teal

Somedays I get so caught up in my head.
In comparing myself, in believing things that aren't true, in disregarding and judging and being divisive and just generally feeling a lot of soul pain. So apart from myself and apart from My Self ~ that is ~ You. All of you. Every soul on this Earth, every breathing tree, every panting dog, every swelling sea. When I am hard on myself, or hard in my thoughts about any one of You ~ I feel soul pain, because I am apart from the Great Truth of our Divine and Lovely Oneness.

(Writing that, I see that apart is a-part, so any feeling of disconnection or away from is an illusion and not the Beauty Truth.)

I decided last night that I'd had enough. That I needed - somehow - to make new brain synapse pathways instead of driving the jeep down the rutted brain thought roads of Not Good Enough Street, I Am Unloved Circuit, I Am Unseen Driveway.

So I went to sleep with meditative music playing in my ear, imagining all the angels rushing to my side just to monitor my life source.

I wake up, and somehow I can't quite fall as low as I did yesterday.
At lunch, a burly, beautiful man takes me on a walk. Past a sales bin, and there is a treasure calling my name. A gorgeous soft beanie cap (in the colour of "teal" as my New Best Friend At Work labelled it). Somehow, under its embrace, I feel safer, like my head is enveloped in Clouds of Gladness. It is my own little emblem of hope, an adornment on the altar of my body to symbolise who I am under the sky.

We move to the bookstore, and over and over books peek out at me from a woman with radiant grey eyes. She reminds me on one page that when we say we need to love ourselves more ~ it is not the truth. Because that makes the assumption is that Love is something we need to DO, and that we do not already Live in a State of Love.

I forget, sometimes, about that Love.
Please be gentle with me, World, when I forget that. It pains me just as much as you when I forget about Love. And I promise I will try to remember that we are ALL in this sway of forgetting and remembering about Ourselves and Love. Sometimes I think the crabbiest and most jaded amongst us are the ones keening for Love the most. May I always Love them.

Such small but huge things ~
a beanie, and a book,
to make things seem beautiful and My Own again.

As the sun set, I find myself giggling in the bedroom,
rolling about with a camera,
finding delight in my own gifts again.

I love you, just as I love myself, and I love what we are doing,
and I will have faith for Us as tiny as a seed and as mighty as an oak,
as much as I can from wherever I am.

With love, gentleness, magic and remembering to you ~
Leonie

Goddess of the Night

Goddess of the Night, acrylic and mixed on canvas

She is a Goddess of the Night.
The stars sing melodies to her,
melodies that have no words,
but unveil the ancient mysteries,
the possibilities, the angels
emblazoned in their light...

*

The night wind is her friend.
It curls around her hair,
scooping around her shawl,
tracing her cheek,
wrapping her in its sweet embrace,
reminding her she is loved...

*

The swoop of an owl's wings.
She calls to her, awakening her,
the moonlight in her eyes,
her knowing presence.
The Wise Owl is inside you...

*

And then, there is
Grandmother Moon.
Her crone cream belly
laying, dreaming in the sky.
Her life is of transformation,
she takes you on the journey,
this journey of being a woman...

*

She is a Goddess of the Night,
finding Great Spirit in the solitude of the dark,
the shining angels of the stars,
the belly of moon,
the flight of the owl.

**


Uluru dawn over the dunes

The Goddess of the Night evokes for me all the night dreaming in Uluru.
The night sky there is filled with a thousand lights ~ nightly barefoot walks in the dune ~ a dingo ~ infinity.

An offering to the stars ~
Leonie

Inspire Me Thursday: Connections

Sunday was a day of painting on the floor,
swirling around the room,
following the sun like the Ancient Ones.

There is a deva inside me
that I dance with,
that I immerse myself in,
listening to her gentle voice,
the way she presses my hand against the canvas surface.

And in the moments where I need to inhale,
to replenish the well,
to connect again with the world outside...

I read the books of the woman who is a Soul~Lighthouse
and lay down beside my healing dog.




All it takes is these little, perfect connections...
to remind me that all is well, right here, right now...

be blessed,
Leonie

~ More Connection journalling is at Inspire Me Thursday.

~ Goddess of Leonie etsy store Grand Opening Fairy Party will be razzle dazzling its feathers v sooon... to be on the mailing list for the opening, please pop me an email at leonie(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject heading "I love your rosey posey baby~cheeks."
I am so looking forward to sharing some more rainbow art joys with you!

not in kansas adventure

You know you're not in small town Kansas-Canberra anymore, Toto,
when you're walking down the street,
look up and see
a freaking HIGHWAY above the building.

Call me yokel, but I just didn't know that kind of stuff happened.
It amazes me how close us humans want to live by each other... tribal communities in our funny city ways.

Speaking of close...



Noodles and hugs and kisses and words and wasabi mayonnaise and each other.

Happy, happy miracles.

Dear, dear friends.



Can you spot Leonie in this building reflection?



Flying home in the afternoon, me and my Wonder-Workmate, Smiling John, somehow managed to charm the flight attendant that we were childish enough to warrant child activity packs. We scored free Freddo Frog pencilcases (which consumated the day's status as Best Day Ever), and played a hilarious blend of Freddo Frog Go Fish with great guffaws of laughter.

Hello home.
Hello miracle day.

*happy sigh*
Leonie

Manifest this

This is a photo of me and one of my dearest friends and earth~sisters, Sone.

She lives in another city, and we see each other a couple of times a year.

Both of us are lunch-hour lovers ~ using those hours for discovery, artists dates, good food and reading in the park. Now if only we could do those things together.

We are always telling each other ~ "let's meet up for lunch!" "meet you at the bookstore for lunch! we'll have frappes!"

Talk about manifestation:

Tomorrow, my work is sending me on a big winged steel bird.
To my dear friend's city.
To a building only a couple of blocks from my dear friend's work.
With an hour of lunch.

What are the odds?
What are the miracle-freaking-odds?

So tomorrow...
at lunch,
I'm going to do the most natural thing in the world...
and sit across from this beauty,
share stories,
hold hands,
laugh and
revel in each other's company.


My LunchDate tomorrow: This girl has pretty much the best laugh ever...

I want this to stand as bonafide proof
that we really can manifest anything and everything
under this glorious, impossibly possible sun.

I think I shall wear pink,
Leonie

For Phil

For Phil,
who reminded me
that the most important part of this blog
is being All About Charlie.

One totally gratuitous photo of the cutest dog possible.

Doggy hugs,
Leonie

Self Portrait Challenge

It is winter here:
the descent of the Goddess Persephone into the underbelly of the Earth, reuniting with her lover Hades. The story makes sense in the changes here, down in the Southern Alps, but not so much in the year-round tropics of my birthplace..
I was born in a town 2000 kilometres north of here - a town named by the Roman's name for the Goddess - Proserpine.
Born in the land of Persephone under the sign of Scorpio, choosing to pair with another Scorpio ~ welcome to the landscape of a woman on the discovery for the deep.

It is winter here:
watching the Poplar leaves turn yellow gold
the Manchurian Pear leaves a brilliant, ruby red,
then finally, they are all gone.

Only the release of disintegrating leaves,,
and bare limbs, naked and strong.
Can I learn the lessons of the trees?

Outside at night, we beckon to the moon,
planting our feet into the frozen earth,
the winter breath wind coursing past us and through us.

Only Mother Earth can teach us
such a gift as this:
That life is flow:
a constant, round river,
of leaves colouring, falling, sleeping, awakening,
bursting into bloom once more.
of leaves colouring, falling, sleeping, awakening,
bursting into bloom once more.

She changes every thing she touches,
Everything she touches changes.

May I know the wisdom and clarity
to breathe through the breath,
to love what is here
and be a part of the change.

With love,
Leonie

~ More Self Portraiters in their environment here.

All the miracles in this world

Mermaid friends, acrylic on watercolour paper


Today me and my love went to check out a new gym... our membership to our last one lapsed a few months ago, and we didn't bother renewing.

This week we've been given the much needed shove by the Universe, reminding us to take care of our health.

Me and my love are both Scorpios, both deeply passionate about learning the ancient and mystical ways. We've got it all happening spiritually, we're all cool mentally, but we forget about that body part in the Holy Trinity of Body, Mind and Spirit.

Oh yes. Body. We forget that to live on this planet is to take ownership of our human selves, these temples where Spirit dwells.

So today my love decides something new is in order, and takes me to see a new gym, with wide windows that let the light flood in over the pool.

We meet the memberships officer ~ she has a wide smile and brown hair in cascades of curls. We sit down to talk about membership, and she points out my moonstone ring.

(I use this line often - it's like my spiritual pickup line. Point out someone's crystal jewellery, and see if they start talking about what stone it is and what healing properties they have).

I nod, point out my turquoise ring... and then somehow the three of us descend straight down deeeeeep into those things that matter to us ~ spirit, life, divinity, soul purpose. Earth angels, NLP, the God in every person. Atlantis, Avalon, Leumeria. Numerology, star signs, miracles. Healing, bodywork, shamanism. We discover she too is a Scorpio, so it is a deliriously good hour spent sharing about books that have changed our lives, sacred ceremonies and changing the world.

I comment on her hair ~ "You must be a mermaid..."
Her eyes light up. She knows already.

It is like an exhale ~ a breath outward ~ a relief to "small talk" on Spirit.

It was blissful ~ blissful ~ blissful.
To make instant mermaid friends with a soul who was obviously just waiting to enter our lives.

All the miracles in this world...
all it takes sometimes is just a sparkling, new connection
with another wide~eyed, life~loving mermaid...

May miracles grace your life,
as simply and easily as a blue wren flighting in,
love,
Leonie


P.S. I think we found the right gym...

doomo arigatoo gozaimasu

She wraps herself in rainbows, acrylic and mixed media on canvas.


I have so much to share in the coming days...
but for now, some sleep and connecting in with my soul is in order.

I want to thank you all deeply for the rainbows of emails, comments and love I have been receiving. I take them deliciously into my heart and make them a home there, on rugs with stories and blankets that always seem to get paint on them. If you do comment ~ please leave an email address if you can... I would like to email you back & connect. :)

Thank you for your open heartedness, willingness to share, enCOURAGEment, and celebration of all things spirit. Thank you for believing in the healing miracles of rainbows and art just as much as me.



And thank you, Sky Fairies, for being so dang magnificent, and reminding us who we are in shimmering glimmers between one breath and the next moment.

You are joy, and you are love, right now, right here.

I believe in you,
Leonie

Hurrah!

Check out the new Leonielife.com website!

so much sweetness in store for you...

it's like fairy-floss land here at Leonie Life...

Now if only I could remember my password so I can unleash some rainbows on this them there net!

A whole new website is being birthed, and I am shuddering with delight.

Until I can remember my password however... I'm off to learn yoga from Charlie~dog... he is a keened practioner of puppy~pilates and stretching his spirit.

Stay in the happy place (and stay tuned!)
fairy wings,
Leonie

my dear brothers

Dalai Lama journal pages

A couple of days ago I was blessed to be a part of the crowd that gathered for an interfaith dialogue between His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest and a Muslim professor. It was deeply interesting, and the whole discussion made me think about compassion and love for everyone, no matter where they are at, what they believe in...

The Dalai Lama shared how he and his Christian and Hindu friends would meditate and pray together under the Bodhi tree together ~ what a beautiful expression of one~ness. It makes me want to do the same, with all my friends of myriad beliefs and ways of speaking to the Sky Fairies.

How more can I foster love and acceptance in my life? How can I deepen my understanding of universal sister and brother-hood?

When the Catholic priest had finished talking, he turned to the Dalai Lama, the rabbi, the professor, and he said "you are my brothers, my very dear brothers"... and I had tears in my eyes and a heart bigger than a canyon.

The Jewish rabbi and the Muslim professor were both gentle, and shared of their faith with tenderness that touched me greatly.

During the dialogue, I kept going in and out of meditation ~ it felt very easily to slip into prayer and devotion and spirit space, with 4 000 others gathered just to listen to the message of peace. I noticed the lady sitting beside me was doing the same thing... most of the time her eyes were closed. I kept seeing and feeling angels and Tibetan deities all over the arena as we sat there.

At the end, they were all discussing how they could further create peace, harmony and oneness in the world and in between faiths... and the Catholic priest said:

"Maybe we could all just come together, and sit in silence together. We meet God in the silence."

There are six billion people in this precious world... and six billion precious paths of listening to spirit.

I will meet you in the stillness, in the open realm of the heart~cave,
Leonie

P.S. You can listen to the whole dialogue here.
P.P.S. I've been painting in the sweet rays of sunshine all weekend... will share some soon!

Cat Goddess

She found sweet solace in her cat's gentle purr...

In the sweet winter sunlight, this goddess emerged, with a sweet cat purring beneath her chin...

As I painted, I ruminated on my first cat love...

She was a wild grey cat who lived in our hay shed when I was about 11 or 12.

I discovered her one summer afternoon while playing hide-and-seek with my little sister in the hay bales. I'm not sure who scared each other more when I came face to face with her silver eyes, but she startled me even more when she casually sidled up to me, and jumped up to nudge her face against my hand. This was her trademark move - leaping up to self-stroke against me. So insistent in her affection, so loving yet independent.

I named her Steph (my dream name - such a child of the 80s I am).

We became firm and gentle friends of the wild.

She was a cat who would not be domesticated - I tried luring her home, but the backyard fence was as close as she would come. She was a cat who loved her hay shed, and would pour her love on me when I came to visit.

So I would - every afternoon, just to sit on the haybales and watch the sunset over the lake and the mountains, and to hang out with this strange, loving, wild cat.

Somehow, this is a metaphor of love for me... it does not come in the way you imagine, it is not something you can rein in or control. It just is, and you can only be in it, and experience it as open~heartedly as you can.

And there I painted this goddess, finding sweet solace in her cat's gentle purr. Somehow, sublimely, magically, endearingly, my dear dog decided that now was the time to crawl into my arms, head beneath mine, copying the pose in the painting, to remind me of this energy that is still in my life. I swear, if he could have purred, he would have...



Inside me there lives a girl of wild cats, horses in the paddocks, buffalo spirits, sunset mountains and dogs wanting to be cats...

with love and light,
Leonie

sometimes

sometimes i forget
that when i am full of
headiness and wound up energy,
insomnia, crabbiness and winter blues...

all i need is some sun and some air.

the earth has all the healing you need.















i am so blessed to walk this beautiful earth.

love,
Leonie

You bring light into this world

You bring light into this world, acrylic & mixed media on canvas

I painted this artwork some months ago, and it is only now that I am beginning to understand her message and hear her truth.

For me, my artworks are messages from Spirit, and each one is brought into my life to teach me a story and touch me with her presence. I have learned to hold onto my paintings until she becomes a part of me. The paintings will tell me when it is time for them to take wings and fly out into the world.

For me, "You bring light into this world" is a healing goddess. She is a swirl of rainbows, a sparkle across the water. She is a channel for guiding starlight in the cosmos. She is the woman in all of us who creates miracles with her hands, and touches the world with her glow.

Lately I have been learning her messages:

Trust in your healing ability.

Trust in your intuition.

Trust in the wisdom that is inside you already.

With massage, reflexology, oracle cards, crystal healing...
I don't need to focus on knowing the "right" way to do it ~
I only need to just let healing speak to me and through me,
unfolding through my hands just as it needs to be.

Last night I witnessed and was part of a miracle ~
and my house sung with women~sisters healing each other with their hands, so I share this with deep faith and belief in the possibilities of intuitive healing.

I don't need all the books to know in my belly where my hands need to go ~ to touch, to hold, to heal, to bring light.

This is my lesson, this is me trusting the High Priestess inside me.

We know everything already, it's just a case of remembering.

Have you given yourself the gift of crystal healing?
Pick a crystal up. And do what it tells you to do.
How does it speak to you? What does it say? What miracles do you allow inside today?

We are born healers.
We are born gods and goddesses.
We are born divine.

You bring light into this world.

The story of a painting unfolds...

in shining amethyst,
Leonie

There is only Love

There is only love.



There is only love.



There is only love.

Offering

With burning sage
I give thanks to all that has been
and all that will be.

Beneath tall pine trees
there is a ring of tiny mushrooms
where fairies congregate.

I make an offering to the earth
for healing, release and love
for the highest good of all.

I am so grateful.
I am so grateful.
I am so grateful.


How can we more deeply celebrate and honour when the path of a friendship changes?

Today I choose to honour this change as two souls choosing to walk their paths as honestly and authentically as they can.

Today I choose to honour the beauty of those lessons and the miracle light of healing.

Today I choose to honour the great gifts of that connection.

Today I choose to trust who I need to be and where I need to go.

Today I choose to honour love ~ love as the energy that does not begin or end, it simply is.

Today I give great thanks to the Universe
For all that has been, for all that is, for all that will be.

with love, joy and trust in spirit,
Leonie

"Invite Someone Dangerous To Tea" ~ SARK

autumn woman


In the spirit of lush Liz's fantasy tea dates, I hereby invoke my dreamtime dangerous tea ensemble

I would invite SARK, Julia Cameron, Jewel, Linda Goodman, Sarah ban Breathnach, Lynn Andrews, Fiona Horne, a dreadlocked yogi goddess, my dearest friends from around Australia, Ruth Ostrow, Jennifer Louden, an empathic chimpanzee, Toni Childs, Amelie, some delicious bloggerettes from around the globe, Sally Morgan, Anais Nin, Brooke Medicine Eagle, Doris Day and Janeane Garafalo.

My token male would be Roald Dahl, who I regard as a dear uncle to me.

We would meet at a place named Hotel Divine. There would be delectable orange and poppyseed muffins with too cute glace orange slices quivering on the white puffy icing. There would be the World's Most Extensive Range of Herbal Teas (possibly handcrafted by my friend the Wild Shaky Mountain Herbal Medicine Woman). There would be piling steams of pancakes with thirty varieties of toppings. There would be vintage photobooths that you slot your own camera into, with a variety of themed backgrounds you could choose from.

There would be booths and a checkered floor. And we would know the name and intimate details of every waiter and waitress who greeted us as "dahhhhlinks." Sometimes our waiter would be David Hasselhoff, just for shits and giggles.

I would wear fabulous "fru fru" skirts (named by me and Lile after floaty long skirts) in all shades of magenta and turquoise. And a blue Bonds singlet with a fabulous shawl wrapped around me. Preferably barefoot, or sandles. And I would have a fiery sparkly halo that fizzled in all colours of sherbet.

I would take with me bare hands for holding, a watercolour paper journal for dreaming in and my dear Canon. Most of the times I only take photos of napkins though, as what happens at Hotel Divine stays at Hotel Divine.
It would be dreamy divine hilarious raucous illuminating naughty blessed delicious wide open wonderful...

And just personally, I think it would be dangerous, in a tilt-the-world-changing kinda way.

You can play the Dream Tea game at Liz's little room of delights.

Cupcake out, honeys
Leonie