Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Giving Away

I'm still in the process of giving away 50 things to celebrate my 50th birthday. (Read original article). 39 things have gone.

I've enjoyed many delicious moments in the process, and so, apparently, have the generous receivers. Several people have told me they want to do the same for their birthdays.

Sometimes there has been an exuberant feeling, like flinging confetti into the air. Sometimes it has been very tender, seeing someone else's dear hands cherishing an object I was no longer really seeing, like this egg I'd decorated on the theme of Hexagram 3 of the I Ching--Difficulty at the Beginning.






Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Eclipse














Lunar Eclipse fabrics 36"x14" '97


Thursday, February 14, 2008

Saturday, February 9, 2008

The World Oracle





The World Oracle

Ask, why? to hear because;
ask, now? for yes or no.

How also works inside out,
like this: how do I make money
out of lazy bones and short days?
Try: how does no-money unmake me,
in willing boneless long nights?

Is it over? Did it start?
Am I getting warmer?

What do you really want to know?

Does love choose?
Do cats ever blink for effect,
or do they always mean it?

Don’t be silly.
Hold your question
like carrying water
in your hands to drink.

Next, be still and walk about listening.
Circulate like the child navigating
the whole room while all the obedient
ones close eyes in prayer. In stealth
and glee and solitude wait unknown
for some one thing to speak to you.

A pebble glittering with sunshards
in a hoard below a drainpipe
told me, “be wealth.”
The schoolbus from behind
said, "wait to learn."
Sidewalk cigarette filter said,
“it's over: drop it.”

The world oracle flashes, terse and true
like fish shadows in windy moonlight.





Saturday, February 2, 2008

Imbolc/Brigid/Candlemas/Groundhog's Day



Imbolc Dawn, fabrics, 10x12 in (available)

Half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox already! A spark is lit, the creative spark, the beginning of beginning. Light strengthens. Within the stillness of Winter, a memory, an anticipation of Spring stirs.

This year the rising fire energy has inspired me to begin clearing out whatever feels dead or stagnant in my little world, my groundhog burrow. I've started a spring cleaning, the first deep one in many years. Little by little, one thing, one area at a time, on physical and mental planes, it's burning through some stuck places.


This is also the season of my birthday, my 50th. I decided to give away or let go of 50 things, to celebrate. 50 things that somehow matter, or used to, or that I want to release for whatever reason. I'm letting go of a long-standing business arrangement and some artifacts weighted with heavy nostalgia. I've given away lovely things that I was saving for a use that hasn't revealed itself. I'm giving a friend a piece of art he wanted but couldn't afford, because I noticed I thought of it as his already.

There is a sensation of burning at times, maybe a burning of attachment. I feel freedom and elation as I give, and then later sometimes a clutching regret, or shame, or fear: more mental junk to clear out, the clearing that matters the most. Then I look at the place where a formerly loved object isn't and feel a surging gratitude, piercing love for the open space.

If this kind of burning takes hold, it might throw enough light to see a shadow by, a fierce Kali-the-Distroyer shadow, maybe. Or the Jungian Shadow, archetype of what has been denied and hidden in the psyche; it might be easier to meet that in the continuing quiet of winter, while the inward time keeps dreaming in deep hibernation. Or maybe the shadow of the girl and young woman I was and still am inside this aging body. (The old European holiday on this day traditionally celebrated the Maiden aspect of the Goddess more than the Crone).

And in a little over 6 weeks the balance point of Spring will be here, one way or another, no matter what real or metaphorical shadows us groundhogs see or don't. Something new will sprout.


Creative Spark Altar Cloth, fabrics, 24x36 inches