Divine Mother

Divine Mother

This was my first painting of the divine mother. In fact, this was my first 'real' painting. Up till then I had only lived out my creativity through dressmaking, interior decorating, the writing of poetry and as a child, making my own paper dolls. I still cannot explain where the impulse came from to pick up a paintbrush! But I felt inspired to buy some canvases and paints and brushes.

And one night I was woken up with the incredible need to paint. I set my easel up in the dining room and started painting ...... and this is the face that emerged. Tears streamed down my face as I painted and that is how it has been ever since.

At first I felt shy about sharing my paintings and my incredibly intense experiences whilst painting, but this is now 6 years later, so now I am much braver! These paintings take an incredible amount of energy although it takes me only a few hours to paint them. For those few hours I am somewhere else, transported into a realm of absolute light and the energy does the painting.

I recently completed a painting of Shekinah, and I am still to apply the goldleafing to the majestic wings. It took me a week to recover after She appeared on the canvas and I have been careful about picking up any paint brushes since.

For each painting, poems would follow. They would specifically apply to the devata in the painting and later on messages started to follow and then as I trained in siddha yoga, diksha and awakening blessings would accompany the paintings.

DIVINE MOTHER

Your presence fills me

Your child I am

You move through my heart

Painting it with love’s design

Compassion flows forth

from your hands

Your touch opens me

I am your Voice

I carry you in my hips

I carry you in my gait

My womb holds your Secret Mystery

My breasts aflame with light

Radiant through my sacred heart

Feeding your children

Wherever we are

Oh Divine Mother

You move through me

You move me

You transform through me

You transform me

Eternal is my gratitude

Blessed are You

You are my wealth

You are my beauty

You are my gift

You I give to the world.

Daughter of the Goddess

Eternal Mother of mine

I belong to you

as you move in me,

I move in you.

Divine Mother, mother of mine

You hold me in your arms

Loved for evermore

You fill me with my eternal self

Carried in your embrace

A flower for your hair,

Today I paint your feet

The Light of your Grace

Shines in me,

A treasured truth

In my heart’s embrace

A Jewel am I

In the crown on your head

Forgotten are the dark dreams

Of childhoods past

Now I am yours

Now I belong

For ever more

Divine mother, mother of mine

The Blessing of the Rose Queen and the Lady of Hearts

THE BLESSING OF THE ROSE QUEEN AND THE LADY OF HEARTS

An old legend tells that at the time of the winter solstice, all of those souls, who will incarnate in the coming year, draw close to the Earth.

The Divine Mother then takes a single petal from the Great Rose of Life and places it in the heart of each of those souls who will. As that soul then is born and grows throughout its life and awakens its true self, that single petal will blossom in the heart of the individual, becoming a living Rose of Life that will bless the world.

The blessing of the Rose Queen and the Lady of Hearts : a shrine to the mystery of the angelic realms and the divine feminine and the resurrection of the feminine mysteries. On top is the Crown of the Immaculate and the two doors are covered with images of the Madonna and Christ, embellished with charms of the occult and esoteric, symbols of fortune and blessing, a key to unlock the mysteries, a scissors to cut the veil, a rose and a heart to depict the Heart of the Mysteries, miniature tarot cards, vintage playing cards and a crucifix, sprinkled with black rhinestones.

The two door knobs are each a miniature shrine in itself. From each one dangles a tiny red heart and inside are images of the Lady, decorated with stars and a rose. The doors are lined with red velvet, depicting the power of the Blessing and the Mystery. The heart opening is outlined with blue roses - symbol of the Rose Queen.

When you open the shrine, the Lady of Hearts is revealed. She is displayed on a handmade tarot cards, and each door is lined with altered tarot cards and a vintage Queen of Hearts, as well as miniature tarot cards. The left door displays the mighty Archangel Michael and the Angel of Judgement.

Hail Mary, full of grace,

The Lord is with thee

Blessed art thou among women

and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb

Holy Mary, Rose Queen and Lady of Hearts

Bestow your Blessing upon us

Now and Forever

Blessed Be

SET YOUR DREAMS FREE!

Set your dreams free!

I made this little beauty for her, the Dream Within!

She stands on a bed of lace and gold roses in a tiny pink and gold box. She is round and naked, and wears a pair of glasses and looks nothing like a typical ballet dancer, but she has a dream! S And she is determined to reach the golden key on that glass door and to stretch those golden wings.

This little kewpie's dream is to become a graceful ballerina. Her pink box proudly carries the crown of the Swan Queen and her dressing room wall displays the ballet menu and star casting.On the handle of the door hangs her satin ballet shoes, waiting and ready to be put on!

I did ballet for most of my young life and passed all the international exams with Highly Commended, but it was never good enough for my ballet mistress. She said I will never be a 'dancer'. This memory was deeply embedded and forgotten in myself, until I took up NIA a few years ago and found my heart and soul flying through the studio, with absolute glee and bliss! As joy was restored to me, I found one of the keys of the many doors to my dreams and could set myself free to become more creative and free from many rules and regulations, especially in my artistic endeavours.

Deep inside each of us lies a buried dream or dreams. Maybe because of someone else's opinion, or even your own belief systems, do you believe that there are things that you are no good at or that you will never be able to do. But your heart has the key to open that cage and you do have the golden wings to fly towards that dream.

This miniature piece of art is being packaged in white tissue paper in a gold box for another young girl with many dreams - may she uncover her courage and inner strength to follow her own dreams!

Such is Love!

Love undresses you

Peels off the layers

The masks of pretence

The coats of defence

Love reveals me

Bares me in all my nakedness

Behold! Such innocence

Radiant beauty within

Love leads me

Into the fires of hell

Into the the pit of fear

Into the mouth of the lion

Love victoriously

Triumphantly

Ushers me out

Surrounded by legions of light

Love soars above me

Flying high

Holding my heart aloft

Wings tied to my feet

Never look down, never look down

Love is straight ahead!

Devata

'All becoming has needed me.

My looking ripens things

and they come toward me, to meet and be met. - The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke

We each have a 'God', whether we are spiritually aware and awake, or religious, or not. It does not matter; we each have a devata, a living understanding of a consciousness that pervades our life and our mind, our heart and our body. We believe certain things about life and ourselves and about others and the way that they are with life and within their lives. The way we perceive living and our expectations of life and what it will bring us and how it treats us, is our devata.

Devata can loosely be translated as divine being or god/dess. From devata we get devi, devic and deity. Ishta devata is your personal deity which is alive within you and ultimately that is our purpose here on earth : to birth our own divinity. That is the focus of the spiritual life. All paths lead to that moment when you realise I Am That I Am and you can replace 'That' with any other word or name of deity.

Art is my personal devata. She is the altar through which I adore and worship Life; Life As It Is. On her altar I place my understanding of personal suffering and my devotion to those moments of Absolute Joy and Bliss. To me Art is Bhakty in motion!

God is our most intimate partner. She is beyond all dualism of matter and spirit. We see Him everywhere, and in order for Him/Her to exist, She needs to be seen! And that is our purpose as creators. When we create a bountiful herb garden, God exists as the perfume of the lemongrass, the velvety touch of the basil leaf and the pungent taste of coriander. When we participate in a fun run, God is in the fresh ozone filled air, in the hardness of the ground underneath our feet and in the cameraderie of those around us.

As an artist, I have an incredible and persistent desire to make my direct experience of 'God' legible to others. I paint portraits of aspects of the goddess or the divine feminine; I create shrines and altars (some of them huge); I alter vintage books; all of these act as messengers of the angelic worlds, speaking to our devic kingdom, here in physical reality on Earth.

At first I painted my visions and visitations during my sleep, without really understanding that these were conscious beings or beings of consciousness. And indeed, each time I put my brush to the canvas, I am transported somewhere else and She manifests through me onto the canvas. I have no training as artist and the first painting I did of Her as the Sacred Heart, I just blindly followed an overpowering need to capture the vision for all to see.

By my fifth painting did I truly Realise that these paintings are 'alive'!. Let me share the story with you.

Doves have always played a big role in my life. For about seven years I used to teach spiritual knowledge to others in a more formal setting of classes. In the summer we used to sit on my covered patio in the garden. Without fail, the doves would gather around us and one would fly over the table, through the circle of women. This became a weekly event and after a while we took it for granted that the dove would fly through our gathering. Often when I meditate a dove would appear on the window sill outside my studio and at times it would knock on the window. I have since heard that this happens to others as well.

When I painted the blue painting of the Madonna, I left the painting on the easel to dry in the dining room as it is a very sunny room. The next morning the dining room had many scattered dove feathers lying around and a dove sitting on the painting. All the doors and windows were locked before we went to bed. Also, if you look closely, you will see that the dove left its droppings on the corner of the painting, as well as on the dining room table. We all contemplated what had happened, but decided that maybe a window had been left open without us knowing. I moved the painting on the easel to my decided which is a much smaller room than the open plan dining room.

The next morning when I opened the door of the studio, a dove was sitting on the painting!! This time there was no doubt - all the windows and door had been shut! The dove had manifested in the room and left another mark on the painting. I had the painting framed and asked the shop not to clean the dove droppings off.

When I got the painting back, I hanged it on the wall in the same dining room. For three mornings after that, a dove was in the dining room. My husband politely asked me to please keep the painting in my studio as the dining room table was covered in bird droppings every morning! No-one needed any convincing that it indeed was Her Spirit and Presence that manifested the dove, her messenger of love and compassion!