Shaman dancing power in

 

Well its been a while since my last post, & a lot's been going on,  not least the wonderful Conference on Shamanism at Gaunt's House earlier this month. A long w/e where many of us involved in contemporary shamanism met, networked, made ceremonies together & were blessed with inspiring presentations & workshops.  The circles I sat in there are my inspiration for sharing this painting this time.  

Many of us work in circles , on our own and with other people, circles into which we call our Spirit Helpers & Teachers,  call on our ancestors, pray for healing, call to the Spirits of a Place, make prayers,  blessings & celebrations,  ask for help & give thanks.  Circles which make safe sacred space in which we can both  face our fears, &  open like flowers to the light. 

I painted this one  to describe my seeing/feeling of sitting in a circle of people whilst a Shaman danced with his Spirit Helpers and his Rattles  and moved around us all, calling in the Spirits before the work we were to engage in. My experience was of power like many threads becoming ordered, weaving the shape of the circle that then held all of us and our work.  The painting - I hope -  says more than these words,  or I wouldn't be a painter.  I don't know why the figure is in 2 halves - I did realise during the painting process,  but got  firm NO from my Spirits each time I thought of changing it,  so thus it stays..

A big thank you to the power of the circle,  and to Mother Earth who is always supporting us.

Pebble Labyrinth

I made this labyrinth in our barn out of pebbles from the gravel in our yard. I made it for the winter solstice 2007 - and my partner & I walked it each day.  It is 6 years now since we bought our home here in West Wales,  but that winter was the 1st one since we moved here lock stock & barrel & sold our flat in London, where he had still been working during the period of renovating this place. 

I made the labyrinth in a sacred manner with the intention of walking it as a meditation or ceremony,  but I didn't know how it was going to support & feed us through the shortest days of our 1st winter living here together..

We walked it every day from the solstice until after new year - without having planned that, it just grew that way.  It was a very gentle ceremony, one of us would play music, or sing, or make a rhythm as a focus of support while the other walked, & stayed in there as long as they needed to.  It wasn't something we talked about at great length either,  but it held  & fed us  through the quiet winter holiday days that year. 

It is a beautiful thing to walk a labyrinth - there are many different shaped ones from different cultures,  and what they have in common is one route in to the centre & back out again - as opposed to a maze which is a puzzle presenting you with choices.  They are ancient symbols , open to different interpretations, & for me  an experience of gentle clarity & focus..

After that I sewed a labyrinth on a big cloth , which I have used as a ceremony with small groups of people here since ;  and now I am planning an outdoor one,  here on our land, which will have the space to be much bigger.  It is calling me..  but it wont happen until after our neighbour has cut the field for hay..  & that in turn depends on the weather. 

When the time is right no doubt it will feed us and those who walk it, and above all the land itself in unforseen ways.. 

one step at a time

Looking through some photos of my work for my next post I found  this monoprint which I haven't looked at for a while.  Yes those are prints of my hands & feet imposed on the drawing, so you can imagine the scale.  As is the way with these things I came upon this when I need to hear its message again..  

When I made it I was  following intuition in a fast series of drawings as I have described before,  &  it came with a strong physical knowing of what it  feels like to be rooted like a tree..

I have been enjoying time with friends during the gap since my last post which is lovely,  but there's always that other pull  " but you haven't been in the studio.." & then  - which seems downright perverse - its hard to get back down to work.  What's the lesson ??  One step at a time.

enjoying the land..

well,  despite my good intentions its been a while..   I've been busy with shamanic work - doing journeys to ask for help for people, which I love doing. 

Also I am on a roll with new paintings and they take a lot of time & energy. The way I am working is slow,  building more abstract ones this time,  with shapes taken from drawing out in our fields,  then spending a long time mixing colours so that they will work well together.. serious play.. And once again being guided by my Spirits.  Sometimes I don't know where its going & its another nervewracking excercise in TRUST !!

The paintings  I have posted above are from a while ago, & work with those same principles really. They are contemporary with the 1st one I posted up in June.  After that 1st image came from journeying with my Spirit Helpers,  I did loads more, filled a sketchbook & then many of them became full paintings.  A group of them, like those above, are quite small - 8 by 10 inches in old money - like chips off the original experience & image..

Something I haven't even mentioned here is my lifelong love of many kinds of music. I play CD's a lot when in my studio.  Today Bach's B Minor mass came to mind & I listened to the whole thing while painting.  My Shamanic path is about surrendering my gifts to Spirit  to be used to speak out in the world , & my current paintings are a celebration of this land.  I felt buoyed up by the beauty of Bach's music & his text about spirituality, death & life.  I'm not a christian, but I feel that Bach's faith was so true that  his music resonates with the beauty & pain we all know on our different spiritual paths ,  beyond the limits of his religion .

ABUNDANCE - Don't forget to PLAY !

Sometimes I do lots of monoprint drawings in quick succession,  which always takes me somewhere unexpected.  This one is called ABUNDANCE & was the final one in such a series. For printing like this I ink up a board with oil paint with a roller, & lay a piece of paper over it, & draw mostly with my hands.  When I peel the paper off, the image is the other way round, a mirror version.  This figure is a goddess of abundance, with her 2 pairs of hands showering fruit & flowers, stars, birds & the moon..   I wasn't in a happy place at all when I started drawing,  but doing a series without stopping to look or think much, allows change to come in,  & this image was a joyful surprise at the end.  Time to say thank you!

This Tree watches me..

When I sit at my laptop at my kitchen table,  and look up out of the window,  this Tree is directly in my line of view.  Of course it doesn't look like this now,  in July,  I took this photo last winter.  I immediately see a face in it,  a stern, older face;  & even now when She  (as I think of her)  is hidden in waving summer leaves,  I am aware of that strong structure inside.

She reminds me to have respect for the Tree People.  

I am lucky to live in a very lush part of SW Wales with many beautiful Trees,  many species grow well in this damp climate. Everything is growing like crazy at the moment. This morning I strimmed the grass on the flat area behind our barn where I like to do Chi Kung outside - there's not much flat ground here - and it was a joy to perform those ancient meditative movements there in late in the afternoon in  intermittent sunshine, looking across the grass we leave long,  full of 'weeds', wildflowers,  butterflies & bees.  My brain was tired after a stretch of concentrated studio time, for which being out on the land is the perfect antidote.   Also its where the paintings come from in the 1st place,  so I also do my Chi Kung in gratitude to the Spirits for the paintings I am working on now,  which are directly related to this land , but too new to show here yet.  I have plenty more to put up here though, so I wont leave such a long gap till my next post. 

Labyrinths & the 3 worlds of Shamanism

                                            

 

After the 3 Gates of Enlightenment I talked about in my last post, I come to another 3 - The 3 Worlds of Shamanism,  the Upper,  Middle,  & Lower Worlds.  The Middle World is like a Spirit layer of our everyday reality,  where the shaman  goes for help with issues that have a direct presence in daily life now; the Upper & Lower Worlds are other worlds where different kinds of help are sought, depending on the what question is being asked of the Spirit Helpers  by the shaman.  The shaman acts as a go-between between the Worlds & a catalyst for  the help, healing,  or power the Spirits bring .

When I painted this picture I was alone at home over the Winter Solstice.  I had become interested in the ancient symbol of the Labyrinth,  which I often work with as a meditation ceremony.  Walking in to the labyrinth,  following the path to the quiet place in the middle,  stopping & being there,  then coming back out to the rest of the world...   sometimes I go with a particular thought I need to make space around...  sometimes several of us gather & witness each other's walks in the sacred space of ceremony ...   sometimes its a simple thank you to the earth...  like an inbreath & an outbreath ... 

The painting grew in slow gentle layers as I sat by my woodburner in the dark  of the year.  The figure is standing in a heart-shaped labyrinth & is also in 2 more - above & below.  It relates both to the 3 realms my Chi Kung movements flow through,  the Heaven, Human & Earth realms  (yes, that's a 3rd  3 )  and the 3 worlds the shaman visits.

As with many of my paintings ,  it is on a deep sided canvas,  & so the picture goes over the 4 edges too.