Butterfly

Visions

Dragonfly

Dreams

~ATB~

ScienceCasts: Where Will Curiosity Go First?

Kindle your heart with 'Illuminara' art

 By Susan G Parcheta

April 27, 2012 at TheLivingstonPost

 

A far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” Carl Jung

 Visual artist Elaine Clayton kindles our hearts, as she engages our imagination, sparks our intuition and illumines our dreams in her book Illuminara Intuitive Journal with Cards.

“Imagination is the playscape of our intuitive self,” says  Clayton; it’s through our imagination that we find meaning in our experiences, as well as creative solutions to life’s problems.

Illuminara features a journaling section and a set of 40 cards of her art pieces – paintings and sketches that work in tandem.  The art serves as a tool to bring forth the heart of our intuition and dreams via this visual medium.  It’s an interactive technique, as we can then journal our experience with the cards, jogging our personal memories – the insights from which assist us in discovering answers to life’s situations and challenges.

“The idea is to pick one,” Clayton explains, “and allow the flow to wash through you and write down all the feelings and memories that float to you from inside. Then when you pick a card like ‘lemons’–you know what you felt and what your associations are.”

While I’ve enjoyed the book and cards since its publication last year, I decided to draw a card specifically for writing this reflection.  In interacting with the Cloud Card, I realized that the image brought up a number of things — both about me, and about Clayton’s work.

All Things Beautiful: The Daily Mandala: December 26, 2004

  Blue skies, blue waters,
 blue me, true me.
 I see the design...
 the beauty...when I free
 the artist within me. 
  ~ ATB ~

All Things Beautiful: The Daily Mandala: December 26, 2004

ZuZu & me: Celebrating an epiphany, angels & acorns

Added by Susan Parcheta on January 13, 2012.
Saved under Editor Picks, Susan G. Parcheta, Top Feature

She scampered jauntily into my life one beautiful, warm day in September.

I couldn’t know at that moment, but I was headed for one wild roller coaster ride. An adventure of the heart that I’d be looking back on nearly four months later, as one of those life-transforming,  “what happened to me?” experiences.

I’m writing this on Jan. 6, the day of the Feast of Epiphany. It’s the day my dad was buried – the 12th day of Christmas. The day I contemplate the cycle of life…birth, death, beginnings and endings. And I try to understand where I fit in it all.

Especially this past autumn, when my heart got run over by a little yellow fur ball. She spotted me from across the road, as I walked to my mailbox.  I heard the definite meow of a kitten. Uh, oh, I thought, “We don’t need another cat.”  I figured it must belong to someone, but when she saw me, I could tell that she was on a mission.

The feeling was that I was the subject of this mission; and she was determined to be here.  Something  like Clarence, the angel in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” – on a mission to help George Bailey.  I named her ZuZu after George Bailey’s little girl.

All Things Beautiful: The Daily Mandala: November 30, 2004

 From the depth of my being, from the core of my soul, I'm aligned with my creator...expressing the lightness, the beauty, the oneness that springs from the lattice of love in my heart. ~ ATB

All Things Beautiful: The Daily Mandala: November 30, 2004

Danny Kaye - Hans Christian Andersen

Here's my wish for you in the new year, to carry the love of Christmas in your heart...as revealed in my Dec. 31 blog for LivingstonTalk.com...

La Flor de Noche  Buena: Christmas Eve Poinsettia weaves its beautiful winter magic

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~ Washington Irving
Nothing kindles my heart at Christmastime and the New Year like the poinsettia. La flor de Nochebuena -- this beautiful plant native to Mexico -- is truly the Christmas Eve flower in our family.  
Shades of red, pink, green, cream, crimson, orange and white…it’s always been the starflower of Christmas night.  From the time of Franciscan friars 17th Century celebrations to 21st Century churches everywhere, the brilliant star-shaped flowers symbolize the Christmas Star, the Star of Bethlehem…and to me the magi and their Star search. 
The flower is named after the first United States Minister to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was also an amateur botanist and introduced this beautiful plant into the United States in 1825. 

"Starflower" mandala from Henry Reed collection
February 3, 2011  www.dailymandala.blogspot.com

My favorite is pink. I’m not sure why, except that each color seems to express an aspect of the feeling of Christmas.  Red, of course, symbolizes the blood sacrifice – for ancient Aztecs, to the sun, and later to Christians, of crucifixion of the Christ.  Pale green poinsettias bring a light freshness of all things new and healing at the New Year. Cream touches on the gentle spirit of the season; and white, its purity. I’ve not seen many orange-toned poinsettias, but they’d express, to me, the wonder of creativity and of new insights and resolutions at this time of year. 
I love the brilliant, rich red poinsettia my husband brought home for Christmas.  Having the plant on the table for family dinners offers the touch of tradition, beauty and meaning to the annual celebrations.  
For many years, along with others in our church congregation, we’d order a couple of huge poinsettias .  They’d grace the altar in banks of wondrous pinks and reds until Christmas Eve, and then at that late night service, we’d take them home.  There is something special about that tradition, as well, bringing the poinsettias home on Christmas Eve.  
Yes, my husband is partial to the deep red flowers.  I’ve often wondered why I take to the pink tones. But in recent years, I think I’ve discovered the reason.  Pink, rose, fuchsia, ruby represent to me the colors of the heart. The heart of Christmas, which for me, means making the feeling of Christmas last all year long. 
“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale
Yes, the soft pink tells the story of the magical attribute of Christmas, the beauty of the hospitality of the human heart, which expresses itself most outwardly at Christmastime. 
Putting all these colors of the poinsettia together, you have all the harmony of Christmas that you can carry into the New Year. I can nurture my Christmas poinsettia along throughout the coming weeks of winter to remind me. 
The starflower’s beautiful blossoms nourish my heart with joy in the midst of wintertime, weaving its magic with promise of blooms in spring…symbolizing emergence of a new heart within, healing and peace all around us.  

Blessings for All Things Beautiful in 2012...
SusanGail