Well, how about that? Just a couple more days until Spring, the season of Persephone, and we got an extra 10" of snow just for sport. She doesn't like to wake up early and sometimes tosses extra blankets on just before she finally rises and faces the sun. I made coffee.
There's a new gallery in town down in Ballston Spa, called the Strolling Village Artisans. I checked it out, and it's very nice. They have the crafted jewelry and ceramic pots and some fine art. I left my card and told the guy working on the store next door that I was a sculptor looking for space to display. The next day the owner called. She was a gal who had done some teaching at the art center downtown about the same time I did, so she knew my name. I told her what I had fired, what I was planning and she was very excited at the idea of displaying Goddess related material in a shrine context. So she is interested in my building a number of small shrines with figures, lamps, bowls etc during the month of October. The other nice thing is that when I told her about my big wood-fired kiln she was very excited about getting a chance to use it with me, something I've wanted for awhile and now with my back in such better shape I think I can fix up the propane burner for the first 16 hours and then start stoking with wood for the next 6 or so. That would make a very nice high temperature firing. So life is good. Skidmore College professor Brodie, my old mentor and pal says I can use the studio there and the kilns, since I was an alumni. You can't beat that with a stick.Praise be to Persephone! Say Hooplah!
The last session on my back Thursday burned my sciatic nerve so I can't get the shooting pains down that leg... if I don't break anything else. I am 99% pain free for the first time in many years, and it might last a year or six months, plenty of time to get my exhibitions and gallery work done. I'm working on getting Jon's paperwork sent up to Saratoga as well, but we have to wait for somebody to die or something so a bed gets empty. But if he were within 8 miles and I had somebody helping with the kilns and I didn't feel the need for pain meds every few hours I can get a lot done.
Wednesday I was working on my Ishtar sculpture with there was a crash and I was down on the floor with a 4x4 and a 4" lolly column across my back. The support for the ceiling had slipped loose. We were supporting the place where we removed a wall until this spring when we can get up there and stretch 1x12 joists across the living room and properly support the ceiling. As of now there is a strange truss-like thing a friend suggested and which I had no trust in but was outvoted, mostly because it was cheaper. But it allowed the ceiling to sag 3" in the middle and all the sheetrock cracked. Now we do it my way. In the meantime I'm on the floor surrounded by a broken lamp globe and the couch has caught the beam and pole before it broke my spine! Was I saved by Ishtar, or was I attacked by Yahweh? Either or, I guess, but all I got was a long bruise and some tightness in the hips. Amazing.
So with thousands of troops going back to kill thousands of men, women and children, and the Goddess of Spring arising, what spiritual images can we expect? Well, for one thing Ishtar is both the Goddess of life but the Goddess of war. Like Shakti, she holds weapons aloft, tongue hanging out stained with blood, she dances on the earth and destroys those who would defy her. As she emerges from the earth she finds her lover-son Tammuz has usurped her and is sitting on the throne of power. She beats the crap out of him and sends him to hell to hang on the peg like her while she stomps around setting things straight. Can we hope that the Pres and his men will be kicked out of the seats of power and forced to face their crimes? Will we return to growing and nurturing and back away from blood-letting? It would bring about a balance and we need that. The thing is, once you evoke a Goddess with blood and violence it is often hard to calm her down. So my task this spring will be to monitor her actions and try to placate her with offerings and prayers. I need to acknowledge her pain and anger but redirect them towards the disarray created by the jerks in power. For instance, New Orleans and the gulf coast is trashed, people are begging for homes and food and jobs. There's a good place to start.
So make them gardens, plant them seeds. Think happy lamb thoughts and put out suet for the birds. Maybe we can make it through to the other side.
Speaking of which, Jess graduates soon and then my sweet baby girl gets to show the world how talented she is. Let's hope the world can see the advantages she offers. Because we gonna owe a pile of dough...Maybe she can design a gallery and then somehow get her dad into it. That would be fantastic. Ya listening, Persephone? Ishtar? Mama? Did you know "Mama" is an ancient name for the Goddess? She's here, she's there, she's everywhere, so beware.... Don't forget to get your Mama some flowers when she returns to the surface. She likes flowers.
There's a new gallery in town down in Ballston Spa, called the Strolling Village Artisans. I checked it out, and it's very nice. They have the crafted jewelry and ceramic pots and some fine art. I left my card and told the guy working on the store next door that I was a sculptor looking for space to display. The next day the owner called. She was a gal who had done some teaching at the art center downtown about the same time I did, so she knew my name. I told her what I had fired, what I was planning and she was very excited at the idea of displaying Goddess related material in a shrine context. So she is interested in my building a number of small shrines with figures, lamps, bowls etc during the month of October. The other nice thing is that when I told her about my big wood-fired kiln she was very excited about getting a chance to use it with me, something I've wanted for awhile and now with my back in such better shape I think I can fix up the propane burner for the first 16 hours and then start stoking with wood for the next 6 or so. That would make a very nice high temperature firing. So life is good. Skidmore College professor Brodie, my old mentor and pal says I can use the studio there and the kilns, since I was an alumni. You can't beat that with a stick.Praise be to Persephone! Say Hooplah!
The last session on my back Thursday burned my sciatic nerve so I can't get the shooting pains down that leg... if I don't break anything else. I am 99% pain free for the first time in many years, and it might last a year or six months, plenty of time to get my exhibitions and gallery work done. I'm working on getting Jon's paperwork sent up to Saratoga as well, but we have to wait for somebody to die or something so a bed gets empty. But if he were within 8 miles and I had somebody helping with the kilns and I didn't feel the need for pain meds every few hours I can get a lot done.
Wednesday I was working on my Ishtar sculpture with there was a crash and I was down on the floor with a 4x4 and a 4" lolly column across my back. The support for the ceiling had slipped loose. We were supporting the place where we removed a wall until this spring when we can get up there and stretch 1x12 joists across the living room and properly support the ceiling. As of now there is a strange truss-like thing a friend suggested and which I had no trust in but was outvoted, mostly because it was cheaper. But it allowed the ceiling to sag 3" in the middle and all the sheetrock cracked. Now we do it my way. In the meantime I'm on the floor surrounded by a broken lamp globe and the couch has caught the beam and pole before it broke my spine! Was I saved by Ishtar, or was I attacked by Yahweh? Either or, I guess, but all I got was a long bruise and some tightness in the hips. Amazing.
So with thousands of troops going back to kill thousands of men, women and children, and the Goddess of Spring arising, what spiritual images can we expect? Well, for one thing Ishtar is both the Goddess of life but the Goddess of war. Like Shakti, she holds weapons aloft, tongue hanging out stained with blood, she dances on the earth and destroys those who would defy her. As she emerges from the earth she finds her lover-son Tammuz has usurped her and is sitting on the throne of power. She beats the crap out of him and sends him to hell to hang on the peg like her while she stomps around setting things straight. Can we hope that the Pres and his men will be kicked out of the seats of power and forced to face their crimes? Will we return to growing and nurturing and back away from blood-letting? It would bring about a balance and we need that. The thing is, once you evoke a Goddess with blood and violence it is often hard to calm her down. So my task this spring will be to monitor her actions and try to placate her with offerings and prayers. I need to acknowledge her pain and anger but redirect them towards the disarray created by the jerks in power. For instance, New Orleans and the gulf coast is trashed, people are begging for homes and food and jobs. There's a good place to start.
So make them gardens, plant them seeds. Think happy lamb thoughts and put out suet for the birds. Maybe we can make it through to the other side.
Speaking of which, Jess graduates soon and then my sweet baby girl gets to show the world how talented she is. Let's hope the world can see the advantages she offers. Because we gonna owe a pile of dough...Maybe she can design a gallery and then somehow get her dad into it. That would be fantastic. Ya listening, Persephone? Ishtar? Mama? Did you know "Mama" is an ancient name for the Goddess? She's here, she's there, she's everywhere, so beware.... Don't forget to get your Mama some flowers when she returns to the surface. She likes flowers.
powered by performancing firefox
No comments:
Post a Comment