A new energy is washing through and taking with it the raw edges of anger.
Standing with strength, forged like the steel in a sharpened blade.
Ready for battle, yet wanting not for blood but for peace.
I want to rest and play, knowing the world is safe, that my daughters are welcomed in their community and my sisters are treated with respect.
And while I wish for nothing more than my mother’s freedom, some journeys aren’t about us.
My grandmothers are speaking to me now. One showed up in an artist’s drawing. My face, her reflection. A still life sitting, the crone at ease in her pose.
She looks back over the many images that have each formed a stepping stone, out into the lake of acceptance and love.
The soft light a spectacular reflection of the inner glow that comes from acknowledging the source, the essence, life.
Over the course of the next series of posts I will share the journey of images that have acted as pavers on this yellow brick road.
A road that has been at times dark and lonely, bright and busy, and now joyful and liberating.
The practice of self awareness, self study, is referred to by yogis as Svadhyaya.
“Knowing ourself is the path to freedom. The fact that seven sages etched it into a temple in Ancient Greece is one clue in thousands. It’s written in every scripture, it falls off the tongues of poets. It has driven mankind across the world and into outer space in search of answers: Who are we? Who are you? Who am I? ” – The practice is explained beautifully here: https://wanderlust.com/journal/svadhyaya-getting-to-know-your-true-self/
Svadhyaya, the fourth Niyama on the path of the Yoga Sutras asks us to have faith. To trust that our true nature is what we are seeking, and to make a commitment to finding it.
The big existential questions addressed by yogis and other contemplatives overlap with the curiosities of philosophers and great minds throughout time. Why are we here? Why do I seek a sense of meaning and purpose? What is this experience I am having?
In the galleries that I will share in the coming posts, I will expose, with as much grace and courage as I can, the way self-study liberated me from many years and layering of conditioning, from the fear of being too much, the fear of rejection, and the fear of being alone.
How it uncovered a burning rage deep within, one that has burned for generations, one that motivates me to act as a cycle breaker, an agent of change.
And how it released my voice, opened my mind, and reminded my heart that passion comes in many forms; and that anger that arises from love, is the most powerful force in the universe to those you act to protect.
Strong and soft…
May all beings everywhere know freedom from suffering,
Namaste
SB’F x
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