Women In-Spirit

    “Be empty of what you think you know.” Rumi Pathway 30, Subtle Mystery.      In order for anything of value to come into Being it must be nurtured, nourished, paid attention to and held. This is a process that begins with a seed being planted. It is held in the dark embrace of its container. If it is nourished by what we feed it,  soothed and bathed in the healing waters of life, nurtured by the warmth of our hearts and cultivated by our intent it will grow. And I’ll add,  if we can look upon this process with eyes and hearts full of wonder and awe then it is not just the life of the seed that is enriched but truly our own lives as well.      This holds true for anything we wish to create; art, a garden, our spiritual path, healthy and loving relationships to each other and the Earth, and to our selves. It is not enough to just drop the seed and hope for the best. Tending to life takes work, dedication, mindfulness and res...

             Passion flower,   Passiflora caeulea, an exotic looking vining perennial with a quite distinctive  flower seems an especially fitting representation for the energy of this pathway entitled Putting Things in Order. In my continuing journey to explore The Sufi Book of Life-  99  Pathways to the Heart, by  Neil Douglas-Klotz, through art, I am always pleasantly surprised by the images that call to be used and later prove to be symbolically apropos.      It seems to me that during this extended period of quarantine and isolation that many of us have been doing just this, putting various things in order in our lives. I know for myself I have spent time organizing closets, kitchen cabinets, drawers and art supplies (always a never ending battle). Everyday I hear from friends and family busy tackling house renovations from flooring to painting rooms; putting in gardens; and cleaning out garages and ...

Awakened Sight Pathway 27.      Continuing my exploration of Neil Douglas-Klotz’s “The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways to the Heart” through art collage the next pathway introduces us to Awakened Sight. In my last post I delved into Awakened Hearing which asked us to consider experiencing our senses from a different perspective, from a Spiritual one. Awakened hearing asked us to receive beyond what we hear, beyond words, to hear the Universe through our own ears and not through what others believe it should sound like. It too can be a point of reconnection.     Pathway 27, Awakened Sight, asks us to look beyond the thousands upon thousands of images that we are “bombarded” with every day. I know that sometimes I feel overloaded from the constant stream on social media, the news and in advertising. We spend a lot of time viewing life through a screen these days rather than experiencing life ourselves and seeing it with our own eyes. Which reminds me of a tel...

Pathway 26, Awakened Hearing.       What is sound? Sound is defined as “vibration that travels through the air or another medium and can be heard when it reaches the ear.’ That being said everything has a vibration, it’s own pulse if you will; trees, plants, rocks, the Earth, but we don’t necessarily hear them with our ears. We may feel them or sense them which is a different kind of “hearing”, “Awakened Hearing”, As- Sami, which means “the all-hearing.” Pathway 26, “Awakened Hearing” asks us to contemplate where sound begins within ourselves.  Hearing as a spiritual practice asks us to listen more intently.      “We are here to hold within us the consciousness of all the beings that have traveled before us in the caravan of life, and to include the view of  the whole cosmos in our vision.” Neil Douglas- Klotz .      These next three pathways from his book “The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways to the Heart” all deal...

     Ultimately I believe that we continue to experience certain lessons in life, over and over again, until we become mindful of the patterns that we actually have a big hand in  creating. It's easy to fall into the trap of being a victim and of the blame game; conditions, other people, the planets, etc.. Whatever the circumstances the responsibility ultimately is our own.     Life is uncertain. Something may work today and not tomorrow. People can be mean, rude, unfair, cruel and demanding. Things may not go the way you want them to; your current path may suddenly take an unexpected detour and send you spiraling in another direction; or someone you love may treat you unfairly or callously or even fall completely from your life. Things change. Period.     And, what do we do?  We react. We complain, whine, cry, rant and rave about the unfairness of it all. We hide, escape, criticize, and punish others and ourselves, and the list goes on. ...

     The next two art journal explorations in my continuing journey through "The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways to the Heart", by Neil Douglas-Klotz, deal with the opening and closing of our own boundaries. I believe most of us struggle with the setting and keeping of boundaries throughout our lives. Pathway 20, Contracting Boundaries.      To be honest, when I sat down initially to read and collect images for collaging pathway 20, Contracting Boundaries, my thoughts and the images I chose, were decidedly dark. I had been experiencing feelings of hurt and was in the process of closing myself down, retreating to the safety of my cave in true Scorpio fashion to lick my wounds.  In other words contracting my boundaries. I realize though that I needed to sit with those feelings and cry  and get it out, to voice my pain to my Self so that I could clear it. When you stop and witness your emotions their power over you dissipates. I could sit wi...

     Well, if it's one thing I have learned it is that life is always in a state of change. Just when you think you are going in one direction  life decides a detour is in order. The last time I posted about my continuing art journey through "The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways to the Heart" by Neil Douglas-Klotz, I was making a major move and life change. It didn't work out. I moved again, back from whence I came and that's okay. I am happy!      Someone said to me that perhaps I had made an error in judgment, but no I don't believe that it was a mistake. Sometimes we just have to try anyway. I believe these detours reveal something that we needed to see, feel or experience.  Funny thing was I was never so relieved in all my life to  leave a place. In fact I am proud of my Self for not staying. I have a tendency to stay and try to make something work when I know full well it is not healthy or right for me. I am also loathe to disappoint bu...

     A lady bug came to visit this morning. I watched as she intently made her way across the window screen above my desk. How apropos I thought as I sat to write and share about my continuing exploration of the "Sufi Book of Life, 99 Pathways of the Heart" By Neil Douglas-Klotz through the pages of my art journal. The symbolism of this tiny beetle couldn't be timelier; She speaks of a time to work on fulfilling your dreams; of letting things flow naturally; of leaving your worries behind you and to not be scared of living your truth; on being spiritually and mentally inquisitive; of opening to rebirth and joy. Thank you little one. I hear you. Yet another "sign" today...      I love these moments when you have a sudden realization that your life is being mirrored back to you by nature and through art expression. It reminds me to be attentive; to sit in wonder of the connectedness of life and of the beauty in every moment; of the importance of being a...

     Earlier this year I was inspired to create an art journal based upon the "Sufi Book of Life, 99 Pathways of the Heart" by Neil Douglas-Klotz. This is the next set of collages in that journey. These recent pages are concerned with the concentration and focus needed that leads to the movement of creating, with feeling the radiance of creativity working through us and finally to how we can work with this energy to design a new existence in our lives.      Pathway 10 is entitled Concentration. Focusing in on what is important in my life right now helps me to see opportunities that I may be missing. I fortunately am good at finishing projects that I begin but I do realize that at times I take on too many projects at one time and at times projects that are merely distractions from what I should be working on; the all important lesson of learning boundaries and how to say no. Pathway 10 Concentration.       So this is about embodying ...

 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...