BABY NEW SOUL: Shanah tovah, happy birthday, welcome the new!

SHANAH TOVAH BABY SOUL! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Dear Pilgrims, I have been evoking change throughout 2013, and how perfect it is that the beginning of September, brings two forms of NEWNESS!

First of all, it is the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, so Shanah Tovah, or have a good year! This high Jewish holiday (or "hi ho" as my friend Audrey calls them) begins the Jewish high holy days. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of Adam and Eve (a story rich in symbolism). Although I am not Jewish, I share a place on the calendar at the beginning of September in a significant way....

My birthday! Born on September 9, I have always seen Rosh Hashanah in close proximity to my birthday. It has either occurred before, on, or right after the 9th. Happy birthday to me, Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth. Significantly, Happy Birthday to BABY NEW SOUL, who emerged this morning from my pen.

It is my practice to draw first thing upon waking when the subconscious is in close communion with the conscious mind, the one that wields the pen. Long ago, I established a routine of drawing with micron pens in order to forgo the multiple erasings that would occur if I were using a pencil. There is absolutely no erasing with these permanent pens! In the Natalie Goldberg fashion of daily writing, I trained myself not to cross out but rather to repeat the mantra:

NOT GOOD. NOT BAD. JUST IS.

NOT GOOD. NOT BAD. JUST IS. This is the original drawing I did this morning. No erasing. No mistakes. No photoshop. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

This morning BABY NEW SOUL asked to be drawn, and I imagined her with wings so she could fly and reptile like feet so she could grasp rocky surfaces and go into water. In place of the reptile feet, an American alligator emerged in BABY NEW SOUL's arms. Resurrection ferns emerged to surround them. Did you know that the resurrection fern can survive long periods of drought, perhaps up to a hundred years, and still return to life! What a wonderful symbol of life for BABY NEW SOUL. My drawing concludes with a circle enclosing her to create a portrait and to contain her precious resurrection energy. Honoring my decision to be truly present in my life in my current geographic location, I wrote the name of my city and state at the base of BABY NEW SOUL's portrait.

Shahan Tovah! Happy New Year! Hi Ho! Happy Birthday. Welcome BABY NEW SOUL! Let's eat apples soaked in honey!

Thank everyone of you readers of my blog and viewers of my art for being here and witnessing my journey. SOUL BLOG with me and wish me Happy Birthday. Share resurrection stories of your own!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (art by Hallelujah Truth)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: Thanks to Kat McNally of the blog, I Saw You Dancing, who announced her successful pregnancy and wrote about the creation of a new soul. Congratulations Kat. For those of us who have not had the good fortune to have children of our own, I hope all of you understand that we can honor the "child within" and perhaps create new symbolic souls.