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The first collage layer was made by ripping papers I painted and textured, and glueing them to the base.
Next I chose 12 of the herbs associated with Taurus. I added the common name and Latin name, the gender, deity and element associated with each herb, and a painted image of the herb. The final step was the power or powers of each herb.
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This fall I'll be teaching my Enhancing Your Life with Herbs course, a six week session, for the Renaissance Institute at Notre Dame University of Maryland for the fourth time. I painted 200 herbs to illustrate the course. I'm hoping to update it with these layered herbs for the zodiac session.
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St. Patrick wasn't Irish, he wore blue, not green and there were no snakes.
But there were vampires and leprechauns and witches. Oh my!
But there were vampires and leprechauns and witches. Oh my!
In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I'm using my alphabet prompts to learn more about all things Irish. I'm only doing one or two topics per letter, even though I can think of many more for some.. Even so, be warned. This will be a long post. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
A - Abhartach - the Irish Vampire
Let's start with something light and fun! Ha!
A is for Abhartach, the Irish Vampire.
Even though Dracula, the character created by Bram Stoker, is most often associated with Transylvania, in reality he may have been based on an Irish king, Abhartach. He was said to be a dwarf and considered to be evil and feared by all who knew him.
He was a very jealous man and was suspicious of his wife, convinced that she was having an affair. While spying on her from a high castle window, he fell to his death. The entire kingdom was relieved.. They buried him upright, apparently the correct burial position for royalty, and enjoyed a peaceful night's sleep. One. Just one.
Because the next day, he rose from the dead, and demanded that all of his subjects slit their wrists and drain their blood into bowls. Well, you can imagine they were upset, so they traveled to the next village seeking help from another king, Cathan, who came, killed him and buried him once more.
You guessed it. Up he came, ready for yet another snack.
This continued until Cathan decided to seek help from a saint who explained there was no way to kill someone who was already dead!
His suggestion was to bury him upside down, cover him with thorns and ash branches, and top it off with a huge boulder. As far as we know it worked, and peace returned to the kingdom. He served as inspiration for Stoker's Dracula, and all lived happily ever after!
A is for Abhartach, the Irish Vampire.
Even though Dracula, the character created by Bram Stoker, is most often associated with Transylvania, in reality he may have been based on an Irish king, Abhartach. He was said to be a dwarf and considered to be evil and feared by all who knew him.
He was a very jealous man and was suspicious of his wife, convinced that she was having an affair. While spying on her from a high castle window, he fell to his death. The entire kingdom was relieved.. They buried him upright, apparently the correct burial position for royalty, and enjoyed a peaceful night's sleep. One. Just one.
Because the next day, he rose from the dead, and demanded that all of his subjects slit their wrists and drain their blood into bowls. Well, you can imagine they were upset, so they traveled to the next village seeking help from another king, Cathan, who came, killed him and buried him once more.
You guessed it. Up he came, ready for yet another snack.
This continued until Cathan decided to seek help from a saint who explained there was no way to kill someone who was already dead!
His suggestion was to bury him upside down, cover him with thorns and ash branches, and top it off with a huge boulder. As far as we know it worked, and peace returned to the kingdom. He served as inspiration for Stoker's Dracula, and all lived happily ever after!
B - Banshee
A banshee is a terrifying, wispy, floating specter with a piercing scream who warns of a coming death in the family. First reports were in Ireland in the 8th century. This alarming figure, usually female, varies in age from a young maiden to an old woman. Some families were reported to have their very own banshee, possibly having been a family member who had passed. They were known for their keening, mournful singing and wailing, as they lamented the death of loved ones.
C - Children of Lir
,King Lir, Bobd Derg, was left with four motherless children, one daughter and three sons, when his wife Aoibh, the queen, unexpectedly passed away. The king decided to marry Aoife, his wife's sister,
Words are so powerful.
Last night I found this note from one of my participants. It warmed my heart and reminded of how fortunate we are to be able to lift up ourselves, and each other, using 26 little marks!
Last night I found this note from one of my participants. It warmed my heart and reminded of how fortunate we are to be able to lift up ourselves, and each other, using 26 little marks!
"As always, you and your work are my highlight of the day! Thank you so much for reinforcing affirmations and words/thoughts I say about myself. I need to be reminded repeatedly. You are truly a gift. I am so grateful for the gifts you are sharing with me!"
As I consider the power of words, I'm reminded of one of my favorite insights on resources - a quote taken from an advertisement to promote local libraries.
Roger von Oech, author of A Kick in the Seat of the Pants and A Whack on the Side of the Head, shared his perspective from an advertisement for a library
Roger von Oech, author of A Kick in the Seat of the Pants and A Whack on the Side of the Head, shared his perspective from an advertisement for a library
Miracles at Your Local Library!
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
“At your local library they have these arranged in ways that can make you cry, giggle, love, hate, wonder, ponder, and understand.
It’s astonishing to see what these twenty-six little marks can do. In Shakespeare’s hands they becameHamlet. Mark Twain wound them into Huckleberry Finn. James Joyce twisted them into Ulysses. Gibbon pounded them into The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. John Milton shaped them into Paradise Lost.”
What can you do with these 26 letters to honor yourself? I challenge you to arrange them in a way that will inspire and delight!! Make a gratitude list, write a thank you note to yourself, capture your treasured memories in a journal, write a poem or a song! Be kind with your self talk! Use affirmations.
If we use our words to inspire and nurture ourselves in the same way we use them to honor others, our entire perspective about who we are and what we can accomplish will change. We will step into a whole new world of miraculous possibilities!
What can you do with 26 little marks?
Two days ago I posted about violets, and since then I've been working on a project in honor of this delicate flower. She has such versatility, presence and power. Her impact is really rather remarkable considering she only blooms for a short time each year. This little herb of Venus has influenced history, brought beauty and romance into our lives, and inspired Shakespeare, among others.
Sonnet 99 by William Shakespeare
The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair:
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol'n of both
And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see
But sweet or colour it had stol'n from thee.
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair:
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol'n of both
And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see
But sweet or colour it had stol'n from thee.
"Light cannot be seen without shade.
Shade cannot be seen without light."
By moonlight, we see in black and white. We cannot see colors. There is something fascinating and valuable about seeing the world that way. We see only what is essential.
We see form emerging from a sea of blackness. . . . We can look at the world so familiar by daylight and see it anew in the black and white of moonlight.
You see yin and yang. . . The day warms, the night cools.
The sun moves over a hill, changing the face from brightness to shadow.
Stand in the middle of a forest and watch all the shadows and sunlight shift second by second. You see yin and yang.
- Deng Ming-Dao, The Lunar Tao (edited)
. Roger von Oech, author of A Kick in the Seat of the Pants and A Whack on the Side of the Head, shared this perspective from an advertisement for a library.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
“At your local library they have these arranged in ways that can make you cry, giggle, love, hate, wonder, ponder, and understand.
It’s astonishing to see what these twenty-six little marks can do.
In Shakespeare’s hands they became Hamlet. Mark Twain wound them into Huckleberry Finn. James Joyce twisted them into Ulysses. Gibbonpounded them into The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
John Milton shaped them into Paradise Lost.”
~ Quote taken from an advertisement to promote local libraries.
One of my favorite approaches to creating trainings is to use the alphabet to shift from a predictable list to concepts I might not consider. For example, simply listing the colors I plan to cover in my Exploring Rainbows course (Red, Yellow, Orange, etc.) tends to limit my thinking.
I used the alphabet to capture memories from trips, ideas for articles, brainstorming gift list, planning my garden, visits to museums, my annual gratitude lists, and in this case, workshop concepts.
So for each color of the rainbow, I'm planning to use examples of
Then there are Fairy tales and Folk lore, Gemstones, Global interpretations, Quotes, Songs, Symbolism . . . right now I have 3 or 4 topics for each letter. Six weeks will barely be enough time to cover everything!
The next time you're brainstorming ideas, write down each letter of the alphabet and see what kind of associations occur to you that might not have otherswise! And if you're really feeling industrious, see if you can arrange those 26 little marks to make another book to add to the Library of Congress!
I used the alphabet to capture memories from trips, ideas for articles, brainstorming gift list, planning my garden, visits to museums, my annual gratitude lists, and in this case, workshop concepts.
So for each color of the rainbow, I'm planning to use examples of
- Advertising- how colors are used to impact how we make purchases
- Businesses and Brands
- Chakras
- Dining - orange to stimulate the appetite and prompt us to eat quickly and move on (fast foods), red to encourage us to slow down and enjoy (fine dining), and blue to decrease the appetite. Great for dieting.
Then there are Fairy tales and Folk lore, Gemstones, Global interpretations, Quotes, Songs, Symbolism . . . right now I have 3 or 4 topics for each letter. Six weeks will barely be enough time to cover everything!
The next time you're brainstorming ideas, write down each letter of the alphabet and see what kind of associations occur to you that might not have otherswise! And if you're really feeling industrious, see if you can arrange those 26 little marks to make another book to add to the Library of Congress!
.Dr. Frederisk Franck is an author, artist, and oral surgeon but even more notably, a spiritualist. He sees the sacred in the everyday beatify of life, and uses seeing and drawing as meditation. He worked with Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa to provide services to those in need.
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Hiroshima - The Unkillable Human
This sculpture depicts a man's silhouette flashing against a wall when the nuclear bomb was dripped.
One of Dr. Frederick Franck's sculptures in the Peace Garden in Harrisburg, PA
This sculpture depicts a man's silhouette flashing against a wall when the nuclear bomb was dripped.
One of Dr. Frederick Franck's sculptures in the Peace Garden in Harrisburg, PA
Frederick Franck has been on my mind recently for several reasons.
First, we passed his sculptures at the Peace Garden in Harrisburg along the Susquehanna River several times when I visited Pennsylvania recently. I've painted his sculptures numerous times over the years - with vibrant spring and summer floral plantings, the earth tones of autumn, and stark black, grays and whites of winter. All were given as gifts over the years, but the photos above will give you an idea of the power of his work,
The Peace Garden was created in 1990 by the Harrisburg/Hershey chapter of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). The garden was created in response to a speech given in Hiroshima by Dr. Bernard Lown, President of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which earned a Nobel Peace Prize. The garden features three sculptures that remind us of the devastating destruction, yet also acknowledge the continuation of life and the human spirit in spite of inhumane decisions.
Second, I'm including several of his quotes in my overview of my course on Exploring Rainbows this spring. He makes a differential between looking and seeing, and notes that we would fall to our knees in horror if we really saw what was on the evening news.
We have become desensitized, but that's another post.
We have become desensitized, but that's another post.
"Merely looking at the world around us is
immensely different from seeing it."
"When the eye wakes up to see again, it suddenly
stops taking anything for granted."
~ Dr. Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing
Third, his book practically fell off the shelf when i was in my office today. Books have frequently jumped off shelves to get my attention - in bookstores, libraries, my own book shelves. One even saved my life and that is not an exaggeration. When books jump,, I pay attention. So for today's treasure, I am sharing my long time love affair with the work of Frederick Franck.
If you aren't familiar with his work, I suggest you consider looking him up. And if you really see his messages, instead or merely looking at his words, you'll see life in a whole new way.
If you aren't familiar with his work, I suggest you consider looking him up. And if you really see his messages, instead or merely looking at his words, you'll see life in a whole new way.
"Gather ye rose buds while ye may,
Old time is still a flying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying."
~ Robert Herrick
Roses are used in both of the projects below. Rose hips are scented with blue spruce oil in the first, and rose potpourri is used to make the lace rose sachets in the second. Both are wonderful remembrances of time spent in the garden in the summer, collecting rose buds (and rose hips) while ye may!
Just added more Blue Spruce oil to my rose hips. The fragrance is divine!
Rose potpourri ready to use for sachets.
Each rose sachet is made with
The sachets make wonderful Valentine girts.
- a nine inch circle of lace
- 3 Tablespoons rose potpourri
- 20 inch lengths of satin cord or satin ribbon
The sachets make wonderful Valentine girts.
"Only people who are willing to put all they've got on the line
. . . make a difference."
~ Perry Noble
. . . make a difference."
~ Perry Noble
Yesterday I turned in two course proposals for the fall. One was a repeat of my course on Herbs, and another is on seeking the sacred in everyday life - not a new concept, but one that needs to be repeated.
Workshop description: Our world is filled with beauty and wonder but we often miss the miracles as we are bombarded with fear based, negative messages. What we put our attention on increases, yet too often we focus on illness, not health: fear, not joy. This course will include readings and video clips from some of the world’s most innovative thinkers, past and present. There will be exercises for self reflection, and techniques for finding daily treasures.
Last night I started to have second thoughts. Maybe another topic would be more valuable. Today several messages crossed my path validating the need to speak if there are words that are helpful, even it we feel we are taking a risk by sharing an opinion that may not be understood or embraced.
Workshop description: Our world is filled with beauty and wonder but we often miss the miracles as we are bombarded with fear based, negative messages. What we put our attention on increases, yet too often we focus on illness, not health: fear, not joy. This course will include readings and video clips from some of the world’s most innovative thinkers, past and present. There will be exercises for self reflection, and techniques for finding daily treasures.
Last night I started to have second thoughts. Maybe another topic would be more valuable. Today several messages crossed my path validating the need to speak if there are words that are helpful, even it we feel we are taking a risk by sharing an opinion that may not be understood or embraced.
And this from a friend -
"I think your class sounds absolutely amazing! And you have been waiting for something to pop up for you in regards to direction....perhaps this is your purpose? Is to teach wellness and give people a compass for happiness? It is dearly needed in this world! Mikell I honestly believe that people no longer know how to actually feel happiness or have a compass for well being. They have become so immersed in the world they don't even recognize the horrible level of negativity they are exposed to on a daily basis!!! These are much needed skills!"
~ Carrie Faden
"I think your class sounds absolutely amazing! And you have been waiting for something to pop up for you in regards to direction....perhaps this is your purpose? Is to teach wellness and give people a compass for happiness? It is dearly needed in this world! Mikell I honestly believe that people no longer know how to actually feel happiness or have a compass for well being. They have become so immersed in the world they don't even recognize the horrible level of negativity they are exposed to on a daily basis!!! These are much needed skills!"
~ Carrie Faden
Carrie's observation that some of us don't remember what health or happiness feel like rings true. Someone very dear to me has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He has trouble breathing and a cough that sounds painful. His energy is depleted and he walks slowly with a cane. Yet he keeps reassuring me that he "feels fine." It reminds me of the story about the frog who is thrown into a pot of water and it is slowly brought to a boil. It happens so gradually that he doesn't realize things are changing and he is in danger. If he had been thrown in at a rapid boil, he would have jumped out immediately.
Being aware of how we want to feel, and comparing it to how we are feeling, can guide us to making better choices. We can begin by asking questions.
How many times a day do we stop and consider out blessings?
Do we spend more time in the present, or are we living with the fear of the future or regrets of the past?
Do we actively use our senses? (for example, do we gulp down fast food instead of preparing and savoring quality meals with a variety of colors and textures)
Do we realize the power and impact that words have on us? Do we carefully chose the words we use? (firing off Instantaneous e-mail response instead of thoughtfully composed letters)
Do we spend time in nature and value the lessons she teaches?
Are relationships deep and meaningful or are we paying more attention to our screens than the person across the table?
Being aware of how we want to feel, and comparing it to how we are feeling, can guide us to making better choices. We can begin by asking questions.
How many times a day do we stop and consider out blessings?
Do we spend more time in the present, or are we living with the fear of the future or regrets of the past?
Do we actively use our senses? (for example, do we gulp down fast food instead of preparing and savoring quality meals with a variety of colors and textures)
Do we realize the power and impact that words have on us? Do we carefully chose the words we use? (firing off Instantaneous e-mail response instead of thoughtfully composed letters)
Do we spend time in nature and value the lessons she teaches?
Are relationships deep and meaningful or are we paying more attention to our screens than the person across the table?
"My mission is
to help others see and cherish the beauty,
romance and treasures within and around them
that are often dismissed or completely overlooked."
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Mikell
Mikell is a writer, artist and professional treasure hunter, finding the greatest treasures in the wonderful people who enter her life!
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