The Looking Glass

Just some food for thought that I offer up today...

Excerpt from Sacred Circles: A Guide to Creating Your Own Women's Spirituality Group

"There could hardly be a hotter topic for a group of women then beauty. most of us are obsessed with how we look and how far we deviate from how we think we would like to look. Addicted to perfection, we have become merciless self-critics. We have heard a million times the old adage that "beauty is only skin deep," but we have never really internalized it. Instead, we believe that our self-worth is directly correlated to our waist size or the amount of cellulite in our saddlebags. What other adages and myths concerning beauty are we under the spell of?

It can be very liberating to hear other women share their obsessions, thoughts, and feelings about beauty. We begin to hear ourselves in others---others we know to be perfectly beautiful. only then do we see a glimmer of the absurdity of our self-delusions. Bettie is our bonafide college beauty queen---Hopskinsville, Kentucky, 1952. To hear this still gorgeous sixty-plus-year-old woman describe her negative feelings about her body is to see the real insanity of the obsession. Listening to her discuss this un-winnable dilemma of never-thin-enough, never-young-enough, never-(place your favorite self-recrimination here)-enough makes us all want to wriggle free of our old skins---too tight now, too made up, too coiffed---and enjoy the gift of who we really are. Truly, there is no ugliness in a circle of happy women, especially when lit by candles!"

Do you think you can wriggle free of your un-winnable obsessions? Wouldn't it be empowering and liberating to just enjoy ourselves how we are right now? Why can't we? What is really standing in our way?

Prayers of the Cosmos

I attended a workshop/talk with author Susan G. Wooldridge this week. She wrote the books Poem Crazy and Foolsgold (which I posted an excerpt from just a few days ago. It was a wonderful workshop, though much, much too short. I could have spent a much longer time hearing more from Susan about writing and it would have been delightful to have had more time to play more with words and learn more about the other attendees.

Susan spoke of many things last night in the short time frame and in my notes I jotted down several titles of books that were recommended. There was one in particular that drew my attention. It was called Prayers of the Cosmos.

Susan shared briefly how the author had gone back to find the original Lords Prayer in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus and the people of his time in that part of the land.

Susan knew part of the prayer in Aramaic by heart and it simply sounded so beautiful to hear the words spoken aloud. I went in search of finding the whole prayer and it was available for viewing on Amazon.com.

First I will share here the Aramaic version, then the translation direct from Aramaic and lastly the King James Version. Comparing the King James version side by side with the Aramaic translation is fascinating. One would think that they couldn't possibly be translations from the same document. Yet that is the case.

The Lords Prayer in Aramaic

Abwoon d 'bwashmaya

Neth qadash shmakh

Teytey malkuthakh

Nehwey tzevyanach aykanna
d'bwashmaya aph b'arha

Hawrlan lachma d ' sunquanan yaomana

Washboglan khaubayn (wakhtahayn) ay kana
daph khnan shboqan l ' khayyabayn

Wela tahlan l'nesyuaa

Ela patzan min bisha

Metol dilakhie malkutha urahayala

wateshbukhta l'ahlam almin.

Ameya

Aramaic to English Translation

~ Our Birth In Unity ~

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
you create all that moves in light.

O Thou! The Breathing Life of all Creator
of the Shimmering Sound that touches us.

Respiration of all worlds, we hear you
breathing - in and out - in silence.

Source of Sound in the roar and the whisper in the
breeze and the whirlwind, we hear your name.

Radiant One: You shine within us out side us
- even darkness shines - when we remember.

Names of names our small identity unravels
in your, you give it back as a lesson.

Wordless Action - Silent Potency -- where
ears and eyes awaken - there heaven comes.

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos!

King James Version

Our Father which are in heaven

Hallowed be they name.

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen

What do you think?

Thoughts on Emptiness

I wanted to share a brief excerpt from a book called foolsgold by Susan G. Wooldridge.

"The creative, it seems, is spawned from emptiness. Giving over to silence, waiting, allowing, listening. Coming to emptiness may mean coming through grief. Something has been lost, a marriage, a child, a house, a city, a world. An idea of who we are. Whatever seems familiar, tried and true.

In the emptiness we might get an inkling---as if something lights up and twinkles---of how we'll begin to form and open to who we're becoming, who we most truly are. We need to leave space both for what we'll discover and what will emerge to discover us."

At the end of this particular chapter she shares a thoughtful poem by Rumi.

The human being is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as
an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who sweep
your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you our for some new delight.

Letting Creativity Unfurl

I am working on a series of paintings. They are for a special long-term project. Long-term because I think it will take me a while to complete the whole series. I keep telling myself to just take it one step at a time, or in this case, just one painting at a time. I also remind myself that the joy comes from the journey and the act of creating and painting. Sometimes I am not quite sure what will appear on the canvas. I just start and let the creative process unfurl and take on a life of its' own. I am reminded of an affirmation that says "Creator, you take care of the quality and I'll take care of the quantity."

I am still not quite finished with Trust.
I have let this one sit for awhile.
It doesn't feel quite finished to me yet
so I am awaiting that final inspiration.
The swirls and the flowers just don't seem quite right to me.

Trust

Here is my mandala style painting called Divine Connection.

Divine Connection

I also have some touch up work to do on Turiya,
which I began painting just last night.
Turiya is the elusive fourth level of human consciousness.
It is supposed to be a state of pure consciousness.
This too is a mandala painting.

Turiya

Lastly I also included the sketch I have ready for the next one
called Ahimsa, which is a Sanskrit term that means "do no harm."
I traced my left hand as well as each of my daughters left hands.
I am hoping to have some time today while my
daughters nap to begin painting this one.

Ahimsa

The ABC's of Spring

Advancing, allergies

Buds, blooms, blossoms, birds, breezes, birth

Clean, creeping, colds

Daffodils, dandelions, ducks
Emergence, Easter, eggs

Flowers, feasts

Grass, green, geese

Hyacinth, hay-fever

Ice-melt

Jacket

Kites, Kleenex

Life, Love, Lent

Mow, mud

Nest

Open

Puddle, plant

Quiet

Rain, rainbow, restless, runny noses

Shine, showers, snails, sweaters, sprouts, sniffles

Tulips

Umbrella

Vacation

Wind, warming

Xanthic

Yellow

Zest

I Believe In Us

Shiloh Sophia McCloud is an inspirational sacred artist, entrepreneur, publisher and human being. I came across this video she made to inspire others. It showcases her beautiful art and the beautiful messages of encouragement she continually shares with others.

You can learn more about her by visiting the following websites:
The Wisdom House
Cosmic Cowgirls

More on Spirals

The spiral leads

us to the truth

of our spiritual

center.

By following

the path

of the spiral

within ourselves,

we connect

to the divine

mystery

that is all

around us.

A balance

of the inner

and outer realms

is the path to

enlightenment.

Take the light

from within

and spiral

it out

into

the

world.

(words taken from a Goddess candle)