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.