.
Divine Spark with Us, hear our prayers.
Blessed be. So Mote It Be.

I noticed a few things about the cards we pulled. Five out of thirteen were Air, which is the element we started studying on Sunday for the next three months. We pulled three Elder cards and two Child cards. All our numbered cards speak to beginnings and transitions. And the two Major Arcana cards speak to freedom of movement and displine, and the lack thereof.

Once again, I am in awe of the inspiration and beauty that Becoming members find in themselves when we connect to that rich source of divinity in circle together.

Blessings be to the journeyer; blessings on the journey.

I’ve been working on this piece for two and a half years. It was supposed to take only two months. The vision from the Baron was so clear. I felt all I had to do was gather the pieces and put them together. And yet it took so long.

If I have learned anything in creating art work for the gods is that the work happens on their time frame, not mine. They guide my process, spurring me to climb the stairs to my alternately freezing cold or sweltering hot studio on the third floor, when it suits them. They show me what they want and are loud and clear when I put something in the piece that they do not want — even if it “should” work.

Today is Memorial Day. My plan was to work on some writing projects. But no, the Baron had other plans. I had sweated for hours working on his shrine yesterday — surely that was enough. I wanted to work on my other projects coming due (or overdue). About an hour of stop-and-start writing, I was antsy and couldn’t concentrate. I need to move and do something with my hands. So, it was up to the studio to put the finishing touches on the shrine. And three hours and a damp shirt later, it was proclaimed done. I ate lunch and then decided where to hang it downstairs.

Somehow I am not surprised, now that I actually think about it, that the Baron wanted his shrine finished on Memorial Day — a day we are directed to remember the men and women who joined the Ancestors in defense of our nation.