This is a picture I did sometime in my teens using ink and watercolour.The flowerpot was one that I loved to draw - when it got broken again I glued it back to be like this. My mother wanted to throw it out. She was offended by it somehow. And got fed up seeing pictures of it.
I still have the flowerpot.
So a new week has started and to my surprise the word that has insisted on being used is "Shrine". I don't have one.... yet. In stopping the AW early I had not got to the exercise of making my inner artist a shrine. I suppose it ought not to be a surprise to me when I'm calling my journey "Creative Path to Spirit" - shrines are commonly created by people enshrining what spirit means to them. Its just not something I've been doing.
Once the word had emerged and I was sure of it I realised that its also mentioned in the Soul Collage book. With the suggestion that you put your cards somewhere special leaving the Source card on display.
So today I went out and bought two picture frames. One for a copy of the Source card and another that its easy to change the picture in, for the "card of the day". I'm not sure where my "shrine" will be yet... it will mean clearing a space that doesn't just have things put down in it casually... probably a good exercise in itself for me...
I'm may not know what "shrine" means to me but I have realised that the broken flowerpot was a sacred object to me in my teens and deserves to go onto my shrine when I make one.
Do you have a shrine? Or something that might be considered one?
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23 comments:
I love it! It is incredibly and deeply symbolic, with the flower growing up through the drain hole and into the broken space.
Shrine: hmmm. I would say that certain places, like my beloved running trail, are sacred to me ... but I'll have to think on the shrine idea for a bit.
I love the picture of the flower pot, and the idea of a shrine. I am such a clutterbug that I would have to clear some space first, too! (great idea) I have a book called 'Crafts for the Spirit' that shows you how to make shrines, both permanent & portable ones, so will have another look and see what I can do...
Thanks for the reminder, and have fun creating yours :) I really must have a look for that Soul Collage book, too..
perhaps as a reward for getting some more jobs ticked off my list! ;)
Have a great day, I hope it's not so rough down your way - it's frightening here this morning, so windy! Take Care.
nice drawing and very symbolic caroline.
actually, a shrine have always beena part of my life. i realized it doesn't have to be big but a small place where i put some symbolic religious items that were given to me by close friends. funny, but the first time i have learned the word shrine that it has been what i have called that little space.
Andrea - thank you! - And what about the Mummy bird looking at it disapprovingly whilst the chick sneaks off the page!
Oh I love the idea of a whole running trail. I may well have two shrines... one indoors and one outside.
Suzie Q - do let me know if your crafts for the spirit book has any useful suggestions - sounds like an interesting book.
Rewards are great - just make sure you don't make them too hard to earn! (I'd love it if you got the soul collage book... it would be fun to have someone else doing it too!)
And its very windy here too... not the sort of day to want an emergency builder! ;-)
Isay - I so glad that the word has been useful to you - I suppose quite a lot of people would call them altars too.
I have shrines everywhere - tho not so many as I once had before we had replacement windows put in and my lovely wide window sills got all taken up with new windows.
I have knick-knacks from my parents' home that I grew up with, sculpture that I've made (mostly dragons - I love dragons), small buddha altars. And in the yard more because I have more sculptures out there, and chimes everywhere (which are their own shrine, don't you think?).
I have mississippi river water/mud from when I was 11 in a blue bottle. Shells. Lots of shells - mostly broken because they form a new whole that way and I love them (my mother only collected the perfect ones).
I could go on but I'll stop here.
Well I'm glad you kept this, and your pot. The little bird at the left is great too! As for a shrine, I'm not so sure yet, regarding what I've got. In a sense, I'm thinking my blogs, both photo and other, are sort of shrines to cultivating personal creativity (like you mentioned--a shrine for artistic growth). It might be strange to think of a shrine in a digital sense, but the digital aspect is only material--just another means of collecting and compiling images and thoughts.
I love the drawing, Caroline.
Hmm, no I don't think I have a shrine in any physical sense. A time capsule? I would put some art in a bottle and toss it in the sea...
I love the idea of a shrine - physically - even if it is one item.
I find it magical that certain common items become sacred objects... I have a few of my own.
love the illustration of the pot and the fact that you managed to hang onto it, I like the idea of a shrine, I have a favourite shoebox and if I was going to have a shrine I think it would be in there!
Tammy - so for you its broken shells, and me a broken flower pot... I love the idea of sculptures in the garden it is something I've been meaning to do for a long time... I do have a a sacred place in the garden with something special in each direction... so maybe I do already have a garden shrine I just hadn't let myself realise it...
Steve - I think a digital shrine is great and that's a good way to think of one's blogs! So that means I've already got one like that too.. excellent before I started answering these comments I hadn't got any and now I've got two!
Ian - thank you - oh a time capsule would be a fun thing to make - something to find when you are 80 though perhaps not if littering the sea!
Joy - a single item as a shrine... now thats a good idea too... that means my flower pot has been holding sacred space all this time... good I'm up to three now!
Jo - and favourite shoeboxes - now we are really talking... I've got some of those too... hey I may be up to four shrines already!
Thanks everyone for helping me see that I've already got shrines!
What a wonderful subject - the cracked vessel, the new growth, the birds, and each element feels so significant.
I do have sort of a shrine area, with some meaningful items - though it occurs to me that I too often forget to pay it proper attention. Thanks for reminding me that I need to spend more time with this...
very very good Carol, please visit my blog www.gilfigvel2.blogspot.com
your stile is very cool!!!
Tinker - thank you - glad you got something from it too.
Gil - no thanks - you may not be meaning to be a spammer but that's what this feels like.
Bow or curtsey to Hellcat shrrrrrine Carrrroline!
Hello again :) I've found a few shrines I didn't realise I'd got 'til I read this post & all the great comments, too!
I was really fortunate to find the Crafts for the Spirit book in my local Oxfam shop, but have found it on Amazon (for as little as £2.50) and think you'd like it.
Here's a link - I've had to put it here as I can't find your email address.
http://tinyurl.com/ypbxlm
How bizarre are those Landrover/Dentist synchronicities, Caroline? I hope they are positive connections! Have a lovely Sunday, catch you soon :)
Suze x
Caroline, that drawing is very magical to me, in that it stirs deep memories of childhood love of favourite nooks and crannies in our garden, and how much I feel a bit rootless since moving away from such a beloved space over twenty years back.
Lovely poetic image!
Hellcat - you've summed it up for me - I don't bow or curtsey unless its mutual!
Suzie Q - I've found it on Amazon now too and ordered it, of course with postage £2.50 becomes £5.25... I'm going to put some time in today at clearing more of the stuff...
Johnnynorms - thank you I'm glad I caught some magic! And I feel the same about having left the place I grew up in... though as its now been changed out of all recognition by its current owners and road building schemes I'm glad I'm not actually there any more!
Alina - thank you
I was curtseying when I said that. Where is your bathroom? I like your flowerpot, especially the broken bit. Is that catnip?
Hellcat - well in that case I reciprocate... did you want to sit on the throne???
I liked the broken bit too... catnip? No its a dog rose.
:-)
Don’t need a throne or a thorn from a dog. Desire Hellcats for entertainment and keeping Slaves in real world safe. Butterflys are crunchy.
This reminds me of that book, A summer of sparrows.
GG - I don't know that book... who wrote it?
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