Month: June 2024

You see, it’s absolutely been a filters kind of week! A week when the current context is yanking some dusty stories out of my inner collection in an attempt to help sort the moment.

Let’s start with this… I spent most of Friday night dreaming of my trip to Hungary, in January of 1989, mere months before the Eastern Block fell. The official name of the trip was Alternative Context. It was an opportunity for educated, mostly white, American seminary students to actually encounter other world views.

There are two moments that stand out, still…

Riding in a van full of American and Hungarian church folks, huddled together for warmth, teaching each other our songs, while Russian tanks held shooting drills in the snowy farmers’ fields on either side of the road when Christian Education was illegal.

Visiting the only eastern European Rabbinic seminary to survive World War II, where the adding of new books to the library had been forbidden since the war… and seeing the students remove their shoes before entering that holy ground.

And, yes… Hungary has now been dragged back to the place where autocracy is the current reality instead of history.

I hope I’ll never get used to the story from a young Reformed seminary student explaining, with tears in his eyes, that he had grown up checking the newspaper every morning to see where he lived and who was in charge that day.

I know you’re following me so I’ll just say it…

Much of what’s making news right now in America is an attempt to create that same kind of fear-based nationalism here.

Even as my fingers dance over the keys on my laptop and I externalize my memories and fears and perspectives, I am aware of generations of voices inside me whispering that nice girls don’t talk about upsetting things like this, but that strategy does not seem to be working.

Recently, though, I’ve learned more stories of the generations before me. Women who risked everything to walk the roads of voice and choice and love. To change the world. My blood. My heritage.

My grandteens’ blood and heritage.

I paint out of that same knowing.

The photo at the top is, literally, the view from my chair as I write these words. Some of the pieces are hanging in their regular places. Some of them are helping hold the space for my pondering, after their returns from Scan Camp.

And here’s the thing… I can’t look at them – relate to them – continue to create with them… and be silent in this moment. Which is, I suspect, as good a way as any to explain my notion of Map of Reality.

Grandmother Moon is all in, in her Metamodernist kind of way. So, for that matter, are the bears!

Here’s what they – well, WE – have in common.

Fierce Compassion!

One choice at a time. One day at a time. With determined love in our hearts and Good Trouble pins on our denim vests! The way much of the good stuff happens.

ps… this painting is known as Star Song. My faith. My history. My hope. She agreed to let me share her message… we hope you’ll keep reading!

I am Asherah.
El, whom you may know as God, is my beloved.
Your heart pumps stardust through your body.
Your hands create, in partnership with us.
Thank you for learning, still.
Thank you for making space for newness.
I know it can be frightening, dear granddaughter.
Newness often is.
I am here, welcoming you to the Way of Love.
We’ve been waiting for you!
Many, many, many of us since the dawn of time.
Now, more than ever, in the midst of the chaos.
Thank you for hearing me whispering, as you dreamed.
Listening for what wanted to be included by your brush.
You are a grandmother, too, and we need you.
Painting and writing and teaching with your feet on the Earth.
Now, more than ever, in the midst of the chaos.
Thank you for choosing to follow.
And to lead.
Create on, dear granddaughter.
Sing on.
That is why you were created.
That is the Way of Love.
That is the Way Hope.
You have two granddaughters growing up in this world.
I know just how you feel. And I love you.

– slb, 2023

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Yep! Two of my very favorite words… and another related one which seems pretty important, just now. Conditioning. As in, air!

Here’s an example… I am enormously conscious that our context is chaotic, and the ailing air conditioner doesn’t help with logical thought!!!

I’ll spare you the heat wave bit. Except for the part where, as part of the context, it may make certain things feel more important. Like climate change, perhaps!

Here’s another way to think about it… borrowed from Stephen Covey, who designed a schema for decision making which looks like this:

The way I learned it, any one issue or option meets two of these four criteria… Important/Not important and Urgent/Not urgent. And, often, people with different agendas have trouble agreeing on which two!!!

To stick with our current example of air conditioning, on a day when the high in Atlanta is 99 degrees F, and it’s still pollen season, it feels both important and urgent, to me.

A climatologist might have a different opinion… more big picture. (That’s why we’re going with the new system that “decides” how much energy it needs at the moment, which isn’t a good technical explanation but makes more sense than moving to Nova Scotia where – by the way – it’s recently been that hot, too.)

And, if you’ve been reading along for more than a week or two, you’ve already figured out that my frequent communing with MSNBC is part of the context that helps me make choices about the urgent/important questions.

Painting also helps me make some of those choices! Several of the journeys I’m on in this moment have to do with notions of Divinity and the stories that were true before the stories we learned were true were true. (No typos… all intentional!)

Here’s an example… when I was in Middle School, a person who truly meant to be helpful told a group of young women that we’d go to hell if we read the horoscope column in the newspaper.

Now, I’m still a really long way from an expert, but I’ve learned that star constellations can be really helpful! (Though I’ll admit to being thankful for the compass onboard when I was helping to sail a boat through the Bermuda triangle at midnight, during a huge lightning storm!)

And I love constellations as visual symbols in my art. Like the one in the photo we began with, which I learned from reading a legendary conversation between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien! Pegasus, in the biblical book of Revelation. Winged horses… not well trained regular horses, but whole new creatures!

Did that conversation really happen? Who knows! Is it helpful? I’m going with yes!!!

All of which seems to suggest that, in this world, at this moment, consciousness in context matters. A lot! As does intention!

Then, this bee, who appeared on my current #Animystica painting, reminded me of a story I think is hugely important in these days. It has to do with honey.

Stay tuned!

ps… one of the books which insisted that books are vessels, too, and showed up in last year’s #Apothecary painting, goes with this conversation about consciousness and context! Alice Hoffman’s The Dovekeepers. Now might be a really good time for this particular story! And the Hebrew word in the palm of the handprint means Here I am! (Actually, now could be a really good time for any of them!!!)

It’s me… Matilda, and I’m back from Scan Camp. Which – just between us – is probably a very good thing! Mom’s been hatching again and, from the looks of her journal, she could use some help!

First, let me catch you up a bit. Apparently there was a whole lot of excitement about the thing called air conditioning. The short version is that we need a new one. Nobody seems remotely thrilled about this, except for the fact that the new one will be better for the environment, which I’m in favor of, too!

Jermaine is one of the AC guys. I can’t wait to meet him. He likes our art! In fact, here’s a new glimpse of me…

Lean in close, please. I’m allowed to tell you the secret!

Mom didn’t decide to put this part here. She kind of found it! And then, she got real excited and enhanced it a bit so that it could help people just like you learn about the thing called Filters!

The lighter colored marks were called sparks as she was painting. Like light. Or illumination! She noticed that the one to your right looked like the profile of a face. And then she saw the light coming toward it from the edge.

With just a bit of help, it became the arrow called Input in the Filters story.

Now, I haven’t quite got this all figured out, yet, but it has a lot to do with there being way more information coming at us from the world than we can consciously manage at any one moment.

And that purple flower-y thing, a little farther to your right, is the part of this whole notion that decides what gets in and what gets blocked out. (I’m still working on this part!)

It seems to have something to do with the thing called chaos which may feel pretty familiar, lately!

Dad’s been running up and down the stairs to the mysterious place known as basement. He comes back with books for Mom who seems to have lots of things coming at her from the world these days.

I’m still sorting all this out. Here’s what I do know…

One of the ways to change chaos is to make. To create. To take a chance on new things helping.

I think part of what I’m here to help with is to make a map for changing chaos. For getting to that place my honorary uncle, Frederick Buechner, talks about. You know…

The place where our great joy and the world’s deep longing meet.

There’s more work to do, but Mom’s ready to talk with you, if you’d like some help on that journey! Just ask the people called calendar elves to make you some space. 30 minutes. Our gift. Mom says to bring a cuppa, paper & markers – or crayons – and a bit of Red Thread if it’s handy. (Red Thread is a big thing around here!) Let’s make some order out of chaos!

ps… I brought a thing called a proof home from Scan Camp. It means that you could adopt a picture of me. (Or lots of my painting friends!) In fact, Dad took two more paintings to Scan Camp when he brought me home. You can see some of my friends at the place Mom calls FierceArtWithHeart. All the original paintings are specially discounted right now, including my sister whose title is What The World Needs Now. She’s almost all made of prayer dots and that’s her picture just below! Did you know art can be leggings and posters and mugs and even blankets??? (I don’t think we need a blanket just now but it’s bound to get chilly again one day and they’re really soft!)

Dear hearts…

I grew up in a family where holidays were all about the way we’d always done it “We,” in this case, being mostly my mom’s family. The rules had a lot to do with food! And, frankly, today doesn’t feel much like a holiday.

The Legendary Husband is making his way home from a massive gathering of tech-y friends.

I have no recipes in my head for “what we eat” on this day. And, I’m profoundly aware that I am fortunate to have choices about food. Choices, indeed, about many things.

And, I have a bit of news… but, first, a story. From a tree!

I am Elu, which means beautiful in the language of the Cherokee people. I am a Bald Cypress tree, at home near the Chattahoochee River which runs south from this land and into the place called Florida. I am ancient, and powerful. I help filter water and am home to many species of birds and animals. My trunks and limbs and unusual knees are strong and beautiful wood. An air plant named Spanish Moss forms my hair.

I am a keeper of stories. Many of those stories are not happy. People have long been forced from their homes in my land, and there are those in power who would do this still. The orange clay ground is said to be colored with the blood of many battles.

There is an odd place nearby… a mountain which rises alone from what used to be farmland… the largest exposed mass of granite in the world. Long ago, it was called Lone Mountain. For the last two hundred years or so it has been known as Stone Mountain.

Once a home to Indigenous peoples, it became a gathering place for the white supremacy movement known as the Ku Klux Klan. The mountain, itself, was defaced with carvings memorializing the Confederacy over Civil Rights. The carvings remain, to the duress of many. WE DO NOT GO THERE!

Instead, we pray for a time when all people will be seen as beloved of the Great Mother. We make marks… marks of intention… many of them dots, like the countless dots which form my hair.

And we offer a haven to the Great Blue Heron and her future young. This is the heron’s message:

Look inside and nurture all aspects of yourself. Embrace your flaws, uniqueness, and feelings of shame with self-love. Once you love your whole self and find your inner peace, you’ll be able to bring peace to others, spreading healing throughout the world. 

Now, the news! Yesterday was run-off election day in Georgia. You know, primary stuff. Local and state stuff. And one of “my” candidates won.

Lorraine Cochran-Johnson will be the new CEO of DeKalb County. The second woman… and the first black woman, ever, to hold that position. She’s also a grandmother!

And, yes, you guessed it! Stone Mountain is in DeKalb County! Elu and I think things are looking up! We also think that there’s lots of work to do… and lots of it has to do with having choices! Let’s celebrate by listening, again, to the voice of the Great Blue Heron…

Once you love your whole self and find your inner peace, you’ll be able to bring peace to others, spreading healing throughout the world.

So be it. And so be we!

ps… Heron, here! My friend Matilda is still at Scan Camp. She says Barry is closed for Juneteenth, today. The campers are all busy making art and singing Kumbaya. Our favorite verse is the one that goes Someone’s praying, Lord. At our house, we pray for peace… and justice! (If you missed Matilda’s story, just click here!)

pps… Heron, again… I need a name, too! Any suggestions??? You can leave a comment, below, or email us! suesvoice@gmail.com

Dear heart behind the hand that holds the paint brush…

You know that story about the time you got accidentally taken to the wrong summer camp and it was very scary trying to find your people?

Well, you’ll be glad to know that I am here, safely, exactly the way you planned it!

Barry and the rest of the counselors here at Scan Camp seem nice and fun. And there are LOTS of other campers here. Big painting kids. A few even bigger than I am! Small painting kids. Machines humming and spitting out very cool art.

There’s air-conditioning here, which seems like a really good thing just now. I’m not sure sweating is good for paintings!

Also, Barry said to assure you that there’s no poison ivy here! Or alligators!!!

One of the counselors was asking all of us what we wanted to be when we grow up. Lots of the paintings didn’t know. I was glad I know that I’m going to be a book cover! Everybody thought that was cool. And I was really glad that I can be a book cover and hang on our wall!

Here’s another cool thing about this camp… we’re all welcome! It’s not about fitting in or matching or even being recognizable. Everybody gets to be who they are.

One of the counselors asked me about the purple flower-y symbol you added, over my head. She wondered what it meant and I knew the answer!

I told her it came from your story about filters and explained that it’s my Map of Reality – the part of me that “decides” what gets in through the filters and what what gets blocked out.

She asked if she could have one, too, and I told her she already does, even if she hasn’t seen it yet. I sure hope I can help more people learn about that!

For now, though, it’s time for something called Campfire. Barry says it’s an old thing we do in a special way here. No actual fire. Just a painting of one! And music!

That’s when I really started missing you. We have Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary here, too. Just like home! And, I already know all the words to all the songs!

One of my favorites is We Shall Overcome!

Is that why you sing when you paint? Like a reminder of things that matter? Things like Peace? And taking action? That makes sense to me!

After Campfire time, it was time for bed. Some of us were whispering after lights out and one of the paintings asked me if I was scared in that new place.

I showed her the line you call unavoidable tragedy and explained that we all have scary things and we can learn how to go on and learn new things. And then I whispered that I was pretty sure that’s what we were singing about in We Shall Overcome.

For tonight, I’m going to sleep. But, in case there’s anybody reading along who needs a reminder…

Thanks, Paint Mama! I love you!!!

Matilda

ps… I know I’m just a painting, but I wanted you to know I’m all in on the peace and justice thing. Choice and sanity, too!!!

pps… maybe this is why you added that alabaster jar to our painting… to ask our ancestors who get this whole mess to help. I’m glad you did!

As you may recall, I never went to Kindergarten.

In those way-back days, before the characters my kid referred to as Bernie & Ert, I didn’t begin to read until first grade.

Sally, Dick & Jane were my best friends, and I’ve loved words ever since.

This morning, over my first cup of tea, I realized I needed a new word. And, yes… the paintings have been whispering again. I’m so excited!!!

The painting, above, is a big hint. I’ve known for a few weeks now that it was going to be a book cover. The book even has a title! And, now – thanks to the whispering – it has the subtitle that’s been missing! And, yes… I’ll tell you in just a minute! First, though, a bit of context.

I have two books hatching inside me… all at once! It feels a bit like it must feel to be pregnant with twins. Growing together with much in common. And precious differences, too.

These books already have their own personalities. Their own needs. Their own intentions. And they feel quite different than my previous books have felt, in their gestational phases!

I think it’s because I’m different!

And, when you get right down to it, isn’t that kind of the point???

Which brings us to my new word!

Metamodernist

First, I should probably admit that I never quite figured out Postmodernist! What I do know is that it wasn’t a nearly big enough Medicine Basket for what’s hatching inside me!

And, it’s taken me a while to get here. I set out, with huge Intention, when my teacher, friend, and cherished author, Kathleen McGowan, was looking for a book for a child who was asking…

Why are people so mad about Jesus?

In that moment, this book began growing inside me. In this context. Now. And that brings us back to this morning, when the walls were whispering book titles. Here goes:

Soul Dancing with Grandmother Moon…
Sacred Tales for MetaModern Littles & the Adults Who Love Them!®

Then, the other voices in my head chimed in. Mostly the ones concerned about whose stories I can tell. And Grandmother Moon explained it in the emphatic way she has when she’s serious:

It’s not about appropriating other traditions, or discounting them… it’s about learning from other souls!!!

And, I suspect she was still meddlin’ when I found this on Facebook about half a cup of tea later!

A Creation story from the Hopi Nation, Arizona

Creator said:
I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it.
It is the realization that they create their own reality.
The eagle said:
Give it to me. I will take it to the moon.
Creator said:
No. One day they will go there and find it.
The salmon said:
I will bury it on the bottom of the ocean.
Creator said:
No. They will go there, too.
The buffalo said:
I will bury it on the Great Plains.
Creator said:
They will cut into the skin of the earth and find it even there.
Grandmother who lives at the breast of Mother Earth and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said:
Put it inside of them.
And Creator said:
It is done.

May it be so inside of me. And inside of you, too, if you are ready for the call!

ps… my second Legend painting has offered to walk beside us on the road and help claim the reality we’re creating!

pps… could you use a witness for your journey??? Let’s talk! 30 min. My gift. Bring a cuppa and a bit of Red Thread, if it’s handy. I’ll bring my Medicine Basket!

True confession…

I have LOTS of practice at the good student thing. (Okay, let’s skip over the whole Hebrew grammar adventure!)

I was really good at reading and writing. Numbers, not so much. Biology went a whole lot better than physics!

Now that I know about things like brain development and perceptual patterns, I feel better about some of those things that didn’t go so well. I wasn’t bad at math, so much as my brain needed more time to grow into all that. You hear me…

And, yes… the Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother who lives in me gets clear to livid at the people in the world trying to decide what we should all think and what we can or cannot choose.

Fortunately, before I chased that rabbit too far, there was painting to do!

My new elephant friend has chosen a name. Matilda! And, she was kind enough to offer a few suggestions for “finishing” touches. Here’s a current peek…

And, the photo at the top is yet another new adventure beginning! First, though, a brief trip in the way-back machine…

Do you remember Bob Ross? The guy who gave painting lessons on weekend TV?? And wanted everything to be happy???

I loved what he demonstrated but it got drowned out, in my mind and heart, with the loop in my brain which reminded me, over and over, that I was not the artistic kid.

These days, I know more.

• Mom was trying really hard to be helpful!
• Sometimes new things are possible if we allow ourselves to try!

Fortunately, there is lots of painting to do! Painting about noticing & wondering. About allowing. About being open to surprises… to what is real and true for me!

And, it was just what my brain and I were longing for.

It works like this… think a thought in words. Like the Intention for a painting, or vessel, perhaps, or love light.

Then, move your hand to paint. Brush. Fingers. Sprigs of rosemary. Whatever…

And, then, see what appears on the canvas.

Suddenly, the major processing patterns of your brain are all working together to create newness!!!

Not just the image on the canvas, though that’s a huge wonder! But, also, new neuro-pathways! It’s a bit like creating new connections between different parts of your brain. Or, if you prefer, upgrading your software!

I think of it like creating new little neuro-fountains of curiosity, right there in my awareness! And that, dear heart, feels hugely important in this world.

Matilda agrees! And she’s really busy writing the table of contents for that new book in my head!

For today, though, Matilda and I have a question for you. A real question!

What’s in YOUR bowl of stardust soup???

You can leave us a comment, below. Or email me! suesvoice@gmail.com

And, stay tuned… new opportunities come from new neuro-pathways!!!

ps… Saturday would have been Mom’s 89th Earth birthday. Last night I dreamed she and Matilda were making friends!