Connecting with Divinity
Expressing my creativity through art has become a tool in my life that helps me connect to my spiritual being. Art is a ritual that is meditative, nurturing of emotion, reflective and fun! I have found that art comes to my aid when I need of introspection and expression of emotion. Whether I am feeling sorrow, frustration or joy, art serves as a vessel of release. Creativity for me in all forms helps me find connection to spirit, and that is why it serves as such nourishing practice. I am able to connect to my inner source of light which illuminates the awareness of my authentic Self, I come back to my innate state of steadiness and ease. Eller (1995) uses an Catherine Sharp’s definition of “ritual as remembrance, saying that rituals purpose is to remember who you are and what you’re doing and where you are in relationship to the universe” (p.84). I use art to ground and center my being through the expression of my energetic body, which ultimately is the Universe. This is very much the same meaning that spiritual feminists find within their rituals. For example, Eller (1995) talks about the purpose of ritual for spiritual feminists, “the ritual practices of feminist spirituality are tools for many things: worship, supplication, celebration, personal transformation, ecstatic experience, and management of both psychic and material reality” (pg. 81). Ritual also serves as the basis in which spiritual feminists conjure and experience the sacred (Eller, 1995).
My art piece is a reflection of my intimate experience with the Divine based on my understanding. My experience is ultimately very subjective and when others look at my piece it may inspire different connections to one own subjective experience. Thus, my explanation is only my perception and always open to interpretation. Maintaining openness within my spirituality is at the foundation of my beliefs and can be found within Eller’s (1995) explanation of spiritual feminism as an organization that claims no specific religion of theology, no signification of membership or leadership, and has “neither institutionalized nor stagnated, and is in constant flux” (p.3). Eller (1995) continues with, “the primary characteristic of feminist spirituality is variety. For virtually every belief that one woman claims as authentic feminist spirituality, there is another woman who will assert the opposite belief but make the same claim” (p.4). Meaning, that claiming one’s belief on spirituality as the only truth creates more segregation between beings than union and as far from Divinity as one can be. My understanding of the Universe is ever expanding, accepting and inviting of all. Change is the only constant and all is interconnected.
My piece reflects my energetic body with the bright colors of the rainbow, yet still including some black, for dark and light cannot exist without each other. My inner being and outer being are represented working to create a continuous flow between the two. The inner radiates to the outer and the outer influences the inner. The sun and the moon take different form as a reminder that not everything is as it appears, and the same entity can at times look differently but hold the same value. The elaborate details in my piece represent the intricate detail that are expressed within the interconnected web of life. I am a human being one with all of creation and I represent expansion, transformation, and constant transition in depths that are unfathomable to the minds understanding. There is also the presence of unity between mind, body and spirit that when connected, I reach the flow state illustrated when looking at the entire piece. I am whole, riding the ebbs and flows of the Universe with steadiness and ease.
That is what I see…what do you see?
ResourceL
Eller, Cynthia. (1995). Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America. Crossroad Publisher.
