HONORING SELF AND OTHERS: Dancing on Behalf of...

HONORING MYSELF WITH A DANCE AND A HUG. (photo by Christine Gautreaux)

Hallelujah for HONOR, RESPECT, and AVENUES to celebrate the SELF, my spiritual pilgrim, and OTHERS who accompany me in this GREAT MYSTERIOUS JOURNEY. Hallelujah for the CREATIVE ARTS that provide highways, middle ways, and low ways to EXPRESS our souls!

On the day before Halloween, I chose to DANCE on behalf of MYSELF at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. My inner child had become frightened and recoiled in response to all of the gory Halloween decorations in my Decatur neighbors' yards. For weeks, as I walked (part of my daily practice), I witnessed death in armies of skeletons, horror in zombie screams, blood flow in decapitated heads, and tortured baby dolls. I feel embedded in a culture I don't recognize as mine.

Recognizing that I had "embodied" these horrific front yard Halloween messages, I knew I needed to "exform" them. That is...get the negative messages of death and human pain and suffering out of my body. 

The warm fall sun shone on green foliage of towering trees, flowering shrubs and end of summer season flowers at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Big and small orange, yellow, and speckled pumpkins plopped on hay bales and framed by chrysanthemums sparkled in golden dappled light diffusing through tree branches. 

Accompanied with good friend Christine Gautreaux, I DANCED on behalf of the little girl in myself who needed comforting. I DANCED on behalf of myself to release the pain of those who have suffered. I DANCED on behalf of the sorrows related to losing our loved ones to death. As I released or "exformed" this heavy sorrowful information, I experienced love of myself. Dancing my concerns honored me and others. My feelings were respected. Added to that? I was witnessed by my friend Christine. Pilgrims we are not alone in this journey. We have each other and many ways to share our experiences. 

Thank you to InterPlay who have given me the tools and forms to "exform," "dance on the behalf of," and "witness."

 

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me how you will HONOR YOURSELF today and tomorrow.

Here is a slide show of my time at the Atlanta Botanical Garden with Christine. We went there for many reasons: To be together, to study our InterPlay materials as we "play" towards becoming InterPlay leaders, to walk, to celebrate fall and to perform one of the 25 ways to play at celebrating #interplay25!
 
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REMEMBERING MY FATHER ON THE NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

WALKING INTO ETERNITY. It is difficult to let one's parent go, even when that parent has left you in death. When my father died, I didn't know how to "hold" onto him. Then I got an opportunity the summer after he died, to attend an "ex-voto" painting workshop at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA. I decided to commemorate my father by painting him leaving the material world of his accomplishments and going into the vastness of the landscape there in New Mexico. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah to my father, Edward R. Schowalter, who died on November 21, 2003. I was at his side when he breathed his last breath. That experience is so FINITE. 

However, now it is nine years later, and TIME has progressed. I married my Chiboogamoo a year after my father died and have celebrated LIFE and been joyful in my father's absence because that is the responsibility of the LIVING.

I often feel amazed that I didn't get married until I was in my mid-forties. Then I remember the attachment I had to my father, and realized he had filled my life until his death. Dad was a man whose personality was expansive, and he thought in unique ways which were intriguing and not always easy to get along with. I LOVED him greatly.

DAUGHTER ANGEL.  I painted me in the ex-voto, flying over my father, directing his journey into the afterlife. Expressing one's grief through creative acts is consoling. I was comforted by this image of me being with my father after death, ensuring that he wasn't alone. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Creative acts console. I recommend that everyone acknowledge his/her own creativity, make use of it, and develop it. The fruits of your creative labors will fill your table of need and loss. The fruits of your creative labors will bring you joy, celebration, and friends.

The ex-voto painting is a traditional Mexican style of painting, done to acknowledge or express gratitude to God or a Saint. I am not Catholic, nor can I say I am Christian; however, I can say that I have a strong and sincere reverence for the SPIRIT in each and every one of us. I BELIEVE in expressing gratitude and asking for assistance from the UNIVERSE. So I gained solace in painting this ex-voto of my father and thanking the great mother of the Mexican Catholic church, Our Lady of Guadalupe, for guiding and directing my father's afterlife.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE. She radiates light and love.(art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah. SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what you think of my ex-voto painting. Ask me questions about my father so I can remember him. Share memories with me about your parents! And know that we the LIVING are charged with the responsibility to LIVE our lives. 

EX-VOTO FOR MY FATHER.  I have a story to tell you about my ideas that I expressed in this image. But I will have to tell you another TIME. Perhaps next year. I am now charged with the responsibility of the LIVING and must go out in the day after posting this blog entry. LOVE TO YOU ALL, and know that CREATIVITY consoles! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

REVERB10 CHALLENGE: DECEMBER 7, REFLECTING ON COMMUNITY

The REVERB 10 PROMPT for TODAY: Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What communities would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

Hallelujah for COMMUNITY! In 2010, I discovered The SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM community through the manifestation of understanding myself and honoring WHO I AM. Adorned with my own self-knowledge, I was able to SEEK other ARTFUL SOULS. I have met JOYFUL CREATORS in my town of Decatur, Georgia, through art venues and schools, but most surprisingly, I have met virtual national and international pilgrims through my blog, Coffee With Hallelujah.

On my blog, Coffee with Hallelujah, which I began in 2009 but developed in 2010, I gleefully announce that ART matters! ART heals! ART informs! I share my WAY of SEEING artfully. I strive to be authentic and honest. I show my artwork and that of others that enlivens me. I invite other SOJOURNERS to share their JOURNEYS with me by SOUL BLOGGING.

In 2011, I would like to deepen connections with real and virtual SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIMS. What is my definition of a SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM? She is a person who yearns to EXPRESS her SPIRIT in her own way. She begins first by looking inward, asking herself what she needs to be, say, or do—and voila!—she dances, hums, chops celery, opens the dictionary to find illuminating or seductive words, chooses colorful socks to wear—and yes, DRAWS, PAINTS, SCULPTs, and builds monuments to herself!

Very importantly, since BEING and DOING are the goals of this artful journey, the PILGRIM must allow herself to CREATE without judgment! Whatever YOU MAKE, HONOR it!

Share you journeys with me, Hallelujah Truth! I need you! We need each other! Hallelujah! Thank you REVERB 10 for giving me this time to reflect on community.