FIERCE MOTHER: Embodying an aspect of the archetypal feminine

FIERCE MOTHER. "If an alligator or crocodile has shown up, look for an opportunity to touch very primal energies. There is going to be an opportunity for strong birth and/or initiation that will open new knowledge and wisdom in some area of your life." --Ted Andrews in Animal Speak (image (c) by Hallelujah Truth

-->I am the fierce mother.

I am of everywhere and in everything.

I do not cover my head.

Or hide my tattoos or scars.

--Excerpt from “Embody the Mother” by Lynn Tharp Hesse

Hallelujah for the IMAGINATION! Hallelujah for COMPANIONSHIP and for COLLABORATION! Hallelujah for the playfulness of CREATING our realities through dance, poetry, and image.

Thus is the magic of the daily creative practice! In a month’s time or less, I have danced and painted almost every day as I collaborate with poet and dancer Lynn Hesse in Field to co-create the performance, “Embody the Mother.”  Here are the blog posts I have written about this collaboration and some of the visual images I have generated in the process:

March 26, 2015

SPRINGING INTO "Embodying the Mother" in collaboration with another who sees, hears, and meets me where I am

March 27, 2015

LISTENING TO THE WIND IN MY VEINS: Finding other places from which to speak and act

March 29, 2015

BEING A GENUINE CREATIVE FORCE: Dance the dance YOU dance!

April 6, 2015

BEGINNING THE DANCE: Embodying the Mother through performance with community as our witness  

This past Tuesday on April 21, was our last Field workshop before our formal presentation on Saturday, May 2, to another audience (with the Pine Lake Art Salon having been our first). I have loved the feedback from Field participants and the informal rehearsals Lynn and I have done together in our homes. Each of us has also practiced separately from one another—Lynn memorizing the lines from her poem and the steps of the dance that she choreographed and me painting three to four images each day speedily while dancing.

And when I wasn’t painting for my daily creative practice, I was drawing. Now, when I return to drawing, I discover that my drawing has changed. There is a greater fluency, the line feels happier to move into ideas, and I see a slight shift in imagery.

ALLIGATOR FORTUNE. Here I have drawn the MOTHER who does cover her head. Lynn Hesse's version has the Fierce Mother declare she does not cover her head. Four images of importance exist in this image: 1) Mother Mystery with the blue head covering 2) Fierce Mother Alligator 3) Hallelujah represented by the the diadem of three flowers 4) Wandjina, the Aboriginal Creation God representing my animus. I call this image, "Alligator Fortune" because I see that SHE has appeared in my life bringing courage for change. (image (c) by Hallelujah Truth)

In the past two days, the MOTHER has come to me in the form of the ALLIGATOR. I welcome this FIERCE MOTHER. Her lineage has survived 100 million years navigating both on land and in water. She is a symbol of the GREAT MOTHER and represents fertility and power. Alligator has been my totem for almost two decades, coming to me in dreams. (Here are some of my blog entries about the significance of alligators in my life: Alligator Dreaming, I’m a Little Body Spirit, Investigating Alligator Burrows.)

Just imagine what will emerge in the days to come! I will practice opening my arms to the GREAT MYSTERY, inviting the MOTHER to visit my images in whatever form she chooses to appear in. More shall be revealed—so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, that’s Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share what you are learning in the process of your daily creative practice. What is one or more of your totems?

ALLIGATOR ENERGY. Mother Alligator emerged from greens and blues. (image (C) Hallelujah Truth.)