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!!!
