The February Renewal Moon brings boldness to the fore.
‘I Die Daily’ (study), Drozda, oil pastel on board, 14 x 14″, 2003, Artist collection
Call in a renewed courage!!
At this point on the Natural Calendar each opportunity to move forward creates kick-back.
Offered the chance to explore we might feel pulled in the opposite direction. Instead of catapulting forward with a vision we feel our get-up-and-go spiral into inertia.
Stop. Get a grip.
To keep momentum building toward spring equinox take note this week of the ways that you become distracted.
It’s time to be tuning into your next bold step
For most of us that means confronting the dragons, monsters and strange beliefs whose job it is to jump out onto our art/life path challenging forward momentum. These parts of us are well trained to do their level best maintaining status quo.
In support of this time of Renewal on the Natural Calendar we’ll take some time noticing the appearance of stumbling blocks.
This is an area in which I revel. My art/life experience has taught me to be all about ferreting out my own dark shadows…knowing full well that there is always another lurking.
Stock image
In Buddhism we’re reminded that the wisest approach is to stop. Don’t run. Stand still. open the mouth of the demon and demand to be devoured. POOF! The demon will de-materialize. Bye. Bye.
Polarities and Dualities
Diametrically opposed qualities like up/down, left/right, in/out, correct/wrong, black/white, high/low, good/bad, etc. are representative of the many ways that brains setup tension. Negative tension drains energy and makes us squirrelly and sick. Creative tension ignites passion! However we have to get lined up with its inventiveness and the clarion call of: ‘Let’s do this!’
YES!!
Let’s do this thing!
Throughout the month of February revitalize some area of your art/life
This is your chance to make something feel new again. It may be a studio practice, a relationship, a personal habit…it doesn’t matter what area you select. Your choice may be physical, emotional or spiritual:intangible/intuitive…every area of life impacts your art/life and any Renewal fostered now provides a domino effect. Plus an entire month each year devoted to Renewal is FUNctional.
This week we focus on the polar opposite point from February on the Natural Calendar. That would place our attention directly across the circle. take a look back to August 2015. In August we were actively exploring the what, who, how, when, why of Trust.
Renewal and Trust create a tension point on the yearly circle; a tug of war that can cause us to get off course… until we stand in the center and give each; Renewal and Trust its due. You might also find it inspiring to gaze into the future… six months out… and ask yourself what you will be willing to Trust once we come back ’round to that powerful point in mid-summer.
This week review your notes/journal/schedule book from six months back. Here’s a bit of what I found:
In the first week of August blog post…these empowering instructions:
“I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. Then you will see what medicines they make, and where and when to apply them.
That is the work. The only work.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Ask: What was happening in my art/life story six months ago?
Entry from the second week of August blog post:
As we approach the fall equinox on September 23 the prevailing energy shifts from primary masculine of spring and summer to the opening of the door to the feminine urge to nurture and contain during fall and winter (Northern Hemisphere). The spring and summer are naturally about outward, get going, make it happen, left brain analysis, solve the problem, drive, invent, progress, manifest: ACTION!!
Take a deep breath…
The fall and winter half of the Natural Time wheel of the year embraces the feminine: inward, conserve, protect, compassionate, calm, nurture, nourish, humanize, fierce, beauty, quality, watchfulness, intuitive, create, reverence, resilience, sensibility, right brain, playful, guardianship, love & joy: ~RECEIVE~
Ask: How was my trust level manifesting six months ago?
In week three of August we met the author of The Book of Qualities Wise Woman J. Ruth Gelder:
Bowls and Being, J. Ruth Gendler, monoprint
Trust
Trust is the daughter of Truth. She has an objective memory, neither embellishing nor denying the past. She is an ideal confidante __ gracious, candid, and discreet.
Trust talks to people who need to hear her; she listens to those who need to be heard; she sits quietly with those who are skeptical of words. Her presence is subtle, simple, and undeniable.
Trust rarely buys round-trip tickets because she is never sure how long she will be gone and when she will return. Trust us at home in the desert and the city, with dolphins and tigers, with outlaws, lovers and saints. When Trust bought her house, she tore out all of the internal walls, strengthened the foundation, and rebuilt the door. Trust is not fragile, but she has no need to advertise her strength. She has a gambler’s respect for the interplay between luck and skill; she is the mother of Love.
Stillness, J. Ruth Gendler, collograph
Ask: What am I not Trusting?
In week four of August I posted a short story about how I began to develop trust in myself (funny how we can have a quality when young and then have to find a way back to it when we are older):
When I was a little girl I couldn’t get enough of being outdoors or of learning. After a day at John Muir Elementary School I’d run the ¾ mile home, change clothes, bolt down the stairs, dart 4 houses up the street to Dale Ruby’s and set up make-shift cardboard box desks in the back corner of his family garage. Paper and pencil in place I’d gather the other kids and we would draw for an hour or two. We were in our own world until mom opened the kitchen door, stepped out onto the blacktopped driveway, puffed her cheeks and sent her ‘come to dinner’ whistle drifting down the sidewalk.
Ask: Why am I as I am? Who am I being?
Hermit, Drozda, Prismacolor pencil on rag paper, 6 x 4″
I continue to insert the link to The 2016 Lifecycle Forecast … scan the article and be conscious of the overarching energy for the Global Year. Together we support each next step on the path during this time for ‘Compassion in Action’.
The Call, Drozda, Acrylic/canvas, 54 x 54″, 1991, private collection
WISE WOMAN OF THE WEEK
This week welcome our Wise Woman companion on the art/life trail…
J. RUTH GELDER
Three Bowls, J. Ruth Gendler, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
In honor of Renewal and being willing to open to opposites I bring back the brilliance of artist, teacher, writer, J. Ruth Gendler.
Her Book of Qualities (which I highly recommend) carries a review quote on the front cover:
“A wry and whimsical mirror in which we catch an unexpected look at ourselves.”
Whole Life Times
The Book of Qualities, J. Ruth Gendler
In that one sentence we receive good medicine for this entire month.
J. Ruth Gendler is committed to the transformational potential of the arts. Her experience with the rhythms of creativity is evidenced by a diverse background in art, writing, publishing, teaching, and lecturing. Her first published piece (when she was 8) described how she wanted to go to the Louvre and see the paintings. This was followed the next year by three poems about color. She has been interested in the intersection of art and writing, language and vision ever since then.
Here’s what Ruth writes on Ambivalence…a quality that fits the tension of the energy for this month:
Ambivalence, Drawing, J. Ruth Gelder, ©1984 & 1988, used with permission
dear iona
there is so much information in this post that is relevant
to what is happening at the moment in my life
how do you do that? 🙂
always relevant. always there.
what you offer us here is a way to create a meaningful creative path
for art for life
and you are a most thoughtful guide
thank you so much
for every single thursday post.
francis
Dear Francis…the poet in you comes to call…thank you for your rich reflection…
reverent
relevant
relational
reflection
renewed
Wonderful reminder of where we are in the season. Basking in the sunny hints of spring, shivering in the cold blasts that send us happily to our safe havens. Building up the fidgety energy that will demand movement toward action. Enjoying the final preparations to get back in the saddle and head out. Excellent blog. Thanks Donna
YES!! Another terrific reminder…thank you Linda.
I notice how we are instinctively connecting to haven, contemplation, safety. Each of us is circling inward as we prepare to come Topside once more in a few short weeks. The polarities (sunny/shivering) cranking up to see if we have the stamina and the willingness to take best care.
How nurturing it is to know where to go to refresh and renew. We’ve invested six months (October to April) traveling way down and way in so as to refresh in the Underworld…deep and wide coming back home…hOMe…where we belong.
Beneficial it is to navigate moon by moon, energy flowing establishing a rhythm that gains in momentum and inner creative directive.
Dear D.I. and all,
This is my favorite post this year. balance and pulls are always the same for me at this point in our spiral. At the moment I’m looking out from the well of past performance as I place each brush stroke on 3 new paintings. So many changes have caused more growth in saying yes…as well as no.
All of today’s message requires great contemplation in order to get more than its immediate impact. Thanks and love, Ellis
I appreciate your comment Ellis…very much…clearly you and I are resonant with the push/pull of this place on the Natural Calendar.
Glad you’re painting! looking forward to seeing your new work.
Thank you for mentioning contemplation. That too is a quality that adds an empowering addition to the week…the awareness that we are continuing to engage The Mystery suggests that a contemplative space, sanctuary, a specific place where we turn toward Renewal is a wise creative alignment.