THE 2017 EMERGENCE SERIES
As I was playing with images for new collages this past fall, allowing them to grab my attention and show me how they wanted to come together, I realized there was an evolving series that followed this same pattern and emergence theme. I decided to develop them as a set, with a consistent size and background treatment, so they could work and speak together. (Each is on an 8” x 8” ground.) The ten panels can be arranged in any configuration and any order. Collectively, they speak of a changing consciousness, something happening on an energetic level that I am giving voice and face to.  Here’s what came forward when I asked them to speak:

SPEAKING IN A COLLECTIVE VOICE
We are all emerging now. We have been held in, often in exquisite containers, but we have still been waiting, we have been stored inside.  Our faces and forms are from everywhere—from many peoples, many dreams, many imaginations and creativities. We are rising now to what has not been contained, what has been just beyond reach. See the light in each of us—we each embody it, rest in or against it, have it shining on us, pick it up and transmit it. We are classic, holy, revered, contemplated, we have halos and auras and transmitters. We are all stillness rising. Look: this, our community, that is coming out now.



SPEAKING AS INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS

 Look at my cold, small-eyed face. I was longing for something enlivening. I now rise from a workbasket, holder perhaps of laundry, or apples, companion for everyday tasks. I arise to a new bubble, a bright aura, and I will be transformed.  Soon my eyes will grow large as I come to see more and more. I am looking about, and it is stunning.

I have held pain and fear, buried in an elaborated vessel of ancient patriarchal culture. Mine was a grimace of pain. But I am coming up now, no longer stuffed down in there. I am emerging into my true filigree halo, and tears of anguish are falling off one by one

 I am still contained, not pushed down or hidden in my container, but contained in my knowing. As I rise from this beautiful basket, my full aura comes through: my vitality, my quivering reds and golds, my shining nut body. Behold this holy mother with huge vibratory pulsing.
 

 I am rising from stone, from snakes. I have been holding female power all along, and now I am coming out fully. I smile.  I look with great love on all of this. I am jeweled, and I am listening. Note that I hold channels down to the earth, beautiful blue channels of wisdom and love that carry messages both ways. I bless you all with my peace, calmness and certainty.

Prince Ganesha comes out of the cauldron—you can’t hold me! You see my energy rising. These wisdom pearls show you we are all coming up. Such beautiful materials, the coral and turquoise, the gold and brass, the pinkness of my body—we are light-filled and dreamy. Indeed, no obstacles. Do we surprise you? I am eternally ready, available. Hi there!

I have been masked. I had a golden mask, a valuable, golden diadem or crown, and a lovely, handmade container. Nevertheless, I have masked the truth. Now I am rising into something beyond. I am unmasking. Note the glowing necklace around my throat—the energy bursts all around. My disparate parts will now stand apart from one another, calling to the sun.

 I too come out of a metallic prison, but I am turning the metal into a crown, into jewels that come to life. Look at my light! And I hold so much pattern—patterns of people from everywhere. I have receptive ears and eyes ready to fully open. I am a being of light and I cause my face to shine upon you.

 I arise from a lotus, and hold to the ground as well as the cosmos. I turn everything upside down. I hold order and rising sun. I have large ears to get the messages of the cosmos. I see you from deep within and I hold fast, grounding you with the biggest messages and truth.

Watch me, hear me, use me.  Deeply aware, my container is light filled, alive, shiny, moving. It comes from a pedestal. All is in balance. I hold old knowledge. My feather beard and big ears show that I am all about hearing, receiving messages, and bringing them out.

First, a photographic meditation/appreciation of the environment here in my Florida yard. This time I’ll focus on flowers, but there is so much more greenery for another time. Most of these images were taken on a single day in late January—these were what was in bloom somewhere on my “estate.” I've also planted a number of other plants that have yet to flower, but these were all here for me already. It’s quite awesome to really take in how much life and energy is happening at any one moment.  Check out the captions --sometimes there are comments.

The first, larger image was one of the revelations of the month. I have lived with snake plants for decades, but had never seen these exuberant blooms. When many were blooming at once (and briefly, just for a few days) it felt quite astounding. the plant is also called mother-in-law's tongue, which probably refers to the blade-like leaf, but if the tongues are the flowers, the message is sweet. Since I am a mother-in-law, I vote for the blooms.

My birthday at the end of January was blessed with a powerful event in the skies. It was a supermoon, blue moon, and then early the next morning (or the same night in my experience), a lunar eclipse.  I took a sunset walk along the (Gulf of Mexico) beach, as I often do, and the heavens were blessing (that is a line from a Shaker hymn I have long held dear). The sunset was stunning, and I turned around to see the supermoon rising.  The pictures don't do justice to the moon, given the light and the lenses, but it gives a feeling.

I returned to the beach for the eclipse. What was exciting was that the parking lot was surprisingly full--many others had the same instinct (we were all drawn, almost magnetically, to the unobstructed view over the Gulf). When I arrived it was still dark enough for the full moon to reflect in the water, although the sun was rising and that soon faded.  The eclipse began and the excitement was palpable; all those bundled-up people (it was less than 50 degrees) facing westward, migrating closer and closer to the water as if they could be closer to the moon.  Unfortunately, in this time zone the moon set before the moon was even fully covered or the eclipse was complete, so we never got to see the whole thing or the blood red effect.  But this was quite a birthday gift!