happy easter rising!!!!

 

Today is Easter Sunday and the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, the initial event that eventually led to Ireland's independence from England's domination.

Which is why I think this is the perfect time to post photos of my most recent project that is still up (until tonight) in the project room at the Burren College of Art. Last Wednesday was my day among the grad students to fill the project room with my work and energy. This is the result. 

I created a tipi with my paintings and other meaningful tidbits and held a ceremony with a portion of the grad group. 

The ceremony began in my apartment where each day for the last several weeks, I have been holding space and gratitude for each person in our group. I set up a prayer alter and lit a candle for each person using the Buddhist loving kindness meditation, "May you be well. May you be happy. May you be free from suffering". 

We gathered in the tent on Wednesday around 18 candles. I lit a candle and said the meditation for each person present. I then handed the candle over to them to hang up in the gallery. We then went around and did the same for everyone who was not present.

Something happened for me during the process of creating this piece. I felt a magical Presence with me as if I was entering into my destiny. God, that's exciting! I also love how elements of Native American Spirituality, Catholicism, and Buddhism are all present in this piece. All of these have influenced me in some way and have a presence in my life.

There are many variations of the Loving Kindness meditation, but generally, the idea is this: you say the meditation for yourself first. This is important because all healing of any kind, begins with healing ourselves first. Then you say it for someone close to you, then for an acquaintance, then for an enemy/someone who is challenging for you.

  For some reason, i felt compelled to put myself last even though i know it is crucial to put yourself first, but in the middle of the ceremony i realized i was going to run out of matches and someone made the suggestion that i light one candle and use that flame to light the other candles! genius! somehow i didn't think of that before hand, but it was almost better because the metaphor was even more pronounced. So i did the meditation for myself and proceeded to use my own light to light the candles for those around me. 

For me, everything about the process of making this and the ceremony was profound and beautiful. i love it. i love everything about it. i love holding space for people and how it makes me aware of how everyone is going through something. everyone has a lot on their plate emotionally and needs support. we are all in this together. 

xx. thanks for reading. (video soon to come)