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24/3/2020 0 Comments Return of the Sidhe Original post written February 27 2020 In this blogpost I want to share with you a recent painting which was quite a different experience for me. Something playful in me wanted to experiment, to become freer with the painting process - to play really! I began this large canvas quite tightly, with small detailed shapes, but it just wasn't feeling right at all. So I allowed myself to cut loose completely. I began painting with wide brush strokes, then layering the paint on the canvas, allowing it to drip down. Then rotating the canvas and allowing it to drip another way. It was so beautiful to watch the colours merging, interacting and almost communicating with each other. It was utterly mesmerising and time slipped by unnoticed. I stood back, made myself a cup of tea, then looked again...I could see figures, many figures in caverns beneath a mystical Celtic landscape, the sea, the cliffs, hills.... I went back to work and began to highlight the elements that I could see, accentuating them, bringing them out of the mist. Below you can see progress shots as I worked. Can you see the figures? I could also see two figures in a cave, one figure stood over a kneeling figure, as though an anointing or blessing was taking place. Or a sacred wedding with all of the guests arriving....there beneath a Celtic brooding landscape. I was very much reminded of the tales of the Sidhe Fae. Sidhe (pronounced 'Shee') literally means "a mound". The Tuatha de Danaan are a Celtic mythological race meaning "people of the goddess Danu," Danu being a Celtic land or Mother Goddess. Other associated names for her were the Welsh "Don," Irish "Anu" or "Ana," "Mor-Rioghain," and "Brighid.
The Danaan people were associated with mounds, barrows and tumuli (small hills), they became known as the People of the Sidhe. Their association with the wind came from a belief in the Danaan presence in a whirlwind, "sidhe gaoithe," literally, a "thrust of wind." In the finished painting above, you can see a whirlwind type cloud in the sky, that has almost the shape of a man or woman. It feels like the Sidhe energy rising. The more common, widely-known name of "fairy" came from the unwillingness of people to call the Sidhe or Danaan folk by their name, for that was considered bad luck. Euphemisms such as "hill folk," "the gentry," "wee folk," "good folk," "blessed folk," "good neighbors," or "fair folk" abounded, and "fair folk" was shortened to "fairies." The Sidhe folk were associated with many supernatural abilities. Believed to live side by side with the human world, both beneficial and harmful interactions would take place. Fairies were often thought to be interested in stealing people, especially babies of new mothers, and if someone became ill, they could be accused of being a "changeling," left by the Sidhe in place of the original healthy person. Fairies, however, were also very welcomed when they helped the poor, did chores, left money for people or bestowed on them great talent, so they weren't always considered mischievous! I feel this figure in the cave are bestowing a gift upon the other, amidst great ceremony. I could feel a mischievous playful energy in the painting process of this piece itself - a return to a freedom that had been curtailed through schooling and society. I enjoyed embracing it. How might you embrace that playful energy in yourself this week? It certainly made me feel lighter in myself so perhaps allowing it back into your life can lighten you too! I can also feel a very serious anointing, a bestowal of a gift or talent and the great ceremony around it in the painting. This week, I have been tending to my creative spiritual space by making a beautiful altar in my room, embracing the ritual of being with the symbols that emerge in dreams and in paintings, allowing this creative energy to flow more freely and without shame. I've had some interesting dreams in that regard since doing that. I know the mail is getting long, but I want to share one particular dream with you! The Attic I am a small girl and I am in the room with a bespectacled bearded man, he is perhaps 60. He seems friendly and erudite, the walls are lined with books. I am drawing a picture. He suddenly grabs me and shoves me up into a dark attic. I am frightened and terribly sad. I am left there for a very long time. The dream cuts to a woman, an artist. She has come down from the attic and has been told not to paint. It is forbidden. The world is full of zombies/vampires - if they come at you and lick you or bite your neck, you turn into one! One needs to be very careful. It feels like a dark dystopian world. I seem to be undercover as a maid and I paint in secret. There are good men who move my paintings around for me at night. I know there was much more that happened in this bit, but I cannot remember the details. The final scene of the dream, again takes place in the attic. The small girl emerges from her attic bedroom into the attic kitchen where the woman is. She is her mother. Both are me. There had been two separate rooms, but now the rooms are joined together and the two are united. The kitchen is warm, cosy and nurturing. It is safe to be creative here. I love this dream....it feels like two parts of myself coming together at last. The attic in a dream often represents the subconscious mind or the higher self. There is more to feel into in this dream, more courting of the symbols to do. I got to thinking...so many of us have parts of ourselves that were not allowed. Parts of us that were shamed and shoved up into a symbolic dark hidden attic, safely kept away from the world. But these parts are the parts that we need to retrieve, the parts that will make the world a better and more authentic place, rather than a mediocre place. This week, I urge you to create a simple sacred space. Collect items from around your home that symbolise something to you. Gather candles, incense, a piece of art or whatever else feels right. Feel into the question of what part of you has been hidden away? What part of you is ready to be revealed? Meditate on this Sidhe painting, the anointing and blessing and ask for it to be returned to you with joy and ease. Allow yourself to be yourself. This original painting measures 80cm x 80cm and is available for sale. It has been created using acrylic paint on deep edge canvas. It costs €980 and I am always open to people paying in instalments if that works best as I understand it is an investment piece.
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11/2/2020 1 Comment The Red Egg of Mary Magdalene I've been in hibernation mode these past weeks, turning inward and tuning in since the winter solstice. It's been a quietly fruitful time and I know that much is shifting and purging within and also in the outside world. If you too have been feeling this way, be sure to take time for self care and introspection along this journey. In this post, I want to share with you a piece that I have just finished. If you've been receiving these blogs for a while now, you'll know that the alchemical egg has been featuring very strongly both in my dreams and work. Over the past month or two I have had an extraordinary urge to paint the egg red. I didn't consciously know why and so I took to the oracle of the day, Google, and typed in 'red egg' and 'alchemy'. And to my surprise, up popped a beautiful story which I hadn't come across before. Mary Magdalene is an energy that I often find with me in meditation, so it was a beautiful surprise. Mary Magdalene and the first Easter Egg - On a visit to Rome, Mary Magdalene is purported to have told Caesar that Jesus had risen from the dead. To explain his resurrection she picked up an egg. Caesar said that a human being could no more rise from the dead than the egg in her hand turn red. The egg in Mary Magdalene's hand turned red immediately. This story is said to be the origin of the idea of the Easter egg. I sat with this story during the painting of this piece, and the painting feels like an homage to this story, and to my own journey of rediscovery, and to all of our unique journeys of rebirth/resurrection. During our lives we have many small deaths and rebirths, and if we are on the journey of awakening these occurrences become more frequent and more conscious in our lives. Sometimes these deaths are small, but they add up. At other times it feels as though the self that you knew is literally being annihilated. But after each death is a rebirth into a clearer and more refined level of consciousness. We have become somehow better because of it, and that inner growth trickles out to all around us. We are all doing this, some consciously, others unconsciously. When we are aware and conscious, I believe the momentum gathers and the process speeds up. I also believe that each individual journey, the work that each and every one of you does, adds up and contributes to a collective healing. A healing in the wider world. And interestingly this week, this wonderful article was shared with me which I think says it more beautifully than I ever could: "Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these -- to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do. There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. [...] In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for." --Clarissa Pinkola Estes The soul heals and lights up through our inner journeys, our inner deaths and rebirths. Then the light shines forth to others. Sometimes we do this alone, and other times we gather in circles with kindred souls. After a couple of months going inward, I will be be beginning to hold circles again in March - mandala creation and meditation. It is always powerful to do this work together. I'll be in Glendalough, Galway, Cork, Wexford and Kilkenny. I hope to add another Dublin date and also a Sligo date soon. So if you feel to be a part of it, check out the workshop page on my website. I think I will call this piece simply "The Red Egg", the symbol of the womb of the Goddess and of our rebirth. The painting is available for sale at €890, and measures 70cm x 70cm on deep edge canvas. Please message me if you're interesting in giving it a forever home and as always, I am open to people paying in installments.  Above is a painting which I finished recently called 'Unearthed'. It came during a series of beautiful and powerful dreams, dreams with a quality of guidance and presence. This dream came the night I had begun this piece: A soft landing I am with A and we are in the most beautiful soft landscape. Earthy browns, oranges and golds. The land is boggy and soft. There are hollows, lots of them and a ridge of hills behind. We see a seat made of sand between two hollows and we make for that. When we get there, we can see down into a soft deep boggy hollow, almost like sponge. We think it would be exhilarating to jump down and bounce in it. Just before jumping, I notice a sharp piece of broken brown glass sticking up. I climb down and remove it, placing in behind a stone I see in a small nook. Now I know it will be safe and nobody will harm themselves on it. We jump down into the soft hollow and it is indeed exhilarating. Climbing back up and looking over the edge, we see that the hollow will soon fill with water as the tide is rising. It’s okay though as we can ascend up onto the ridge of hills behind, which we do. We see stunningly beautiful vistas as we walk along. Another woman joins us and leads us to a dimly lit warm and cosy room. There are other women there. I am separating the yoke from an egg to make paint. I am showing them how...or they are showing me...I am not quite sure The dream felt guided, and as though by removing the piece of broken glass, a way opened up. A safer way forward. There was a feeling of camaraderie and of knowledge being shared. A more discerning path was presented through the removal of the glass. As the painting progressed, I noticed that the beautiful golds and rusts of the landscape had made their way in. To me, it feels like a protective shield unearthed from an ancient ethereal landscape. The painting sold to its new forever home in San Diego in the US. Limited Edition prints are now available if you would like the energy in your space. I then began a second painting...this time using egg tempera. Everything about this medium feels beautiful. The ritual of separating the yoke from the white at the beginning of each painting session embodies the notion of separating the self from the mundane world and entering into a mysterious and creative realm, where ideas and inspiration can flow. Here is the beginnings of this egg tempera painting of the dreams...I still have a long way to go with detail and with the intended forest on the right. But I want to share it now in conjunction with the dreams above as I feel the dream below and the dream above are deeply connected.  I had decided to try to capture the landscape of the dream in egg tempera. I had painted in the three women and also the building on the hill where I felt we had been led. That night, the following dream came: The Library of the King and Queen We are in the very grand entrance hall of a museum. There is a spiral staircase going up and one going down. We go up. There is a part of the staircase cordoned off as some green Connemara marble has cracked from the domed roof and fallen down. I tell the others I am with that they must see the library of the King and Queen. We go up to an exhibit room and I view a piece about the Celts. There is a guide telling me that in ancient Celtic times, men and women were very equal, and that there was very little difference between the sexes. There was no fear or conflict. I am shown a sculpture...it’s a woman...or is it a man? The sculpture has a spiral tail. It’s very beautiful and feels powerful. Moving on to another room, we are now up in the actual dome of the building. It feels ancient and special and is softly lit with bare earthen stone bricks. We return downstairs and cross a cobblestone Courtyard surrounded by grand buildings and go towards the library of the King and Queen. The dream felt as though I had been brought inside of the building I had painted the night before! I got a glimpse inside what I had painted. The next day I returned to the painting and inserted the sculptural symbol I had seen in the dream onto the rock at the front. Two figures appeared organically and unconsciously in the paint beside the lake, they looked as though one was initiating the other. It felt right to let them stay. The taller figure anoints the smaller figure with the symbol of the egg, of infinite potential. The idea of the library of the king and queen really speaks to me, representing the inner alchemy of uniting the feminine and masculine aspects of self, the inner marriage of the Anima and Animus which Jung referred to as the Hieros Gamos. The sculptural symbol speaks of the same concept of the balance of masculine and feminine, with the spiral tail of the journey within. I will call this painting 'Initiation' and look forward to completing it and sharing the finished piece with you soon. More powerful dreams have come since and I will share soon and see where they lead me creatively. In the meantime, dream well, dream with reverence, and ask to receive the wisdom you are ready for. Namaste Patricia To make sure you don't miss a blog post and to receive offers and information on my work, subscribe to my mailing list here: Unearthed Limited Edition Print
€70.00 - €260.00
Meditating on this mandala brings you into a grounded energy, a place where you can connect deep within and to the protection of the land and of the ancestors. I loved creating this piece. This piece was painted during a series of very strong dreams. It feels like an old protective shield unearthed from an ancient landscape. To read more about the dreams, see my blog post about this work. Limited Edition Print Options 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints come beautifully mounted (16" x 16") €70 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints mounted and framed (18"x18") €110 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints come rolled safely in a presentation tube €140 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints framed prints €200 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Tray Framed prints these prints are stylishly box framed, and are printed on photo board which is a lightweight board with a beautiful matt finish. It's perfect when you want a print but don't want glass, so you won't get any reflection disturbing viewing of the painting. €260 All prints and options can be shipped worldwide!  A few weeks ago, I attended a wonderful workshop on egg tempera painting given by the very gifted artist Fergus Ryan. I enjoyed the weekend immensely and tried to absorb as much as I could. During the workshop we copied from one of our favourite paintings. I chose Baron Arild Rosencrantz, which you can see above. It's a painting that resonates with me on many levels. We learned so much from Fergus about preparation for painting egg tempera and technique and I am so grateful for all of it. I particularly love the alchemical nature of making egg tempera. Even preparing the surface (known as the ground) is an alchemical process. Tempera needs to be applied to a rigid surface such as wood, as on canvas or paper, it would simply crack. It dries very quickly and so different techniques are used to build up layers of colour. This gives the painting a translucent and ethereal quality...exactly what I am after in order to paint my dreams! Egg Tempera can be found as far back as ancient Egypt and was also often used in the early Renaissance period and is known for its enduring nature and pearlescent quality of light given through layers and layers of thin paint. In order to begin this technique of egg tempera painting, it required that I get all the necessary tools and equipment together...wooden boards, rabbit glue and gypsum to size the boards (2 coats of glue, front, back and sides) which prevents the boards from warping. Then 8 coats of true gesso made from the glue and gypsum. A rotating sander to polish to a smooth finish. I am still working on the gesso coats! In religious icon painting of the Orthodox tradition, and in alchemy, this gesso process is known as Leukosis/Albedo or whitening...and correlates to a cleansing and purification of the Soul in preparation for the painting. I am still whitening my boards...it’s physically tiring, but enjoyable and dreams have been strong. I have no idea what will be painted on these boards...whatever comes through me! In the cooking, mixing and preparation of both the glue and the gesso, there are stages of solid to liquid to solid and back to liquid. I love this movement between states. When I was a child, I was always making potions and perfumes from flowers...and anything I could find! That enjoyment flooded back to me and it all felt very familiar. I truly believe that we arrive into this world knowing who we are until we are conditioned out of it...what did you used to absolutely love to do as a small child? Why not try a bit of that now? To keep the glue and gesso at an even temperature when cooking, a Bain Marie or a double boiler is used. Like how you would melt chocolate in a bowl in a pot of water. The name comes from the Medieval Latin term balneum (or balineum) Mariae—literally, Mary's bath—from which the French bain de Marie, or bain-marie, is derived. The device's invention has been popularly attributed to Mary the Jewess, an ancient alchemist. In the writings of Zozimus of Pallonis, Mary is described as "one of the sages". Her work sought to make the masculine and the feminine one. Alchemical union, hieros gamos. That is where the gold lies, the secret of transformation. This resonates so deeply with my work and seems to come through almost unconsciously at times. So who knows what will be created on these boards...or if it will work? There is a huge element of trust and faith in transitioning from one method of painting to another...because of the exact nature of the egg tempera technique, it’s all or nothing! I might fail at this and have wasted a lot of time and money, or I might succeed and absolutely love this...I am in transition and I don't know where it might land. I feel the latter, once I get through the many learning curves, failures and bumps that will teach me how to do it better each time. Is there a transition in your own physical, emotional or spiritual life that feels to be coming? What would happen if you went all in? What’s the worst that could happen...and what is the best that could happen? I will share my journey as I go....and I'm really looking forward to sharing with you soon about the pigments...oh the pigments....they are simply beautiful and so so much history and meaning behind each and every one!  In this blog post, I want to share with you a large piece I recently created called ‘The Gifts’. It is based on a very strong and healing dream which I received and is done in the style of Vittorio Zecchin, an artist who I really admire for his sensitivity, composition and detail. Firstly let me recount the dream: Dream: The Gifts I am on a small boat with a group of other women drifting towards an island on a lake. Our boat bumps into a smaller craft, a raft of sorts. Ther are personal items on the raft, a jacket, clothes, food and a fishing line is set up. There is nobody on board though. Where is the person? One of the women in my dream is Norwegian Astrologer Karianne Stenshagen with whom I have connected in real life through a dream group. We land on the beautiful and lush small island. When we go ashore, on the centre of this small island, we see a man through the trees. Curious, we move closer to him and realise that this man is almost dead. He mouths to us for help. We gather around him, protecting him from a group of other visitors to the island. It feels right to respect his dignity and privacy.We call for other hel as we assist him. We think he will survive. It feels like a healing On waking, I felt restored and felt that the dream held something profound in terms of healing. I mulled over the dream, and what it might be asking? It feels like a masculine aspect/energy asking to be seen, nourished and assisted. That the balancing of the yin/yang energies is being called for both within and without. I meditated on the dream and asked myself if I came across this man, what would I give to him? What gifts would I bring to him? Pure clean water and Light came to me immediately. The next day, I messaged my friend Karianne Stenshagen who was in the dream with me and recounted the dream to her and asked her what gift she would bring and why? She said a Fish - the Piscean energy. The Christ energy. Karianne says “As an astrologer I often associate characters or themes with astrological archetypes. Its my reference point trying to understand life. As a dream colleague of Patricia I will give some input on the pisces or Neptune energy. As I think its very relevant for this particular dream. Neptune is the planet associated with the astrological sign of Pisces. We all have a Neptune in our astrological chart, meaning it is a universal archetype. Neptune is associated with our inner mystic. Your inner mystic is a soul aspect that is connected to a dimension beyond the physical. It is connected to intuition, to dreamtime and to the ability to see beyond the physical world. It is also associated with Christ consciousness. By Christ consciousness I mean a soul love that is beyond the personal. We can experience this feeling when we have a divine or numinous moment e.g. watching an otherworldly beautiful sunset and feeling our being filled with love. The planet Neptune is currently in the astrological sign of Pisces, from 2011 to 2025. People have during this time period been talking about a second coming, meaning that Christ will return. A way to interpret this is that many of us are starting to open up to the Christ consciousness within. Some would call this moving into a crystalline form. Many you may have heard the term ‘crystal children’. The point is that if you are reading this the chances are big that you are also on this journey open up to the Christ consciousness within yourself. Opening up to this quality sometimes can take us to our deepest wounds, on the journey to opening up our hearts. I guess one of the most painful feeling for us humans is loss. Opening up to this Neptune energy is a way of finding healing and comfort, when connecting to this dimension beyond the physical. Neptune can give a feeling of being connected to everyone and everything. Its a reminder that we are all God. The boat, the island, the fishing line, the need of privacy in the dream reminds me of the quality of Neptune and Pisces; a sensitivity and highly intuitive, transcendental quality. Pisces is a water sign, meaning its energy is hightly sensitive and deeply in touch with emotions and intuition.” Thanks so much to Karianne for sharing this beautiful insight and for engaging in dream work with me. It never ceases to amaze me the connections that happen during dream time….this otherworldly connection that brings us together. Bridging the dream to my own waking life, I felt that the masculine side within was asking to be nourished. Allowing him voice. For me that looks like having better boundaries, saying something that needs to be said rather than being afraid to and then having it blow up at a later stage! It means taking action on the ideas that I receive and seeing them through into manifestation rather than letting them gather dust. What might nourishing your masculine side mean to you? (Remember, this is not to do with gender, but rather the Yin (feminine) and Yang (masculine) energies that we all hold within us.) On a collective level, I can’t help thinking with all of the talk of “toxic masculinity” in recent times, that perhaps less judgement is needed and more nourishment given to the masculine side within each and every one of us, man or woman. When we heal within ourselves, we begin to see that healing reflected all about us in the physical world. As within, so without, as above, so below. So before we cast judgement outside of ourselves, the call is to heal and nourish what is inside. Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead! This piece measures 100cm x 100cm and is acrylic and metallic pens on deep edge canvas (so does not require framing) It is available for sale at €1,200 and as always I am open to people paying in instalments as I understand art is an investment. I will also have prints available of The Gifts soon.  Karianne Stenshagen, Astrologer 4/7/2019 1 Comment Potential: The Alchemical Egg I've been really drawn to painting eggs lately. The geometry of the egg is beautifully simple and elegant, yet profound in my mind and soul. The egg is a universal and self-explanatory symbol because it holds the seed from which the whole of manifestation will spring. The notion that the universe was born from an egg is shared by nearly all ancient civilizations and cultures. Primordial man/woman also originates from an egg, The egg also signifies the polarization of the Hermaphrodite, the union of the masculine and feminine energies in alchemical terms. The egg is a primordial reality containing the seeds that will give rise to multiple beings.
In The Upanishads, an Indian text, the Egg springs from the Non-Being and gives birth to the Elements: the two halves of the shell, one of gold and the other of silver, become, respectively, Heaven and Earth. The outer membrane gives birth to the mountains; the inner one becomes clouds; the veins give rise to the rivers and the ocean stems from the liquid. According to Tibetan tradition, the egg is the origin of the ancestors. In Chinese tradition, before Heaven and Earth became separated, Chaos resembled a hen’s egg. After 18,000 years – a number reflecting a long, undetermined length of time – the egg broke open; the heavy elements formed the Earth (Yin) and the light ones became the Heavens (Yang). The egg represents the creative power of Light. It confirms the promise of resurrection as a return. In Beotia, figures of Dionysus holding an egg in his hand have been found. Orphic tradition prohibited the eating of eggs. Eggs were offered to the dead as food and token of rebirth. The egg is also linked to the symbolic qualities of quietude like the home, the nest, the shell or the mother’s womb. The egg is also associated with the idea of the seed of spiritual life, by the alchemical tradition of the Philosopher’s Egg, a hermetically sealed flask containing matter proper to terrestrial work. Lately I have been very drawn to painting the egg. It feels as though there is a rebirth happening in my work, and life. I think it's interesting that I lost the mailing list just when I was about to post about the egg! As though something had to leave in order for something new to be reborn. It also feels like a sign to go within, to nest a little bit and become one with creativity in that quiet space. What does the egg symbolise to you? What seed of potentiality in you is waiting to be hatched? Meditating on the egg is quite a beautiful thing to do, and brings up much awareness within. This painting measures 80cm x 80cm, acrylic on deep edge canvas. I love working on deep edge canvases as they don't necessarily need to be framed. It costs €690 and as always, I am open to people paying in instalments if that is something that works best. If you are interested, just mail me at [email protected]   lToday I'd like to welcome guest blogger Violet Shirran. I met Violet through an online creative group called Bite the Biscuit and I simply loved what she is doing and I think you will too and so I asked her if she would be a guest blogger. Above is a statement that I gave to Violet. It was a statement often leveled at me as a child and indeed as an adult...it was a statement that made me feel strange, that I was odd, not right somehow. Only through my own mandala healing journey have I come to realise that my sensitivity is not a negative thing...it's actually my super power! It lets me be creative, empathetic, intuitive and it allows me to be open to a phenomenal dream landscape and magic in everyday life. Violet took my statement and stitched it...mended it. And it made me cry to see it there, mended. I'll let Violet take over from here! Thanks Violet for sharing your story with us. My name is Violet Shirran. One winter’s day in 2011, the phone rang. I answered as I would have any other day. But this was no ordinary phone call. This was a phone call that ripped my life and the life of my two sisters and their families apart. This was a phone call telling me that my beautiful 22 year old niece had died suddenly in her sleep. Our Worlds. Fell. Apart. That first year was lived on a roller-coaster of grief, made all the more difficult by the death of my father only four months later. So what do people do to get through grief? Grief causes a seismic shift within us, a reassessment of priorities and like any crisis, it leads to change. I surprisingly turned my attention back to creativity and in particular sewing. I was drawn to the slow meditative and repetitive nature of hand sewing and found that it grounded me in that first chaotic year of grief. I also stopped smoking when my niece died and sewing was a great use of my hands. Sewing was something that seemed to re-emerge from childhood. My mother was a dressmaker and loved hand sewing ,so I grew up surrounded by fabric. My happiest memories as a child are of my mother hand-sewing in the garden and my aunt Peg knitting and chatting with her. There was a circling happening, a returning, a comfort and a healing. On reawakening my creativity and gradually discovering the healing nature of hand-sewing through that year, I decided to nurture my creativity and return to college to study textiles and embroidery. It was here that I discovered how healing it is to sew in groups, literally sewing in circles! I loved how people relaxed into their sewing; how they opened up, sharing their stories. Sewing is also a great stress reliever lowering blood pressure and increasing dopamine. If sewing had this profound healing effect on me, then of course it would for others and so I decided to set up classes to promote mindfulness, getting people to take time out from busy lives, to relax over some simple sewing, to chat to others, to make connections and be creative… a nod to my mother and aunt Peg sewing, knitting and chatting in our garden. It became inevitable that I would leave my full time teaching job and devote more time to my own art and workshops. I Invested in a little garden studio and dreamed up “The Repair Project” Healing is such an important facet of my artwork. For The Repair Project, I asked people to give me the harmful words and statements that they carried from childhood. You know…the ones that hurt us but we would feel self-conscious about sharing, fearing people would say “Oh, get over yourself”. The statements that shape our opinion of ourselves, even as adults...often more so as adults. Words that we took onboard and believed to be truths about ourselves and not just the opinions of others. Words that impacted and indeed often shaped our realities. My idea was to embroider and symbolically repair these statements. I saw myself in this project as a type of tailor, repairing and mending what is handed to me. My initial dilemma was how on earth do I get people to share something so deeply personal with me? Luckily, I had joined an online group of creatives called Bite the Biscuit (actually where I met Patricia!) And with the help of this gang of creatives I found the confidence to get onto Instagram and ask people to share their statements with me. I even made a video… and so The Repair Project went public. The words and statements came pouring in. I discovered a huge amount of people are carrying these negative statements as limiting beliefs and wanted to set about repairing them. The statements were mostly from adults to young people and varied in their cruelty but all had left a lasting effect. You are too wild, Be a good girl, You’ll never amount to anything, You can’t sing, You’re too sensitive, Your sister is the smart one, You are too fat, Big ears, Big Mouth ... the list goes on. My aim is not to rake over bad memories but rather to change the narrative in our own heads, to finally leave these words behind, repair them and choose our own narrative . “ I am creative”, “I am sensitive “, “I am courageous” “I love to sing”. The very act of stitching and repairing these words becomes part of my own healing process and recovery. The month of June saw me at my local arts centre, Droichead, in Drogheda, Ireland as part of a residency and I sewed Repair Project statements, displaying them on the walls. People came in and chatted with me, we spoke of the harsh words which were said to them and how we have allowed them impact us. Often at the end of the day I found that they had slipped a note into my Repair Project notebook, words which decades later are still haunting them, words that are difficult to say out loud, words that need repairing. If you’d like to be involved, why not send me your words? The words that have stuck with you and would like to release now once and for all? Simply send your statements to [email protected] Thanks for inviting me to share my work Patricia and thanks for reading! Violet You can follow Violet's wonderful work on Instagram or Facebook and visit her website at www.violetshirran.com. Violet Shirran is a textile artist based in Drogheda, Ireland. Her route to her passion was circuitous as it is for many of us. She graduated from NCAD Art college with a degree in Metal sculpture and for a number of years had a studio working as a metal artist and blacksmith. The financial climate in Ireland in the 80’s meant there wasn’t a huge market for metal sculpture and Violet returned to college to train as an Art teacher and for almost 20 years taught art full time in special education. She loves to travel and long school holidays means she can travel the world seeing beautiful art and crafts from many cultures. Teaching art has to be the best job in any school, however it also meant that she put her creative energy into teaching others and allowing her own creativity to took a back seat. It was through the tragic loss of her niece, that Violet was led to a new life and passion for textiles and sewing, a modality through which she heals herself, and art that heals the artist, heals others. Thanks so much Violet for sharing your story with us.    This latest piece again is based on a dream that I had. While not depicting the dream figuratively, it is more encompassing the energy and feeling of the place that I visited in the dream space. In the dream I received, I was led into a courtyard that was nestled between two churches. On the ground, there were five horses lying down, covered up to their necks with beautiful blankets. I asked if the horses were okay, and was told yes, they are perfectly fine, merely resting here this sacred space, receiving all that they need.
The following day, I was listening to an audio book - 'Belonging' by Toko-pa Turner, the woman with whom I have done some dream work. She happened to mention the word 'Temenos', a Greek word meaning a piece of ground surrounding or adjacent to a temple; a sacred enclosure or precinct. My ears pricked up...what an uncanny synchronicity, hearing this literally a few hours after the dream had taken place. It certainly did feel like a sacred place in the dream, a boundaried place of sanctuary where one can rest and be completely oneself. It invited that one be completely still and true. And that is the energy that I felt whilst creating the mandala. The centre is detailed, truthfully complex, yet paradoxically simple, like our inner worlds. This complexity/simplicity is encircled by a golden circle of what feels like sacred energy. An unseen guiding hand that supports us on our journey. Space for the eye to fall into stillness has been left in the liminal space between. This week, I invite you to take a look at your life with the view of creating Temenos, a sacred enclosure for yourself. A place where you can be still and true. A beautiful and protected space. You can do this in small ways. Perhaps you might take a walk in a forest, allowing yourself to hap upon a clearing, stopping and being still and completely present in that place, even if it is for only a few minutes. It might be creating a sacred space in your home. Lighting a candle with the intention of stillness and truthfulness. It could be taking a beautiful bath, cleansing with intention. It could be making a permanent Temenos space, a small space where you place items that evoke in you the quality of stillness and recuperation. There are as many ways to do this as there are ideas! The Temenos Mandala measures 70cm x 70cm and is acrylic on deep edge canvas. It costs €890 and I'm always open to people paying in instalments if that works best. Limited edition prints of this piece are available from the shop in Marlay Park Craft Courtyard or you can email me for one!  Paris has always been a city close to my heart. I spent a lot of time there as a child and always as we crossed the bridge onto Ile de la Citè, a sense of calm would come over me. It was as though I could breathe again. When I saw the fire ravaging Notre Dame Cathedral, it brought me to tears. There was something so destructive, yet also so regenerating about it. Fire destroys, but also offers rebirth and renewal. I thought about the beautiful rose windows...and my heart broke. I am so glad that they miraculously survived. But that night, I felt compelled to begin to create this piece in honour of Notre Dame, of what is past and what is yet to come on that sacred site. It took 200 years to build the Cathedral...and life expectancy was of course much shorter back then and so I figure it was around 4-5 generations in the making. So the people who began it never saw it finished. Like planting a tree for the future, they put their hearts and souls into this beautiful building never seeing the end result of their work. I thought of them. Notre Dame and Ile de la Citè always felt like the belly of Paris to me. The heart centre of that beautiful city. So many wonderful works of literature have been set there, from Victor Hugo to Emile Zola...and even I remember one of my favourite Nancy Drew books 'The 99 Steps', which I loved as a child! Notre Dame existed in our collective imagination, even for those who had never been there. Mankind's architectural creations are one of humanity's finest and easily identifiable symbolic achievements. It was an iconic building and seeing it burn brought a real sense of the impermanence of all things, and a feeling of discomfort at that. It brought a sense of the fragility of our physical and symbolic constructions. Even though we logically know that all things are impermanent, that they will one day fall apart and that as Osho said, 'society is but a clearing in the forest', we still feel it strongly in our bellies. Notre Dame was a an iconic symbol of France, a symbol of religion and, a symbol of civilization. It was an interesting feeling. The Saturday before the fire, I gave a mandala workshop in Cork. At my workshops, I always create a piece myself, processing the energy of the group I'm working with within my own piece. My piece that Saturday was red and fiery...unusual for my work. I also put in a little black sun and a red sun and when we did the share at the end of the workshop , I voiced that I felt it to be the energy of the Black Madonna. The words sprang into my mind and my mouth, even though I knew very little about the Black Madonna. I always burn the pieces I create at workshops to transmute the energy but I include a picture of it beneath. So when the fire happened and afterwards I read about how Notre Dame was in fact built by the Knights Templar in honour of Mary Magdalene, who is personified as the Black Madonna, I was quite taken aback by the synchronicity. Mary Magdalene is a being close to my heart it feels. I also read that beneath Notre Dame Cathedral lies the ruins of a Temple of Isis. Ile de la Citè is also a place of many intersecting ley lines, known as point zero. Perhaps it is for these reasons that one gets the feeling of ease and spaciousness when one crosses the bridges onto this small city island. I have always been very attracted to Isis and her energy and have had many wonderful experiences over the years which are slowly beginning to make some kind of sense to me. I created this piece in honour of Notre Dame as I felt compelled to do, for what is passed and what is yet to come. I feel the rebuilding of this place will embrace the sacred feminine quality much more openly. That it will be a balanced place. A much more harmonious place in terms of yin and yang energies. In my mind's eye, I see the spire being rebuilt in glass, with diamond facets...it will shimmer. That's what I see! This piece encompasses the energy that I felt around all of this. When fire destroys, something new is reborn. The original mandala measures 70cm x 70cm and is acrylic on canvas and has gone to its new forever home in Dublin. You can order a limited edition print of this piece here: Notre Dame Limited Edition Print
€70.00 - €260.00
Meditating on this mandala connects you with the balance of the Divine Feminine and Masculine energies. Paris has always been a city close to my heart. I spent a lot of time there as a child and always as we crossed the bridge onto Ile de la Citè, a sense of calm would come over me. It was as though I could breathe again. When I saw the fire ravaging Notre Dame Cathedral in April, it brought me to tears. There was something so destructive, yet also so regenerating about it. Fire destroys, but also offers rebirth and renewal. I thought about the beautiful rose windows...and my heart broke. I am so glad that they miraculously survived. But that night, I felt compelled to begin to create this piece in honour of Notre Dame, of what is past and what is yet to come on that sacred site. It took 200 years to build the Cathedral...and life expectancy was of course much shorter back then and so I figure it was around 4-5 generations in the making. So the people who began it never saw it finished. Like planting a tree for the future, they put their hearts and souls into this beautiful building never seeing the end result of their work. I thought of them. Notre Dame and Ile de la Citè always felt like the belly of Paris to me. The heart centre of that beautiful city. So many wonderful works of literature have been set there, from Victor Hugo to Emile Zola...and even I remember one of my favourite Nancy Drew books 'The 99 Steps', which I loved as a child! Notre Dame existed in our collective imagination, even for those who had never been there. Mankind's architectural creations are one of humanity's finest and easily identifiable symbolic achievements. It was an iconic building and seeing it burn brought a real sense of the impermanence of all things, and a feeling of discomfort at that. It brought a sense of the fragility of our physical and symbolic constructions. Even though we logically know that all things are impermanent, that they will one day fall apart and that as Osho said, 'society is but a clearing in the forest', we still feel it strongly in our bellies. Notre Dame was a an iconic symbol of France, a symbol of religion and, a symbol of civilization. It was an interesting feeling. The Saturday before the fire, I gave a mandala workshop in Cork. At my workshops, I always create a piece myself, processing the energy of the group I'm working with within my own piece. My piece that Saturday was red and fiery...unusual for my work. I also put in a little black sun and a red sun and when we did the share at the end of the workshop , I voiced that I felt it to be the energy of the Black Madonna. The words sprang into my mind and my mouth, even though I knew very little about the Black Madonna. I always burn the pieces I create at workshops to transmute the energy but I include a picture of it beneath. So when the fire happened and afterwards I read about how Notre Dame was in fact built by the Knights Templar in honour of Mary Magdalene, who is personified as the Black Madonna, I was quite taken aback by the synchronicity. Mary Magdalene is a being close to my heart it feels. I also read that beneath Notre Dame Cathedral lies the ruins of a Temple of Isis. Ile de la Citè is also a place of many intersecting ley lines, known as point zero. Perhaps it is for these reasons that one gets the feeling of ease and spaciousness when one crosses the bridges onto this small city island. I have always been very attracted to Isis and her energy and have had many wonderful experiences over the years which are slowly beginning to make some kind of sense to me. I created this piece in honour of Notre Dame as I felt compelled to do, for what is passed and what is yet to come. I feel the rebuilding of this place will embrace the sacred feminine quality much more openly. That it will be a balanced place. A much more harmonious place in terms of yin and yang energies. In my mind's eye, I see the spire being rebuilt in glass, with diamond facets...it will shimmer. That's what I see! This piece encompasses the energy that I felt around all of this. When fire destroys, something new is reborn. Limited Edition Print Options 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints come beautifully mounted (16" x 16") €70 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints mounted and framed (18"x18") €110 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints come rolled safely in a presentation tube €140 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints framed prints €200 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Tray Framed prints these prints are stylishly box framed, and are printed on photo board which is a lightweight board with a beautiful matt finish. It's perfect when you want a print but don't want glass, so you won't get any reflection disturbing viewing of the painting. €260 All prints and options can be shipped worldwide!  “Behind logic, below reason, underneath the skin of objectivity, lives the animal heart. She has lived longer than any of us can remember – it was from her belly that we were born. Unsophisticated as we are, we forget and deny her, adding still to the platform of greed that we’ve built upon her grave. But she is far from dead. She stays hidden not because she is timid, but because she is wise. The world has become too dry a place, and she depends upon the flow of love to live. One day, she will jump up and live again. When you dream of animals, you are touching your instinctual nature; the part of you that eats when you’re hungry, sleeps when you’re tired, fights back when you feel threatened, and walks away when enough is enough. Your animal self can not be domesticated, and lives according to an ancient set of laws. It doesn’t care about politics and politeness and never takes more than it needs. Animals are your wisdom, your physical magnificence, and the unselfconscious power that makes you twice as tall. The animal heart sees clearly what the intellect cannot, because it is pure instinct." Toko-pa Turner on Dreaming of Animals I have mentioned in previous posts that I work and have profound experiences with dreams. I knew I had to find out more, to connect with others who experience similar things. I longed for a sense of belonging around it, to explore this side of myself in community. One evening a mail arrived outlining a course on dream work run by Toko-pa Turner. I had that familiar sensation in my gut...that this is the community and I knew it innately. I immediately signed up for the course and I don't regret it for one moment. The energy of the space held was simply beautiful and very powerful. I have learned to court my dreams more fully. Not to grasp at them, but to invite them in. To be curious about what the dream is longing for, where the energy wants to lead me. I have learned the importance of the process of ritual, of creating a dream altar and of embodying the dream in a creative way (which I had already been intuitively doing). If you are a dreamer, and an explorer of the unseen worlds, I would highly recommend checking out Toko-pa's work. For an introduction to her work, listen to her free Encounters podcast which is utter nourishment for the soul. Here she speaks to six amazing women on the concept of belonging. During the dream work course, my dream experiences sky rocketed. I am filling journals. My dream altar is full of symbolic and beautiful symbols and the dreams are moving me forward both in life and in the artwork I am creating. One recent dream was a very vivid dream of being in a clear turquoise ocean swimming with an absolutely beautiful turtle. The turtle seemed to be playing with me. Swimming up and nuzzling into me almost. The dream turtle seemed to long for fun. It longed for letting go and for trusting. For coming out of it's shell and simply playing and being utterly in the moment. When I was working on the painting, a real sense of fun also came into the process. The colours, the shapes and everything about this painting seem to be playful. I am finding myself in more fun situations in waking life too. Laughing more, playing more and letting go of the hard shell of seriousness. My childhood was not one were fun was particularly celebrated, but rather seriousness was the thing. In the shadow parts of ourselves can lie absolute gems waiting to be uncovered. It is not only the dark things that lurk in the shadow part. My creativity had lain dormant in the shadow for many years, and so too had this fun aspect of self. The turtle may seem to have a very hard, exterior shell and yet underneath there is much softness, gentleness and playfulness. And this playful friendly dream turtle revealing this aspect of herself to me has invited me to bring back and nourish that playful part of myself. To heal my inner child. The original Dream Turtle mandala measures 100cm x 100cm and is acrylic paint and metallic pen on deep edge canvas. It has gone to it's new forever home. If you would like a limited edition print of this piece you can purchase below! Turtle Dream Limited Edition Print
€70.00 - €260.00
Meditating on this mandala is expansive and helps bring you a joyful and playful energy This piece is based on a very vivid dream of being in a clear turquoise ocean swimming with an absolutely beautiful turtle. The turtle seemed to be playing with me. Swimming up and nuzzling into me almost. The dreamturtle seemed to long for fun. It longed for letting go and for trusting. For coming out of it's shell and simply playing and being utterly in the moment. When I was working on the painting, a real sense of fun also came into the process. The colours, the shapes and everything about this painting seem to be playful. I am finding myself in more fun situations in waking life too. Laughing more, playing more and letting go of the hard shell of seriousness. My childhood was not one were fun was particularly celebrated, but rather more seriousness was the thing. In the shadow parts of ourselves can lie absolute gems waiting to be uncovered. And they are not always bad things that lurk in the shadow part. My own creativity had lain dormant in the shadow for many years, and so too had this fun aspect of self. The turtle may seem to have a very hard, exterior shell and yet underneath there is much softness, gentleness and playfulness. And this dream turtle revealing this aspect of herself to me has invited me to bring back and nourish that playful part of myself. To heal my inner child. Not a bad night's work for a dream I'd say! What beautiful gems might be hidden in your shadow and are you open to receiving them? Limited Edition Print Options 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints come beautifully mounted (16" x 16") €70 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) Limited Edition Prints mounted and framed (18"x18") €110 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints come rolled safely in a presentation tube €140 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Limited Edition Prints framed prints €200 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) Tray Framed prints these prints are stylishly box framed, and are printed on photo board which is a lightweight board with a beautiful matt finish. It's perfect when you want a print but don't want glass, so you won't get any reflection disturbing viewing of the painting. €260 All prints and options can be shipped worldwide!  |
Patricia Fitzgerald
Mandala Artist and Healer based in Dublin, Ireland. www.healingcreations.ie Archives
August 2023
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