Quan Yin Mosaic

I seem to be fascinated with Quan Yin this summer, and have made several pieces.  In this one I managed to get in Quan Yin's vase with the healing waters, and a blooming tree at her other hand.  They aren't yet where I want, because my vision of Quan Yin, who could also be White Tara, or the Virgin of Guadaloupe, or any other manifestations of divine compassion...........has to do with radient blessings streaming forth from the Being.  

In the one below  I saw those Blessings manifesting as flower petals.  It seems to me that a Great Soul, a Boddhissatva, would be like a light house, emanating light, warmth, beauty and healing.  A fountain.  Like a vision*** I had at a painful time in my life, a vision of "White Tara" that I never forgot..........

Of course, no one can match the matchless mosaic art of Ginny Moss Rothwell, who lives here in Tucson.  That below is, unbelievably, a mosaic icon.  

"Quan Yin and the Dragon King"

And here is her Quan Yin again, as a contemporary woman:

"Quan Yin and the Dragon" by Ginny Moss Rothwell

***

WHITE TARA

This vision came with help from a teacher of mine, Jewel. Jewel is a shaman, who lives on her land  THE SOURCE, in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. When I met Jewell I was living in Brattleboro, Vermont. I was divorcing from my former husband and was full of the grief, anger, and remorse that comes with the ending of a marriage.  I went to see Jewell for an energy healing. When she put me on her table, she said prayers from The 21 Praises to Tara before she began.  I didn't know about these  prayers to the Goddess Tara at the time, although they became important to me later.

I slipped into a trance state - it seemed as if I was watching short clips from movies, without any sound. I saw African men drumming around a fire, then the body of an emaciated black woman lying on a bed, I saw a ceremonial room of some kind with thousands of orange marigolds, and  a white man, balding and heavyset with glasses, and many more brief images. 

At some point, I felt I was pulled backward, given some distance, so that these "movie clips" became like a vibrant patchwork quilt, all occurring at once. I remember thinking how beautiful they were from that perspective.

Suddenly, a Great Being arrived. I cannot actually describe that presence, because there was no form - she was composed of light. The only identification I felt I could make was that she was female. She didn't speak to me, only radiated the most intense compassion I have ever felt. She also radiated a profound sense of humor! It was as if she was saying, "Look Lauren, take a good look at this. It's going to be alright. You'll meet again. Don't take on so."
I shall never forget the power of that radiant being.  As with all true visions, the image is very clear in my mind, it doesn't slip away.  I later learned that Jewell always  begins her sessions with prayers to the Goddess Tara. And to me, that was the Goddess White Tara; which is why I have prayed to her and tried to honor her with my masks ever since.   

And, come to think of it. I've been very fortunate in that way!

Om Tare Tu Tare Tare Soha

"Nicky's Family" - A Wonderful Film

Lately I've been feeling it's so important to remember, be inspired by, and model the best of what human beings can be., in the face of such a concentration on the worst in the media.  In other words, I need good news before I fall into cynicism and despair.  So I decided to remind myself of the many unknown heroes and heroines, amazing people most people will never hear about.   This wonderful documentary has lingered with me for weeks, and I felt like sharing it here.  

During part of the year, by the way, I rent rooms in my house like a B&B. I sometimes, but rarely, have Europeans visit.   Strangely enough, in the way of synchronicity, as I write this I have  no less than 3 travelling German women staying here, and a woman coming from Austria next week!  None of them know each other, but they are all enjoying the unexpected opportunity to speak their native language in, of all places, far off Tucson!  These women, an artist, a scholar, an alternative healer, are perhaps the children and grandchildren of the people who witnessed Hitler's rise to  power and the horror of Nazi Germany.  They are also contributing to the beauty and knowledge of the world................I don't know the meaning of this synchronicity, only that the film, and the synchronicity, leave me awed and reassured.

Sir Nicholas George Winton, still alive and over 100,  is a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War.  Winton found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain. The UK press has dubbed him the "British Schindler". Just before Christmas 1938, Winton was about to travel to Switzerland for a skiing holiday, when he decided instead to travel to Prague to help his friend Martin Blake, who was involved in Jewish refugee work, who had called him asking for his help.   A young, successful business man not even 30, he single-handedly established an organization to aid children from Jewish families at risk from the Nazis, setting up an office at a dining room table in his hotel in Wenceslas Square. 

This film, created by one of the children he rescued,  documents not only the rescue work, but also the lives of many of the children he rescued, the contributions they made to humanity themselves, the thousands of people who came into this world, and contribute to its betterment, from his work.  "Nicky's Family"...........an expanding circle.  Remarkable!

 

http://youtu.be/PGEXoXkDgqk