We are Water~World Water Day March 22, 2014

“Water III” – 2′ x 3′ – Mixed media on canvas ©LE Art & Design

“On  World Water Day, March 22, 2014, the International Council of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers will be leading a women’s WATER BLESSING CEREMONY from the sacred Montezuma Well.” #inthenameofthemother

In the Winter 2013, I began my deep personal journey with my element of water.  Water as a holistic experience, body, mind, spirit and specifically emotions.  I created and was offered a full-blown opportunity to dive into my own repressed and unexpressed emotions, most possibly grieving lifetimes of sorrow and loss.  No matter how long this soul had been containing this unexpressed water, the floodgates were unleashed and I let it flow… for months.  (Note: this is a very abbreviated version of a deep and broad experience for me.)

Lórien’s Water Inspiration

One full cycle of the seasonal year has progressed, my intimate, cathartic relationship with my water has grown and evolved me as an Soul and artist.  My journey with the waters took me through the winter, spring, summer, and through to the latest winter season.  In order to navigate these waters, my daily practices ranged from journaling, letting the tears flow, walking by the seaside, swimming in the oceans, appreciating the rivers and oceans and in creating my five paintings in my Water series.

Water I 2.5′ x 4′ – Mixed media on canvas ©LE Art & Design (SOLD)

Today, March 22, 2014 is  World Water Day.  Although the day may be officially over, it does need be.  We can honor the water with the intentions as stated in the Prayer for the Healing of the Waters.  We m,ay continue to stand in a moment of thought and prayers for our sacred waters #INTHENAMEOFTHEMOTHER

“Water IV” – 4′ x 5′ – Mixed media on canvas (SOLD)

We can also honor our own water by drinking plenty of pure, spring water, taking lots of baths, swimming in clean oceans and rivers, feeling our feelings and honoring and accepting what ever we feel, without judgment, e-moting through artistic expression, and more.  Be creative, be loving and surrender to the healing element of water within and without.  Many blessings on swimming through your deep blue waters… xo

Water II 2.5′ x 4′ – Mixed media on canvas ©LE Art & Design

“Water V” – Diptych 3′ x 3′ and 3′ x 3′ – Mixed media on canvas

Thank you for reading and I invite you to share your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via this blog, my face book page, or email lorien@lorieneck.com.

In love, gratitude and beauty…

www.LorienEck.com

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Surfing the Waves of Change

Waves ©LE Fine Art 2013 (photo)

The secret of change is to focus all your energy,

not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

~Socrates

Firstly, Happy New Moon! We’ve arrived to the harvest month of September, the time of the year when the gradual transition of the autumn season starts to stir in the winds. This time of the year is also very rich and fertile for me, as it’s the time of my solar return, my birth-day~ now what I refer to as my “re-Birth” time of the annual cycle. I love it! The feeling that I relish in is what I have come to know as the “pregnant pause“. It’s the introverted, reflective and introspective pause when I relax into this pause before both my personal and the collective seasonal transition comes to pass. And, this is the harvest season and blossoms, and abundance is everywhere!

Themes that I have been exploring lately in the midst of these winds of change, (and that are also being experienced in my friends and family circle), are the themes of acceptance and receiving. Looking at each separately is not viably possible, in my opinion, these themes are inextricably linked.

I have been meditating on and folding in acceptance of who I am, as a multi-dimensional being; ALL of myself, my brilliant light, my shadow, my sacred wounds, my need for community and support, and my Divinity. Accepting what is, accepting people as they are, and accepting each moment for its beauty, its perfection and its imperfection. Acceptance is an act of generosity, compassion, patience and love towards the Self and others. Sometimes when there is a lack of understanding, compassion or patience, acceptance is the medicine that soothes like a healing balm. Acceptance is the ultimate act of grace. (Jessica Shepherd) What comes to mind is the beautiful work of my friend Alaya DeNoyelles, from her book The Sovereignty of Love. Her work weaves together the Hawaiian healing art of Ho’oponopono, ancient wisdom and modern science inspiring what she calls: unconditional loving presence. This also sums up what I am feeling about acceptance from Osho: “Don’t say this is good and is bad. Drop all discrimination. Accept everything as it is. Liberation cannot be desired because desire is the bondage. When you are desireless, you are liberated. Tantra accepts everything, lives everything.”

Receiving is the call of the Sacred Feminine within all of us, the rise of the Divine Feminine in our times is to balance out the energies of the masculine and feminine within/without. Being a woman and conditioned to give, to over give, and at times in the past, to give from a place of deficit, has come up for transformation in 2013 and receiving fully has become my soul’s natural evolution. Receiving had not been a habit or behavior that was modeled for me, therefore, I am in a process of remembering how to receive. Learning to receive is an ongoing practice of mine inspired to balance out the imbalance of over giving in all areas of my life: career, personal relationships and across the board really. What I am especially and more importantly interested in is in receiving myself whilst I am giving. Giving in and of itself is essential, yet to give from a place of wholeness, completeness, fullness and love, is the key to avoiding experiencing ‘burnout’ or feeling drained. What does that mean, to receive oneself? I invite you to reflect on this for yourself and I’ll be exploring more on this beautiful topic in my future posts.

In closing, the tides of change are upon us, in the cosmic realm and on an individual deeply internal level. It is a great time to take it all in stride, to integrate the new and let go of the old, continue to live from our opulent, abundant space and give lavishly to ourselves and each other. Love much and love often!

I invite you to write your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via this blog, my face book page, or email lorien@lorieneck.com.

In love, gratitude and beauty…

Personally Experienced and Recommended Resources

Awake-One

Cass Phelps is an amazing individual and his inspired body of work and offerings have been a phenomenal resource for me! His work is comprehensive, relevant and rich…I am eternally indebted to my teacher Cass.

Mystic Mamma

I love this website, always on the pulse of the cosmos in a positive way.

Moonkissed Astrology

I enjoy Jessica’s perspective and writing style!

Rob Brezny’s Free Will Astrology

Pure Awakened Genius!

The Sovereignty of Love

by Alaya DeNoyelles

_______________________________

“Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it,

you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart.

Learn to love the questions themselves.”

~Rainer Maria Rilke

“What we are, the world is.
Without our own transformation,
there can be no transformation of the world.”
~Sri J Krishnamurti

www.lorieneck.com

 

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Process as Catharsis

Kalalau 3 ©LE Fine Art (photo)

Happy nearly mid-summer to you!  How is yours coming along so far?  Mine has been dedicated to completing a new body of work, a series of paintings concentrated on the element of water.  You most likely know that water comprises over 70% of our bodies and about 70% of our planet Earths’ surface.  The oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water and water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers. Did you know that the proportions of salt to fresh water on the planet are the same as in the body, the fresh water being in the in spine?  Wow!

My passion for water is many layered.  Firstly, water “in-spirits” me, inspires me to create, to feel, to allow my spirit to BE.  Growing up near the ocean and the fact that seashores have always (and will always) be a very healing, cooling and nourishing place for me to simply BE.  During the past few months, I have been inspired to engage with the waters of life in any way that I can.  For example, long essential oil and salt infused baths, swimming in the ocean lots, sitting on the sea shore, hydrating the body with more and more pure water and feeling the inner waters of e-motions.

Through my daily practices revolving around water, old layers of sadness have emerged to be made love to and let go of…  Embracing fluidity and stillness in my life process, resting in vulnerability and surrender allowing old thought/feeling patterns to bubble up and dissolve…  This life process is vital to go through for me vs. the avoid-dance, catalyzing catharsis to create (in this case) my art  from a place of authenticity and true beauty.

And, honestly, from what I have learned from being a lifelong artist and student, moving through the layers of the shadow and the strata of the defense structure, are what make great art.  Even if it’s not “pretty”, it’s a beautiful and necessary process.  I was challenged lately by one of my teachers Cass to face my pain, anger, sadness and other “ugly” shadow stuff, especially if I call myself a “transformative” artist.  Amen, he called it!  No steps can be skipped and this is the journey that I have accepted that I am on.  He encouraged me to look at my favorite artists’ (all mediums) and their work for evidence of this fact.  Vero vero.  Gratefully, I accepted this challenge as my aim is to be extraordinary and real in my expression of my Gifts in our world, similar to my favorite artists.  🙂

Courage, I embrace the waters with courage.  Nourishing from the source of life, our waters both inside and out.

I invite you to write your contributions via comments and connections and would love to hear from you via this blog, my face book page, or email lorien@lorieneck.com.

In love, gratitude and beauty…

Personally Experienced and Recommended Resources

Awake-One

Cass Phelps is an amazing individual and his inspired body of work and offerings have been a

phenomenal resource for me! His work is comprehensive, relevant and rich…I am eternally indebted to my teacher Cass.

The Work and World of Dr. Masaru Emoto

Masaru Emoto has studied water for over twenty years. Water has been Dr. Masaru Emoto’s passion.  He has studied water around the planet form the perspective of an original thinker, and is the author of a number of bestselling books, a three-volume photo collection of beautiful water crystals, and now two children’s books about water.  These books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages.

Books:

The Water Cure with Dr. F. Batmanghelidj

Love his books!

Did you know?

Water is the basis of all life and that includes your body. Your muscles that move your body are 75% water; your blood that transport nutrients is 82% water; your lungs that provide your oxygen are 90% water; your brain that is the control center of your body is 76% water; even your bones are 25% water.

Our health is truly dependent on the quality and quantity of the water we drink.

Water

FindaSpring.com is a community and user created database of natural springs around the world.  Spring water is the cleanest, healthiest, most natural water. Now is the time to reclaim our water!

http://www.findaspring.com/

Film:

Inspirations

This latest documentary film by Michael Apted (7Up series, Gorillas in the Mist, Nell) explores the creative process through candid discussion with seven artists from diverse media.  (note: Chihuly loves water too, it’s fuel for his creative expression!)

“About 70 percent of our bodies are water. This is the case for adults of all races, and it is why people should not be divided by political strategies and ideologies. Just like water, people must always be allowed to flow freely.”

~Dr. Masaru Emoto

www.lorieneck.com

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