Welcome to Tuesday and the theme of Viriditas.
Today we explore viriditas, the power and spirit of vitality, fecundity, lushness, or growth. Hildegard Von Bingen, the 12th century abbess and medical practitioner, used this term in reference to the capacity of nature, as well as our innate human ability, to grow and to heal. It is in the spirit of viriditas, this urge of spring green growingness, that we invite you into this time of reflection.
Art from Our Community:
Forest Serenity by Jean Tudor, January 1996
Glass on Metal (Enamel), 10" x 10" x 3/4"
Jean writes, "A forest. I once asked a 7th grade class I was teaching if any of them had ever been where there was no sound made by humans and their activities. Not one could cite such a place--there were always traffic noises, voices, construction, sirens. How sad.
The serenity of the forest, the wind in the trees, the rush of the river. Such places are to be treasured."
Art from Our Community:
To Bee Alive by Mary Ann Sinclair, September 2019
Fiber Arts, W 19" x L 27 1/2" x D2 1/2"
Mary Ann writes, "This is a statement piece to remind us that bees work toward the sustaining of all life as a vital support to food sources for all creation. Despite their small stature and short lifespan, they do great things. They are threatened by pesticides brought back to the hive while foraging that threaten the health of the hive and weaken it to the invasion of mites that destroy their comb and eat the pupa in their incubating cell."
Artist Prompt: Describe a moment in your art making or in your life when you sensed the spirit of viriditas welling in, up, and through you. Remember a time when your creation, your life, felt true to the deepest Source of Life within you.
A Poem for You:
"How to Feel the Sap Rising"
Walk as slowly as possible,
all the while imagining
yourself moving through
pools of honey and dancing with
snails, turtles, and caterpillars.
Turn your body in a clockwise direction
to inspire your dreams to flow upward.
Imagine the trees are your own
wise ancestors offering their emerald
leaves to you as a sacred text.
Lay yourself down across earth
and stones. Feel the vibration of
dirt and moss, sparking a tiny
(or tremendous)
revolution in your heart
with their own great longing.
Close your eyes and forget this
border of skin. Imagine the
breeze blowing through your hair
is the breath of the forest and
your own breath joined, rising and
falling in ancient rhythms.
Open your eyes again and see it
is true, that there is no "me" and "tree"
but only One great pulsing of life,
one sap which nourishes and
enlivens all, one great nectar
bestowing trust and wonder.
Open your eyes and see that there
are no more words like beautiful,
and ugly, good and bad,
but only the shimmering presence of your
own attention to life.
Only one great miracle unfolding and
only one sacred word which is
yes.
---Christine Valters Paintner