Friday, December 27, 2013

Songs of Ancient Midwives, Un-Named Madonna, and other Arisings


This piece is brand new (as of Christmas Eve, 2013).  I don't yet know what to title it:  "Our Lady of _____________?"  I think her face is sorrowful, and of course the image of old, broken, decorated tiles or potshards have always meant to me reclaiming and arising of that which has been lost, broken, buried in the ancient past.  There is a surprising sense of Arising in these Icons that  I've felt compelled to finish  these past few weeks.  The Arising of the life-giving Goddess, arising from the mythic body of the Earth, arising from the shadows in this time of need.  And now that I think about it, this recent holiday, buried beneath all the consumer frenzy, is about the Solstice, and the birth of the new Sun God, the Christ Child..............

When I searched the internet, was it so hard to find any (good)  poems about Birth, let alone Midwives.  Believe me, there are plenty of poems about Battle and the glories, or not so glorious, realities of War.  I think this is another indicator of our world's  patriarchal priorities (death is way more important, and interesting, than the bringing forth of lifeAnd even that becomes trivialized or co-opted.)  Perhaps this is part of what the sorrowful expression of this "Madonna" means, seeking to arise in the fragmented consciousness of humanity..........

Certainly, these works keep surfacing from the dusty depths of my own creativity, and some dreaming part of me wanted to bring them forth.  

 "Sings with the Voices of Ancient Midwives the Songs They Once Sang, Singing the New Life Into The World.........."

"Shrine for the Ancient Midwives"

 

I'm always making Shrines, Reliquaries, "Containers" for images or objects that are important to me in one way or another.  This is a universal human impulse, and such shrines provide us with a "memory station" to re-connect with what is large, meaningful, sacred in the midst of daily life.   Here's a few new ones:

"Bloom Where You Are Icon"
The "Reliquary for the Flight of a Phoenix" is something I make over and over.  It began on the Summer Solstice in 2003, when I was at an artists colony in Connecticut, I-Park.  That ecstatic summer I would walk in the woods and fields, and let the objects I found tell me stories, integrating them into story sculptures.  A bright yellow feather, perhaps from an Oriole, became a relic left over from the recent flight of a Phoenix, born again from the ash and, as one holds that magical feather in one's hand, somehow you participate in that glorious, distant flight.  It becomes your own flight as well. 

"Reliquary for the Flight of a Phoenix"


Here are a few from earlier times.  I've always loved the one below, which I guess shows various symbols of transformation, including the Phoenix and the Snake, and of course, the breaking away of masks that enclose the soul.  If that makes sense..................


 

Did I see you?
feel your smile
as you
fell?

People cross bridges
cars pass under them
or water

you waited
then jumped
(it must have happened
 quickly)

but what was it that rose in you
like a slow Phoenix
new wings
   outstetched?

....Felicia Miller

 

One of the "Persephone Icons",  and Persephone is always identified for me with the eternal process of life dying and being reborn.



One of the Spider Woman Shrines I made at Wesley..........to remind myself that we are all "weavers" with the actions of our minds and hands.  So may I align with the Great Weaver................

8 comments:

sukipoet said...

all are so beautiful.

Lauren Raine said...

Thanks Suki! Maybe you have a poem about birth?

candace said...

Our Lady of Ten Thousand Sorrows.

Lauren Raine said...

Thank you Candace.......that does seem more like what her name might be........one who hears the cries of the world..........

Gail said...

These are lovely. Thanks for keeping me mindful and centered during these hectic times.

Gail said...

Dear Lauren, right after I visited this site earlier, I googled 'Hecate as guide for surfacing shadows,' and came to your other site where you had posted on Hecate as your guide within. I have been preparing since last new moon to begin my journey within asking Hecate to be my guide during a dark of the moon ritual. At full moon during ritual I created a mask and decorated it to house Hecate's invoked energy. I also honored Hecate during my Yule ritual and again stated my intention. My grown daughter has grown quite distant with me and I am going within with Hecate as guide to find out what has happened in the past to cause this and to heal and end this unhealthy karmic path. Please, think of me New Years Eve as I use these powerful celestial energies to empower my journey. Blessed Be!

Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

Wow. These pieces and your awesome talent are mind-blowing, Lauren!

Lauren Raine said...

Thanks to you both!

I will do that Gail - Hecate is the Guide through the Darkness........

I have a wonderful interview I did years ago about Hecate:

http://rainewalker.com/hecate.htm