simplicity

It seems every weekend I pick a new purification project. Last weekend it was my closet, today I am doing the rest. It is amazing how much stuff one can accumulate. Some people use 'stuff' to fill every nook and cranny, perhaps keeping them company so that they don't feel lonely. Some are just unbalanced, and use 'stuff' as a way to fill the hole inside of them that of course, will never be filled in that way. I actually don't have very much 'stuff' anymore, but even what I have feels like too much and so I am pairing away and becoming light. Everything around me should be a direct reflection of me, the current me, the true me, the real me. I need space and air to breathe in order to create. Empty the cup so I can fill it up with new inspirations and fill my world with beauty *and* usefulness. I think it is so important to be very conscious of your world... to live deliberately! So I arranged an art space and lined up my paints, cleaned out my brushes, lined up blank canvases white with possibilities. I spray painted an ugly old shelf gold to fill with my essential oils and empty blue glass bottles ready for making blends. Making sacred space and giving respect for the things that give me joy, it felt very simple but the symbolism profound.

(this is a pic of a spa i thought was amazing! my laptop is filled with random pics of inspiration. Love the air and light here and of course the plants.)

floral consciousness & ancient greece

It's so hard to believe that I only have 2 1/2 months of massage school left! Time has gone by so quickly, it seems more so than usual and it leaves me a little breathless at times. I have begun my outside massages and it has been very good so far. As I am working, I feel peaceful inside, I feel my hands turn hot with energy. I go into another consciousness as I let my hands move over the muscles, intuitively stopping at certain points, coaxing the stuck energy out. I love being a bodyworker, I have this feeling that all is right when I'm working. It feels sacred, I feel like this is secretly temple work. This is my way to be an old soul, a priestess working amongst the people and get 'away' with it without having to succumb to a more structured, capitalistic work life. I pretty much always use lavender or other aromatherapy oils and I find it heightens the massage so much more. I knew flowers and plants are to have a major part of my future, I had a dream last summer of standing in a field of tall purple flowers blooming, and they were just clustered with honeybees! There were so many honeybees I didn't know if I should even move for fear of stepping on one. I didn't shreek and freak out like I probably would in real life (well, maybe not honeybees...) I just stood very still and marveled. The dream has every marking of the Goddess, I took it as a sign I'm being protected and blessed. I'm greatful for that! There are still uncertainties but I'm trying to be better about being ok with the unknown. You just have to be, in order to survive.

I have been continuing my love affair with all things Greek. I wish I was going with my friend to Greece this summer but the timing isn't right just yet. It will happen though, I know it. To swim in the teal-clear sea and take pictures of crazy sea creatures! A parallel is occuring, it's been going on for about a year now. My body feels best with the (vegetarian version) of the Mediterranean diet. I didn't do this on purpose actually, I just noticed what I had been craving fell in line with it. Fresh fruits, veggies, feta, olives, figs, whole grain break dipped in olive oil and herbs, greek style yogurt, a glass of red wine in the evening.... I dress in simple flowing styles and greek sandals... pretty much always. I don't feel comfortable in anything else! I had a lady stop me in the laundromat a few months ago and ask me if I was from NY. I said no, why? She said you have a NY style! I should have corrected her and said no, I have an ancient greek style. ;)

(pic isn't me, I just like it.)

wood and shells

Tonight I'm putting a bunch of amazing jazz albums on my computer from the library, soaking in all of them, thinking about the rooted sense of self that finally seems to be emerging from me. For many years I experimented with every kind of look, color, hair, music, etc. Trying on characters that seemed to be a part of me but enlarged, exaggerated, playful. I think every creative person does this to some extent, to play with your sense of self and see what you can become before shapeshifting into a new version to experience that and so on. Sometime within the past year I have come to grow roots into my solid sense of self, something pure and authentic that has always been there, waiting for me to come home to, a kind of sanctuary of self with a candle burning in the window that says- welcome home friend. It's a secure feeling, that even with life's uncertainties I'm at home within me. I'm wearing more and more wooden jewelry because I'm really feeling like I've got roots and it feels very natural. Wood and shells, colors of the sea. When I first went solitary, not looking outside of myself so much, I felt panic and fear which I had to perservere through. It was rough waters, I won't lie. But something happened, I started to realize my spirit is pretty amazing and I didn't come here to fall apart over human relationships, or to loose myself in an array of whatever-of-the-moment. The tree started to grow roots, buds formed and I can now see... finally... that blooming is inevitable.

Powerful, Inspiring Women - Frida Kahlo

Not so long ago I made a conscious decision to, on a regular basis, influence myself with the art, music or dance of women whom I find powerful and inspiring. This came on the heels of feeling absolutely disgusted with the vast majority of fashion magazines and other popular entertainment we are pummled with constantly. There is no place for powerful or artistic women in modern entertainment. She is cut, butchered, rearranged, disempowered and left to lie bleeding at the feet of a man as he walks away. I could go on but I'll get back to my evening. Tonight's chosen feature was The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo. I am so enchanted with Frida, her highly personal art, her style, the way she always wore fresh flowers in her hair. It's like she stepped in through from another world and though she was not immune to pain by any means, her mantra was always vitality and life. The last painting she ever did, 8 days before she died, was a still life of juicy watermelons cut in various ways. At the bottom, carved into a slice she wrote -"Viva la Vida" ... Long Live Life.

Ancient Egyptian wrinkle cream

"The standard anti wrinkle cream recipe in ancient Egypt include a teaspoon of sweet almond oil, and two drops of frankincense oil. This was gently massaged into the freshly cleansed skin each night. Almonds were very popular for cosmetics such as wrinkle creams in ancient Egypt. While the Egyptians mostly used the oil that they extracted from bitter almonds, the common anti wrinkle variation on this recipe includes sweet almond oil. This is especially true for its aromatherapy use. Its smell is mild and its texture light, so it absorbs quickly into skin."

Frankincense essential oil has also helped some people overcome skin cancer naturally. It smells heavenly and is protective, calming and elevates spiritual vibrations, banishing negativity. I burn arabian frankincense and it never fails to clear the space and make it feel almost like a temple.

Massage learnings and pretty silvery belly bidness

Today I finished a bunch of projects for my massage therapy class. Not anything major due now for a week, so I can concentrate on MUSCLES and then some more MUSCLES. I have learned an insane amount of body stuff in mere months! I can feel my body mechanics are finally clicking into place, taking the strain off my wrists and hands when I let them just relax and keep good posture. There are about a thousand different things you have to keep in mind when are are first learning so that, in time, they come naturally. There are also different discoveries I've made about myself... like holding major tension in my shoulders and jaw all the time. Getting almost daily massage and belly dance have helped immensely though, I don't feel as tight as I once did. It's good I'm healing this stuff now, some people hold tension in their bodies their entire lives and have to deal with various body pains as they age and bad habits solidify in the fascia. Then of course it's blamed on old age... "you'll see someday, honey!"

I got my silver coin bra top in the mail today! I have to paint the beads black to match the belt and figure out what to do about the bra situation for *underneath* the coin bra but I put on the entire ensemble and it looks so silvery and lovely! I feel like a temple dancer clothed in moonlight, jangling her noisy coins and bells to scare away the evil spirits. :P Sunday all the belly dancers in class are getting together at Ophelia's to rehearse the dance, pick out and try dancing in our costumes together and possibly get some pictures taken. I need to figure out something tasty to bring...

I think tonight shall be aromatherapy bath night!

leaflove

heartlove
Originally uploaded by ephemeral_arts

"Be relentless in your looking, because you are the one you seek." -Rumi