Ugh… the other night I had a horrible dream in which I got lost and couldn’t find my way home. I got more and more upset, and then, whew, a gentle guide showed up and reminded me that when a dream has gone wrong, for goodness sake, WAKE UP!
So, I did and I felt really comforted by going and gazing at this Woven Woman from my mixed media series: Oracle of Stillness. She is “The Guide Who is Just Where She is Needed”.
There are times when we are dreaming and also times when we are awake when we feel lost and distressed. Thank goodness for the Guides who show up to clear the path for us!
Joy is one of the great connectors of the Universe.
It can burst into a moment that launches the heart skyward, or it can slide in on a silent wave that somehow appears in the midst of suffering and sorrow and leaves a person riding a wave that lifts them when only a moment before, there was oppression, misery and despair.
Joy is a bridge that brings together paradoxes and stitches the Great Mystery and Beauty into a patchwork that says: YES to awe and to life.
When Joy burst into my life, I felt compelled to create this mixed media Woven Woman for the Oracle of Stillness series: “An Uprising of Joy”.
If you look closely at the feathers on the edges of her wings, you will see hundreds of tiny brass safety pins, which I adore as they are charming little bits of amazement that hold things together. And on each of the tiny safety pins, there are seed beads as a metaphor for how Joy seeds new life in us.
May Joy unfold in your life, too!
‘An Uprising of Joy’ is one of 3 of my mixed media tapestries from the “Oracle of Stillness” series that are part of the fundraising Christmas/Celebration of Joy show at Harcourt House: Artorama
Today is the final day of the exhibition of ‘Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos’ at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton, AB. If you are in YEG, do step over to the gallery, as they have done such an exquisite job of lighting the show that the Woven Women fairly dance on the walls.
I offer my most enormous gratitude to Darren Kooyman, Jacek Malec, Marija Nikolajev and the Board members of Harcourt House- it is such an honor to have been invited to exhibit at Harcourt House and I am eternally grateful for all the hard work that you have done to create and sustain such a wonderful centre for the arts in Edmonton!
The last Woven Woman that I wove for the series of the Oracle of Stillness is: “The Mysterious and the Magical Have a Way of Waiting Patiently to Reveal the Astonishing”.
She announced herself in a dream and I had to wake up to be sure to write down the correct words in the right order, as she was very clear that that was essential.
And, it was fascinating to feel that she was the final piece- the 50th one…. I knew that I would be weaving 50 Oracles of Stillness, and was intrigued by how that unfolded.
She was very clear about exactly what I needed to do to make her fully true and accurate to her raison d’etre.
There wasn’t enough room in the gallery for all 50 of the mixed media Woven Women Oracles of Stillness to be in the exhibition, but I will get all 50 of them uploaded here on: www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Sometimes, when our bodies are challenged, the best place to dance is in our dreams.
This mixed media Woven Woman tapestry, “The Dance” is part of the Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series.
I twisted wire to make the armature for “The Dance” and freeform wove the beads to shape her into that moment of stillness that sparks the moment between the movements.
It is the Pause, Breathe, Begin Again that nurtures and heals.
Yesterday was a day full of challenges and mistakes… I am working on a new series of mixed media weaving and had to do a lot of re-considering and re-working.
I also got a couple of other things quite wrong, so had to remind myself to be curious about what I could do about that.
At bedtime, I asked my Dream Guides and Wise and Well Ancestors for guidance, and what immediately popped up was: Do some Ho Opono Opono, so I did. It’s very helpful!
This morning, I woke up with a cluster of phrases in mind as I floated in the hypnagognic state:
Gifts from the Dream Guides and Wise and Well Ancestors, for sure:
“Pax Vobiscum”, “Fiat Lux”, “Que La Lumiere Soit” and “Pause, Breathe, Begin Again”.
It also made me think:
These challenges are the reason why the mixed media Oracle of Stillness Woven Woman: “Paradox- Joy and Sorrow Walk Together” is so important to me.
She speaks the truth of dealing with the challenges that help me to understand that life is multifaceted, complicated, messy, sometimes uncomfortable and downright miserable at times, too…. BUT… in among all that, there is still Peace, Wisdom, Strength, Tenacity and the ability to maintain the Courage to be Curious and the willingness to accept that sometimes I say and do things that I am unhappy about and have to find a way to reset my compass, and to Pause, Breathe and Begin Again….
Yup. It’s a Paradox and it’s profoundly healing and deeply soulful. Not easy… but oh so necessary.
When my father died, a friend sent me a lovely card that has been a touchstone for me ever since.
On the front of the card, there was a beautiful print of the night sky, showing the stars shining brightly.
It said: The Inuit people believe that the stars are the campfires of our Ancestors, shining in their villages in the sky. The twinkling is the Ancestors, sending their love and laughter back to us….
This image has stayed with me and is a source of comfort to me and I often dream of the laughter of the stars..
And, so, this mixed media Woven Woman from the ‘Oracle of Stillness’ series is:
“The Laughter of the Stars”.
When you go outside at night and gaze at the stars, listen for their laughter…. it will light up your life.
Completing the “Oracle of Stillness” series of mixed media weavings has signalled some deep changes in our home.
This taken the form of a complete shift about of furniture and re-configuring how we use our spaces. Feng Shui in action!
This shape shifting has made us feel much happier with our little home as it feels more alive and cleaner and cozier and ready to receive the new work that is deliciously emerging for us… lots happening with new inspiration, but more about that later.
The decisions around ‘what do we let go of’ and ‘what do we use in new ways’ and’what do we need to bring in?’ has stirred all kinds of musings and dreaming about what ‘HOME’ is and how deeply the concept of ‘Home’ reaches down into our many levels of mind and also into our dream universes.
This Woven Woman from the ‘Oracle of Stillness’ series, “Finding the Way Home” is one of the ‘Grandmother’s Coat’ series, and is also a compendium of fleeting images from many dreams that I have had about the power of “home”.
My wish is: May everyone, everywhere find peace and healing in their homes May everyone everywhere have safe harbor in their homes May everyone everywhere feel heard and seen in their homes May everyone everywhere feel welcome in their homes May everyone everywhere feel restful repose and have sweet dreams in their homes Whatever “HOME” means to you, may you find your way home to that…
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