My newest collection, The East Gate, Began with me in the woods: Entering my sacred circle, doing my morning prayers, watching the sun through the branches, listening to a little waterfall, feeling the wind, delighting in my dogs playing and eating dirt, fascinating over the oh so busy bugs, and ... just Being.
I wanted to make a collection that was like a circle ... full of listening, feeling, delighting ... a collection that had depth, playfulness, and a sense of the Sacred.
I concentrated on what my uncle taught me about "The Teachings of the Sacred Cardinal Directions" And then ... just and drew what came through to me ...
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The East Gate Medallion (shown at the top of page) came first:
(East, pronounced: KuhLuhGuh in Cherokee is the Direction we enter our Circle, It is "The Beginning of All Beginnings)
(This is the first drawing I did in the woods - I added notes to it as I figured out how to build it)
South, pronounced: UhGahNewWah, is the direction of the Children, the direction we ask to see with no preconceived ideas. It is the direction of Trust, Open-heartedness, Play, and Love. (All things we need for good relations).
My first South Pendant Drawing.
West, pronounced OoDayLeeGah: Is the direction we put down, with the setting sun, what no longer serves us to carry. It is the Direction of the "Old Ones".
My first couple of drawings - which the final piece became a mix of the 2.
North, pronounced "UhYahDlah" is the direction of "The White Haired Ones," the direction of Wisdom learned by actual living-life-lessons. This wisdom must be clean of resentments because it is to be safely passed down for the next generations. North is the direction of our Guardian Spirits, as well as our dear ones who have passed on that watch over us still.
North - I struggled with adding or not adding Turquoise - and opted for not adding it as it took away from the clear ice type feeling. When I was younger - I was told "The Wisdom of the North must be as sparkling clean as the ice melting from the top of mountain."
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For Fun - here's more of a sampling of the pieces that came out of my time "Listening" to the directions.....
Direction East:
Direction South:
Direction West:
Direction North:
Thank you for checking out my Blog, Shana Lee