Category: Contemplations

I wonder if Creator imagined, when they spoke the world into being, how complicated we – the created ones – would one day make it!

I’m guessing not! At least the parts of me that have writing to do are guessing not. There are calendar issues and tradition issues and hemisphere issues and, frankly, body issues, and I’ll bet my last nickel I’m not the only one who’s noticed!

I mean, Have you ever felt like you finally had it – whatever it is for you – all figured out, and then discovered that there’s a whole lot more ALL than you ever imagined??? Welcome to my world!

So, a plan was in order… Around here, that means mind quilting… and you’re invited!

Whatever traditions you’re observing – or avoiding! – in this moment. Whatever stories you learned as a Little. Whatever hemisphere you live in… you are welcome here, with your precious scraps of memories and hopes, on the path of intentional newness.

Some introductions are in order. Blog readers, please meet Red Madonna sisters. And y’all meet some folks who are new around here, too. And imagine, please that we’re all sitting around the fireside of the Dangerous Old Women, calling in light.

Many of us (as Dr. Estes reminds us) are scar clan. Still standing. Still dancing.

And it is time, in this moment, to call in light, in all the ways!

Stars, of course. And candles. A bit more sunlight, day by day, for many of us. A bit more rest for many, many more. And a reminder – if we’re open to it – that light and rest both matter for growth… literally and metaphorically!!!

Here’s the challenge… the scrap that doesn’t seem to go with anything else in our mind quilt…

Growth means change and change can feel terrifying!

One of the ways that people have held power, throughout the ages, is by convincing others that they have to do everything the way WE’VE always done it.

Which reminds me of a new-to-me quote I learned from a wise friend…

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire... Gustav Mahler

Now, I don’t even pretend to know what you will do with all these words in this moment, around this particular fireside, where all those who long to be here are welcome. And that’s okay!

What I do know is this… I must re-claim my need for both light and rest.

And that means not ignoring what I need. It means finding ways to give myself enough light and rest to stay on the path.

I have already begun by adding an intentional bit of light and shadow to each of my four paintings-in-progress at this moment. And I’ll add the same bits to the one I’m about to begin… and to all those I begin as I go forward.

Another thing I know is that Creator means us to keep learning. To keep asking questions. To keep being open to wonder… and I will, even when it’s scary!

And, one more thing… it really, really, really is all about love!

ps… know some littles who could us some of this love while they still have enough space to soak it up??? There’s a whole bunch of it – complete with art! – in A Creation Poem… and, while it’s a bit late for Christmas day, there’s still plenty of time for Hanukkah & the 12 days of Christmas and – well – just because! And the books are still buy 2 get one free! No codes needed… just put 3 in your basket and the elves will gladly do the math! Just click here… FierceArtWithHeart!

pps… stay tuned for a mini gallery showing, right here, on Wednesday. A bit of wonder from me to you, with much love!

ppps… coming soon – coloring pages!!! (The elves are inspired!)

Do you know the old saying about many things being true and not all going together very well?

I’m beginning to think that’s most of the truth, most of the time! I mean, if we’re paying attention, there’s a whole lot of chaos going on and we need safe places to go. Places to take a break from the chaos. Places to make even a hint of order out of the chaos. Places safe enough to actually allow ourselves to sleep… and dream!

For me, at least, art – and the stories that grow into and from it – helps!!!

It’s a brain processing thing, for sure. The kind that helps all of our powers of perceiving and creating to work together. To make space for newness. (As you may have noticed, this feels like a really good time for that!!!)

And, here’s a bonus! We notice new things when we make art!!! We ask new questions and, if you’ve been reading along for a bit, you know I’m all in favor of new questions!

Now, here’s where we go out on a limb… what if – maybe… just maybe – making art gives us whole new strategies for making choices???

What if we practiced asking ourselves what we could do, rather than what we should do??? You know… actual internal preferences – vs – automatically complying with what we think others expect from us!

And, NO! I am emphatically NOT talking about the kind of coulds filling the news these days. The kind of things that go along with the notion that, in order for X to have more power, all the Y‘s must have less…

Instead, I’m talking about what colors or styles or elements could I choose that would help draw me in the direction of my own highest intentions, whether everything “goes together” or not. Whether it’s “the way we’ve always done it,” or not.

Let’s line it all out… The art we began with is a colored pencil sketch of a tree. It lives in a place I love, and became part of my inner family a while back, when I was up to my eyebrows in an art-venture known as #Guardian.

The same tree appeared previously in a couple of my paintings. In real life, it looks like this:

At one point, in the land of processing new questions, it also looked like this:

All true. All useful in different ways, depending on the questions and the needs. And here’s the punch line:

If a tree can teach me all this – and soothe my spirit at the same time – why would I be okay with needlessly endangering them???

And that, my dear friend, is the thing known around here as one step reframe with a big gold bow! (The reframes are very rarely actually one step, but feel like it when the light comes on!)

And – drum roll, please! – all of this reframing becomes medicine in my basket. Medicine for helping folks like you manifest your biggest, dearest intentions, one step at a time. If this notion sets anxiety/excitement bubbles rising inside you, let’s talk! 45 min. My gift. You bring a cuppa, some paper & a pen or markers… some red thread could be handy, too. We’ll name your next right thing!!!! Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

ps… even though we’re running short on shipping time for the holidays, the buy 2 – get 1 free special on A Creation Poem… is still good! Here’s what one reader had to share: “What a gift! My youngest grand-children explored the paintings, simply transfixed, while the teens delighted in the inclusive language…” (Marilyn Washburn, MD, MDiv, PhD) No special codes needed. Just put 3 copies in your basket and they’ll make the magic! (pps… there are lots of other goodies discounted, too! Everything in the collections of Original Art, Archival Prints, and the Special Guest Artist Collection is 25% off the listed price – no codes needed. The elves have got you!)

Do you remember Tevye, in Fiddler on the Roof???

Can you hear him, even now???

I can! Dancing on the roof, shouting Tra-di-tion! at the top of his lungs, while his version of the way we’ve always done it was rapidly changing around him…

And, as you’ve already guessed, I can relate!

In fact, I feel like one huge collection of traditions – of stories – that don’t all seem to get along very well.

And how in the world did The Muse get Tevye and the angels and shepherds into the same story on this third Sunday in Advent???

We’ll come back to that question in just a bit!

First, though, could we agree that many, many of us are more conscious of living in the midst of mixed metaphors than we used to be?

Some of that change is technical… as in access to information Tevye could never have imagined! And today – in one of my old, old stories – is about information.

Angels appearing in the fields, telling the shepherds to take their flocks and make their way to Bethlehem, following a star.

No Google Maps. Just wilderness.

No generations of Grandmothers telling them this story all their years. Just go. Now.

No Motel 6 or Howard Johnson’s along the way.

And, at least in my heart, they went. Complete with a Hungarian herding dog (!) and – quite possibly – some Red Thread of their own… connecting them in ways too big to really comprehend.

In this moment, we are remembering. Many, many of us.

The questions – the ones they leave out of Hallmark® cards… probably quite intentionally – are important.

Whose version of the story are we remembering?

Who is included? And who is left out? And who gets to decide who gets to decide???

And – perhaps most timely of all – who benefits hugely, while others suffer???

I’m going to go way out on a limb here. Just me… the most sense I can make of all of this, at this moment. Now.

This story is for everyone who would say yes. Everyone longing for hope. For peace. For justice. Everyone ready to set out on the path with others, longing for ways to be love.

It’s not the only way to tell such a story… and I’m not sure the details really matter all that much.

As long as we choose love… the kind of love big enough for everyone.

ps.. yes! That last word – everyone – is a challenge for me. There are, indeed, a few folks my hurt, angry, frightened emotional self might choose to leave out. (Go ahead and guess!) But, here’s what I know… that part isn’t my job. My job is to say yes. Over and over again. As many times as it takes. Good news isn’t easy. It just beats the hell out of the alternative.

pps… meet my #wip – even though it isn’t Wednesday! A very opinionated painting known, officially, as #Embrace. Unofficially, she is becoming Our Lady of Good Trouble. Stay tuned!

ppps… need a Good Trouble gift for the Littles you love??? A Creation Poem… is just the thing!!! Put 3 copies in your basket and the elves will be thrilled to make one copy free at checkout! And HURRY… they’re magical… and they still need to be shipped! Daphne & I are on it! (AND, everything in the Original Art, Archival Prints, and Special Guest Artist collections is 25% off the listed price. The math elves have got you!) Just click here to be instantly transported to the place where Hope is waiting…

Okay… word junkie that I am, I looked it up! Latin. French.

To form a mental image of. To represent to oneself. There are also, according to the elves in my phone, connections, in Hebrew… to form and fashion… to squeeze into shape as a potter does with clay!

And, yes! I’ll bet you can guess where this is going!!!

Straight to the place where the season of Advent begins, slightly belatedly this year, in my heart and our home!

There I sat, a stranger in a strange (cold!) land called Hungary, on the floor of a local artisans shop, digging ever so gently through baskets of kings and shepherds and angels… choosing my hand made, clay, nativity figures.

It was January of 1989, months before the Eastern Block fell. And my tears flowed as I tried to grasp the courage of those artists, making nativity figures in a time and place when Religious Education was against the law! (Though making money off the stories was, apparently, permitted by the autocracy.)

And, yes… I’ve told this story time after time, since then.

And, yes… this year it feels different. And I am listening, deep.

The literal path my three kings have set out on is in a different location this year. Somehow, I need them to be where I can see them from the magic chair, for it feels as though I’m going to be there a good bit.

In Feng Shui land, their new place would be associated with abundance which feels both ironic and hopeful, just now, in this time where it seems like an abundance of courage is just what we need!

The Wise Ones came from people who had been watching the stars for generations. Astronomers. Hoping. Waiting.

And, it seems to me that we, too, have a road of hoping and waiting ahead of us.

The question seems to be…

What will we follow, along the way?

Frankly, I don’t know squat about astronomy or astrology, though I have noticed that I’m curious!

I’m not much good with compass directions, either.

I am good at noticing and wondering!!! And, more and more, I’m getting good at learning from my dreams.

I even have a name for where I’m headed, however rocky and twisted the path may seem.

Fred’s place! The place where I am called!!!

And, here’s my symbolic map. Really!

For now, though, I can hear the paintbrushes calling my name. What is calling you???

ps… I’d really love to know what’s calling you! 45 minutes. My gift. You & your big dreams. Me & my medicine basket. A cuppa. Paper and markers… or eyebrow pencils if that’s what you have! Some red thread if it’s handy… to get one step clearer!!!  Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

pps… today, I mailed copies of A Creation Poem… to 3 different states! Huge fun!!! And, I’d love to mail some to you, or the Littles you love! I have art I’d love to mail you, too! So… the elves have automatic discounts set up just for you. Buy 2 copies of my new children’s book and get a third one free! And/or choose anything from Original Paintings, Archival Prints, or the Special Collection by my dear friend, August Venuh, and get 25 % off your choices. You just click here to fill up your basket and the elves will do the math! They’re really excited to help you, so fix yourself a cuppa and wander in the wonder! It’s time to deck the walls!!!