Kester Studio Sale November 17th & 18th
Ashland, Oregon
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It has taken me a while to return to my life from Ireland. Here are some musings and memories from my journal 8-19-07.
The rain on my face both soft and stinging. The soft spongy ground, springy under my feet. The hedges of fuchsia over my head. Orange wild crocosmia along the road sides, purple heather in the rocks, yellow flowers spread wide in the fields. Forty shades of green. Black crows are ever present reminding me of protector spirits watching over all this sacred land. Magpies, songbirds, and white swans. The brilliant warm and elusive sun.
The standing stones in pastures and on every hill. Stones set in circles carrying ancestor touch of toil and heartache and triumph too. Spirals showing the way inward making me aware of the cycles of life and death. Time and timelessness. The carvings of the ancients who once lived here making their mark in stone. I am already wanting to stay longer, to be still long enough to hear the delicate pulsing of the heart waters in the living green and growing things. I want to listen to the language of the stones. The bones of the earth. They hold impression, memory, and slow passionate knowing. Deep earth memory of all that has been.
I am beginning to notice a relationship with the Feminine of this land. She is definitely in the land here and to me, easily accessible. I feel a sense of belonging. Standing on the hill at Carrowmore (a megalithic cemetery site) I can feel her though my feet. I wonder what it would feel like to hold two swords in my hands like Queen Maeve of Connaught who was a Celtic Warrior near here? I imagine that for me they would be the swords of discernment. I am ready to wield them, metaphorically speaking.
I feel the power of the landscape at the western most point of the Dingle Peninsula where the ships carried away the Irish people forced to leave their beloved Ireland bound for the unknown and America. A powerful place of yearning and remembrance. I take the time to apologize for any wrong doing my ancestors and their ancestors may have done here. Somehow it seems like the right thing to do. It may be my imagination but it does seem that the land has responded to me and methinks the Ancient Lady has claimed me as a kindred spirit. And to this I believe I have said yes...
There is so much more to tell - singing with friends in Pubs, good Irish whiskey, ruined castles in pastures, Killarney National Park, great music, new friends, the Cliffs of Moher or as I call them the "Cliffs of Insanity". And this is just the first part of the trip. More next time.
Blessings and good health to you.
Love, Denise
PS. Come do my workshop. Below you can read a testimonial of a recent participant.
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unfinished work in progess \ torn monoprint
Ireland feelings
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