| What's a broken heart to do? |
How are your hearts doing out there dear ones? Like many of you, I've been walking around with a broken heart since the presidential election.
There have been a few times over these last weeks when I've buried my head in my pillow and cried out loud with grief. It isn't the loss of the election that hurts me so, although I am deeply disturbed by it. What grieves me more is the hopeless feeling that we are going backward in our caring for the environment, for our Mother Earth. This is the ultimate betrayal. After hundreds of years of offering Her unlimited resources for our survival and pleasure, those now in charge are turning a blind eye to Her generous and giving nature.
There is a law of reciprocity, a balance between all things, including giving and taking. At some point after taking and taking without giving anything back there will be nothing more to take, like in the story of
The Giving Tree. She will survive, but will we?
I walk around my house thinking to myself, "Oh my God, what can we do; the dragons are guarding the gate." And so I can no longer rest in my usual live-and-let-live philosophy.
Here are some ideas I've found for action:
~Sign petitions that are legitimate.
~Give money to organizations for change.
ideas here
~Do more to reduce, reuse, recycle, walk, bike, or take public transportation; use less water and energy; eat less meat.
~Stay close to nature. Reconnect with creatures and plants, in a garden, a park and in the wilderness. Actually touch the living soil with your bare hands and feet, feel the breeze and listen to the birds.
~Lament the suffering and loss you see.T
ruly grieve for extinct species, for people touched by hurricanes, famine, and disease. Cry and wail aloud, beat a drum, tear a piece of cloth, create and bury a litany of loss.
~Celebrate the beauty and mystery of our universe.
Write a poem, chant a prayer, paint a picture. Say thank you for the abundance of air, water, food, and shelter you receive every day. Praise the Great Spirit who is gradually bringing all of creation to fullness and wholeness.
May we rise from our grief and be called to right action my friends.
Glenda Goodrich
GG's Down to Earth Studio
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GG's Down to Earth Studio Offerings:
A Balm for Your Wounded Soul and Spirit
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Now more than ever we need to a way to turn into the skid, express our grief and transform it into hope and right action. Art is our antidote.
"Art is powerful--is enough--because it can make people feel differently. It forces people to be sensitive to others. It creates compassion. Our mission as artists is to remember that we have the power to make each other feel."
Emma Sulkowicz
, performance artist
Shrines for Hope and Healing
the weekend before the I
nauguration: Saturday, January 14, 2017 9:30
am to 4 pm
Shrines are ways of showing in tangible form what might be happening in our hearts and spirits. We will gather and put these mysteries into visual expression by creating our own personal shrines for hope and healing. Your shrine can be dedicated to the environment, diversity of all species, return of the great feminine, your higher power, your spiritual practice, or to simply heal your broken heart...whatever moves you. Read more about the power of shrine making
here.
GG's Down to Earth Studio
No class fee (a $15 material fee will cover basic shrine structure, supplies, paints, collage materials, ephemera, texture, matte medium, tools). Participants may want to bring additional totems, talismans and charms for their personal shrines.
Register with GG here.
Origami Temple of Kindness
Saturday, December 10, 2016
1 pm to 4 pm
Come and make your own Temple of Kindness, complete with secret little messages of love, joy and happiness. Create this delightful 3-dimensional work of art to give as a gift for the holidays.That is, if you can bear to part with it! Follow step-by-step instructions to fold Origami bowls, cover mat board lids, adding beads and charms to create a sweet temple of delight!
Kids ages 8+ are welcome, too.
Cost $25.00 ($20 for members of the Arboretum)
Proceeds to go the arboretum.
($10 materials fee to artist to cover origami kits--mat board, paper, beads and charms)
SoulCollageĀ® Serendipity
Friday Dec 9th
2 pm to 5 pm
Build your card deck in a community of kindred spirits. Come join us for card making and reading
in t
he peaceful and creative atmosphere
of GG's Down to Earth Studio in Salem.
Hundreds of images await you!
Sliding scale fee: $15 to $20
You're invited to two upcoming shows
Something Red - Downtown Salem Dec 7 - 31
more here
Corban University Barn Gallery, Dec 1 - Jan 20, Opening reception Dec 1, 5 pm
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