Birthday Totems and Fond Memories

March is my annual birthday collage time.  I have certain themes and totems that appear in many of these birthday collages, but naturally, it's always a different mix. Totems are evocative and perhaps some of these will speak to and for you as well.

Birthday Totems Collage

My cousin Marianne sent me a 1950's photo of our Uncle Carmen with her, my sister and I and cousin Marguerite. I don't know exactly where or when this was taken. The saturated colors were in the original photos.  I often include incongruous elements in my work, but the train here actually has meaning to me, as Uncle Carmen had a large model train layout in his basement. 

Uncle Carmen was my favorite uncle; I always felt close to him. It was interesting working on this collage, as all the feelings of closeness and tenderness would flow, but very few actual memories of events or places with him. I'll happily embrace the feelings sans memories.

Uncle Carmen and The Girls collage

    Till another time.

Two Crows and an Octopus walk into a bar

Ok. I couldn't resist the title - and why should I?? But we do have crows and octopi. These are my last collages [except for cards] of 2020.  Not particularly end-of-year significant, but just a bit.

Crows are my totem, an energy that brings me to closer connection with the 'other' in the world, to more than you can see, to sensing awareness, the interconnection of things.

I find that Crows often emerge in my work when I am feeling overwhelmed, in over my head, too much to bear and they bring with them a integrating effect.  Some collages carry a specific story, others do not.

Two Crows stands as a symbol of Crow energy.  She carries symbols, some personal to me, others not. She stands tall and strong.

Two Crows

Crows Don't Fly At Night emerged from a dream message.  I was lying awake in the middle of the night, thinking about things I needed to do, manage, handle.  I heard the message 'Crows don't fly at night', which I took as a reminder that I couldn't actually take any action in the middle of the night about the things I was ruminating over; to let it go, no flying at night.

Crows Don't Fly At Night

Some time ago my son had an affection for Octopi and I began using them in cards and collages for him, but along the way, I adopted Octopi as my own totem.  They are smart, clever, strong animals who adapt to their environment in amazing ways.  And I like to see them in settings where they are incongruous.   

Retro Octo Girls is just a fun, optimistic collage.  It began as 'anonymous content' collage - no specific theme -  when I found the Retro woman on the left. Other elements caught my eye and then Ocotpi became the cohesive element.

Retro Octo Girls

The Darkling Series

 

The first images came to me while I was watching the Victorian gothic mysterious Penny Dreadful series. I dreamt of dark gowns and then as I began some image searches, the sense that these gowned ladies were holders of energy, held in their symbols and totems came to me. 

After I collected some 'dark gowns', the first totem arose - the Bat.  The Bat, so often symbol of the night and mysterious.  But more so a being of extraordinary perception of direction.  So the 'dark' totems became more expansive. As you will see many totem animals arose -Crow, Spider, Snake, Octopi, Lion and in the 'Clan Guardians' - we see Wolf, Panther, Eagle and Bear.

I have been working on these Darklings for several months now.  Some came in quick succession. Others had a waiting time.  A friend likened them to the images on Tarot cards and they do seem to echo those symbolic archetypal images.  Tarot has accompanying interpretations and here the collage titles serves that role;  so if you were to draw 'Minon, Knower of Direction', she could lead you to contemplate, query and associate to direction - needing it, finding it, knowing it is there and so on.

Some of the images offered the main character's name first, the quality being expressed secondly. Others came without a 'name' and only the quality and I have named the images accordingly. Each name came with it's own spelling - some of which are not 'actual' names or spellings; and in one a friend told me the meaning of the name.  So as you can see, this series has been an interesting intuitive and 'allowing' process for me.  I am not sure the Darklings are complete, but decided to share these seven today.

In that, I decided to google the meaning of today's date, August 11, and found this:  August 11^th is the day of validation. Individuals born on August 11^th express a strong desire to reveal the truth. They also have a predisposition to the dark side of life and places that others are not used to.

Don't you just  love it when the Multiverse seems to be communicating with you?  I do.

Minon - Knower of Directions ~ Darkling Series

Arane' - Mistress of Webs of Interconnection ~ Darkling Series

Keepers of the Unconscious ~ Darkling Series

Corvidae - She Who Remembers ~ Darkling Series

Oralia - Embracer of Change & Adaptability ~ Darkling Series

Clan Guardians ~ Darkling Series

Leiondra - Strength Though Clan ~ Darkling Series

Virgo, Lions and Guardians - oh my!

Some recent Virgo birthdays were inspiration for collages that became cards.  While looking for a Virgo theme for my dear friend Helen, I came across an image with a lion.  I've never associated lions with Virgo, but I really liked the image, but not the Virgo within it.  So out she went.  I then created a more, to my mind, kick-ass Virgo goddess who matched the lion energy, which I felt was a 'Guardian' energy.  

Virgo Lion Guardian collage

Lion Guardian inspired me to create just that for Helen - a lion guardian box.  I then went on a lion quest.  I found some plaster lion heads in my studio, which had been cast from a push mold I made years ago.  More interestingly, these were in supplies Helen had passed along to me.  Aha, her energy was coming into the piece.  The gold frame in the lid, gold leaf and other elements all came from supplies she had given me. Stalwart guardian crystals came from my big crystal bowl and our Virgo Lion Guardian came together nicely.  Mz. Helen was pleased as well.

Lion Guardian Box  mixed-media assemblage  5x5x9

The Virgo collage for my friend Michael evolved into one I call The Virgo Mystic and includes symbols of transformation, like the snakes and swords.

The Virgo Mystic collage

I then had another Lion experience.  There is lot of change going on in my life right now as we are downsizing from our house to an apartment nearby and will soon put our house on the market.  This move also will open the door to more travel.  Recently we were driving in town and I looked out the window and saw a black Panther sitting by the road with its paws extended in front.  I turned to my husband and said, 'Well, that can't really be a panther.' and of course, it morphed into the piece of concrete that it was.

A few days later, I was in the dining room at lunch with the Art Girls.  I felt someone come and stand in the doorway behind me.  I thought it was my husband coming up from his office and turned to see what he wanted.  Instead, I saw the black Panther lying in the doorway.  This time I laughed out loud and said, 'Message received.'  

I googled Panther as a totem and saw, like Lion, it is associated with Guardianship, Transformation and Strength.  Last year when I began some physical changes, Mountain Lion came to me in a dream as a totem for those changes.  Mountain Lions and Panthers are in the same family.  

Recently my sister reminded me that I was born on High Noon on a Full Moon.  She said I will always have two elements active in my life and although they may seem opposite, they are always working in tandem.  I decided that Mountain Lion and Panther are my Sun and Moon Lion Totems.  I am walking through this time with two Lions.  Naturally, I had to capture this energy in a collage.  The Henna tattooed hands represent me in transformation, and as they are henna, the design can change and become something else in time.

Sun and Moon Lions collage