Adventure

Herbs and Things by Jeanne Rose

I've found a new favourite thing to do at lunchtimes:
wander up to the bus interchange and discover the stores there. The bus interchange here is a T shaped junction of noise, drug addicts and a smattering of eclectic bookstores and shops wedged between larger retailers. I like to amuse myself by thinking I'm in Sydney or some far off metropolitan Adventure-Town.

Yesterday I found a second hand bookstore with that fabulous musty second hand bookstore smell. I miandered about the overflowing shelves for a while taking in all the treasures. I returned with my love today to show him the treasure, and secured myself the above book: "Herbs and things." Last week at the Diaru Centre I learned about herbal lore, and this was one of the books recommended.

Closer inspection of the book has me in fits of giggles. Being published in 1972 lends "Herbs and Things" a more psychedic quality than I had expected.

Want to know how to make Peyote Butter? Dates and Figs Hashish to serve over ice cream? Apparently Marijuana Butter is "very delicious and mild tasting." The Peyote Butter comes with a warning of sorts: "You may see God."

There is even a chapter on "Forbidden Secrets" and a recipe "To Enable One to See the Fairies."

A delightful find indeed, even if I already see God and the fairies without butter.

We finished our walk by securing some red bean dumplings from a Japanese cuisine hole-in-the-wall, and eating sushi in the spring sunshine.


Today's Lunchtime Amusement and Adventure Value: 10/10

if i had a picture...

to show you,
it would be of a flowering chinese plum tree,
with miniscule and precious pink petals
being danced upon by bees.
the sky above is a perfect azure cloudless spring sky.
i am lying beneath it, on a tiny patch of grass outside the post office,
an amazon box open beside me,
drinking in "the millionth circle"
(we can change the world with our circles)
radiant in my purple crocs and almost spring shirt and my knowing.

a pristine noon.

you are invited to create one.

mum

I was talking to my mama on the phone tonight,
and she says:

"I really miss you. I really miss you being three and eating green apples and riding your tricycle around the front yard."

"I know Mum. I miss that too."

We both cry a little.

"Hey Mum, how bout we come back and do it again next life?"

"Okay, I'll bring the green apples."

"Okay, I'll bring my tricycle."


I love you Mum.
Love,
Little & Big Leonie

Books

quan yin watches over one of my book stashes...

I'm taking the book batton on from splendid goddess sister Sone :)


One book that changed your life? "Succulent Wild Women" by SARK... I agree with my soulsis Sone on this one... I've made amazing friends and had incredible adventures because of this book.

One book you have read more than once? "My Place" by Sally Morgan. I read this book every year for a number of years. The stories of an Aboriginal woman and her family.

One book you would want on a desert island? "Women who run with the wolves" or "Bhagavad Gita". Those are lifetimetoread books for me.

One book that made you laugh? "Still Life - Thoughts of a man hurriedly going nowhere" by Richard Stubbs. I have fits of giggles still when I think of his words on rental trucks.

One book that made you cry? Not particularly the most original, but "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks. I had to stop reading it on public transport because the sobbing became a bit much.

One book you wish had been written? Agree again with Sone on this one... The Diaries of Anais Nin. The woman has a way with words that makes me ache and feel hopeful all at once.

One book you wish had never been written? "Grease 2: The Screenplay". This is entirely my own fault: what on earth was I thinking? In my defence, I had a crush on the dude who played Michael in the movie, and perhaps reading the book was some vague attempt at reclaiming the moments watching him. Please spare yourself however: once you start, you will be so enraptured in its cheesiness you won't be able to stop.

One book you are currently reading? "For Goddess' Sake! Get the girls together and have some fun" (I like the concept, but probably a bit too homogenised white bread goddess circling for me); "Goddesses and Angels" by Doreen Virtue (I am finding with Doreen's books they are quite subtle, and yet cause big shifts on an internal level) and "Crystals and Crystal Healing" by Simon Lilly (A great beginners guide to crystal, I very much like it... even looking at pictures of crystals makes me feel gooooood).

One book you have been meaning to read? "Ask and it is Given: Learning to manifest your desires" by Jerry and Esther Hicks. It's sitting on my nightstand, but the goddess books are holding me captive.

One book you loved as a kid? "Grandpa's Horses" (a beautifully illustrated kid's story book about my favourite creature) and all of Roald Dahl's books.

One book you loved in school? "The Green Wind" by Thurley Fowler (quintessentially Australian book about a girl living in the bush).

One book that is your all time favourite? "Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland (a fabulous quirky novel about a house of geeks living in Silicon Valley... it has it all ~ humour, intelligence, irreverence, love and spirit).




Would Gail :: Amy :: Lisa Marie :: Bek :: Pixie like to play books?


blessings and the perfect reading chair,
Leonie

And in the end

me and he, photo by Donna


...the love we take
is equal to the love we make.

~ the Beatles

Dear

"angel friends"


"We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within, the little whisper that says, 'Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea. You have a part to play. Have faith.' We can decide to risk that He (She) is indeed there, watching, caring, cherishing us as we love and accept love. The world will be a better place for it. And wherever they are, the angels will dance."
~ Joan Wester Anderson

Dear B,

You grew up in a house that wasn't a safe home. You grew up seeing what it looked like when low choices are made.
And in that small girl body of yours, you knew you deserved more than that, that you would be more than that, that you would make new choices for you.
And I meet you as a grown woman now and I see you making your choices. A crystal path is paved before you as each moment you choose to turn to the light.
I see you fiercely loving, reclaiming, a warrior of peace and self respect, choosing again and again a new life.
Today we shared noodles and life stories by the lake. Every interaction is sacred, every story sings of insights.
This afternoon I ride the bus, read "The Prophet" and think of you.
How sacred you are.
To choose love. Of all you could have chosen, you selected the highest choice, again and again. To make your own family. To want to help others heal. To bring forth another soul into this world and teach Her to love her self. To break the chain that confined, and rebuild a new energy.
Out of all the decisions you could make, out of all the patterns you could break, I honour you for your life.
Breaking the pain and shame, cultivating a gardenbed of greatness.

I honour you.

love,
L

The importance of the goddess story

angel


Womens stories have not been told. And without stories there is no articulation of experience. Without stories a woman is lost when she comes to make the important decisions of her life. She does not learn to value her struggles, to celebrate her strengths, to comprehend her pain. Without stories she cannot understand herself. Without stories she is alienated from those deeper experiences of self and world that have been called spiritual or religious. She is closed in silence.
~ Carol P. Christ and Charlene Spretnak.

(found in an amazing article "The Holy Whore: A Woman's Gateway to Power" ~ a long read, but well worth every word).


I read this quote today, and my heart leapt into my throat.

Yes, this is why I do what I do. This is why I am so deeply passionate about photographing the goddess in women around me. This is why I wish to document our goddess stories. This is why I want to honour our lives.

This is why my spirit soared and my voice cracked in the car last night, as I talked to myself and Great Spirit about why I wish to do what I do.

I want to retell my story, and I want to retell Her story.
With honour, compassion, admiration and joy.
I want to redefine how we define ourselves.
We aren't meager beings. We aren't unimportant. We aren't insignificant.
We are not boring, uninteresting or without a story.

We are radiant. We are incredible. We are important. We are significant.
We are juicy. We learn & teach great lessons. We are fabulous. We are alive.
even in our smallest fractured hour,
We are Alive.

May you know the love and life of the Goddess is always in your heart.

love,
Leonie
xoxo

angel

I photographed a beautiful soul named Angel yesterday,
her full belly ripe and glowing with peace.
She wore fairy slippers
and had amber eyes.

We had only just met, her and I,
but we are old friends connecting once more.
We giggled at each other
"You SO get it!"
"I know! You SO get it TOO!"

We clambered waterfalls,
and one of her kinspeople, a magpie, came to visit.

Magic always happens in this sacred space,
when I photograph another soul.

Across the park, people started drumming tribal music,
just for us. Just for us.
And we sat in the grass beneath sky grazing gum trees,
sharing our lives once more.
(We all have such remarkable stories!)

A magical afternoon
with an angel.

Shrine

Louie, moi and Raquel... circle sistas!

Chris and I had the pleasure of going to the Shrine exhibition opening last night ~ starring my divine artist friend and womens circle sister Raquel.

I had Raquel as a Featured Artist on my blog eighteen months ago, and I made this prediction:
"One day soon there will be a gallery with her work in it!"

It was inevitable of course ~ but that doesn't stop just how delighted, proud and honoured I felt to be there to witness it.

I loved how people would stand in front of her perfectly four formed, collaged shrine boxes, entranced by the imagery in them. They were brimming with beautiful imagery put together in such a meaningful way. Raquel's art is filled with spirit, and each evokes some archaic archetypal knowing inside.

Last night I stood before her Mother/Midwife inspired artwork (see below), and felt a swirl of emotions. It sang a song into me, and I didn't know the words but a part of me knew it instinctually. The full moon, the venus of willendorf, the careful nest of straw and feathers, the picture of a uterine lining, and in the middle a seed with the face of a foetus. It was powerful and moving.



The Shrine exhibition features eight women artists, honouring the divine in so many ways. I was so touched by the diversity of honourings: from Raquel's triple goddesses, to Fatima's amazing wood and sand shrines for islam, to a series of colour drenched images of roadside memorials. Art, women and spirituality: I was in heaven last night.

The Shrine exhibition is at the ANCA Gallery in Dickson, and will be running until 28 August.
Gallery hours are Wednesday - Sunday 12 - 5pm

Why I married myself...

I met some dear friends for lunch some time ago. They'd just returned from a long holiday overseas, and we were catching up on all our life news and stories from adventures.
"So what's new with you Leonie?"
Well, I've been painting, laughing lots, went home for holidays, went to Goddess Camp, married myself, preparing for my exhibition...
"You've WHAT?"
I've been painting, laughing, went home for holidays, went to Goddess Camp, married myself, been preparing for my art exhibition...
"You MARRIED YOURSELF???"
Why yes... and this is my moonstone ring I wed myself with... pretty, hey?
"Ummm... can you please explain why? I mean, I'd normally think it would be a fairly crazy thing to do, but if it's Leonie doing it, you must have a good reason for it.."

It's fairly simple really...
We are so willing to search for Mr or Mrs Perfect, fall deeply in love with them, want to find out all their stories, their idiosyncrocies, their dreams, how they wish to live... We want to find out their favourite breakfast, the song they secretly dance to, how they look when they are sleeping... We want to discover their soul landscape, and revel in it... We want to lose ourselves in the Great Beauty of them, and watch them grow even more into their magnificent souls... We want to feel their hand on the small of our back when we are unsure, we want to feel their comforting words when our soul is searching for home, we want to feel understood, cherished and deeply loved.

We are so willing to stand in front of those we love, and proclaim our love to this Magnificent Other. We are so willing to commit to them, to tell them we love them, to promise to cherish, honour and adore them all the days of our life. We proclaim that we will listen to all their dreams and help them achieve them. I do, I do, I do.

What if we searched for the Magnificent Person inside ourselves?
What if we fell deeply in love with our soul landscape, our choices, our idiosyncracies and life story?
What if we committed to discovering what we liked to sing loudly in the shower, how we like to eat eggs, how we hold ourselves when we hurt?
And why don't we vow to love, honour and cherish ourselves first?
Why don't we have a celebration of our self love, dress in our most glorious clothes, have dear soul friends surround us as we remember how to see the Divine in ourselves?
What if we feasted upon this self love, and what if we knew that there was all the love all in the world: enough love for ourselves, enough love to love another soul deeply, enough love to adore each soul in our lives?

So I did, and I do.

"And what did Chris say to all of this?"
He asked me how he fit into all of this.
"And, how does he?"
I told him my marriage wasn't a monogamous relationship, and that I would still be taking a lover. His turn will come, but first I must love myself.

So that is the story of my marriage. That is my love story with myself. If this was a romantic comedy, the sun would be setting and I would be skipping down the beach with myself in hand, occassionally tripping, and always in fits of giggles...

reLearning

I'm currently taking a Monday night Illustration course at ANU, and am finding myself relearning and reshaping. I haven't studied art since high school and had forgotten the beauty of exploring way, way, way out of one's comfort zone.

The first week felt like a shock to the system, and I found myself wanting to crawl under a table and just draw goddess faces over and over again. A month later I've settled in to it, and am so enjoying the intrusion it has made into me. There is something rather fulfilling about going back to the basics, drawing circles and filling them over and over again with different textures. Having a box full of painting and drawing implements, and using every single one of them, over and over again to explore every possibility of what mark they could make upon a page. A feather, a reed, a chinese brush, a ballpoint pen, a stick. (Sticks are cool). We haven't even moved on to using colour yet - there's just so much out there to explore in the world of black and white (and this from a colour~holic!). Hatching, tone, line. Messy hatch, loose hatch, tight hatch. Contour drawing, line drawing. Texture. Light.

Stripped down to the barest of bare, art is deconstructed and delighted upon.

And at the end of each class... I find myself drawing goddess faces again, but this time different. The goddesses evolve, just as I do...

blessings,
Leonie
{who is quietly obsessed by texture circles}

happy anniversary

wedded bliss


one year and one week ago, i married myself.

i said these words:

With all the love in my heart I will stay united with you.
I will cherish you, respect you, listen to you,
Be faithful and true to you
I will honour your spirituality, your sensuality and your sexuality.
I will honour the choices you make and stand by you,
throughout the good times and the difficult times.
I will be your trustworthy and loyal friend.
Together we will walk this path on our journey home to where it all began.
Together we will reate the experiences we need for our soul's evolution.

I am shiva, and I am shakti.
I am in love with the way you spill over the edges and radiate.
I promise to honour your intention and intuition.
Leonie, you are here for a very special reason.
You shine with love and light. You are surrounded by love and light. There is nothing to fear.
I promise to dream with you. I promise to hold your hand as we claim those dreams as our own.
You are all I have ever wanted, ever created, ever dreamed possible.
You are exquisitely beautiful, infinitely powerful and entirely lovable.
You are the incarnation of a Goddess, the dreaming of the Great Spirit, here on a journey to love.
I promise to love you first.
I promise to hear the call of your heart when it cries and when it sings.
We have two hands, two arms, two feet, two legs. They are Yin and Yang, here to help us on our journey - to hold ourself gently, reach out, walk gentle miles on adventure.
You are capable of all you dream of. This is your destiny.
I claim it with you.

Powerfully and joyously,
I honour the light and the life within you,
I bless your sweet and tender heart,
I bless your passion and your vulnerability.
I love and adore you,
beautiful and magnificent,
Leonie.


One year and one week on,
I am still deeply in love, still entranced by the unravelling of this soul named Leonie.
I believe in her, I cherish her, and I accept her unconditionally.
I am deeply blessed to wear a moonstone ring that sings of the great spirit, and the great choice of loving the universe by loving myself.
I thank the goddess for this knowing, and this Goddess for being the energy, the container, the channel for love.

One year and one week my beloved, since we chose *us*. A lifetime and an eternity to come falling deeper in love with this whole world, and the world inside of us.

With love, promise and rainbows,
Leonie

the first dawn in her heart

kata tjuta


The words of a beautiful song wafted into my mind today, and I wanted to share it with you. I learned it one day at meditation class.

Usha Bala Elo by Sri Chinmoy

"Usha bala elo
Dhire aji dhire
Hridaya gabhire"

The translation is this:
"Slowly, very slowly,
The virgin dawn appears
In the very depths of my aspiration-heart."

We sang it over and over again, until the words became chants,
and the sounds lilted in our heart caves and the room resonated with song.

Our meditation teacher explained the song to us like this:

Imagine that you woke up to find yourself in the darkest night. You can't remember who you were or where you are, or why on earth you are here. All around you is darkness and unknowing.
In all the despair and longing to know, you called out in the darkness, you cried into the darkness, asking for light and knowing.

And then...
you imagine that you see on the horizon the first glint of sunlight,
and slowly experience the beauty of the first dawn.
The luminous streaks of awakening gleaming across the sky,
filling you with hope and awe and knowing...

It is the first dawn of your heart.

artists date

had glorious fun yesterday ~
my first artist's date with my new and gorgeous friend bec.



Bec and I connected through our friendships with deni in san diego, USA ~
only to find we lived twenty minutes away from each other.
I met Bec for the first time at my exhibition opening, and we decided for our second meet-up we'd have an artists date. Delectable indeedy :)
We painted blissfully in her studio together on a mammoth and drool-worthy draft table... stopping only for corn relish, olive bread, peppermint tea and silly sublime self portraits in the bathroom (We have identical Canon 30Ds).

It was the nicest way to spend a Sunday afternoon,
the warmest place to reside in our hearts,
a divine way to connect,
the most sublime way to make a friend.



with love and joy,
Leonie

sunrise over the desert dunes

we woke early, our last day in the desert
the stars still emblazoned an inky sky

barefoot over the dunes to the highest point
a small group is gathered there

the stars are in full flight,
dancing, flirting into new colours
all around us the desert is quiet
quiet and soft

uluru, the monolith, mama gaia's heart is to the west of us,
pulsating in the darkness
the ochre energy, i wish to press my chest against it,
and hear the heartbeat of the earth
like my love did

slowly, softly,
the glow appears on the horizon
melten gold spills to the inky black
and the stars begin to recede
black meets indigo meets umber meets white



a day begins in the miracle land
the earth rotates,
shifting shadow west,
bringing light east

we hold our breaths as the sun god glints over the horizon
bringing forth his rounded shimmering magnificence into the sky
he is dripping with warmth
bringing liquid amber energy to those skinned ones who wait,
watching him.

we celebrate the sunrise
this daily miracle
this bringer of light and life
we honour the dark and her moon and stars
we cherish
this profound cycle of our everyday

together, we are one

shadow becomes light, and the desert awakens.


me, he, and rising sun god, uluru, june 06


love
leonie

Compliment of the Week

sunset from behind my mermaid mane, uluru june 06


I wish to honour the good things that happen in my life,
the abunDANCE of blessings that i receive, and the gifts that i share...

This week's compliment of the week goes to Mr P,
who informed me while we were carpooling to work
that when my hair catches the light, the wispy bits glow
and create a nimbus.

What blessings have you received in your life this week?

love,
Leonie

roar

original leonie art

the aching in me softens,
and the roar awakens:

i want to
change this world
heal this world
create this world

and i will do this
with me.


other delicious creations:
~ drink in the magic of the Sacred Visions - Voices of the Soul SoulCollage exhibition (i adore the words of the Midwife card)
~ my gorgeous friend andrea has started her Inspired design for Joyful living company: Marvelous Interior Design
~ the dreamy fairy art of andrea burden
~ i just love seeing the creation of the Gaian Tarot unfold.

the light of creation

these are the words that came to me in meditation
after i had stretched my body and soul.

they came spinning out of me with white ribbons of energy,
and in those moments i felt bliss.

i can't wait to share my project with you all, and the world.

love,
leonie

angel girl.

and she said:
i am willing to be me.
i am willing to excavate deep
and spread the message of peace
of understanding, love, and unwitting optimism
(pessimism is so 1990s, she says).

and when she walks and feels the anger
she has tears in her eyes because she feels:
Finally. Finally I have reached my Core. Finally I will stand my Ground.
and there is glorious soaring joy in this
soaking monsoon weddings of wisdom
it drenches her body.

Finally.

the words, the hopes, the affirmations
they found their way into her soul
and claimed their space there,
growing rugged and wild and magnificent in the lattice of her soul.

she whispers to me:

I know Me now.
I can ask for Me now.

there is no fear now,
just trust and faith in me.


with love,
Leonie and her angel friends...