Following the Moon: A Final Test

I Seem to be a Verb, Drozda

Since last October we've been exploring the quieting and calm that can be practiced for six Moon/Month cycles of each year. Now we come to the culmination and closure of that primarily inward time.


Here, at the close of the Natural Year we will do well to review, reflect and release anything that may still linger as a negativity built up since last spring. In the Purity cycle we can forgive the world.

During the Purity segment of the Natural Year we can make a conscious choice. Each of us is born with an inner support system. Joseph Campbell refers to these archetypal energies as Helping Hands. These unseen forces are also called Mighty Companions, Angelic Forces, Muses and the spontaneous occurrence of Synchronicity. Leaning into this level of support provides assistance when the Art/Life feels like it is on the floor, knocked out for the count. This is when, here...at this point on the wheel... we can get in touch with the Alchemical Shamanic Artist Within. We can engage in shape shifting the direction of the Art/Life so that it feels more and more like a true fit.

read more...


Subscribe to the monthly Luna See
Read the 2012 Lifecycle Forecast and find your gift...then email me...and I'll send it over.

See you next Monday for the Gibbous Phase of the Purity Moon

Following the Moon: Distractions Fly Away

Shakyamuni, Drozda, Private Collection

Welcome to 'Following the Moon'. It's Tuesday, May 17 and we're in the powerful and potent Full 'Wisdom' Moon. My friend Che'usa includes a wonderfully informative post about the power of this Full Moon as a Tibetan Buddhist Festival called Wesak.


This Full Moon extends through Friday evening, May 20. This is an excellent time to remind yourself that the rhythms of these cycles create a mirror. Each month when we come to the Full Moon these several days offer all of us a chance to see our shadow.... look it in the eye.

Honestly looking at our insecurities, confusions, and inner turmoil during the Wisdom cycle may bring us some of the most powerful Art/Life insights and outcomes that we can possibly imagine.

During this cranking up time of the year conceive of, picture, envision, think of, expect, and assume that you can power yourself into another level of Art/Life expression.

I received this quote, attributed to the Tibetan Buddhist saint, Milarepa, from my friend Rita in an email today. Milarepa's words fit this point in the Wisdom cycle beautifully:

Maintain the state of undistractedness, and distractions will fly away. Dwell alone, and you shall find the Friend. Take the lowest place, and you shall reach the highest. Hasten slowly, and you shall soon arrive. Renounce all worldly goals, and you shall reach the highest Goal. If you follow this unfrequented path, you will find the shortest way. If you realize Sunyata (the absolute Emptiness), compassion will arise within your hearts; and when you lose all differentiation between yourself and others, then you will be fit to serve others. ~ Milarepa

Read More...return here to leave a comment or share a few thoughts there ...it'so good to hear how the moon cycles are moving through your Art/Life.

Subscribe to the monthly Luna See 

Following the Moon: Child's Play

'Gardean', Drozda, 16x20", Mixed, work in progress

I want to thank my dear artist/friend Che'usa for sending along a recent Huffington Post link that includes this thoughtful story:

Shuren Sakurai was born to a family of farmers, in rural Aichi prefecture. Life for many was very different then. "In those days, families were large and poor, and children were often adopted out. When I was nine, I entered this temple as a boy monk, and the abbot here became my master, my teacher, my parent. Though it was hard for me to be away from my real parents, in those days, we accepted the reality of what life gave us and we just did what we had to do."

"My adopted father often said to me, 'Become true gold, not gold plating. Whatever you do in your life, put your entire self into it. Make it gold." People now-a-days only want to do things that are easy and comfortable. There is nothing that can be accomplished well through short cuts. Things that matter take time and our complete attention."

Welcome to 'Following the Moon'. Today, Tuesday, April 26, we're seven days away from the close of the 'Clarity' Moon cycle.
In April there is an opportunity to consider what it is you'll focus on for your Art/Life walk around the Natural Wheel. The Natural Wheel begins each year at the time of the Spring Equinox (look back to March 22, 2011).

This segment of the year holds the energy for the entire year ahead. There's a feeling of new in the air. There's a natural sense of beginning. Each spring we can literally feel reborn, as many religious traditions celebrate and remind us.

Spring is a most excellent time to refresh and remember the goals that hold your passion and purpose. This is a time to invest in what you know is true for you, and often times you carry this from childhood.

This past week I was the, 'short n sweet', featured speaker at our Earth Day Eve Event at the Contemporary Art Center. It was wonderfully festive, the entire evening conceived by a lovely high school student, Margaret Salazar, for her senior year project.

Artists with tables filled with wondrous arts created of recycled pieces and parts, musicians, Art 21 playing in the theatre, and families & friends gathering indoors and out.

In the crowd I met 7 year old, Jackson, whose 9 year old sister told me, as he inspected my Animal Artz sculptures, that he wants to be an artist when he grows up. I leaned forward and whispered to him, "You're already an artist, just don't ever forget." His Grandfather heard what I said and after the family had moved outdoors to make Origami birds for a Wishing Tree/donation zone for Japan Relief efforts, Grandad returned to tell me a bit of Jackson's story.

Indeed we often are living our Art/Life by the time we're seven. I can mark this same time for my clearest awareness, how about you?
Read More...
I hope you'll comment there or here...it's always so good to hear from you.


Subscribe to the monthly Luna See

Following the Moon: We are the Movers and Shakers

'Good Planets are Hard to Find', Drozda, 2006, 18x18" mixed/panel

Welcome to ‘Following the Moon’. Today, Monday, April 18, we’re two weeks into the ‘Clarity’ Moon cycle. In April I find that it’s powerful to cast a glance back to October. Exactly 6 months ago you had a 31 day energy preview of what this year holds. It happens every October. It’s as though a magic mirror is held up. If you look into it you’ll catch a glimpse of where you’re headed physically, emotionally and spiritually.
This year suggests that there is significant effort required, groundwork to be laid and concentration is mandatory. You might find it interesting to take a look back at your calendar to see what was happening 6 months ago…just notice.

I’ve had some challenge with concentration during this Clarity cycle. It occurred this past week. I thought to relate what’s come of it for me.
When I get particularly happy I tend to unconsciously stop myself. I sober up. No nonsense, take care of business. I imagine it comes from having lived through violence and the post trauma of having to be hyper vigilant...

read more  and as always return here to leave your wonderful thoughts or leave them here...either way do leave your footprint ;-)

 Earth Day April 22...Love your Mother.

Subscribe to the monthly Luna see

Following the Moon: Open the Door

The Migrator, Drozda, 2011, Acrylic/wood, 12x11", Sold

Welcome to ‘Following the Moon’ for the week of Monday, March 28 through Sunday, April 3. We have 6 days remaining in the final ‘Purity’ Moon cycle of the Natural Year. Here is the place each year where we’re given the opportunity to forgive and release all that has visited in the twelve months just walked through.
Our phases this week are Third (or Last) Quarter and Balsamic, bringing us to the first New Moon for the Natural Year on Sunday, April 3.

The Third Quarter phase began March 26 and extends a full four days through Wednesday morning, March 30.

The Third Quarter moon phase is the most accomplished area of the monthly cycle. Arriving here aligns us with thanksgiving. There is a level of maturity required before we can freely engage in such a practice and each month these few days allow us to exercise our gratitude muscle.

We've made it. We are now in the final week of the Natural Year....read more
 
Please feel free to comment here or here
 
Subscribe to the monthly Luna see

Following the Moon: Search Your Heart

http://

Journal Page, Drozda, 2010

There is no need to run outside for better seeing….rather abide at the center of your being; for the more you leave it, the less you learn. Search your heart and see the way to do is to      be.                                                                                                                                                             Lao Tzu

Welcome to ‘Following the Moon’. I trust you’re finding ways to feel the quality of replenishment and self-renewal as the Wheel turns and carries your energies through this mystical depth. Today Monday, February 14 we’re stepping into the Gibbous Phase of the Renewal Moon. This phase is building toward the Full Moon which comes to meet us in the wee hours of Friday, February 18.

This is a fabulous week, Monday through Sunday, to truly stretch yourself out. Think of your Art as your yoga. Think of your Art as your dance. Dream of being on your stage. Feel your life force coursing like the rivers running under the thinning ice. Visualize your energy mounting, bubbling, coming closer to the surface to be expressed.
Read more...

subscribe to the monthly Luna See

Following the Moon: Boldness has Genius

In You Go, Drozda, 2001, Acrylic on wood

Rilke wrote:

“You must give birth to your images

for they are the future waiting to be born

Fear not the strangeness that you feel

The future must enter you long before it happens.

Just wait for the birth, for the hour of the new clarity.”

Welcome to the First Quarter Moon Phase. Our keyword for the month of December, each and every year on the Earth Calendar, is Strength....read more 

Subscribe to the monthly Luna See

Following the Moon

'Moon Dance', Drozda 1998

4x3"

Lino cut print

Welcome to a brief look at the creative energy of the 'Luna See' visiting this week. It's the Summer Solstice and a wonderful night for a moon dance. Now we experience the opening of summer, the South Gate, on the wheel of the year. On the Natural Wheel Summer Solstice marks the start of the most outgoing (read: be involved) 90 days of the year. We all tend to keep ourselves on a fast track year round yet in reality the summer months are the most cranked...and today the gate swings open.

A new fresh 90 day segment of clean space waits to meet us...take a moment and notice what you want to grow creatively and place your ideas into your journal or jot notes onto your studio calendar. First honor and acknowledge what has moved through you creatively since Spring Equinox on March 20. That first quarter of the year usually carries an energy of 'ME'. Next consider the time between now and the Fall Equinox on September 22. This time period shifts so that we have the conscious opportunity to engage with 'OTHERS'. Make notes that remind you that your life and your art matters as you share it with the world.

From this point summer brings the most concentrated time for personal/creative evolution. Evolving, opening out, and unfolding within the context of 'Luna See' requires deep focus.  Have you made a commitment to expressing through the 'Highest of Arts'? The Art's evolutionary zones include both the healing/medical arts and the fine/expressive arts in all their countless variations. The Arts open us to areas of humanities highest, and hopefully most compassionate, development. The languages of the Arts ultimately demand clear communication. Clear communication is of paramount benefit at this time. What are you saying? Notice how you talk to yourself about your artist work (and your life) and how you think about others and the world at this time. This cycle each year offers a focus for speaking to ourselves as artists who see that our lives matter. This cycle has much to do with an awareness of intelligence. Speaking to ourselves intelligently... by first diving deep and listening from the heart. The poet  Rumi offers this:

Stop the words now.

Open the window in the center of your chest,

and let the spirits fly in and out.

'The Race', Picasso 1922

gouache on wood

 Musee'  Picasso, Paris

As of today, Monday, we're still in the First Quarter moon or 'take action' phase. This continues until Tuesday afternoon. At that point the opportunity is clear for deep creative investment. As artists we're engaged in the process of bringing something into being that hasn't been before. Breathe that in. Sit under a tree and feel that. When we allow ourselves to experiment with the moon's timing (while holding a clear intention) the creative stress level is reduced and a sense of being in the flow is elevated. "The spirits fly in and out".

Between Tuesday and Saturday there is every opportunity to express your brilliance. Keep in mind that this is the time to focus on intelligent communication within the yearly Illumination cycle. On  Saturday afternoon the Full moon, with an eclipse, takes place. What a great opportunity arrives for acting as if our artist life matters and for imaging what's possible for the rest of the year. Remember that when the moon is in her Full phase she reflects and shows us our shadow. You might enjoy playing in the studio during these three days each month while asking if you are sane or not (hint: insane people don't ask that question). That means you can plan on doing a check-in for that specific purpose once a month...it's a great awareness...and it helps us stay playful.

All this month is for watching your communication, nurturing your creativity and shining your brightest.  Engage all the tools you've developed that quiet your petty tyrant's voice down.
As I write in this month's 'Luna See' e-newsletter (subscribe here):

This [June's moon] is one of my favorite energy levels to study and learn through. It is about being very grown up and willing to consider what it is that you have to offer that will be of benefit and do no harm. Take the time now to see where you excel and what you want to add to our world.
Ask yourself: 'How might I hold a light for others to help them find their way?' The answers are countless and continual and eternally unfolding. See what energizes you and imagine the possibilities when you share. Make everything you touch the better for your having been involved ... an infusion of life force ... that's what the cycle is offering. Think of, and then feel, the endless waves of that and pay attention to the boost that follows.

'Buddha Nature', Drozda 2007

16x20"

Acrylic on wood

In 1989 when I began as a student of 'Luna See', learning to live and create in harmony with the moon phases, I had no attachment to it working or not working. I enjoyed socializing within the community each month and  I adored the camaraderie of a creative week at the ocean each October (this being long before I moved here). The social elements meant just as much to me as the lunar phase information. I certainly wasn't looking to prove anything, in terms of my creative work,with my involvement. My healthy artist scepticism even made me force the patterns to see if they would deliver. I got cagey, part of me wanted proof that the moon's patterns would eliminate my anxiety about 'making it' as an artist.
Slowly, through the years, I've become more and more anchored, grounded and joyful in 'following the moon'. I really appreciated coming to recognize that there's no place to 'get to' as an artist, as an expressive being, there's simply the dance. The slow and steady willingness to give these natural patterns a conscious try has turned out to be the best gift I could have given myself...ultimately they transfer into 'no pressure'. Eventually this study made clear, 'to everything there is a season.'.

It's been a most rewarding experiment setting my life onto a spiral dance within a creative rhythm that feels like a fit. I am enthused to now be sharing snippets of this approach with you once a week. My intent is to go deeper into the options and opportunities of each moon as we go on. Right now short n' sweet is feeling good and I hope offering you a bit of nutritious 'food for thought'...that would be another excellent touchstone phrase for this moon.

Please share your 'Luna See' and we'll
see you next Monday for more.

Until then
~May you sing the days

The Clearing Creativity Salon

Yesterday I had the complete and tremendous joy of presenting the 'Clearing Creativity Salon' for and with a group of artists and art's educators at a hidden jewel of a center called Alternatives Inc.

On the natural calendar of the Earth Wheel January represents the moon of cleansing and release. Throughout the morning we 'wound the wheel' exploring and considering what it offers each of us in terms of birth gift and birth challenge. After lunch we each went into a three hour period of silent studio time and we closed with a magnificent 'Show n Tell'...each participant bringing us more inspiration to carry home from the day.

Ahhh...a circle of women making deep spiritual art for sheer joy....my favorite kind of day.