Thinking of Red-winged Blackbirds

I often look at the world as one big tarot deck, meaning everything that happens is a symbol for something more. I especially feel this way when something happens that is on the news and effects more people than just me. I have been thinking a lot about these blackbirds that fell from the sky on New Year's Eve over Arkansas. What is the deeper meaning of this?

I am connected to Arkansas as it was the place of my birth. I was born in a small town called Mountainburg in the Ozark mountains of Northern Arkansas. Arkansas is a state that gets overlooked a lot. If it wasn't for Bill and Hillary being from there, many people would have never have even heard of it. It is a beautiful place with one of the most beautiful rivers in the world running through it, The Buffalo river. It also has some magical properties right in the heart of it. It has these incredible healing hot springs and produces a large amount of diamonds and quartz crystals all in the same area. I always felt magic when I walked outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas and would find hundreds of quartz crystals and amethyst lying naturally all over the ground. Let's just say that there is quite a lot of faerie energy there.

Then there is the fact that these blackbirds were red-winged blackbirds. I think these birds are very magical. When I was working on my painting 'The Seer" a couple of years ago I remember reading a lot about red-winged blackbirds. Here is a quote from Ted Andrew's "Animal Speak" about red-winged blackbirds:

"This bird has a red path on its wings, with a dash of yellow as well. These colors connect this bird to the level known as Binah in the Qabalistic Tree of Life. This is the level associated with the Dark Mother and the primal feminine energies. This bird has ties to all of the creative forces of nature." pg. 119 "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews.

I have mentioned before, as I am fascinated by these three colors, that red, black, and white (yellow in the Native American tradition) are always associated with the Dark Mother, and the Faerie realm in Celtic lore. Red-winged balckbirds are indeed a very special bird and messenger from the Otherworld.

So what is the message we should be getting from thousands of them falling lifeless from the sky? Well it certainly does seem ominous at first. Certainly blackbirds have been thought to be a bearer of bad omens for centuries.

I personally think it is a message about urgency and our power to create change. The womb of the Dark mother is where all of life springs from. The creative energy emerges from the darkness into the light. It is she who holds the power of creation. When we work with her we discover our own creative force. We have to accept our darkness before we can transmute it into the light. It is time, now more than ever, for us to get this. We can create great change in the world.

I also think there is a message about understanding our deep connection to nature. Nature speaks volumes to us if we will just listen to her. She is speaking loudly to us now, are you listening?

Coimimeadh comes out of nowhere

This has been an odd month to say the least. Like everyone else I have been busy getting ready for the Holiday, and then the energy of this month has really been wacky. The mix of Venus in Scorpio making me feel sorry for myself with Mercury Retrograde blocking my abilities to communicate my feelings has been tough. I have been feeling completely uninspired in some ways, and that is where the feeling sorry for myself comes in. I keep trying to start paintings and then getting angry because I can't do what I want to do and trashing them. I started a Rhiannon and I was struggling making her look right.
Sometimes I have trouble when I try to put too much into one painting. Although I would like to do more illustrative scenes, I seem to be better at doing portraiture and keeping the backgrounds simple. When I try to add too much to the scene the work just seems to become a jumbled mess, and this is what happened to Rhiannon. I had to walk away from her, but I had this overwhelming desire to paint something and I was out of canvas. I found one of the faeries I started a couple of months back and didn't finish. At the time she was just a faerie with a sort of Klimt like cloak over her. A couple of months ago I got completely bored with her, and yet suddenly I looked at her and fell in love with her again.
I started working on her again and finished her within a couple of days. I added a barn owl, and then felt like I was looking at my co-walker. In the Faerie Tradition you meditate or journey to the Otherworld or Faerie realm as a sort of Shamanic practice. One of the practices is to meet and work with your co-walker, or Coimimeadh in Gaelic. This co-walker is like your double on the otherside and by working with them you form a sort of symbiotic relationship in which you both grow by bringing the energies of the other's world into your own.



I am actually a little shocked that I was able to bring her forth right now. I think it was because I needed to see her right now, to bring her into the physical. I am feeling my inspiration coming back now. The barn owl is also my spirit animal that I often meet on my journeys to the Otherworld and she appears in many of my paintings.
So I am starting to feel the return of the light, but still Mercury Retrograde bit me yesterday. The ignition switch on my car went out in the YMCA parking lot. Although it is a bad time of the year to deal with car trouble (like there is ever a good time) part of me is laughing.
Hope everyone else is dodging Mercury this time around, Merry Yule!

The Hare and The Bridge

I finished painting The Bridge today and will start posting her places later. First I thought I would write a little about the Hare since I covered the Fox in my last post. The hare is connected to the moon in many cultures (as you can see a hare in the moon). It is also connected to the Faerie realm like the Fox, as it is mainly seen at Dusk and Dawn.
Many moon, hunting, and love and fertility goddesses are also connected to the Hare. The Hare is a very strong symbol of ancient feminine magic and the Otherworld. The hare symbolizes fertility and new life. The goddess herself represents the energy of nature and the ever-turning cycles of birth and rebirth. Therefore it makes perfect sense that the hare is so connected to the goddess as the hare is an animal that is prey to almost every predator, and yet it's hightened fertility allows it to be reborn again and again.
I was born during the year of the Hare in Chinese astrology and that is probably another reason why I am so obsessed with the moon, that and my moon was in Cancer.
Here is a not so great pic of my lil' Hare in "The Bridge":

The Bridge and the Fox

I made some good progress on "The Bridge" this weekend. I am actually really happy with her so far. I am working on the wee lil' fox in it right now and having the best time. I really need to explore painting more animals. I have been almost obsessed with birds for so long, it is time to open up to more animal energy.
Fox really wanted to be in this painting. I have been seeing foxes all over the place for weeks now. Fox is not really a totem energy I have worked with much before, but it makes so much sense why she is showing up now. I originally placed fox here because she is one of the animals associated with the Faerie realm, because she is seen only at dawn and dusk. These are the times "in between" when the doors to the Faerie realm are open. But fox's connections with camouflage, shapeshifting and invisibility are quite interesting too.
All of these abilities are associated with feminine magic. According to Ted Andrews in his book "Animal Speak", there are 21 species of fox. 21 is The World card in tarot. Andrews states that this reflects that the world is "growing and shapeshifting itself into new patterns that will be beneficial".
Ancient Chinese and Native American lore both tell of beautiful maidens that can shapeshift into a fox and can be the downfall of men that fall in love with them. Again from Andrews: "This is very symbolic of the idea of magic being born within the feminine energies, and that unless a male can recognize the magic of the feminine-in himself or others-and learn to use it to shapeshift his own life, it will ultimately lead to destruction." Well that just about sums up the idea behind most of my paintings, and now I see more clearly why fox wanted to be in this one.
Here is a little peak at my lil' fox friend:




I am going to start painting the hare soon, and will try to post a little about her symbolism when I do.

New WIP and one that will never be

I usually like to finish any work I start, but lately that hasn't been the case. I use to just be able to crank out work even if I didn't feel overly in love with it as I was working on it. It seems now I have to be completely in love with what I am doing or I lose interest.
I have started two faeries over the past few weeks and have gotten more than halfway done and then got bored. Who knows, maybe someday I will finish them. I also tried to do a self portrait. I have been reading the Harry Potter series to the kids and I am completely jealous of all those wizards and their pet owls. I decided to do a portrait of me with a pet owl (and really long hair). This is as far as I got.

I did it on a scrappy piece of watercolor paper, and when I started to paint on it I suddenly remembered I hate painting on watercolor paper. The paint just dries way too fast and never looks very vibrant to me. There are a few watercolorists that can achieve vibrant color on paper, but it seems I will never be one of them. So it looks like I will never finish my owl and me.
I have started one I think I will finish though. This one will be called "The Bridge". It has to do with becoming a bridge between the worlds. The work includes a fox and hare, two animals that are only seen in the in-between times of Dawn and Dusk and are thought to lead people into the Faerie realm.