My Blog Has Moved

Greetings Followers, Friends, and Visitors:

My blog "Mystical Musings" has moved to its new home at my web site. Visit sacredartstudio.net to continue the conversation here around art, beauty, spirituality, religion, deep ecology, and earth healing. 

For love of the EARTH!
Amy

Artist as Translator

 

"The Translator" 

My latest painting inspired by this poem "Walking the Borders" from William Stafford. (See below) The painting became a sort of self-portrait for me as my work centers around creating a new, visual language through sacred art that illustrates our interconnectedness in the web of creation. You can see her holding in one hand a skull and paint brushes in the other. 

Walking the Borders
Sometimes in the evenings a translator walks out
and listens by streams that wander back and forth
across borders. The translator holds a mint
on the tongue, turns it over to try
a new side, then tastes a wild new flavor,
a flavor that enlivens those fading languages
of cursing and calling each other those names
that destroyed millions by swinging a cross
like an ax, or a crescent curved like a knife,
or a star so red it burned its way over the ground.

The wild new flavor fades away too,
but lingers awhile along borders for a translator to savor
secretly, borrowing from both sides, holding
for a moment the smooth round world
in that cool instant of evening before the sun goes down.

The background shows the Ten Commandments, a moral doctrine that for me is the fading language that has separated us from each other and from the Creation. The new language is one of interdependence in the web of life and the coming ecozoic era where we come back into balance as foretold in the ancient prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, shown flying here wing-to-wing in the sky. In the center, the Hebrew word Ah-ha-VAH translates as Love. (Note: I chose Hebrew as it is the first of the Abrahamic traditions followed by Christianity and Islam.) 

Stafford was a pacifist and conscientious objector during WWII. In his poem, he is referencing the Abrahamic traditions: “those fading languages of cursing and calling each other those names that destroyed millions by swinging a cross (Christianity) like an ax, or a crescent (Islam) curved like a knife, or a star (Judaism) so red it burned its way over the ground.” If we look at history, human beings have been killing each other over religious differences for thousands of years. Consider the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust. And more recently, the white supremacist who killed three people outside a Jewish community center. So, in going back to the Ten Commandments which inform the Abrahamic faiths and culture on some level even if one is secularist/atheist. I was contemplating the sixth commandment (it’s also in a different color in the painting, though hard to see that at this size) that says “Thou Shalt Not Murder.” So my painting, and the poem, is questioning what it means to live by a doctrine that hasn’t worked to ensure peace among us. I honor all paths to God, the Divine, but the question for me is how do we create a new “language” that recognizes our interconnectedness in the web of creation that puts aside our differences in order to ensure a liveable, peaceful, and sustainable future for life on earth?

 

Sacred Art of Amy Livingstone

Signs of Spring, Song of the Lark

Trillum at Tryon Creek Park

THE SONG OF THE LARK

...Whoever listens in this silence, as she listens,
will also stand opened, thoughtless, frightened
by the joy she feels, the pathway in the field
branching to a hundred more, no one has explored.

What is called in her rises from the ground
and is found in her body,
what she is given is secret even from her.

This silence is the seed in her
of everything she is
and falling through her body
to the ground from which she comes,
it finds a hidden place to grow
and rises, and flowers, in old wild places,
where the dark-edged sickle cannot go.

Excerpted From:
THE SONG OF THE LARK
In RIVER FLOW: New and Selected Poems
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press

Intention and The Great Work

New Connexions Magazine. Ganesha ©Amy Livingstone, 2014

Show at the Doll Gardner Gallery. West Hills UU Portland

Opening at the Doll Gardner Gallery. West Hills UU Portland

The Journey

One day you finally knew  

what you had to do, and began,  

though the voices around you  

kept shouting  

their bad advice- 

though the whole house  

began to tremble  

and you felt the old tug  

at your ankles.  

"Mend my life!"  

each voice cried.  

But you didn't stop.  

You knew what you had to do,  

though the wind pried  

with its stiff fingers  

at the very foundations,  

though their melancholy  

was terrible.  

It was already late  

enough, and a wild night,  

and the road full of fallen  

branches and stones.  

But little by little,  

as you left their voices behind,  

the stars began to burn  

through the sheets of clouds,  

and there was a new voice  

which you slowly  

recognized as your own,  

that kept you company  

as you strode deeper and deeper  

into the world  

determined to do  

the only thing you could do- 

determined to save 

the only life you could save.

-Mary Oliver 

  

My intention around expansion for the new year seems to be manifesting these days. (See previous post). I am having a show of my artwork at the Doll Gardner Gallery inside the West Hills Unitarian during the month of March, my 'Ganesha' is the featured artwork on the cover of New Connexions magazine, and I also had a wonderful interview recently with Robyn Purchia at EdenKeeper.org. You can read her article here. We share a similar passion and mission around the connection between religion and the environment. 

We all know the power of intention and holding a vision even when it's not quite clear where it will lead. This is the path of radical trust and faith. I appreciated revisiting this poem from Mary Oliver that speaks to that calling we each have inside us to follow our heart in spite of the voices, or culture, shouting their bad advice. I believe deeply that we each have a gift to bring forward in service to what the late eco-theologian Thomas Berry called the Great Work of our time. We need all hands on deck if we want to ensure a liveable planet for future generations. When I spoke aloud my vows at the end of a ten-day training with environmentalist Joanna Macy in 2002, I committed my life to serving the healing of the earth and the welfare of all beings--human and non-human. That has seemed overwhelming at times but it remains the underlying intention for my life and work in whatever form that takes. Will you join me? 

Macy speaks to three areas of engagement during this era of transformation, or the Great Turning. Perhaps one of them will speak to you. Holding actions (boycotts, civil disobedience); creating new (sustainable) structures and institutions; and shifting consciousness around the reality of our collective interconnectedness in the web of life which has been my primary focus though I have also participated in numerous events and demonstrations around social/ecological justice over the years including the current campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. This year, I plan to share more about ways you might be inspired to get involved though I know so many of you are already doing such great work on behalf of our world.   

Always, it is my love of the earth, beauty, and the intersection where art, spirit, and earth healing meet that feeds my soul. What feeds yours?

New Year. New Painting.

From my January Newsletter: Sign up at www.sacredartstudio.net 

Here we are again, starting off a new year. A new beginning. There always feels to be an expectancy and urgency at the start of a new year, that perhaps somehow things will be different than last year, or the year before that. That somehow we'll get it "right" or "better" this year. We'll be more disciplined in our health, finances, work, relationships, or finally answer that call to something greater than where we are right here, right now. Then when things, i.e., life, doesn't change as quickly as we might like, we fall into disappointment or resignation. Sound familiar? Remembering that we are enough at any given moment takes feral courage. I know this has been true for me especially around my work as an artist and the time it takes to create some of these paintings like the "Wheel of the Four Winds" shown here on my easel (learn more below). In a production-oriented society, when the expectation is to churn out a bunch of paintings every year, my work is devotional and paintings take time to come to life on the canvas. Consider Tibetan Thangka paintings or Christian iconography for example. Art as a sacred practice. In this way, it is a challenge to make a living only with my art but this is where I am called to be right here, right now. Through my training in non-violent communication (NVC), I have learned the practice of self-empathy and am trusting in the journey even when it feels at times that I am failing in comparison to cultural expectations, or my own.

So, during our new year's meditation and sweat lodge at my spiritual community, the word that came to me for the year was expansion. This intention is general enough to hold spaciousness for what unfolds this year in relationships, work, and in life, but without too many expectations loaded on to it. Am I playing it safe in not wanting to be disappointed if I don't touch as many people with my work as I would like or don't meet the love of my life? Maybe, but for me trusting in the path is the path and right now I am simply staying open and listening for guidance. What about you? Any intentions for the year?

For love of the earth!

Amy

About the Wheel of the Four Winds:
I finished Wheel of the Four Winds (30x48") during the last week of the year and is shown here on my easel. Although I read Rabbi Gershon Winkler's "Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism" several years ago, I didn't actually start putting paint to canvas until January of 2013 after a long gestation period. This has been a 4-season journey and I have traveled psycho-spiritually around the medicine wheel myself this past year finding myself once again as we begin this new year in a place of visioning--around life and my work. This insight, however, did not become fully clear to me until I was coming to completion on the piece. Such is the mystery and healing power of the creative process. According to these teachings which draw from the  mystical wisdom of Kabbalah: The North (eagle/Uriel guides), element of water, is the place of soul/mystery out of which we emerge. Journeying left to the West (bull/Raphael), element of earth, we experience a death or period of darkness at some point. Within this landscape we journey to South (human/Michael guides), element of fire, for cleansing and reflection. Emerging in the East (lion/Gabriel), we find ourselves at the place of balance and new beginnings. We then arrive back in the North, the place of vision. Repeating again and again until we reach a higher consciousness. Resonates with my life's journey. How about you? There is a lot of animal medicine in this shamanic painting including the panther, the guide of the upper realm (the place of giving), and the bear, the guide for the lower realm (the place of receiving). While working on the horses pulling the chariot or merkava (medicine wheel) with silver reins, I discovered that this in the year of the Horse in Chinese Zodiac! The transliteration of the Hebrew is tifaret, the place of beauty and balance that lies in the middle on the "Tree of Life" and at the very center of the medicine wheel.

Giving Thanks

 

©2013 Amy Livingstone, Munay Pachamama

Gratitude bestows reverence,

allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies,  

those transcendent moments of awe that change  

forever how we experience life and the world.

-John Milton (17th c English poet)

Beauty abounds this time of year with flaming reds, burnt umber, and yellow ochre spotting the landscape, now giving way to stark silhouettes of graceful limbs swaying against the autumn sky. Barren trees. Silent sentinels. Having just passed into my 54th year of life, I am ever more present to the preciousness of each day passing day and give thanks for the blessings in my life. Like any human being on this journey of life, I've had my share of grief and disappointment (and have shared them with you here over the years), yet I continue to believe that any descent into the dark is an opportunity to break open our hearts and to live more deeply in the midst of life. Or to quote Thoreau, "to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."

As I was sharing with a friend recently, for me living fully hasn't been about bunging jumping off a bridge or climbing Mt Everest but about being as present to life as I can be and answering the call of my heart at any given time which has also lead to some unique adventures! Sometimes I have risked my heart for love but isn't it better to take the risk than protecting oneself for fear of being hurt? The practice becomes learning to embrace it all which is the heart of so many of our spiritual traditions. Grief and praise. 

One calling in my heart was to travel on pilgrimage to Peru in 2006. I attended a lecture the previous year with writer and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams who had just returned from Rwanda. Her book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World came out of that experience. She spoke of her journey to Africa in the wake of her brother's death and her initial resistance in going because of her profound grief. She went on to say, "We can never know where we are called and we can not deny our own evolution or education." Those words and her journey inspired me and felt that it was a message to answer my own call which I had been contemplating for some time. When I returned home, I emailed my confirmation to travel with dear friends from Canada who have a deep connection to Peru and a community there who are sharing the ancient Andean wisdom of the Q'ero with those of us in the North. It was a meeting of the Eagle and the Condor as foretold in the prophecy of the same name.
 
It was a deeply meaningful journey for me and the teachings continue to inform my life, spiritual practice, and art, as you can see from my new painting shown here. The Andean people are so innately connected to their cosmology and express reverence and gratitude by making offerings of cocoa leaves to the water, to the earth, or an Apus (Mt Spirit) as they journey through their day. At the ruins of Tipon, our guide poured a little touch of water from his canteen on to the Earth before drinking. Our Q'ero teacher did the same. Giving thanks to Mother Earth, Pachamama, for her sustaining ALL life on this precious planet. Very simple. As we gather to share in the love of family and friends this Thanksgiving day, may we remember the gifts we receive from the Earth. May we honor both the dark and the light. May give thanks for the bounty and beauty that abounds in this season of life!

About "Munay Pachamama"

Munay (MOON-eye) means love in Quechua the native language of Peru and is the first principle of the Andean spiritual path (knowledge and action being the other two). Munay is an all-encompassing love that also signifies tranquility and beauty. Pachamama is Earth Mother in space-time. The Inka Cross (or Chakana) is an ancient symbol with very complex cosmology and symbolism woven throughout. Here, it was the spirit guides representing the three realms that came forward in my vision. The condor representing the Hanaq Pacha (the upper world of spirit), the puma representing the Kay Pacha, (the world of our everyday existence) and the serpent representing the Ukhu Pacha (the underworld or unconscious). The hummingbird is also revered in the Andes as a symbol of joy, beauty, and resurrection.

Giclee Prints, $125:

16x20" archival-quality art prints available.   

Art as Prayer

From my October newsletter. Sign up here to receive the latest information about shows/events, new art, upcoming workshops, inspirational poetry, and more!

And so begins the turning of the wheel into the darkness. The rains return. All is silent at last. Preparing the landscape for the inner journey of the soul as we move into autumn, direction of the west, and the element of water. As a Scorpio, Autumn is my most beloved season and love rising early before the sun, before the world wakes. I start each morning in the studio with a ritual of lighting candles, with an offering of incense and a prayer for the healing of all beings and for the healing of the Earth. Art as prayer.

In Derrick Jensen's brilliant and heartbreaking A Language Older Than Words, he writes: "Every morning when I wake up I ask myself whether I should write or blow up a dam. Every day I tell myself I should continue to write. Yet I'm not always convinced I'm making the right decision. I've written books and I've been an activist. At the same time I know neither a lack of words nor a lack of activism kills salmon here in the Northwest. It is the presence of dams."  

I hear his frustration and feel his despair around the extinction of so many species and for the devastation that is occurring on our beloved planet as well as his conflict between activism (albeit quite radical) vs. art, in his case writing. With the recent adolescent squabbling about a shutdown of the US government, it seems like things will continue to be business as usual in Washington. I ask myself almost daily what is my role during this planetary time? What is the role of art in the face of climate change and environmental degradation? I believe deeply that we each have a role to play in what the late eco-theologian Thomas Berry calls the Great Work of our time and so many are now hearing the call to work in service to the healing of our world and to co-create new ways of being in community that are sustainable. This gives me hope when it seems our actions often fall on deaf ears with those in power. Yes, we must continue to take actions, write letters, "Draw the Line" against the fossil fuel industry, and make mindful choices around products, etc. but for me, like many of us, the underlying crisis is a spiritual one. (You can read more about this at my Facebook studio page under Notes)  

  

In an interview with Jensen in his book of interviews Listening to the Land, Berry said, "If nothing is sacred, nothing is safe." The earth is not sacred to those who continue to destroy our rain forests, contaminate our water, pollute the air, and kill endangered species for sport. How can a society grounded in materialism and greed reclaim and remember that we are all interconnected in the web of creation? How can our religious traditions inspire their members to reverence the earth, "God's Creation?" This consciousness is already occurring in many temples, synagogues, churches, and mosques around the world which is a great start. Since the beginning of time, humans have been giving expression to the Divine/God/Goddess through art as a way to connect the viewer to the Sacred, the holiness of our existence. Can contemporary sacred art re-sacralize our world and inspire new ways of being? My work is a prayer and a contribution to this conversation.   

How about you? What is your Great Work? 

   

For love of the Earth, 

Amy

Song for Autumn

Greetings and Happy Fall Equinox. Shown here: "Harvest Moon Mandala." The harvest moon is the moon at and about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. (she was stunning this week!) Here, two goddesses hold up the moon. And as Autumn is also a time of turning our energies inward, the bears represent the hibernation or inwardness of the spirit as they march to the west which is the cardinal direction associated with the Fall. The dream catcher in the center adds to this theme where the jeweled net of Indra (from the Buddhist tradition) invites us to remember that all phenomena are intimately connected.

Song for Autumn

In the deep fall
don’t you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,
warm caves, begin to think

of the birds that will come — six, a dozen — to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
vanishes, and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its blue shadows. And the wind pumps its
bellows. And at evening especially,
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

—Mary Oliver

(Original painting and prints are available of this mandala. Contact me via www.sacredartstudio.net for more information.)

Feeling the seasonal shift approaching. That instinctual turn inward like nature herself as the garden begins to die back. Autumn is my favorite season and love rising early before the sun, before the world wakes. I start each morning in the studio with a ritual of lighting candles, making an offering of incense, and saying a prayer (or an intention) that my work may serve the healing of the Earth. May it be so.

Artist’s Prayer

Creator of the Universe,
How infinite and astonishing
Are your worlds.
Thank you
For your Sacred Art
And sustaining Presence.

Divine Imagination,
Forgive my blindness,
Open all my Eyes.
Reveal the Light of Truth.
Let original Beauty
Guide my every stroke.

Universal Creativity,
Flow through me,
From my heart
Through my mind to my hand.
Infuse my work with Spirit
To feed hungry souls.

—Alex Grey, “Art Psalms”

Poem for Inspiration

From one of my spiritual teachers in the Buddhist tradition, Adyashanti.

The Innermost Table

You want me to speak of love

and so I will.

But the Love of which I can speak

costs me all my coins of illusion

and so I cannot compromise its virtues

nor quibble over its price.

This Love is Divine Nectar

a wine found only at

the innermost table.

It has seen endless days

of rain and sun and harvest.

It has been made wise and mellow

by the passing of time

and its refined taste

is uncompromising to those

who prefer their wine young

and overly sweet.

Although at times you may

appear to be swept away

by its dizzying effects

you will find that you have

the clarity of a diamond and

the reflexes of a falcon.

You will remain capable of compassion

and ruthless decisiveness alike.

In one hand

you will hold a feather

and in the other

a sword.

Drink the wine of this Love

and your life will change.

Instead of being a gatherer

of the Divine Light

you will be its shine.

It will be the end of you

and the beginning.

Amy Livingstone: Visionary artwork and earth healing

Poem for a Summer Day

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A little inspiration for this scorching hot summer day in Portland, Oregon. I never feel alone when in the company of stones, the river, or a daisy. You?

The Waking

by Theodore Roethke

I strolled across

An open field;

The sun was out;

Heat was happy.

This way! This way!

The wren’s throat shimmered,

Either to other,

The blossoms sang.

The stones sang,

The little ones did,

And flowers jumped

Like small goats.

A ragged fringe

Of daisies waved;

I wasn’t alone

In a grove of apples.

Far in the wood

A nestling sighed;

The dew loosened

Its morning smells.

I came where the river

Ran over stones:

My ears knew

An early joy.

And all the waters

Of all the streams

Sang in my veins

That summer day.

World Environment Day Portland Oregon

The UN chose our beautiful city, Portland, Oregon to be the host city for World Environment Day on June 5th. World Environment Day is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. We gathered around the world to celebrate, educate, and inspire and to share our contribution(s) around sustainability and ways to serve the healing the earth. I had a booth at the Waterfront, RoZone area and brought part of my "Return to the Garden" installation. Native American drumming and dance opened the festivities. The children enjoyed co-creating the nature mandala which was later offered to the Willamette River, sending our prayers of healing for the earth in all directions. (See more photos at my Facebook page.) The poem that I shared in closing was one I found on the web from Sara R., gr. 4, Red Wing, MN. I dedicate this work to our children, for it is their future we are all working for...and for future generations.  

Earth Dancer

Earth, if you are the land,
then I am the dancer dancing with you,
my toes tickling your nose.

I am the dancer 
I dance all around

I am the salmon
You are the water
I am the salmon who fly in the air,
I am the salmon who dance up the waters

I am the dancer 
I dance all around

I am the bird who dances in sky,
Oh, look at me fly!

I am the dancer 
I dance all around

I am the turtle who goes oh so slow,
But if you look closely you’ll know
that when I do move I’m doing a dance.

I am the dancer 
I dance all around

I am the frog that hops on a log,
Oh, look at me! I’m dancing along.

I am the dancer 
I dance round and round

I am the stars that dance in the night,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
I wish I might dance all this night.

I am the dancer 
I dance round the round

Nurturing the Divine Feminine into Being

"Eve" from "Lovers of Creation" Triptych, ©2013 Amy Livingstone

I bow to all mothers on this day. . . past present and future and for all of those (women and men) who are nurturing the Divine Feminine into being. Here is the talk I gave last year on Mother's Day:

 

Nurturing the Divine Feminine into Being

Abundant Life Center,

Mother’s Day. May 13, 2012

Happy Mother’s Day. It’s fitting that that the talk today is on the Divine Feminine. A day when we honor, celebrate, and remember mothers. What better symbol of the divine feminine than that of the mother. She who nurtures a new life into being. Who BIRTHS…FEEDS from her own body, LOVES, and NURTURES the soul of a child into adulthood.

From the late Irish philosopher and poet, John O’Donohue

Mother,

Your voice learning to soothe

Your new child

Was the first home-sound

We heard before we could see.

Your young eyes

Gazing on us

Was the first mirror

Where we glimpsed

What to be seen

Could mean.

Mother,

Your nearness tilled the air,

An umbilical garden for all the seeds

Of thought that stirred in our infant hearts.

You nurtured and fostered this space

To root all our quietly gathering intensity

That could grow nowhere else.

Mother,

Formed from the depths beneath your heart,

You know us from the inside out.

No deeds or seas or others

Could ever erase that.

Mother…. Symbol of LOVE. For me, this is the heart of the Divine Feminine. Remembering and nurturing the Divine Feminine into being is a journey from head-to-heart. From hatred to love. From power over to power with. From meaningless consumption to a renewed sense of reverence for life and beauty. This will require a radical shift in consciousness to a new way of being in relationship to each other and our world….to the Earth.

There’s a lot being written about the Divine Feminine these days. One of the many voices contributing to this conversation, is spiritual teacher Andrew Harvey. He writes: “The Divine Feminine is initiating a crucial new phase in our evolution: urging us to discover a new ethic of responsibility toward the planet; bringing us a new vision of the sacredness and unity of life.” I believe that without THIS vision...this evolution…our planet remains in peril, and our very survival is at risk. Most of us know that we are facing ecological, economic and social crises around the world. Climate change, species extinction, threats of nuclear war, toxic food sources, and the list goes on. Social thinker David Korten, calls this the ‘great unraveling.’

What we are experiencing is the result of a dominant masculine paradigm, that emerged alongside the rise of monotheistic religions that placed one male God in a position of authority over all humanity and creation. Attempting to extinguish the Goddess in all her incarnations, the Abrahamic traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam suppressed the feminine and subjected women to an inferior position beginning with our first archetypal Mother, Eve. However, what I have discovered through my own spiritual explorations and graduate studies in religion is the way in which these original sacred texts have been subjectively interpreted over the millennia to serve those in power.

For example, the Creation story is believed to have been written during and after the Israelite’s exile in Babylon (what is Iraq today). The ancient creation myths—Enuma Elish and Gilgamesh—were part of the oral tradition in that region. Theologians believe that in an attempt to understand the source of their own suffering and place in the cosmos, the early writers of the Torah borrowed from these ancient myths to write their own story of origin. Therefore, the notion that we are born into original sin, as we have been indoctrinated to believe in Christianity, was not the intention behind the Garden of Eden story. Those of the Jewish faith don’t believe they are born into original sin but original goodness. But without the notion of the Fall and original sin, what is the role of Christ as redeemer? What is the role of the Catholic Church? For me, Christ’s message of love, service, compassion, inclusivity, and a willingness to challenge the military authority of his time, is a beautiful example of the Divine Feminine in practice. Love. Compassion. Inclusiveness. Unity…all lie at the heart of the Divine Feminine. What has excited me in researching these sacred texts, is that we also have the opportunity to rethink, and reinterpret, scriptures in a way that is reflective of our own time…and in support of a more progressive spirituality that IS inclusive.  

Although most of our religious traditions have worshipped male deities over the millennia—Yahweh, Christ, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, etc., the feminine face of god has existed alongside them all along and are now becoming more recognized and gaining in popularity…certainly in the West where the Judeo-Christian tradition has been dominant in our culture. Women and men are seeking out alternatives to traditional religions that are more inclusive and less dogmatic.

• In Judaism, and the mystical teachings of Kabbalah, Shekinah is the feminine divine presence.

• In Christianity, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and also Eve as first Mother, are all now being honored as representatives of the divine feminine 

• In Islam and Sufism, Fatima, wife to the Prophet Mohammed, and the Beloved

• In Buddhism, Kuan Yin, Goddess of Compassion, is worshipped all over world including the United States.

• In Hinduism, there are 330 million gods and goddesses. Although Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu are the three primary male deities, in the pantheon of goddesses, Shakti, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Kali, Durga to name a few all represents aspects of the divine feminine.

• Of course, there is also a whole pantheon of Greek and Roman goddesses, so we are not lacking for images that represent the feminine face of god but we are now at a point in history where the recognition of their own Divinity can support us in bringing back into balance the masculine and feminine energies. We need the masculine as much as the feminine but as we have experienced the scale has been tipped too far towards the masculine--causing wars and ecological degradation around the world. This is why it is so important to nurture the divine feminine into being.

Outside of these religious traditions there has also been, since the feminist movement of the 70s, the revival of the most ancient goddess of all…that of Gaia. Mother Earth. What our indigenous brothers and sisters have always known, is that the Earth is our first Mother. The embodiment of the divine feminine, she is the giver of life. Sustainer of life and worthy of our reverence and devotion. Unfortunately, this hasn’t always been the case given the first commandment to have no other gods than the one god of the Abrahamic traditions. And there are those who strongly hold to their beliefs that those who honor the Earth are pagan, devil-worshippers, and will go to some version of hell. It’s part of the conversation, too, but I feel hopefully that many of our religious leaders are now embracing and encouraging good stewardship of the Creation among their followers. Through a number of mystical experiences, I have come to a deep awareness that no matter who or what we worship (be it a god, goddess, or science)—we are all interconnected and we are all of the Earth.

I want to mindful of not painting an idealized portrait of the Divine Feminine. Love may be the heart of the divine feminine. And yes, a mother’s love is tender and nurturing but it is also a fierce love. This is the marriage of light and shadow. The Goddess, as Gaia, is a giver and sustainer of life, but she is also the destroyer of life as we have been witness to in the large-scale natural disasters that have become more prevalent. And all of you who are mothers know you would protect your young at all costs. When Marianne Williamson speaks she often uses the story of the hyena mother who guards against the rest of the den of hyenas until all her young are fed. In her analysis, females are anthropologically wired to protect their young. For me, the emergent Divine Feminine is likewise asking that we harness both the tender love and fierce love to awaken, heal, and transform our world from one that is unsustainable to one that is life-sustaining—where our children are fed and bombs are no longer necessary.

We now know that the Divine Feminine has been present throughout history but how do we nurture it fully into being? Through us? How do we mid-wife this new era into consciousness? As I stated in the opening, this is a journey from the head to the heart for all of us—men and women. What I’ve learned is that it requires us to break open our hearts to each other and our world. To compassion. To love. To Oneness. Again. Those attributes of the Divine Feminine. I know what it feels like to have my heart broken wide open from my own experience through loss and grief when I was 30. Today is Mother’s Day and I’m thinking about my mother, Jane. She died unexpectedly 22 years ago. Nine months after my brother died from AIDS. It was a very dark time in my life but through my suffering, the dark night of the soul to quote St John of the Cross, I was able to open my heart to compassion for others, for all life. There were many gifts that came out of this period in my life for which am now grateful, though it was hell on earth for a time. 

Breaking open our hearts doesn’t have to happen to so tragically, though it often does happen that way, doesn’t it? But let us not wait for a catastrophe to open or hearts to our world. In my workshops, the first step I offer on this journey of the heart is to slow down, take time for silence and stillness. Contemplation. Coming into awareness of the revelatory miracle of Creation. Mother Earth. There is so much beauty around us at any given moment, if we would we allow ourselves the time to simply BE. Beauty breaks open our heart. Think of a time when you became aware of this. …… pause.  In “Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World,” author and Jungian Jean Shinoda Bolen writes: “Seeing beauty, loving what is beautiful, and nurturing and sustaining it all go together. It is also the ability to sense or intuit potential beauty and, through love, encourage it into existence.” Sounds like the Divine Feminine to me.   Beauty is available to us everywhere even when we’re stuck in traffic. Last Saturday morning, I was crossing the Vancouver bridge to lead a workshop at the Unitarian. It was the first time in 19 years of living in Portland, that I got the bridge lift. Though concerned for a moment at being late, I just turned off  my engine and sat, watching the birds play  in the rafters above me. Listening to their bird song, I breathed deeply into the present moment. I had no control over the situation, so I just allowed everything to be as it was. Allowing ourselves to be more present to life—being with both with the joy and the grief that may emerge when we finally step off the speeding train that is contemporary life—is key to breaking open our hearts and inviting in the Divine Feminine. I believe the most radical thing we can do is to slow down. In this way, we are better able to be present to beauty, to our feelings, to the people in our lives, to God, to bear witness to what is happening in our world and then take action from a place of LOVE.

As an artist, of course, one of the primary expressions for me to nurture the divine feminine into being is through my artwork. First, in the creation of clay sculptures, primarily of the feminine form, much like our ancestors who sculpted the goddess during the Neolithic period. For example, I’m currently completing a series of ceremonial sculptures that represent three seasons of a woman’s life—the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Painting has been my primary medium since my teens and although at one time my work emerged out of the darkness and disappointment in my life,  I now create sacred art that draws from the holy well of all spiritual traditions. Today it is beauty that is my gateway to the Divine. Over the past year, I completed a large-scale, three-panel painting that re-visions the Garden of Eden narrative through an indigenous lens. The overarching theme for the piece became “the Garden is right here, right now.” Paradise is not in some unknowable future, but right here on this glorious planet…we need only remember the holiness of this place we call home. Bringing together symbolism from both the Genesis narrative and those of our earth-honoring ancestors, the painting is a visual scripture that reveals our innate interconnectedness in the web of Creation. Here, Adam and Eve representing the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine, reclaim their roles as stewards of Creation.    

The creative process brings us into the present moment and I believe with all my heart, that we each have a creative gift to bring to the world what ever that may look like for you. I’m awed by people who make art in their kitchen. Fruits and vegetables are so gorgeous!  Creativity is our sacred inheritance. As we are born into a creative universe, so we are all co-creators in our evolutionary history. To quote theologian and founder of Creation Spirituality, Matthew Fox:

To allow creativity its appropriate place in our lives and our culture, our education and our family relationships, is to allow healing to happen at a profound level. The intimacy of creativity corresponds to the mystical experience itself. Mysticism bespeaks union, and there is an ongoing union of us and the Divine (Feminine) precisely during the process of giving birth in any form whatsoever.”

Creating life, being a mother… a parent….is one of the most creative acts a human being can undertake. And I bow to you all on this Mother’s Day. Our indigenous teachers say this is the remembering time. A time to remember our relationship to the Earth, our first Mother… that we are all interconnected in the web of life. I also believe it’s a time for remembering your innate creativity in whatever form that may take to serve the healing of our own hearts…our families…our world.

We may be living amidst the great unraveling according to David Korten, but in the words of my teacher, environmentalist Joanna Macy, we are also in the midst of the Great Turning. This is a time of great transformation foretold by many ancient prophecies when the divine feminine and masculine will come into balance again after a period of near extinction and initiate a new phase of evolution ushering in a renewed vision that honors the sacredness of all life on Earth. May it be so.

In closing, a poem that speaks to me of the emerging Divine Feminine:  

Beauty is the Messenger

Beauty is the messenger

Calling love out from forgotten places

Hidden by worry and fear,

And misplaced under the illusion of scarcity.

War, pain and conflict are all too evident

Between border towns, strangers and commuters.

But LOVE grows exponentially faster.

It IS the speed of light.

So, kindness reaches its destination

Infinitely faster than the time it takes

For the heaviness of cruelty

To chafe across toughened skin.

Beauty is the messenger

Waking up the sense of wonder,

Rounding up our wholeness into connection beyond ourselves

And increasing our capacity for limitless love.

Beauty is the messenger

Proving the incompatibility

Of splendor and malice;

Showing simply by example…

What is possible. 

(-Deb Rodney)

May all beings know peace. May all beings be loved.