Long before I began to paint, I taught myself to quilt in the liberated fashion of Gwen Marston.
Clearly, my consciousness is quilting, still! Bits of this and cherished scraps of that…
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all big days for beginnings.
Painting on Saturday and Sunday. Some new Medicine Basket magic on Monday. And all of that hatching inside me in a manner totally without neat edges!
What you’re looking at, above, will one day – about a year from now – become a painting of my Guardian Angel. And, yes… there’s a whole lot more work to be done!
The first thing my future Angel whispered to me was that it’s okay that painting and tending the livestream chat all at once is hard. At least it is for me! So, I haven’t made quite as much progress as some of the others on this path… and I will!
There will be a Celebratrix involved in this paint journey, too… soon!
In a way, the auditory-digital processing part of me pretty much took charge during all the live adventures. And got really excited about some music from COPPER WIMMIN.
Here’s what I scribbled down from one of their songs…
- What would you have me hear?
- What would you have me feel?
- Where would you have me go?
- What would you have me do?
- What would you have me say?
And the closing line was: Beloved, let your will be done through me.
Well… that certainly made the inquiries for my very first Medicine Basket Monday journal prompts obvious! A huge relief as I really needed to sleep! My auditory-digital processing Muse did not, however, get the message!
There was a poem in my dreams. One I couldn’t quite catch consciously.
There was also a song. One I’d loved for ages, and couldn’t quite place. Research was in order. It took a bit. My first assumption was James Taylor’s Lullaby album. Not so much! As I hummed along, though, more of the lyrics began to come back to me. Finally I had enough of them to get a hit somewhere in web land.
Get this… what popped up was one of my blogs from 2018, when I was just setting out on Color of Woman! Singer, songwriter, and old camp buddy, Jim Morgan! This is a song he taught a bunch of teens and adults who loved them… Imagine this in the voice of the Divine, please, if that works for you…
Ooo, child don’t you walk away telling me it’s nothing at all when I can see those tears swimming in your eyes, sayin’ your self-confidence has had a great fall. It’s just natural to want to hide when you’re feelin’ that you just don’t belong. Why don’t you crawl up here and sit by my side ’cause when you’re sad I want to sing you this song. ‘Cause you’re alright, you’re alright, you’re alright, you’re just as fine as you can be. And you can stay right here as long as you like ’cause you’re alright by me.
Which sure felt like my heart’s answer to the first few of those questions from COPPER WIMMIN!
And, there was more! You see, the blog post right before the blog post with Jim Morgan’s song had a poem in it. A poem from Alice Walker. And that poem had the rest of the answers I was trying to receive!
It took a bit of hunting through the bookshelves to put my hand on Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, a book illustrated, I might add, by Shiloh Sophia McCloud!
The poem – CALLING ALL GRAND MOTHERS – begins on page 30.
We have to live
differently
or we
will die
in the same
old ways.
Therefore
I call on all Grand Mothers
everywhere
on the planet
to rise
and take your place
in the leadership
of the world
Come out
of the kitchen
out of the
fields
out of the
beauty parlors
out of the
television
Step forward
& assume
the role
for which
you were
created:
To lead humanity
to health, happiness
& sanity.
I call on
all the
Grand Mothers
of Earth
& every person
who possesses
the Grand Mother
spirit
of respect for
life
&
protection of
the young
to rise
& lead.
The life of
our species
depends
on it.
& I call on all men
of Earth
to gracefully
and
gratefully
stand aside
& let them
(let us)
do so.
******************************************
There it was… a massive reminder of my own answers to where I will go and what I will do and say. All with the help of old and new friends, a Guardian Angel who lives already in my soul, and my willingness to dive into even more healing of whole me.
What do you hear???
And, now – with help from the Legendary Husband – is Jim Morgan’s song… there’s more!
ps… my wise, gifted physical therapist is exited about all the things shifting with the whole person healing! It’s time to paint on!!!
pps… curious? There’s still time to set out on the journey known as Red Madonna. For more information and to register, go to: https://musea.org/red-madonna-celebratrix/ (And, no… you don’t even need to know how to wash paint brushes to start!!!)