New Goddess Art

Here are a couple more pieces of Goddess tiles that I have created over the past couple of weeks. She has really been working through me lately. :) Thank you Mother Goddess.





This first one is my version of a Black Madonna. I am not entirely happy with the baby's face, it seems to have a strange resemblance to Stewie Griffin on the Family Guy. LOL But anyway, it seems to work in the folk art style that I have developed.

This next one is the first in a series of Elemental Goddess tiles. Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth Fire. I like this one alot, the colors all came out just the way I wanted them to. Look for earth, air, and water goddesses coming soon......

My Art and Nature's Art

Here is the next goddess tile for the art walk. This one is a Bee Goddess. I like the colors in it, but the overall design I am not quite happy with. I have another in mind too.

This is Mother Nature's artwork; a yoni in the

watermelon that David cut today. How cool!

Art, A Birthday, and My Beautiful Friend

Since I signed up to be in this month's Art Walk, I have been working on a few new pieces to put up for sale. The first one is of Mary Magdalene. She has always been fascinating to me because of the Gnostic text's indication that she was the wife of Jesus. I love that story and that is why I chose to paint her. The egg is a symbol of rebirth and new life, it is also traditionally a symbol of the boulder in front of the tomb of Jesus. In more recent times it has become the symbol of Mary Magdalene carrying the "seed" or egg of Jesus's lineage. I really like this painting.

The next one is of a goddess or female figure in the style of the old neolithic cave paintings. The spirals are symbols of the cycles of life and the seasons. The triple spiral is a symbol of the Triple or Three-fold Goddess, the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. I am really happy with the colors in this one.

I hope they are well received at the Art Walk. :)

Saturday was David's birthday, his mom and step father came up from Atlanta to visit. It was good for Sophie to get to see her grandparents.

And this is my beautiful friend, Mari. We had a fun day at the lake last week and I snapped this shot of her relaxing. Just lovely.

More of the Cloak

Here is another bead spider and web on my cloak, inspired by the Argiope (writing spider) in my garden. The telltale zigzag web weaving and the yellow/green coloring tell the Argiope spider from others. They are very beautiful and clever. I felt that adding one to my cloak was a good idea.

Off The Mat for a Few Days

Well, I have injured my knee somehow. I don't know of anything that I did, except I was up and down the stairs and exorbitant amount of times on Sunday. Needless to say, I have taken the last two days off from my yoga practice, and though it is feeling better, I think one more day off is a good idea. Though I am missing it terribly, I don't want to risk an ongoing pain in my knee from not letting it heal well. So I have been dong a lot of sitting, which in turn has helped me get a lot of work done on my cloak. (See yesterday's post) It will in fact be finished by the end of this month, which is the general time of my "pagan-versary". [More on that to come] Woo Hoo!
Anyway, I hope to get back on the mat tomorrow, depending on how my knee feels.

Patchwork Cloak Update

My cloak is really coming along. I have put in a lot of time in it this past week after taking a few days off for embroidery burnout. LOL I think it is turning out fabulous. Here are couple of pics of some of the embroidery, some bead work and a spider web and bead spider.

Goddess shrine update

Here is the next installment in my creation of the goddess shrine out of the little box, that David gave me. I have decided that I will create a portable altar/shrine for use in the death midwifery path that I have been called to. I have glued black velvet inside the box. Around it in the picture are some of the things I have gathered to use within. The photo of Isis/Nephthys is because She is one of the Goddesses who calls to me. I also have an incense cone and censor, a tiny statue of Kuan Yin, who is the Goddess of compassion, of whom a death midwife would have need of, I'm sure. There is a tea light and holder to represent fire, a bell to represent air. There will be a crystal of some sort to represent earth and a vial of water or a shell, for water. I am thinking of using tiny eye hooks to hang the three goddess pendents(Nefertiti, Spiral Goddess, & Venus of Willendorf) from the top of the open box. I think I have a good start and it will all be easily packed into the box and taken anywhere that my calling takes me. So what do you all think so far? Any suggestions?

Goddess shrine

I am so excited! David brought me this little box. It was a sewing machine parts box, dated on the top "patented 1889". I am going to make a portable goddess shrine out of it. I am going to line it with black velvet, and put photos of goddesses on each panel. Then it can be taken anywhere, and set up on a table to display the goddesses, also inside can hold a number of sacred objects, and such things as, a tea light, stones/chrystals, elemental objects, tiny amulets, etc. I will post photos of each step in the development of this lovely little goddess shrine/altar. Stay tuned.....

Temple

I promised a post about the temple I created in my home, so here goes. The space is an alcove created when the previous owners converted the double staircase into one. It came with two second floor windows and a wall of shelves. I painted it royal purple, because I love it and because purple is know to enhance spirituality. Along the ceiling there are stenciled names of the Goddess from many cultures. In between those are semi-precious stones. Symbols for the four elements are painted on their respective walls. The altar is in the east and changes with the seasons and festivals, this was at Winter Solstice. A gorgeous Celtic tapestry, gifted by one of my circle sisters, Mari, hangs across the open end to act as a door. The walls are covered with beautiful artwork done by myself and other members of the circle. Its a peaceful, beautiful space and I love spending time there. It is a wonderful place to do yoga and meditate. I like to read and study there occasionally too. The shelves hold all of the books and other reading material related to my spirituality and also related to women centered pursuits, beading, doll making, knitting, writing, child care, crafts, art, etc. Also on several shelves are dolls which are ancient symbols of ourselves, some I made myself, so they are there to honor my creativity and that of all women. There are also some from my childhood, for obvious reasons. All of the figures of various Goddesses that I have collected are on the shelves. I am always coveting more. My favorites are Aphrodite and the Minoan Snake Goddess. The Goddess prayer flag above the window is one I did, based on a design I saw at an art shop. The large mosaic piece of Inanna was done by circle sister, Glorymoon, and is on loan to the temple for now. Isn't it gorgeous!? There is also a six foot diameter, Wheel of the Year on the ceiling, in progress. I will post a pic as soon as it is done. Be sure to click on the pics for a larger view. Blessed be.

Life Goes On

Well, my three older kids are back from a week at their dad's house. The house is no longer quite so peaceful or clean. But I am very glad to have them home. It feels like everything is as it should be now. I do miss them while they are gone, even though it is nice to have that break. Sophie definitely missed her brothers, she's been most happy all morning. Now to catch up on their chores and laundry to get them ready to return to school on Monday.

Last night I was able to work on and finish two goddess tiles for the temple. I am so excited, one is Isis, of course, the other is Bast. Today I will put them in the temple. It is really shaping up nicely. I love being in there. I hope to get the wheel of the year painted on the ceiling before too much longer.

Checked in at the local used book store to see if they had any yoga books. Found one old one called, "Yoga for Your Children". Looks interesting and only cost two dollars. I will stop by the library this afternoon and get a couple there. I am enjoying the yoga very much. Its a much tougher workout than I would have expected. I can feel results after only a couple of sessions; more flexibility, less pain and stiffness. Very cool!