MMM: If I peeled back the layers they would see...

This week's topic for the Mixed Media Memoirs is: "If I peeled back the layers they would see..."

For other people's see Mixed Media Memoirs

Doing these MMM I have been actively peeling back the layers... So this week's image includes my MMM - I photographed the book I'm putting each image into.

Recently I've been working with energies derived from the shamanic three world model. When shaman journey they often go into one or more of the three worlds: lower, middle and upper world. For instance to find your power animals you are most likely to go into the lower world, to meet a spirit guide you would probably journey into the upper world. The middle world is very close to what we experience as manifest, physical reality.

When I posted "The past that lingers" three weeks ago I hadn't noticed then that the picture was very much a three world one:

• The karmic stones are in the upper world.
• The train of life in the middle.
• And an animals paw-print in the lower - I kept on wondering why it had to be an animal's paw-print and not a human's... yet it really did!

And of course plugged in to the lower level but plagued by cheeky gremlins leaping in at the top level was my table lamp. The light attempting to light my life, but blowing now and again.

That week's MMM came just before a massive clearing / healing crisis. I'm still processing to some extent as it really has signified a big shift. That's why I show the MMM open at that week's image.

As someone has just commented to me by email, (and which happens to fit the first MMM):

Judging from the amount you put into your MMMs, it would be surprising if things didn't come to the surface. It's sometimes necessary to look into deep water to see a proper reflection.

An excellent description of this whole process. Thank you, Kyknoord!



One of the values of keeping a journal is that one may spot some of the patterns that one's life falls into. And one of the huge values of doing the MMM is that, for me, this is an incentive to translate those patterns into pictures.

I do this without really understanding what will come out later though I can give reasons for most of what I've put in at the time.

This image of cycles of growth and decay came whilst I was clearing and I'm hoping means I've found the key at last!

It certainly brought me hope while I was feeling rather grotty.

Last week I declared that I was ready to stop avoiding being myself.

I depicted a labyrinth, an ancient symbol. I made it green because at the time I was thinking of something similar I'd made in enamels and I used the blue-green of oxidised copper as a reference to its age and its material.

However now I also see it as being a somewhat lurid grass green. The only labyrinth I've ever walked is at Saffron Waldon in Essex where there is a complete turf labyrinth. I don't know where, if anywhere, this will lead me but as I'm unpeeling I thought I'd mention it.


When you peel back those layers what emerges is indeed myself. However it depends on your point of view what you see.

So this week's MMM is about what has now emerged.

This time I was consciously using the three world model:

• Upper world - mandala and words
• Middle world - the sea, my heart and my MMM
• Lower world - a Russian doll

The upper level shows a mandala - which is one way of healing and making whole. And words that I've recently written:

Let your heart shine through in all that you do

Shine your light in every night

Both easy enough to say though putting them into action maybe less straight forward.

Especially when you've got gremlins in your light, which is another reason I put that page uppermost in the middle section. I need to tackle them!

I've used a symbolic heart - it was Valentine's Day when I was making the picture ;-) - and because that chimes with the words. I'm also using heart to mean centre. And its from one's centre that one may move up or down to explore these levels, note the convenient stairs.

The sea here represents the emotions. They are real and not to be denied. It is all too easy to yearn towards spiritual experience and want to explore those higher levels but often one needs to do more to sort out one's baggage before flying. And the place to do that is in the lower levels. By unpeeling.

In my journal recently I drew one of these wooden toys, with a woman inside a woman inside a woman... and so on down to the little solid wooden doll in the middle.

I've never owned one but used to play with one at my grandmother's. So on Monday I went to our local shops on the off-chance I'd find one.
In one shop I learned that they are not "Russian dolls" as I had been taught to call them but are called "Matryoshka".

I didn't find one, by any name, but I found a key-ring made from one of the central wooden dolls. I'm taking this as a sign that I've unpeeled as far as I need at the moment!

Frogs are fast workers...

The day after Valentine's day and frogspawn has appeared in our pond!

We've been checking it two or three times a day since the beginning of February so that we could report the date of the first spawn to Springwatch.

Happy Valentine's Day

I don't often work small so this was a real challenge for me and although I like the results I won't be making a habit of doing ATCs.

I did these as my contribution to the ATC swap organised by Amy Prof Lyons of Life in the Lyon's Den. For others see the flickr group: "My _(insert your own adjective here)_ Valentine" ATC Swap 2006

I made the hearts using acrylic inks (including gold and silver that don't show up so well on the scan) over card that I had printed. I mounted them on some paper I'd washed with blue watercolour.

My idea was that each heart was a treasure island and the kiss marks the spot.

I hope you all get a kiss in the right place on Valentine's Day, from the right person.

Q R

This strange being appeared when I was playing with Painter IX. His name is QR or at least those are his initials. I hope he hasn't written anything rude in whatever characters he's used to decorate himself! (I doubt they mean anything but if they do please let me know!)

Illustration Friday - Simple

Illustration Friday - Simple
Originally uploaded by Caro's Lines.

How simple is simple?

How did you find me?

Last Friday Reluctant Nomad did a posting showing some of the most popular google searches which led to his blog. On Wednesday Andrea did a clustermaps posting. Between them both they've prompted me to actually look at what has brought new people to my site and also to ponder the difference between clustermaps and sitemeter. I've had both up for a while and although clustermaps displays blobs for visits as its included image I prefer sitemeter's world map as I can point at the dots and get more information - if you can do that with clustermaps it has eluded me....

Here are the most recent searches that sitemeter has noted for visitors to my site:

google - year of the fire dog - Chinese Year of the Fire Dog! - most popular by far

aol search - cats and the effects of dye - I doubt that this posting will have helped... Illustration Friday - Cats

yahoo search - how to outline pictures in corel painter Ix - a persistent person this as my site featured on the 5th page of the search... and despite all my Painter IX mentions this posting won't have helped... - Halloween 2005

google - "making treasure maps" - more persistence as my site was on the 4th page - Treasure and maps

MSN search - CARO - my blog

Blogs Illustrated - 260th in the list - my blog

google - caroline said - I have no idea why Illustration Friday - E is for... should come up rather than any other posting!

google - caro+bristol - Dawn

So what are your favourite maps, meters or other things to furnish your blog with?

What have I missed that will make my life, or at least my blog, complete?

Light on a sphere of my life...

I was so stimulated by Melba's comment on my MMM posting yesterday that I've written a long post about belief in my word blog. I don't post there often but its where my postings with lots of words and few pictures go. I very much doubt that this has anything to do with what Melba meant when she posed such an innocent question but its been very useful to me - thank you Melba!

MMM: I am ready to stop avoiding...

This week's topic for the Mixed Media Memoirs is: "I am ready to stop avoiding...."

For other people's see:


I am ready to stop avoiding... being myself. So into this image I put the following:

"I accept being myself" (I prefer the positive wording for this!)

The word myself is at the centre of a labyrinth. Labyrinths can be confusing and disorienting but, unlike a maze, there is just one route to take. Taking it means that you cover all the ground over which the labyrinth is spread. The key is not to give up.

I looked for something similiar I'd made when I was doing enamels but I ended up having to create a new version digitally.

"For every force there is an equal and opposite reaction"

The birds that go with this phrase were inspired by the two of birds from the Shining Tribe Tarot, which is an extended tarot using many prehistoric images and mythical elements.



It depicts two very similiar birds going in opposite directions and ignoring each other. In my version I also put in a negative of the two birds to show that sometimes it is the opposite that we see and are attracted or repelled by.

I know that sometimes the thing I most resist will turn out to tbe the most beneficial. Other times of course its my intuition saying "not a good idea..." the trick is in spotting the difference! ;-)

Hence this is an expression of my acceptance of my shadow side and my continuing attempts to shine a light in there.

There is also an image that I call The Dreamer. I made her over a year ago out of collage and then digitally altered her. She is head down in a posture similiar to that of the Hanged Man of the standard Tarot. She represents someone who looks at the world from a different perspective and what's more is painting it with her multi hued-paint brush.

She has a fully-open third eye which indicates that she is operating wisely and intuitively rather than purely rationally or emotionally. (This is a goal for me.)

In accepting the dreamer aspect of myself I am accepting that I do see the world differently to many others, not better or worse, just differently. And I hope that this acceptance will make communication easier!

Illustration Friday - Chair

The problem with just drawing a chair is that you cannot tell whose it is.... or was...

Having got this far, if the theme wasn't chair, I'd just cut the picture down to:

MMM: Again, I find myself...

This weeks MMM theme is "Again, I find myself....". For other people's pages see: Mixed Media Memoirs.

This title suggested to me how, especially through journalling, I've noticed how various cycles in nature effect me.

The arctic white hare shows Winter, the spring is Spring, a faked Stonehenge sunset shows Summer (I may have got the direction of the sun wrong but this was one of my best photos of Stonehenge so I used it), and the Autumn is shown by a wind-blowing cherub.

In the centre is the full moon and a strangely wrought silver key to the moon. This includes fish, newt, bird and bear in its symbols.

The words say: The cycles of growth and decay.