Monday's Muses

Jasper, and magnets from my sister Sue...

An embroidered heart...

A painted hummingbird...

The Magician...

Snowflakes. Indoors...

...and out.

And this exhibit. What are you using your hands to make, build, or bake on this fine Monday?

Cut the Deck

Last night I shuffled my Golden Tarot deck and pulled cards to see who I am in this new collaboration with my daughter, Lisbeth, and who she is. The tarot never ceases to amaze me with its story telling power. In my reading, Lisbeth turned out to be the card pictured here, the Two of Swords. I like to look at the tarot card and first interpret what I see, before shuffling through books of traditional meanings. And when I look at this card, the first thing I see is those crossed swords. SCISSORS! And the figure is a bit slumped, and sad. She has a halo, so she seems to be a sort of martyr figure. She is outdoors by the sea, alone, and it is night. But the ground beneath her feet is glowing gold, and there is a moon in the dark sky. There is light!

Off the top of my head I do know that the Two of Swords can be about working with intuition (in the Rider Waite deck, the figure in the Two of Swords is blindfolded, and I read it as giving a feel the Force, Luke! message...). This is befitting for Lisbeth, considering what she is able to do despite her "blindfold;" her disabilities. I did then take a peek at the little book that comes with the Golden Tarot, and one line that popped out at me in the description of the Two of Swords, was this: You have the ability to make the best of a bad situation.
As Lis would say, Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. True...

And this is the card that came up to represent me in this endeavor with Lisbeth. The Queen of Wands. Again, I first interpreted the card by myself. A queen - a mother figure...and then the RED - heart, passion, fire, blood, hell. These all describe my love for my daughter, and yes, this includes the hell that she and I have been through together. (I have written here about the heartbreak and pain of having a child with chronic illness, and some of the art that I created to deal with this pain...). I also saw the crossed hands echoing the crossed hands and swords in Lisbeth's card. Like daughter, like mother. And the bits that stand out in the Golden Tarot description about this Queen: She is flanked by red angels glowing in the darkness. Passionate and creative. Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. True.

After the tarot reading I went on-line and googled paper cutting. WOW! What a world of gorgeous art is out there! This dress looks like it could be worn by the Queen of Wands...

And so does this skirt!!!

And then I found this artist. Wow, wow, wow. Her work is enchanting. Scroll down and see for yourself...

!!!!!!

AMAZING!!!

(One of Lisbeth's perseverative phrases is, Oooooooooh, little monkey, monkey! :*)
Have a great weekend, folks!

Where I've Been...

I've been very busy putting together my daughter Lisbeth's new Etsy shop and her new blog! I am looking forward to getting back to my art soon, but right now this is where my creative efforts are focused! And it feels good.

My sister Sue posted about Lisbeth's work today, and I grabbed her idea of photographing Lis's laminated mandalas against the blue sky. The big difference is Sue's pics are of the blue sky of California, and mine are of the blue sky of Maine (hence the gloved hand!! :*)

We're On (the) Line!

Brainstorm Studio is up and running as of yesterday! And we've even had our first sale!! Very exciting!!! I believe that this shop will help Lisbeth in many ways. Because of her traumatic brain injury and chronic seizures, Lis has high anxiety about being out and about in the world, and is not capable of working a daily job like some folks with special needs are able to do. She suffers from depression, too, and it is our hope that her involvement in this project will help her spiritually and emotionally, as well as financially (I also want to look into supporting epilepsy research with a percentage of the proceeds....). Lisbeth does enjoy working at home, though, where she feels safe and secure with her one-on-one helpers (God Bless them, everyone!) and her little cat, Milkweed, by her side. We are working to make a more organized space for Lisbeth in her home to create her snowflakes - an official studio space! And I have started a blog for Lis where we can document the progress of her business, and where she can share some of her feelings and stories!



We are off to a good start!

True Corners

It is a cold, steel gray day here in Maine, but I was warmed by looking at the corners of people's homes, thanks to this link on Soulemama's blog this morning. Then I hopped up and took a few snapshots of some unrehearsed corners of my own home...

What do your corners look like?

Have a great weekend, and brighten the corner where you are!!

Empressed

The Empress card from Kat Black's Golden Tarot . (I received this deck for my birthday a couple of years ago. It's sumptuous...)

Yesterday I did a tarot reading for the first time in weeks, and I asked about my new project, my daughter Lisbeth's new etsy site. The card that appeared in the "what I most need to look at" spot was The Empress. I was delighted to see this - The Empress represents promise, femininity, abundance, creativity and assurance. And that she is a mother is also relevant to my situation. I took care of my daughter for 14 years before she was transitioned to her her own assisted living home, and I really burned out. I went back to school at that time to get my soul back. I've wanted to help Lisbeth develop a business for a long time now but needed to take care of myself first. (A former therapist of mine likened this process to putting the oxygen mask on oneself first in an airplane emergency so that one can then tend to the waiting child...)

So I finally feel ready.

And when I snuggled up with my husband on the couch last night and waited out the last few minutes of his Ultimate Fighting match (ugh) before switching the channel to TCM, lo and behold! the 8:00 film was The Scarlet Empress, starring Marlene Dietrich. I took this as a good sign. (The Scarlet Empress tells the story of 18th century Russian Empress Catherine the Great's rise to power. What a visual feast! The costumes, and the sets! Wow!! So over the top and fabulous! You get a glimpse of it all here in these film stills. I loved it.)

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts.