Above The Door News © Sara Post 2006

When daylight savings time brought an extra hour of evening sun, it seemed that our damp spring had taken a leap toward summer.  The past week of warm weather echoes that feeling. Summer is a time to set in motion the plans and dreams created in winter and nourished in spring.  What are you ready to do with your life? Whether you are planting seeds for the future or harvesting the bounty of your own work, the time is now! 

My own winter dreams will come to life in June with a month of printmaking. I will be away from the end of May until the beginning of July. SoulStudio will be on vacation for the summer.  In its place we’ll explore SoulCollage readings and writing in July and relax for a day of SoulSpa in August. Look for email updates in early July.  AboveTheDoor News will resume in August.

In May and June we celebrate special days for mothers and fathers.  These “Hallmark holidays” (invented by card companies and supported by retail to boost sales) nevertheless strike a deep chord in our culture.

May’s SoulStudio concentrated on mothers—specifically, the archetype of The Great Mother. “Mother” can be a charged subject for many of us.  Mothering as a concept is freighted with the full range of emotions and because we expect so much of “mother” we are almost inevitably disappointed or hurt in some way.

As we looked at many aspects of The Great Mother archetype, we identified her primary energies as protection, mercy and love. As ancient goddess she embodies our connection with earth. Mythically, the Great Mother gives birth to all of life, but she is also present in the silent sleep of death. Her protection can be nurturing or smothering; she can be a source of unconditional love or one who wields fearful destructive power. As earth she sustains through abundance or devastates through natural disasters. No wonder there are so many goddesses that represent her: in Babylon and Assyria she was Ishtar; ancient Greeks variously worshiped her as Gaea, Hera, Aphrodite and Demeter, and in Rome she became Maia, Ops, Tellus and Ceres…The Virgin Mary has been called the Christian equivalent of the Great Mother, both for her great beneficence and for her double image as mother and virgin…”  Veruna Sirabella evokes a goddess incarnation of the Great Mother in her Water Bearer card.  She is Iemanja Soba, Brazilian goddess of the sea who reminds us of our common origins as creatures born from the sea.

In part 2 of her essay on The WaterBearer, Seena Frost, inventor of SoulCollage contrasts the archetypal mother/father energies present in the feminine WaterBearer archetype and the masculine archetype of the LightBearer.

September-Exploring SoulCollage: Davis Art Center, Thursdays 9/14,21,28, 10/5, 7-9pm
Both beginners and experienced SoulCollagers will enjoy this survey of the SoulCollage deck. We'll explore the four suits in depth and make cards for each. We'll learn to write from the cards we create and learn to read cards by sharing insights into the mythological and symbolic aspects we discover in our cards.  Investment: $120 DAC members/ $130 non-members To register, contact Davis Art Center www.davisartcenter.org or phone (530)756-4100

For over two thousand years, the archetype of the LightBearer has been foremost in human spiritual life—certainly, at any rate, in our western world.  The Greeks told the story of the mortal Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and brought it back to humankind.  There was Christ, who brought Light into a dark world, and Moses, who brought the light of law.  Buddha brought the hope of enlightenment. 

I am certain that we live in a time when a feminine archetype is rising back into human consciousness—one that has been active and brooding deep in the world’s cosmic subconscious for eons.  She is emerging and taking her place beside the male LightBearers—not for the purpose of domination but, rather, balance.  By adding her strong heart energy and compassionate “waters” to the light-giving wisdom of the male LightBearers, she restores to our spiritual lives a potent and missing metaphor.  I call this archetype the WaterBearer.

This archetypal WaterBearer truly is rising!  We are now in the astrological Age of Aquarius, and the traditional symbol of this age is the WaterBearer. This metaphorical Being is usually represented as a feminine archetype. No historical or even mythical characters leap to my mind as embodiments of her in western mythology or religion. Since the 5th century in China, however, the goddess Kwan Yin—powerful and beloved archetype of Compassion in Buddhism—is representative of the WaterBearer. She is often pictured pouring water from a small jar, symbolizing the pouring out of compassion and mercy on all beings.  Kwan Yin’s image is now becoming popular in the west, especially in this form as a provider of loving water for the thirsty soul.  Her emergence in our collective western psyche is another indication of the rising of the WaterBearer in human psyches all over the planet—especially in the souls of women. She will soon have many imaginal embodiments and names, and water is her most precious physical gift.  It is a symbol for renewing life. 

Iemanja Soba
Council

“I am the One who protects your journey
     into the depths of being.
     I welcome you into the uncharted space
     of the unnamed motions of your soul.

     As you brave your fears, I filter your emotions,
     I prompt you to let go and to flow forward.

    Yes, there is death in my embrace,
          I have no mercy for what no longer is alive."

The Tao is called the Great Mother
Empty yet inexhaustive,
It gives birth to infinite worlds.

It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.

Tao Te-Ching 6

Celestial Craving

I cannot be
the only one
who craves a taste
of moon:

crystal wafer;
white side shattering
across the tongue
like glass--
thin blades
of flavor,
bright
salted sugar

cut
melt
vanish--

And the dark side?

Oh, the dark side is
black pepper and poppy seeds
baked in ashes.

 --Melanie A. Rawls

May/June/July 2006 Newsletter