Women In-Spirit

Pathway 6 Support.      I am loving the process that is taking place within as I explore each pathway from "The Sufi Book of Life, 99 Pathways to the Heart" by Neil Douglas-Klotz, through art. As I have explained in two earlier posts I was inspired to take my exploration of this book and its teachings deeper through various mediums within an art journal. So here are the next 4 pages.      Pathway 6- Support.  Something that my Mother instilled in me as a young child was her constant love and support and the importance of encouraging those around you. As a child I knew I was loved, that I was cherished, and that in turn gave me confidence and the feeling that I was safe. This image reminded me of her, she always had a halo of flour and bits of dough in her rings upon her hands. She guided me in life as she did in the kitchen when she taught me to cook. Her hands have always been a symbol of love to me because it was ...

 The Moon of Love Sufi Pathway 2.      The journey of exploring the 99 Pathways of the Heart from the Sufi Book of Life, through the expression of art, continues. I will be sharing four more art journal pages in this post.      As I make my way through the book I find that I have the distinct feeling that I am not alone as I explore my spirituality through art. Sometimes I feel a real pull to start right in on a page and then at other times it seems that it takes days, sometimes even a week to fully prepare and all along the way I feel this presence leading me, sometimes pushing me forward. All of a sudden I know when it is time to sit down and create. Pieces seem to naturally come together.      The Moon of Love, Pathway 2, asks you to look at how you receive love and compassion in your life. It is about creating a space within your self large enough to receive as much as you give. Wh...

         Signe Widestrand, my Grandmother, age about 17.       Women have always been the needle weavers, the creative 'adorners' with an eye for 'dressing up' even the simplest and most mundane of objects in order to make their homes, their clothes, and the lives of their families more beautiful. A needle or a loom, some colored threads or yarn and a bit of time and a room could be transformed from dull to extraordinary.       My maternal grandmother Signe Widestrand Russell, 1898-1993, was quite a talented needle woman and weaver, amongst other things. I inherited her trunks full of hand made sheets and pillow cases, drapes, towels, clothes and table runners of varying shapes and sizes. As I pull the individual pieces from the trunks now I imagine her and her younger sisters all sitting together, heads bent to their intricate work, dreaming of their futures as they w...

      A wonderful book came into my life 2 years ago, "The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish" by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Every day I have used the book in my eclectic spiritual practice believing that if you find a truth that resonates within you then you are supposed to use it in your life. So I thought to share the pages as I create them from time to time in small groups. I won't go into all of the details of each page but rather share highlights. They all contain my thoughts and personal journaling musings.      Sufism is the mystical side of Islam and though I am not a religious person, I am quite spiritual and I find the pathways to be beautiful, wise and quite meaningful at this junction in my life. The pathways have brought me peace and comfort in my own personal journey through grief and many life changes. That being said earlier this year I had an inspiration...what if I started ...

              Time has been on my mind this week. Not in the sense of not having enough of it nor of being aware of even its passing but rather as a subject that keeps coming up in conversations and when a reoccurring theme keeps persistently poking at my attention I take it as a hint and listen.        In a recent conversation I was told by a friend that she felt our spiritual community did not have the time for the depth of connection that I was looking for (hmmm, this gave me pause for thought.) Another conversation with a complete stranger, a harassed phlebotomist in a lab who, spurred on by an impatient person before me who stomped out, went on to consider people and their concept of taking too much of their time. This led to her considering how fast time was fleeting in her own life. She concluded her review with the intention to take three whole d...