Showing posts with label oracular cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oracular cards. Show all posts

Friday, April 10, 2015

The Artist's Oracular Cook Book


Art = Magic.
Art heals.


Image by Catherine Nash

"It seems to me that a creative act, in any field of endeavor,  really does, after you take a good look around, have to begin with a leap of faith.  Maybe being alive at all is a profound leap of faith.  Faith in yourself, faith in some greater web of minds and being and continuum you are a part of that will catch you when you fall......faith in the sheer beauty  of the process, faith in what you'll learn from it when you're (theoretically) "done".
I've been applying for residencies this coming summer, feeling a deep need to get  on the road for a while, and to be somewhere where I can again be in Flow, to open to the creative energies within and without once more.

Among them I applied to the magical IPark, near Devil's Hopyard park, in Connecticut.  In 2005, when I was last there, at  I Park Artist's Enclave it was the custom for residents to leave behind  a  recipe for a cocktail. Because I spent a month utterly blissed out in a creative fury there, my contribution was the "Artist's Oracular Cook Book", cards I made with commentary on the back.   They later evolved into the Rainbow Bridge Oracle, but I still like them a lot.  They remind me that art is Magic, that art can heal, and that it really is basic and simple.

I put the collection away in a box a number of years ago, feeling it was naive and silly.  In taking a look at this little book from that magical month again, it's as if a fragrance has drifted in the window.   I realize I am revived -  a previous version of myself is giving the  woman I am currently a reminder. 




Open a door for Mystery.

And sometimes, the 
Miraculous.

"As you come near the glass, she approaches from the other side to meet you. You lift your pen, and she raises hers to touch its tip in the other world. You begin to move your hand and words form on the glass on her side, on that other side. Patiently, you now follow her pen; you hear what she is writing, but dimly. You can see a little bit into the images she is creating. Can you read what she is writing?  Is the glass clearing, can you collaborate?"
 Felicia Miller







                                                                                       Sometimes  you are a beacon.



More than you can  imagine is possible
when you believe that it's possible.
Imagination is the confluence
 of possibilities

the Beginning Place






Be Contrary.

Be capricious, liminal,
walk the borderlands.

When you find yourself  making too much sense
try doing it 

Backwards




When the Moon is full, allow yourself 
a heaping dose 
of lunacy.  

Develop night vision, 
the penetrating ability 
to see 

in an alternate
 kind of light.  





When the  Sun is shining,

in the dappled play 
of light and shadow, 
 the amazing 
rainbow palette
 of color, 
the purple taste 
of  grapes, lemon  grass, sweat, iridescent,
 gleaming words 
crystallizing
on a 
pristine page......

Play!





The beauty and mystery
 of nature  is always calling

In all the worlds
you have friends, 
visible and invisible, 

ever ready 
to collaborate



Accept the fallow times 
for what they are:

times of rest, 
gestation,
 and renewal.
Pregnant times

(whether you're a woman or a man)
when you are incubating something  New




Respect your Demons.

They are worthy opponents.

They are there to test your valor, courage,  and ability to make decisions.  

They will force you to fight
for your vision, and
your heart.




Take good care of your work.

Nurture your  discoveries, and protect the children
of  your imagination.   

 Avoid people who talk you into being smaller
 than you really are.  And anyone, or anything, 
that wounds your enthusiasm.




Where there's Fear 
(or resistance)

there is Power




Light a fire 
in your mind
and heart.  

Don't let it go out.



Is your studio a
 Sacred Space?

Even if, for now, 
it's just a notebook, 
or a table.

Are your art works touchstones,
talismans,
field notes,
and road maps
from a life-long journey
that sometimes
feels like a pilgrimage?


Strive for Balance.

The harmonious exchange
of creative opposites.



You will never lack 
for Grace.



as 
Above 
so 
Below





With brush, voice, eye, hand, heart and mind, 
 at last 

we dance!



The Circle has No End.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The top  image not my own - it was created by  Catherine Nash.)