It seems like everyone has been talking about the winter solstice this year because of the lunar eclipse that happened on the same day. Winter solstice is always a powerful time to set intentions for the coming year of what you want to create in your life. And so it is the perfect time to collage.
Here is what came through for me yesterday.
Its still not too late to make a collage if you haven’t yet as the solstice energies are still around and can be tapped into for a few more days.
Time is a strange thing that just seems to get stranger and stranger these days.
Its happening all around us. Everyone is talking about how time is speeding up.
And then there are those who can stretch time. Have you ever witnessed that? I have…
Here is a collage about how Time can hypnotise us all and then a moment later it can dissolve like a dream.
Begin to play with Time and see what starts to shift for you.
Step #1 is stop wearing a watch….
I’m blogging to blog today. No photos will be attached. Not much time to get this out either. Just wanted to post something new and get the chi moving here again.
I have been cranking out several new collages lately up in my studio. And in the beginning stages of finding images for a collage that will be called “Roots & Wings”. Its a vision seed for a permaculture labyrinth project I’m working on with a group of friends. More on that soon…
Summer is slipping away fast now. My garden is clearly “going the other way” as my upstate relatives would say. But I do love autumn and all its colors.
Collage is life; life is a collage. Cut, paste and travel the world in style with color and intention, every day, every minute.
Memories from summers past...
Its a muggy summer day here in the ‘Hollow.
I’m getting ready to head west to Michigan for the Great Lakes Retreat.
Its my first time attending this long-standing event which has been going on for at least 21 years. That’s how long my friend, Minnie has been going. She sold me on it when she said,” Its a lot like Hogwarts Camp for adults.”
This is one of my earliest collages that came through as I recalled how connected I was to Nature as a child. I never went to “camp”. My life and my whole home town were my camp- summer, fall, winter and spring. I would disappear daily into the meadows and woods of my grandparents farm. Birds were my main passion. But I loved flowers and didn’t mind insects either.
More recently I spend a good part of my summers in my own backyard in suburbia. I’ve been amazed how on a very small plot of land I’ve been able to co-create a garden that attracts all manor of birds, bees & insects and critters from toads to praying mantis to skunks and coons.
Here’s a collage from a few years back featuring our dear old spirit cat, Peche. And Minnie’s incredible book on linking up with Nature Spirits.
Ah summer time….Let’s soak it up while we can.
I still have water on my mind.
This morning I started up the fountain in my office which had been emptied and turned off for about a week while I was traveling. It was time to turn it on and get the chi of my work flowing again along with it. Water….
Over the 4th of July weekend I was invited to swim several times in my friends’ pool. Such a treat to flit about like a mermaid and lounge in water’s cool refreshment on a hot summer day….
Last night while having a bath my mind began to merge with the beloved element of Water. I wondered if our relationship with water here in the U.S. is about to change drastically. And if so what will be the new normal?
Here is a collage I made back in 2003. I had just returned from a week long seminar on the four elements- Air, Water, Fire and Earth. There I rekindled a new, old love affair with the element of Water. I realized that Water is my #1 Elemental Ally.
Making this collage was a trip down memory lane from lifetimes gone by. It reconnected me with deep, ancient parts of my soul. Water…….
Water is about emotions, sensitivity and fluidity. We humans are composed in large part of water. Did you know that- “In a newborn infant, this may be as high as 75 percent of the body weight, but it progressively decreases from birth to old age, most of the decrease occurring during the first 10 years of life.” ? (Source- Wikapedia)
Water is so powerful. We are just beginning to to understand a bit of its power. If you want to dive into the mysteries of Water I highly recommend you read anything by Dr. Masaru Emoto, such as The True Power of Water: Healing & Discovering Ourselves.
Dr Emoto’s main premise is that all water is sensitive to our words, emotions and prayers. So the more love and grattitude we express toward water the more the water absorbs this vibration and gives it back to us. Just try saying, “I love you and thank you.” anytime you are with water and see what begins to happen.
Water…..
How many times a day are you thinking about the oil spill in the Gulf?
Have you lost track?
Is it like a background hum in your brain by now?
How are you coping with this tragedy? How are you praying about it?
For me it has been more difficult to deal with than 9/11. And living in the suburbs of NYC as I do, and did then, that world shaking event hit mighty close to home.
But this underwater event which seems to have no end in sight has hit a very deep nerve in my being. It is putting my belief that “everything happens for a reason” to the test and then some.
But the true Powers That Be must surely have something very big in store for us with this one. The God beyond all the Gods. Creator. Source. The Universe. The Divine Matrix.
For it is always darkest before the dawn……….
Here is a collage I found in my Collage Quest deck from a few years ago that seems related to the spill’s affect on the beings that live in that ocean and all of our oceans. For like us, they are all connected. And like us they are all weighed down by Mother Earth’s blood spewing into their homes.
Let us help them to hold the vision of their sacred waterways being restored with fresh, clean H2O once again. Let us hold out for a miracle beyond anything we can yet even imagine.
Here is a collage I made about a week before the explosion of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. Wish I could remember the exact date I made this now, but have forgotten. A good reminder to always date one’s work.
The interesting thing about this piece is that the images I used had been hanging around my collage bench for a long time. A few were in a basket together of small images I keep to fish through when I’m in search of some unknown embellishment to a piece. Another one was buried in a pile of random clippings from magazines. Suddenly I had the urge to make a volcano collage and these images all came forth very quickly. The entire thing was finished in about 30 minutes.
I kept thinking about how volcanoes ultimately bring us more color, more beauty and richness. It will be interesting to see what depth of color, beauty and riches come from the event in Iceland….
Breathe, Relax, Tune In and Collage On!
As the Spring Equinox approaches I find myself remembering the last Winter Solstice.
Perhaps it is related to the wonderful You Tube videos about the Maya I was watching this morning….
http://www.shiftoftheages.com/wandering_wolfs_message
This collage came through to me very easily. It began with a reminder from a friend that solstice is a powerful time to do collage.
The the starry background appeared. From there I felt to use only very small images sprinkled over it. As I dug through my collage bench stash of images these are the ones that came forward, asking to be part of the solstice seeding.
Spring Equinox is Saturday, March 20. Another great time to do collage……..
For me collage is really a form of meditation. It has a way of instantly relaxing me and I slip into a very quiet place. I often play instrumental music when I work. Music with words seems to keep me too much in my left brain so I avoid that. But sometimes I listen to favorite spiritual authors on tape like Robert Moss, Marion Woodman or Gregg Braden. Their work on dreams and the Divine Matrix is a close cousin to my type of collage work so it can be really interesting to listen to them and see what unfolds from my stack of images….
Here is a collage that was born in two stages. For a long time, several years as I recall, this was just two images- the cathedral scene with the monk in the background and the meditating Jesus statue.
Then one day I suddenly realized that it was missing something- a photo of Eckhart Tolle whose work often references Christianity and Buddhism. It was as if until I added the Eckhart photo I didn’t really know what this collage was all about. For me it speaks of the mysterious years where Jesus disappeared and we don’t officially know where he went. I believe he was off studying meditation and learning to do “miracles”. Somehow was taken out of the sacred texts and kept secret from us until very recently.
Today’s theme for me is a familiar one~ BREATHE!
I listened to a wonderful radio show this morning hosted by The Barefoot Doctor, Stephen Russell. It was on The Power of Breath. Just listening to him and his guests talk left me feeling so much lighter and more spacious.
It reminded me of this collage I made to connect with the element of Air.
When you sit down to collage consciously as a spiritual practice where you open up to Guidance from your soul and beyond, Step #1 is to BREATHE deeply and fully. This will allow you to begin to relax and switch over from your left brain to your right brain where you can create more freely.
Really, Step #1 for anything and everything is BREATHE!
Notice how connecting to your breath begins to shift your collage work and your life…..
TTFN
