Imagining Beauty ~ Traveling the Path of the Heart by Patricia Ballentine

https://youtu.be/AQCjxi2buUc

I wanted to share the beautiful video Presentation (with her permission) that Priestess and Artist Patricia Ballentine gave at the 18th Conference on Current Pagan Studies that she gave just this past weekend.  The Theme was "Visions of Imagination and Creativity" and Patricia's video about the creation of her Labyrinth was my favorite presentation, both a sharing of the creative journey, and a meditation on finding the pathway to the Heartland.   Thank you Patricia for all that you bring to a world thirsty for what you offer.  To learn more about her work, visit her Blog THE CREATIVE FLAME

Imagining Beauty: Traveling the Path of the Heart

"Imagination can raise us up or tear us down. It is something we all have and use every day. When we anticipate a next step we are imagining what an outcome may be. When we resist taking an action we may be imagining that the future will look like the past. The challenge is to imagine the higher turn rather than being held back by imagining the worst as we take each step on the winding path of life. THAT is the greatest magic! 

In 2021 I created a 14' x 14' hand painted and stitched portable canvas labyrinth. The intention was to create something that would serve as a tool to bridge generations, weave inter-tradition communications, and support community building. I didn't realize how deeply the creative process would take me into my inner multi-generational work. From the spark of inspiration to the final steps of completion and consecration I gained clarity into my vision of, and devotion to the path of Beauty. 

 

This video steps the viewer through the process from the spark of inspiration to completion and consecration, revealing the call to Beauty."

Gather and Offer: A Story of the Gathering Basket

 

I remembered the other day an extraordinary poem gifted to me by Ilana Stein, who I met in one of the workshops I gave at the Kripalu Institute in 2008. 

Ilana was a retired midwife, renowned in her field, who had been undergoing cancer treatment when she decided to take a workshop at Kripalu.  After the workshop she was on her way to California to spend time with her daughter.   The poem, "Gather and Offer" she wrote during that 4 day workshop, in which she also made several masks that accompanied her work.   Four months after meeting Ilana, I learned that she had died.  I reflected then, as now, how beautiful her poem and my experience of working with her was, this woman who had spent her life bringing souls into this world, and preparing to leave it.

I posted this in 2008.......I think it's well worth copying and sharing again, as it is so much with me today.

Hands of the Midwife (2005)

 2008:

I've been meaning to share this story from the MASKS OF THE GODDESS workshop I taught in April at the Kripalu Institute  - while I always am moved and astounded by the work others do, I found this work especially moving. Ilana has graciously allowed me to share photos of the masks she made, and gave me permission to print the poem she wrote in the workshop. 

Ilana is a well known Midwife and Birth Coach  from New York City.  She is a slight woman with intense eyes, and her hair was gone sparse because she's been undergoing  chemotherapy, which she shared as we began our introductory Circle. 

We begin our four day process with a "shamanic journey" to the Underworld, to encounter the Goddess, in whatever form She may care to appear.  I feel this is important as each participant prepares to create her mask. Often I ask them to  see if She gives them a gift of some kind, and almost always something meaningful is presented.

Returning to the "above world", after our trance, Ilana told  the group she had met a Goddess all in white.   She called Her the "White Goddess".  This Being  emerged from the darkness to dance before her. Her dance, Ilana said,  was like a figure 8, the "eternity symbol" -  Her gestures consisted of gathering on one side, and giving forth on the other, a flowing movement  of taking in and giving forth.

It happened that another of the women in the workshop was a professional dancer (a ballerina, actually!) who was retiring.   She brought with her a dress from her performance years as a possible costume, and in the course of the workshop she gave Ilana this beautiful white dress - which was Ilana's size!

One of the two masks Ilana made was "scarred", to represent the suffering she had been going through in the course of her treatment for cancer.  Yet it  contained a bright red, and very open,  heart.  Above is the other mask she made for the White Goddess she encountered.  A white mask with a basket on one side, and flowing forms with blooming flowers on the other.  A mask for gathering, and for offering.   And here is the poem she wrote - I feel privileged to share it.

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8/12/08 Postscript:   I am sad to have to add that Ilana passed away 4 months after this workshop.  But when I think of that, I think the  Goddess who came to her, and the poem she wrote, were all about leading the Way.

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GATHER AND OFFER
Ilana Stein

Gather towards the West
Gather towards the North
Gather towards the South
Gather towards the East
Gather Above, gather below and gather the great Mystery
Gather what you’ve studied
Gather what you’ve learned
Gather how you’ve lived, and gather what you’ve earned.

Gather what you’ve loved and gather what you’ve lost.
Gather what you’ve soiled and gather what it’s cost
Gather what you’ve wasted and gather what you’ve saved
Gather what you’ve shopped for and gather what you’ve tasted

Gather who your friends are and gather how they’ve cared
Gather your relations and gather how you’ve fared
Then Gather birth and celebrate, gather death and cry
Gather hope, regret and longing and gather up the why

Gather up the waiting, gather struggles, gather challenges.
Gather all the goals you’ve met and gather up the bravery
Gather faceless fear and all the broken promises.
Gather yesterday today, and gather time tomorrow

Gather what you’ve ruined and gather when you’ve failed.
Gather up the personal and gather up the frail
Gather up the culture and gather up the myths
Gather all the songs you’ve sung, and all expressive art
Gather dances gather dreams and gather up your heart

Gather in the garden and gather at the beach.
Gather on the mountain and gather what’s in reach
Gather in the workplace, and gather on the roads
Gather in the home you’ve made and gather all you kin
Gather your impatience, your frustration and your greed.
Gather up the words you’ve said and gather what you need.

Gather up your journey and all the time you’ve spent
Gather up your courage and walk inside your tent.
Gather up your secrets and and gather up your wisdom
Gather what you’ve forgotten
Gather what you’ve meant.
Gather faith and Reverence

Gather truth and and gather lies,
Gather secrets great and small
Gather wisdom of the ages and wrap them in your shawl
Gather sickness, Gather health gather tenderness and rage
Gather all your stories and gather on the stage

Gather up your gatherings, and stir the basket’s bounty
Gather all remaining threads and search across the county
Look out among the human beings, look out among relations

Then offer up your gatherings to all nations and creations

Offer to your children and offer to your kin
Offer to the hungry, to the needy and the grim
Offer to the blessed and offer to the prim
Offer to the kings and queens the princess and princesses
Offer to the beggars, paupers, jesters and priestesses

Offer to the little birds the chipmunks and the deer
Offer to the badger, mole, the frogs, and yes the bear
Offer to the green spring shoots, the white and yellow crocus
Offer to the budding trees the bushes and the rushes

Offer to the sand and mud the concrete and the buildings
Offer to the cook and maid the seamstress and the butler
Offer to the farmers - offer to the farm
Offer to the doctors and offer for no harm

Offer to the visionaries offer to the artists
Offer to the frightened, offer to the scared
Offer to the endangered and to the unprepared
Offer to the hurting, offer to be healed,
Offer to your neighbor and offer to the field

Offer grace and offer peace offer possibility
Offer privilege trust and faith
Offer gratitude amazement wonderment and awe
Offer loving kindness, compassion, joy and love

Offer up your story, offer honor and integrity
Offer for community Offer your vulnerability

Offer what you’ve learned and offer what you have
offer what you know
Offer what you’ve shared
Offer both your ears, your shoulders and your tears
Offer all you’ve gathered, offer all your cares

You’ve gathered through the springtime,
the summer and the fall.
And you’ve offered season’s greetings without going to the mall.

Now rest and build your strength up. Cycle with the moon. Cycle through the mystery time. Close your eyes and sleep. Dream the dreams of where you’ve been.
Dream of where you’re going – dream the dream that dreamers dream.

Then gather. 

Telling the World in a Time of Drought

                             Artists as Myth Makers

An article I wrote shortly after the election of Trump.  Felt like re-visiting it as I continue reflections (as in the previous article)  on the role of the artist, and extending that, the role of all of us as visionaries and story tellers and story weavers.  

Recently I travelled cross country, joining conversations that always seemed to end with a question. Since many of my friends are artists, and I include writers, performers, ritualists, dancers, storytellers, and a number of shamans in the category as well, the question seemed to come down to “what do we do now?” How do we, in a time that seems bent on eliminating education, free speech, environmental preservation, social ethics, and possibly even any kind of consensual truth? As practitioners of the arts, increasingly marginalized by society, how do we find meaningful identity? My own response is that I believe it’s vital for artists to remember that we are myth makers. Throughout history, artists of all kinds have possessed the imaginal tools to invent and re-invent the myths that were the cultural underpinnings for their time.   

Phil Cousineau, author of  “Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Our Lives” (2001) cautioned that if we don’t become aware of both our personal and our cultural myths which “act like gravitational forces on us” (Cousineau, 2001) we risk becoming overpowered, overshadowed, and controlled by them. Myths are in many ways the templates of how we compose our societal and personal values, as well as how people organize their religions. As Cousineau commented further, “the stories we tell of ourselves determine who we become, who we are, and what we believe.” (Cousineau, 2001) 

The human mind has a unique ability to abstract. A stone is not always a stone – sometimes it becomes a symbol of something, a manifestation of a deity, or it can also become intentionally invisible, even when it stubs our toes. An interpretation of  God is something that whole nations have lived or died for. And depending on the aesthetics of a particular culture, foot binding, skull extension, or bouffant hairdos can be experienced as erotic beauty. If the worlds we know are, indeed, experienced through the lens of the stories we tell about them, then how are those stories serving or not serving the crucial time we live in?

A renunciate myth of the Earth as  just a "resource" to be exploited, as something "not real", or as a place of sin and suffering to endure until one achieves one's "heavenly reward"...........does not serve the environmental crisis facing a global humanity.  Deeply embedded patriarchal stories that make women lesser  and subservient beings do not release the vitally needed creative brain power of half the human race. A cultural mythos that celebrates violence and competition do not contribute to the nurturance, cooperation,  and sustainability we will need if we are to survive into the future as we confront Climate Change.  Stories of “rugged individualism” may not be as useful in a time when science, sociology, ecology, theology, and even physics are demonstrating that all things are interdependent. 

So what are the new stories arising that can help us to evolve into a wiser, sustainable world? And further, how can they be brought fully alive in comprehensive ways that have vitality and impact?

I remember years ago participating in a week long intensive with the Earth Spirit Community of New England. The event took place in October, in celebration of the closing of the year, the time of  going into the darkness of winter. The closing ritual occurred at twilight. Bearing candles, different groups wove through the woods toward a distant lodge from which the sound of heartbeat drums issued. Slowly the lodge filled, illuminated with candles.

As we sat on the floor, lights gradually went out, we were blindfolded and the drums abruptly stopped. We felt bodies rush by us as hands turned us. The sounds of wind, and half understood voices, someone calling, someone crying, or a bit of music came from all directions. As we lost any sense of direction or time we became uncomfortable, frightened and disoriented. I felt as if I was in a vast chamber, the very halls of Hades, listening to echoing voices of the lost. And when it felt like the formless dark would never stop: silence. And the quiet sound of the heartbeat drum returned, re-connecting us to the heart of the Earth. As blindfolds were removed I found myself in a room warmly illuminated with candles. On a central platform sat a woman enthroned in brilliant white, illuminated with candles and flowers. At her feet were baskets of bread. Slowly we rose, took bread and fruit, and left the  Temple. And as we left, on each side of the entrance, stood a figure in a black cape. Each had a mirror over his or her face – mirror masks, reflecting our own faces. 

Now that was a potent ritual telling of the myth! We had entered mythic space, we had participated together in the Great Round of death and return to the light – and none of us would ever forget it.

I am here suggesting that artists, troubled as my friends and I have been, step away for a while from the complex questions of identity so beloved by the art world, cast aside as well the dismissiveness, even hostility, of the current anti-intellectual environment.  Instead, let us view ourselves as engaged in a sacred profession. 

We are pollinators of the imagination,  holding  threads in  a great weaving of myth, threads that extend into a time yet to come, and far back into a barely glimpsed past. If as the poet Muriel Rukeyser famously said, “the world is made of stories, not atoms” (Rukeyser, 1978) the only real question for us now is:  What kinds of stories are we weaving?  

REFERENCES:

Keller, Catherine.  From a Broken Web: Separation, Sexism and Self,  Beacon Press  (1988)

Baring, Anne.  “A New Vision of Reality” from her website

Cousineau, Phil. Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Modern Times,  Conori Press (2001)

The Earthspirit Community, Twilight Covening (1993)

Rukeyser, Muriel.  The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser,  McGraw (1978)

Remembering Lydia Ruyle

I was very saddened to learn of the passing of Lydia Ruyle, creator of the Goddess Banners that have adorned and sanctified to the Great Mother so many places where people have gathered in Her honor.  Lydia was ever generous with her gifts, and shared her work freely with all, as well as being so encouraging to me personally.  She will be enormously missed by the Goddess community.

May all the Goddesses of her banners surround her with love and blessings, and may she rest in their arms and be renewed.

March 27, 2016

http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/21334637-113/greeley-resident-world-renowned-artist-lydia-ruyle-dies-at

Lydia Ruyle died Saturday morning after being diagnosed in February with terminal brain cancer. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at First Congregational Church, 2101 16th St. in Greeley.  World-renowned traveler, educator and artist Lydia Ruyle has died at her family’s farm in Alles Acres.

The lifetime Greeley resident was a wife, mother of three and a grandmother. She leaves behind quite a legacy as evidenced by the family members, longtime friends and admirers who hosted a party in her honor Feb. 20 at Zoe’s Cafe — shortly after she learned of her cancer diagnosis. Ruyle said at the time she didn’t want the party to happen after her death. She wanted to be there to celebrate life with those closest to her.

Ruyle touched countless people during her lifetime. In the 1970s, when she was elected to the Greeley-Evans School District 6 board, Ruyle fought to add art classes to the curriculum and won. It was about that same time she began painting,

In April 2013, Ruyle received the Century of Scholars Lifetime Achievement Award at the graduate school’s 100 Year Commemorative Celebration. She also taught art at UNC. Given her influence in spreading goddess art locally, the college dedicated a room — The Lydia Ruyle Room of Women’s Art — in her honor.

But it is through her depictions of goddess figures on Nylon banners for which Ruyle is best known. During the early days when she began focusing on goddess works, Ruyle would visit holy sites in England. Over the next several decades, more than 200 women would join her on spiritual journeys to Britain, Turkey, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sicily, Malta, the Czech Republic, Russia, Mexico, Peru, the Himalayas, Hawaii and the southwestern United States.


— Tribune reporter Catherine Sweeney contributed to this story.

"Numinous".......Personal Icons

She will rust us with blossom

She will seal us with Her seed.

Robin Williamson

The first deities of Rome were agricultural.
Before they became an empire or adopted Greek mythologies, the Romans called their deities  "numen",  which roughly translated meant "spirits of place", the "mind of place". These early deities included Pomona, goddess of the Orchards, and many other local deities concerned with the well being of trees, springs, deer, rivers. and caves.

I've been looking at many of my personal "Icons" lately, and I realize that, like the early Romans, so many of them are about the Numinous in nature, the felt prescence, the the intelligence and conversation experienced in the garden, or at the top of a mountain for that matter as well.  My  personal Icons return always  to the intelligence of nature, the "numinous".  


When I was younger  I remember  conversations I had with beaches and stones and butterflies, the world was full of Talismans to be found and treasured, magical signs and portents.  There are still places I can go, where those  mysterious voices are heard.  The divine is beneath our feet, in the roots, the cracks, the dragon trails of wind and rain moving across the expressive faces of the day.

In the past I was fascinated with the ubiquitous "hand and eye" symbols found among the prehistoric  peoples of early America, the mysterious Mound Builders.  Also exploring in my art the equally ubiquitous stories of the Great Weaver, the Spider Woman, I began making hands with eyes myself, and called my project "Spider Woman's Hands".    The  eyes mean to me that immanent presence and intelligence in nature.  The eye in the hand also means to me, personally, the divine manifesting and creating in this world, through all natural processes, and through the works of our hands as well.  

And the roots are the Web, the sustanence and interdependancy that unites us with all Beings of the Earth.   The Body of the World, our Body.  
  

16 million tons of rain
are falling every second

on the planet,
an ocean
perpetually falling
and every drop
is your body
every motion, every feather,
 every thought

is your body

time is your body

every leaf, every river,
every animal,
your body

Drew Dellinger

She Blesses Us

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.” 

― Mary Oliver

 In 2011 I was at the White Spring in Glastonbury, where I had a profound experience of the Spirit of Place, the Numina of that ancient and sacred spring and place of Pilgrimage.  I took these forbidden  photographs of the beautiful shrine that was there, the painting that so perfectly captured the sacred essence of generosity that was there, offering, always offering.

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” 

― Mary Oliver

A Traditional Dancer on Sacred Dance

A wonderful video my friend Denita sent me about a traditional dancer - she truly captures the sacred aspect of her art.

https://youtu.be/ZrtoUdIbNO4

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)

Navajo Weaving

"A Navajo rug may be a commodity for trade.
It also may be the voice of the weaver’s prayers and dreams"

I found some wonderful videos on UTube about Spider Woman's art, for those who may be interested:

Navajo Weaving

Also, a film I've unfortunately just became aware of, after having missed it at the Tucson Film Festival in April. Here's a review kindly forwarded to me, taken from the FilmFestival site.

Weaving Worlds

From: tricksterfilms

Weaving Worlds, Bennie Klain, USA, 2008 (57 min.)

A Navajo rug may be a commodity for trade. It also may be the voice of the weaver’s prayers and dreams and a way of life more than a thousand years old. Such is the difference between the perspectives of Navajo weavers in northern Arizona and New Mexico and the White traders and buyers with whom they do business.

The film presents a compelling and intimate portrayal of economic and cultural survival through the art of weaving in a global marketplace. The result is a poignant digital portrait of Navajo artisans and their unique, often controversial relationships with White Reservation traders.

Intimate documentary photography shows weavers at home with their families, engaged in the various labors involved in producing a rug, as well as at the auctions where they watch their rugs being sold. Contemporary weavers of several generations recall their introduction to weaving and selling rugs, and archival footage and stills illustrate their recollections.

Bennie Klain is a director of documentaries and short fictions, and the founder of TricksterFilms, based in Austin, Texas. A fluent Navajo speaker, Klain often incorporates the language into his work. Weaving Worlds premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and was screened on national television by PBS. Weaving Worlds is a co-production of TricksterFilms, LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT), with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Credits

Producer: Leighton C. Peterson
Writer: Bennie Klain
Cinematographer: Nancy Schiesari
Editor: Jayson Oaks
Sound Design: Paul James Zahnley
Music Score: Aaron White
Cast Members: Edith Simonson, Nicole Horseherder, Lorraine Herder, Helen Bedonie, Gilbert Begay, Zonnie Gilmore, Elijah Blair, Perry Null

Previous Festivals/Awards: South by Southwest Film Festival, Native American Film + Video Festival, American Indian Film Festival, ImagineNative Film Festival