Hands open to take your pain from you

The faces for this series I’m doing of paintings as a shamanic soul retrieval project come to me before the symbolism comes. In common they have hands open in offering and a moon or moonstone.  Inspired by a friend’s cat eye, I call this one Janelle and as I began painting, her story unfolded for me.  Moonstone is an expression of the yin, the soothing energy of the moon.  A stone for “new beginnings,” moonstone is a stone of inner growth and strength, soothing emotional instability and stress.  When she revealed herself as a remover of pain, I painted her reaching her hands out to receive.  On her forehead is an ancient symbol of healing: the spiral depicts the natural rhythm of life, and the healing power that is constantly radiated from the cosmos around us.  I’ve painted shakti sparks outside the aura encircling her hands, showing they are energized and powerful.  Continue reading →

I notice I’ve been making the eyes blue and green on each face in this series I’m doing of paintings as a shamanic soul retrieval project.  This is Rosa. I meditated on the colors and Edgar Cayce came to mind.  In his Color Meanings Of Auras, blue is considered the color of the spirit, prayer and contemplation. It signifies having found one’s work and being heavily immersed in it.  Green is the color of health, vitality and healing. A green with blue in it signifies truthfulness and trustworthyness Wearing and viewing these colors imparts that quality, so I use the blue and green of the eyes I paint to raise the level of healing vibration.  I work the color until I can feel it.  At this point in the piece to the left, I’ve just added her hand. Each of the paintings in this series will be handing me something. Which is ironic because I’ve never been good at drawing or painting hands; most were just suggestions or maybe a paw or lobster claw.  I found myself studying online tutorials to get a grasp of the hand.  Also ironic because it was a car accident in 2000 that knocked my own hands out of commission and halted my painting for several years.   Continue reading →

I’ve been doing a series of paintings as a form of shamanic soul retrieval. As I paint, I meditate on the images that come to mind, which I take to depict a part of me.  I’m then taken on a journey, via inner imagery and creative visualization, to the astral realm where I connect with the individual messengers and power totems that will be included in each piece.  This one I call Moon Gal with Raven and Moonstone. Raven activates the energy of magic and links it to our will and intention. The raven shows us how to go into the dark of our inner self and bring out the light of our true self, resolving inner conflicts which have long been buried. Moon Gal has an extra long neck representing giraffe energy.  Giraffes see from the higher perspective and are able to reach things most can’t.  They like to stick their neck out and they remain high above the fray. The neck is the bridge between the worlds, so I often elongate it, signifying being on that journey.   Continue reading →