Women In-Spirit

       And the journey continues into exploring the tarot through the medium of collage. In this post I will share the Major Arcana cards Hermit IX, Wheel of Fortune X, and Justice XI. A friend and I are creating our way through the tarot artistically and it has been a rich field of discovery. After meditating upon the card I move into finding images that speak to me, I may not understand why they call to be used but I trust the process. Then the creating takes place and finally looking closer to see what has been revealed in the images used. It's always fascinating. I am using The Gilded Tarot as my foundation, my oldest and fondest deck, truth be told.      The Hermit carrying his staff and lantern leads the way. A red bridge extends towards the mountains in the distance and the sunlight illuminates the top of its peak. There are flowers growing on either side of the bridge. A woman sits upon a rock contemplating the path ahead while strangely enoug...

Today is the Lion's Gate, a portal, August 8, 2021 the New Moon in Leo which appropriately is a pathway to the Heart. I love synchronicities, those little moments that line up just so, that make you stop, ponder, recognize and smile. A few days ago the Sufi Book of Life, 99 Pathways to the Heart, Practices for the Modern Dervish by Neil Douglas-Klotz called to me to create once again.  Using the book has been part of my on-going spiritual practice since I "found" it back in 2015. Then one day in 2017 inspiration came to me to explore each path through the medium of collage. I wished to delve deeper into each of the pathways and through creativity and art seemed only natural. Gratitude, Giving Back is the 35th pathway. I have shared each of the previous paths here on this blog if you wish to view them in order. It's been six months since I explored a Sufi pathway through art. I have been immersed in starting a business, Flora Sophia, the Wisdom of Flowers, a real heart...

     The Major Arcana of the tarot are those cards that represent the major themes in our lives, those threads that seem to weave in and out, those life lessons that seem to repeat themselves until we pay attention and make changes to transform them. They represent the structures we build the foundations of our consciousness upon. There are 22 major arcana cards starting with 0- The Fool, the journey begins and ending with the 21st card- The World, completion.       A friend invited me to explore tarot through the medium of art collage with her. So, we have embarked on this deep dive into the cards together. We each create a collage and share the images and sometimes the meanings with each other. It has proven to be a significant practice, one that has brought a renewed sense of meaning and connectedness to the cards. It's fascinating to see the images take shape, the messages uncovered, the Creative at work. In this post I will share the collages I ha...

       A dear friend recently asked if I would be open to exploring the tarot through the medium of collage and of course I said Yes! Art, and collage in particular, invites a conversation, one that speaks to us through symbolism and archetypal voices.  The process and expression ultimately leads to a deeper understanding of ourselves. Our unconscious is given voice, our soul speaks to us, and if we are willing and open we can reach a new understanding through the message being offered. Carl Jung had this to say about symbols;      “Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend. This is one reason why all religions employ symbolic language or images. But this conscious use of symbols is only one aspect of a psychological fact of great importance: Man also produces symbols unconsciously and spontaneously, in the form of d...

       At this writing we are just in the 'dark of the moon' phase before Thursday's New Moon. The night sky is dark as there is no solar reflection off the face of the moon. Within three days a new crescent sliver will appear. Psychically this is a time ripe for inner retrospect, for deep listening. I usually find that I am tired mentally and physically and am instinctively introspective by this phase each month. Considering that we are also in a mercury retrograde I am especially so. It's time to honor and make space for extra rest, for journaling, and for spending time reviewing the past month. Somewhere under this veil of darkness there is something that unsettles me, something I need to hold and release. Holding on to it weakens me, so now is the time to circle round that wound casting it into the light of healing and forgiveness.       This particular pathway The Forgiveness of Light, #34,   falls then at precisely the right time. Some ...

     Considering the current upheaval on so many levels of our society this is an aptly themed discussion on having “Flexible Strength" which couldn't be more timely in my estimation.      Some years back now I was inspired to explore each of the 99 Pathways in the “Sufi Book of Life”, a book written by Neil Douglas-Klotz, through art and the medium of collage. I had been using the book as part of my daily spiritual practice and thought that exploring it through the expression of art would bring me a deeper experience and understanding. And it has! With this post I have now completed my 33rd pathway, I am one third of the way through. The synchronistic manner in which each creative process enfolds, sometimes over the course of days or even weeks; of images that make themselves seen, of how the collage 'becomes' in its own time, never fails to amaze me. It can't be rushed. And the creating of the collage is both separate yet connected with the writing of thi...

    “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...

Pathway 28, The Sacred Sixth Sense.       I am  continuing on my journey through Neil Douglas- Klotzs book, “The Sufi Book of Life- 99 Pathways to the Heart,” by exploring each spiritual passage through art and in particular, collage. Exploring spiritual concepts through the expression of art has brought a new depth of understanding for me personally because I am someone who craves real depth and I relate especially to symbols and their meanings. Collage I find is the perfect medium for this.      I find as I get older or perhaps rather as I become more at home in my own skin I do not want to be chained to labels. By compartmentalizing ourselves into groups we stop our growth or at least stunt it because by excepting that marker you are saying I’ve found my spot and I’m not budging. One can argue that they are happy in that imagined, comfortable place but the universe is in constant motion between stages of birth, living and dying. Nothing stays...

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...