Monthly Archives: March 2012

Closer to your dream

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I just came across a really interesting exercise to get a better understanding of your dreams. First you put in a request to the Dreamaker before you go to sleep, ask for a dream you will remember.

I tried it last night and I got a net full of extra ordinary rich and varied dreams and rich symbols. They came in several chapters varied from the sacred to the sexual (very rude!) I’ll just share one of the ‘chapters’  of my dream here and give you a taste of how the exercise works.

‘I was walking on a well populated walking track with my husband it was a beautiful open space, big and expansive, possibly heading for the sea. We stopped by a monument, which I was suprised to see was dedicated to Leonard Cohen. My husband was stopping random walkers and pointing the monument out to them, I was quite shy and pleased at how interested and respectful the strangers were.’

Now,what you do is write down the nouns in the dream, the objects, the people, and then you free associate any images, feelings and associations you connect to that noun, don’t judge, just connect, no matter if it sounds a little bonkers. Like this…

Husband: companion, support, familiar

Walking track: unknown territory,freedom,journey

Leonard Cohen: soulful, poet, connection

Monument: Recognition, respect, concrete manifestation

Random walkers: strangers, people to be shy of, journeyers

Then you re-tell your dream story, but this time inserting the associative words you came up with. In this example it feels to me that LC represents the poetic part of myself that I am frightened to make manifest (the monument). With the support of the support I realise that unknown travelers on the journey may well be interested, some times they just need their attention directed by a supportive companion when I’m too shy to connect.

This gave me a big AHA! I hope it may help you to get closer to the gorgeously rich language and wisdom of dream land.

Eye Candy

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This is my creation from yesterday, I used two photos from my archive. The background is of a close up from my paint palette, some gorgeous deep blue made these patterns with PVA glue. I thought it was so beautiful I took a snap of it and thought it may be useful some day. I made a mask in photoshop and layered the buddha head. I love the serenity and mystery of it. I’ve just put it in my shop over at Red Bubble if you like it too!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/spiralfran

 

This is a photo I have diddled about with a bit, it’s little shrine I made on Valentines day. The ‘Amor y Paz’ (Love and Peace) card is from Mexico, as is my old lady paddler, the two fruit are passion fruits given to me the day before by a little old lady in a cafe in New Zealand… maybe a love witch?!

 

This is Fergus, he is one of the animals we have been looking after during a series of house sits in New Zealand. He’s a noble looking boy but he was a bit erratic, he loved a bit of affection until, chomp, that’s enough!

This is my ‘studio’, my travelling art bag, this together with my camera, my computer and my sketch book is how I make art wherever I am in the world.

Here and Now

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Being here, now.

 

What could be simpler?                                                                                                        It’s often so hard.

Being in the most beautiful place can be messed up if you have a headful of chasing, anxious thoughts. And the opposite is true, the most mundane and ordinary can be radiant and serene if we can quiet our busy, blaming brain.

Travel provokes a lot of envious reactions in people, it provides a focus for a lot of escapist fantasies about ‘getting away from it all’. But of course ‘it all’ comes with you in a suitcase wherever you may go. If you’re not able to deal with family fuck-ups, low self-esteem and communication problems back home, you’re not going to be able to half way across the world either.

I’ve been having a difficult time enjoying (or feeling like I deserve) some of the beautiful places I’m seeing on my travels. My sister has been having a series of invasive and increasingly serious operations, this is worrying enough but the crisis has unearthed a lot of scarcely buried resentments and projections in my family. Not with her though, this life threatening event has brought perspective into fast focus, our rivalry and resentment pales into insignificance and I realise how much I love her.

The here and now is not without it’s pain but it’s never without wisdom.

Beautiful Bees

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I’m a big bee fan.

They are the most wonderful creatures who devote their lives to making nectar for the Gods.  Did you know that honey is the only non corruptible food as well as being yummy for your tummy?

Another one of my favourite bee facts is that when one of the girls finds a particularly juicy crop of nectar she will come and dance for her sisters, wiggling her bum and angling her body in relation to the sun to point the way. She will also bring a sample of the nectar to show them what they are looking for and perhaps to provide an incentive!

We visited a bee shop in New Zealand where you can taste the most remarkable array of different flavours, from delicate clove to tasty thyme and the miraculous health giving Manuka. Apart from being gorgeous on toast honey is balm for burns, can be used as antiseptic and good for allergies. It takes one bee a whole lifetime to make one teaspoon of honey, so show some respect next time you have a honey moment.

Bees are in big trouble worldwide, they are battling some natural predators (mites) and also, sadly the enemy to so much natural balance… us. Yep, we in our great wisdom have been busily intent on destroying the foraging areas for bees, mowing down the wild flowers to make more crops to make more money. Einstein made an ominous prophesy that when the bee community ceases to exist, humans will not be far behind, so crucial are they to the food chain.

“if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live”.

They seem more aware and respectful here in New Zealand though, it is so heartening to learn they are working to support the honey bee.  At Arataki where we visited they work in partnership with the local farmers who ensure part of their land is left wild and bee friendly. It’s so wonderful to see the main motivation being balance and respect for nature, as opposed to blind greed which is sadly so often the only incentive.

So let’s hear it for the honey bee, raise your toast in a salute to this industrious and miraculous little being.