Dancing the Goddess: Masks for the 21 Praises to Tara

It is with the purpose of bringing benefit to beings in this world of chaos and confusion that the Mandala Dance of the Twenty-One Praises of Tara is offered.

It is in respect and gratitude to the Lineage holders of the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions who have maintained and embellished the ancient teaching of chanting the Praises of Tara.

It is in unity with the people of Tibet who universally call out to Tara, who chant Her Praises from childhood and who recognize in Her the Universal Mother and Protector.

It is in order to acknowledge the dignity and capability of women to accomplish the highest spiritual attainments that this Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara is offered.

May All Who See These Praises Danced Or Who Hear These Praises Sung Be Inspired To Attain The Highest Expression Of Humanity To Be Themselves The Embodiment Of Compassion And Wisdom.

Earlier this summer I was asked to consider creating a collection of masks for Tara Dhatu.  The magnitude of the project, which will entail going to Bali in the next year and working with Balinese mask artists in Mas, has been a bit daunting, along with trying to understand the specific ideas, images, and context for each Manifestation of Tara within the lineage, as well as personal style, Prema Dasara  has developed with her community.  So I recently created a new Blog to document (and invite feedback) the course of the Project.   Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://taramasks.blogspot.com/

The Blog will pursue a collaborative work in progress.  Composed of  sketches, comments, descriptions, and quotations, these materials will become a series of masks dedicated to the 21 Praises to Tara, the wonderful sacred  Mandela dances created by Prema Dasara, as well as  a book archiving the Project.  The masks will be used in devotional dance in June of 2015 at a Conference at the famous Buddhist Temple of  Borobodur.  Dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, the Temple compound is located in central Java, and  is a UNESCO World Heritage site.   It will be a great privilege to participate in this Project.

It is also my privilege to make, in this collaborative way, my own offering to Tara, who I know only in the most personal of ways, and to whom I shall always feel blessed by.  Here's my own story. 

 

Tara Dhatu’s Web Page

Tara Dhatu Facebook

Video:  http://youtu.be/5uRdPepeuws

What a wonderful journey this will be!   Some recent notes........................

This is a mask devoted to White Tara I had made to my design in Bali in 2000.  It belongs now to Lena Grace in Portland.  It was a successful collaboration with the carvers of Mas - beautifully carved, serene expression, and made big enough to be comfortable on most Western faces.

Stern Tara

I like this stern face.   Prema noted that she would prefer the Lightning Bolts are horizontal, which could be easily done in the course of painting the mask.

Serene Tara

This face derives from a sample mask I made for Prema in 2010.  She looks very Balinese to me, and very "vegetal", a face that belongs to the Lotus gardens.

 Moon Face

One of the Taras is specifically related to the Moon, and so this round, serene face would belong to Her.

Laughing Tara
 

This collage is actually derived from a mask I had made in Mas for the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu.  The Balinese are familiar with this oriental, laughing face, and would have no problem doing it well - the odd nose on this mask is the result of my insistence that, when carving the mask, they make it big enough to fit a large Caucasian nose.  They had a tough time with that idea, but managed............

.

 Wrathful "Black Tara"

 

The images I have seen of Wrathful Tara are very similar, and no doubt reflect the same roots, to images of Kali - the skulls in the headpiece, extended "fang" teeth.  For that reason, this image is similar to "Kali", and I'm reticent to make the image prettier.......ferocity, and the banishing of demons, does not seem like it belongs to an attractive face............

Kali Performance 2010 (Photo courtesy Lena Grace)

"Green Hands, Green Heart"

 

The green plants

         magically

from water      air

the soil

from water      earth

    air

earth        water

air            light

earth and sunlight

sunlight

vibrating waves

        shimmering

grasses in the sun

........Felicia Miller

 I've been playing with some "faux patina" finishes lately, and re-visiting the many images I seem to carry about with me of "Green Hands, Green Heart".  Satisfying results!  I  think these  dreams and callings of "Green Hands" are a good sign..............a good image for a personal icon. 

GAIA - "The Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan

"Sagan pointed out that "all of human history has happened on that tiny pixel," shown here inside a blue circle, "which is our only home" (speech at Cornell University, October 13, 1994).

I love Upworthy for when I need an inspiring Reality Check.  This morning they didn't let me down with the voice of Carl Sagan, reminding us of where we really are.  Awesome! True!

ps:  Many don't know that Biologist and Evolutionist Lynn Margulis, who collaborated with James Lovelock to create the Gaia Theory, was married to Carl Sagan.

http://www.upworthy.com/the-single-most-mind-altering-photograph-humanity-has-ever-taken?c=ufb1

" Before They Are Gone" - Stunning Photos of Vanishing Tribes

 

'And when they disappear we will lose something that is very, very

 important to us - it's where we came from, it's our origins."

Jimmy Nelson,  PHOTOGRAPHER OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

I grew up in the Nuclear Era, with the ever present threat of The Bomb hanging over our future.  Perhaps I am part of an Apocalypse Generation, living with a future that could hold the dream of Star Trek, Space, and a New Age as easily as it could hold the fall of atom bombs. Some of those dreams I remember from the 50's and 60's have come true - the very technology that allows me to write in this Blog is right up there with Robbie the Robot when i pause to consider it.  But  our notions of the future never  could have envisioned "An Inconvenient Truth" -  the Sixth Extinction,  the falling away of so much so quickly.   Who could have imagined there would be a world without polar bears, or tigers, or gorillas, the stuff our childhood legends were made of?

And, so much human diversity as well, disappearing.  So I applaud the  brilliant photos and dedication of   Jimmy Nelson    and what he has to say in the video below about his journey of discovery.  I'm so glad he left this eloquent record of some of the remaining indigenous peoples of our planet.  

 VIEW THE PORTFOLIO AT:   http://www.beforethey.com/

  

  

"Black Madonna" 2013

"Black Madonna" 2013, mixed media

I seem to be fascinated with the Black Madonna, and if I was Catholic, I would undoubtedly join one of the many, very ancient and traditional, Pilgrimages to the Black Madonna that occur throughout Europe, including Poland, Spain, France, and elsewhere.   Many believe that the Black Madonna has its roots in Pre-Christian worship of Isis, portrayed with Her child Horus throughout the Roman world and, of course, Egypt. 


But I believe the origins may go back even farther. 

The Black Madonnas are almost always associated with Sacred Sites, places that contain a holy well, spring, or are associated with a sacred cave.  In other words, places of numinous power within the earth, places that ancient peoples knew to enhance visionary experience, heal, raise energy, enhance fertility, and facilitate communion with the spiritual realms. 

The earliest representation of the human figure, going back as far as 40,000 years and possibly farther...........are the ubiquitous so-called "Venus"  figures, such as the famous "Venus of Willendorf", as well as representations of a stylized vulva found in visual iconography.    In the  2010 film Cave of Forgotten Dreams  ,   Werner Herzog  followed an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet cave in France, which houses the  most ancient visual art known from the upper Paleolithic era.  Archeo/mythologist Mirrium Dexter pointed out that the only human image within the site is a female lower torso, or vulva form......the bull image was painted above it a later time.  Although it's never commented on in the movie, or in most discussions of the cave,  Dexter suggested that the  cave represented the womb/tomb where the magic of rebirth occurs, and by the act of honoring and representing  the animal powers which were both allies and sustenance, they were offering them for re-birth within the cave/womb of the Great Mother.

So perhaps my sculpture is a contemporary echo of that image, the "Black Madonna" in Her most primal form, roots and source and life radiating out from Her belly, Her breasts.  This is a Diety that brings us back to our own very primal roots, reverence for the Earth Mother that births us, sustains us, and takes us back to be re-born. 

Another aspect of the Black Madonna to me, which of course I so often refer back to, is the element of "composting" (which isn't unrelated to "rebirth").  Composting is a biological process of renewal, and I believe it's a soul process as well. 

"I do what the poet Gary Snyder calls "composting" — You let everything you do/learn/think/read/feel sink down inside yourself and stay in the dark, and then (years later maybe) something entirely new grows up out of that rich darkness. This takes patience."

Ursula K. Leguin

2005

It's believed by many that the earliest pilgrimages on the "Camino" in Spain were made to the "Black Madonna of Compostella", a very ancient effigy. Compostella comes from the same root word as "compost". Compost is the fertile soil created from rotting organic matter, the "Black Matter". The alchemical soup to which everything living returns, and is continually resurrected by the processes of nature into new life, new form. Matrix/Creatrix. Matter. Mater. Mother.

"From this compost -- life and light will emerge. When the pilgrims came to the Cathedral at Compostella they were being 'composted' in a sense. After emergence from the dark confines of the cathedral and the spirit -- they were ready to flower, they were ready to return home with their spirits lightened."

~~ Jay Weidner

Photos from the All Souls Parade, Tucson, 2013

 

Some wonderful photos by Kathleen Dreier of the recent Dia de Los Muertes Parade in Tucson!

https://www.facebook.com/EsensPhotographybyKathleenDreier

All images © Esens Photography by Kathleen Dreier

Meet the Anti-Fracking Nuns

I was inspired by this short video about a group of nuns in Kentucky who are fighting to save their land, their "Mother House" against "eminent domain" of the oil companies.  I'd like to see everyone showing their spirit, and spiritual committment to their land, against the corporate "eminent domain" that is destructive everywhere.

http://youtu.be/UQY5NrvnLNw