REVERB15 (Day 2): Epiphany of loving rocks

SPRAWLED ON THE CRETACEOUS SOIL OF THE BADLANDS. This photo taken by my paleontologist husband, Chiboogamoo, in July 2014 in Montana, pictures me, Hallelujah Truth, relaxing into a landscape where dinosaur bones of mothering dinosaurs are weathering out of the surfaces beneath me. I have painted characters from my "Cosmos of Hallelujah" on top of the image to incorporate the depths of my psyche with deep time of the Earth. (Collaboration by Tony Martin and Ruth Schowalter)

REVERB15 (Day 2) PROMPT: What surprised you this year?

Dear Readers, fellow Pilgrims of Life, many things caught me off guard this past year. Some were unpleasant, like my dear friends Chris and Mark leaving our beloved city of Decatur, Georgia, and moving northward to New Jersey and artist friend Cecelia Kane making what seems to be a permanent move out west to Portland, Oregon. How terribly I miss them. Others surprises were delightful like the flow of love that continues to well up and out of me to the world as a result of the "forgiveness" work I've been doing in my life. But the one surprise I want to write about today for the second day of REVERB15 is the discovery I had about a specific connection I have to our glorious EARTH.

Let's call her MOTHER EARTH!

THE RISING. After months of creating images of an archetypal mother nurturing Hallelujah Truth at the beginning of 2015, I experienced a psychic rebirth. This younger version of Hallelujah emerged with the mother no longer being human but being MOTHER EARTH. This dual emergence surprised me powerfully. (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

In the past, I would balk when asked by others which elements of the Earth I felt most connected to. Oceans and lakes or mountains and deserts? Water or Land? Fire or Air? I LOVE them all. End to my answer.

In 2015, my past experiences from the time I was a child to the present with rocks, minerals, mountains crystalized. I LOVE ROCKS. Their vast and varied shapes, colors, and surfaces. The way they feel under my feet and against my body. The way mountains create horizons holding the sky and earth. The rich information they hold about TIME and all of CREATION. Is it any wonder that I married a geologist/paleontologist? 

EPIPHANY AT DAVIDSON-ARABIA NATURE PRESERVE. This past May, I had my epiphany about how deeply in love I am with ROCKS at this nature preserve a 30-minute drive from my home in Decatur, Georgia. (photo by Chiboogamoo)

In May after our trip to Golden, Colorado, and before Chiboogamoo's foot surgery, we ventured out for a hike at the Davidson-Arabia Nature Preserve, a quick 30-minute drive from our home. It was there on that warm May afternoon, that I had my EPIPHANY of LOVING ROCKS. POP! And like that I knew I was in a deeper stage of love. Mature. Ripened. An emotion that took a life time to cultivate culminating in a moment. I danced then and there on behalf of my relationship with the ROCKS.

Oh there is more to tell how I spent a life time coming to this realization. And even in the months before my embodied knowing, my knowledge and experience of how we humans are connected to the earth was deepening and growing. In conjunction with going to Dinosaur Ridge in Golden, Colorado, with my dear paleontologist husband to look at dinosaur tracks, I was also reading Malidoma Patrice Some's book, The Healing Wisdom of Africa.
 

DINOSAUR RIDGE, GOLDEN, COLORADO. That's me with my Chiboogamoo on my left, and another paleontologist on my left, Martin Lockley. Where we walked, the dinosaurs walked. We are all connected. (photo by Karen Chin, another paleontologist).

Alice Walker describes Some's book as "The way back to the memory of who we once were; the way forward to who we are or might become." Between my physical experience of walking on the same rocks that the dinosaurs walked and reading about nature, ritual and community in Some's book things were congealing for me to have my epiphany.

EMBRACED BY NATURE. Hallelujah Truth embraces herself while being embraced by nature. Where dinosaurs walked, we walk. Through time--deep time--we are all connected. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

As I conclude this blog post and get ready to head to Florida from Alabama for my Uncle Ken's funeral, I feel a deep connection to my ROCKS, the Earth, to you all. Blessings to you all!

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me your own answer to the question: What surprised you this year? What do you think about my epiphany? What is your connection to the EARTH. How do you know?

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

PLAYING WITH THE MOTHER. On Easter Sunday 2015, Lynn Hesse and I had the wonderful opportunity to perform our work-in-progress, "Embody the Mother," at the Pine Lake Art Salon in Pine Lake, Georgia. (photo by Chiboodamoo, aka Tony Martin)

Hallelujah for the DANCE. Hallelujah for the OTHER. Hallelujah for all of the OTHERS--you, and you, and you--MY COMMUNITY--who bear witness and offer your diversity!

My life and art are transforming through the gorgeous entanglement of dance both sacred and playful and with another--Lynn Hesse! I am so grateful to Lynn for creating and holding the space for me to play, dance, and embody the mother with her.

BEGINNING THE DANCE. We begin our performance with me going onstage and painting. I begin with a ritual of lighting a candle and two InterPlay moves. Here my arms are open wide to experience the "big body" and spacious embrace of the great mystery of life. Before I begin painting, I also bow to the "little body," the finite me. (photo by Chiboodamoo, aka Tony Martin)

Yes! EMBODY THE MOTHER!

Collaboration with ANOTHER CREATIVE is supportive, comforting, engaging, expanding, challenging, and sacred.

What does that word mean--sacred?

WORDS FROM THE ARCHETYPAL MOTHER. My collaborator Lynn Hesse has adapted a poem of hers to merge with my images of THE MOTHER, both fierce and nurturing, both archetypal and real in addition to a choreographed sacred dance. (photos by Chiboodamoo, aka Tony Martin)

What is sacred?

I'm using the word to mean "spiritual," "holy," "blessed," "untouchable," and "protected." Sacred, for me, has the meaning of something that is respected and held with reverence.

Then, you might ask what are we doing, when Lynn and I say that we are creating a performance using elements of the SACRED?  We are creating a sacred dance (using dance phrases that embody the real and symbolic snake, the turtle, the eye, and the world), sacred practice (performing ritual--like lighting a candle and bowing--for example), and sacred friendship (one friend playing the role of the archetypal mother and the other being the novice daughter). 

How wondersome is it that we are collaborating with all of this use of SACRED so that I might "embody the mother" through our performance as we re-enact it over and over again throughout the upcoming months into August? On two more Tuesdays, we will repeat this ritual of embodying the mother at our Field Work and get feedback. There will be the rehearsals with Lynn and my solo painting each day as practice for being open to the archetypal mother through dance and thought.

Then we will perform for an audience again on the first Sunday of May for Field at Core Dance Studio in Decatur, Georgia, and again at the Decatur Arts Festival twice at the end of the month. We plan to take this performance to the Alternate Roots meeting in August if it is accepted.

I am grateful for the opportunity to transform through movement and thought. There is so much more to this story, but I will leave you with kisses and a warm embrace for now.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah. Soul Blog with me. What are you dancing with today? Is your dance transformational?

PAINTING AS PART OF THE PERFORMANCE.

DANCING AS PART OF THE PERFORMANCE, TOO.

CONNECTING WITH THE MOTHER.

THE CROWNING.

PLAYING MOMMY SAYS

GETTING AND RESPONDING TO FEEDBACK.

Acknowledgments: Great appreciation to Alice Teeter and Kathie DeNobriga for their dedication to the Pine Lake Art Salon that they have been conducting for 8 years! This performance on April 5, 2015 is the sixth time that I have had the good fortune to be a guest performer (Two times to lead a community HOWL and sell HOWL artwork; once to present this blog, Coffee With Hallelujah; another time to perform a two-voiced poem with my Chiboogamoo; and then to present the illustrations that I created for the children's book, The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia. Sincere thanks to my Chiboogamoo, aka Tony Martin, who documented this event with his amazing photos. Thank you!

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

"Forget about enlightenment.
Sit down wherever you are 
And listen to the wind singing in your veins."

-John Welwood

Hallelujah for listening to that force, that howling in my veins like March winds moving into April showers. Spring is here, and there is a shift in my BEING. 

I AM HERE.

GREEN HEART OF THE NOVICE. (image (c) Hallelujah Truth)

YES. 
HERE...

...Painting each day in a new way for me. My quest is to "Embody the Mother," for the performance I am collaborating on with Lynn Hesse.

I have acquired a very large pad of newsprint paper (24" x 36") and placed it on an easel. 

Instead of sitting hunched over a small tablet of paper with a micron pen or watercolor pencils, I am standing--no dancing-- while I paint with a dripping brush. 

For more than a year, I have been waiting for this moment of transformation when I would naturally move to another media, another size format, and another place from which to speak and act!
 
The drips running down this green Hallelujah image on the right were perceived by you visiting Pilgrims as tears. Tears? Movement creating flow. Can the drips be the wind in my veins? The bounce in my step? The desire for water to be water and to follow the pull of gravity?

Relinquishing all judgements, I embrace curiosity. Which images of THE MOTHER will appear and how? 

Right now, I am experimenting with both green and blue paint to "embody the Mother." I'm applying paint from a water jar with liquified acrylic, using tubed paint like a paste and applying it both with brush and fingers. 

My goal is to paint three images a day under ten minutes (because that is the length of our performance! Energetic music helps me express the "wind in my veins" and my dancing flows from that rhythm. I feel called to dance. Dancing becomes a necessity, a part of this creative act. 

Besides, I want these images embodying the mother to emerge from my body.

Oh I have my goals! My goals exist inside of the form I'm using to make these images, not the images themselves. The image making process--dancing to music and listening to my body--is my objective--to experience THE MOTHER physically. The images become the artifacts of the physical and spiritual experience!

CREATIVITY offers such a personal way to explore and listen to the HOWL!

As for ENLIGHTENMENT? Let's forget about it for now. I want to be HERE inside of the PLAY. Just this morning, Lynn Hesse and I received the good news  that we will be performing "Embody the Mother" as part of the Decatur Arts Festival at the end of May.

That's Coffee With Hallelujah. Soul Blog with me and tell me what is howling in your veins right now. What is departing with March winds? What is arriving with April showers?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I am so appreciative to Mark Nepo and his reflections in The Book of Awakening for its rich thoughts and quotations from others like John Welwood. Thanks to Cynthia Winton-Henry, co-founder of InterPlay, who suggested I try making art as part of a performance because this improvisational way of being is very energizing! And Lynn Hesse! Oh my! What a journey we are on--THANK YOU!
 

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

THE NOVICE PILGRIM. (image (c) by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the CREATIVE PROCESS! Hallelujah for being open to NEW ways of BEING! And Hallelujah to COLLABORATION with others on this miraculous journey!

2015 is such a rich and full year expanding out into SPRING right now. I find myself so thankful for having the opportunity to explore my SOUL through dance, word, image, and friendship. 

On the last Tuesday in February, I took in a deep breath, signed up, and attended my first session for Fieldwork--a forum for artists (originating in NYC) to test their ideas over a ten-week period, gain insights from feedback, and craft a performable event. 

FIELD IN PROGRESS. At the conclusion of our performance on Tuesday, March 24, in Fieldwork at Core in Decatur, Georgia, we got feedback. Lynn Hess is on the far right. I'm the one taking the photo. My art is displayed on the easel, chairs and next to Lynn. My performance includes making art in front of an audience as an avenue to "embody the mother." (photo by me, Hallelujah Truth)

But I was not alone nor did I find this pathway by myself! Creative Pilgrims! WE ARE NOT ALONE! There are others who SEE us, HEAR us, and MEET us where we are. Lynn Hesse is one of those people! 

A year ago SPRING, I supported her Fieldwork piece, "Love in Full Life and Length," (see my blog about this experience) as a guest artist using the InterPlay form of telling a side-by-side story. This SPRING, Lynn heard and answered my yearnings to collaborate on a performance to "embody the mother."

THE MOTHER AND SACRED BLUE (image (c)by Hallelujah Truth)

We have been in process of creating "Embody the Mother" now for six weeks. With Lynn as a word artist and me as a visual artist, we use a third element of dance to connect us. 

UNCOILING MOTHER. (image (c) by Hallelujah Truth)

Oh! What discoveries we are making together about our own CREATIVITY, process, collaboration, and responding to feedback. And, Lynn, well she is a seasoned performer, and she is SHOWING ME THE WAY. 

Thank you Lynn for the depth, height, passion and resourcefulness of your kind, kind SOUL! 

CREATIVE PILGRIMS! You are invited to stay tuned for updates about our performance piece as we present it to different audiences over time. Our first trial will be at the Pine Lake Art Salon in Pine Lake, Georgia, which is well known for its gentle reception and helpful feedback.


That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me about your way of BEING and what NEW pathways you might travel!

HALLELUJAH YOUR TRUTH as it uncoils!