Upcoming Creative Astrology Online Workshops

A SAD NOTE

Due to a recent accident with my computer, which caused  loss of all my data, the upcoming online workshops are cancelled until further notice.They will be back as soon as I am able to recompose and reorganize all the classes material. Please accept my apologies. 

To be informed when workshops will be back, feel free to add me to you Facebook list (http://www.facebook.com/patricia.ariel), follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/patricia_ariel) or simply follow this blog. Thanks for your understanding.

Apollo and Diana, Tiepolo

THE SUN'S PATHWAY: Myself as the Hero of My Own Story

STARTS: TBA

DURATION: 10 days

COST: $30.00

LIMIT: 12 persons

In the birth chart, the Sun is the generator of energy and life. Rather than merely describing personality traits, the Sun carries our Divine essence, and points out manners of manifesting it. The Sun is the life within us, the strength of our spirit. When we don't channel the energy of our Sun in a constructive way, we become devitalized and our life lacks purpose. We are born to be the heroes of our own story.

In this workshop you will learn how to find the placement of the Sun in your birth chart, to read its messages and learn how to benefit from its energy. You will explore the Hero's Journey and connect it to our personal path. You will understand the connections between your Sun and your creativity, and find out why you are born to shine. At the end of the workshop you will create a luminous mandala that will help you to connect and bring out your inner light, and learn how to create and keep a mandala journal.




Registration Fee:

$30.00

THE MOON WITHIN: Revering the Child and the Feminine in Me

STARTS: TBA

DURATION: 10 days

COST: $30.00

LIMIT: 12 persons

Our society has been attempted to silence the Great Mother's voice, however, she's been a strong, alive force within each one of us. In our birth chart, she is the Moon, the lady of our emotions and instincts. Woman or man, we can never find balance if the voice of the Feminine in us is ignored or suppressed. 

The Moon is also our inner child, a portion of us that is tied to the past, but remains a strong influence in our present. The inner child needs nurturing and love; how is your relationship with her?

In this workshop you will unveil the meaning of the Feminine in you through the understanding of the Moon in you birth chart. You will become more aware of your inner nature, emotions, and connect to your goddess and your child within through the astrological language and a fascinating mandala-making exercise.

Registration Fee:

$30.00

REGISTER IN BOTH WORKSHOPS AND HAVE A $10.00 DISCOUNT!

Registration fee for "The Sun's Pathway" and "The Moon Within":
$50.00

You can pay using PayPal, Google Checkout or personal check. As soon as I receive your payment notification, I will send you an email with instructions on how to complete your registration. For payment by check, please email me at ariel@patricia-ariel.com for instructions.


Cancellation Policy:
Refunds will be available up to one week prior the course starting day, minus a $10 administrative fee.



Read more about the CREATIVE ASTROLOGY WORKSHOPS.

Creative Astrology - On Line Workshops

I've been receiving some inquiries from people interested in participating in the workshop, but unfortunately finding a little difficult to commit with seven straight weeks of classes. I have then decided to split the workshop in separate sessions, independent from each other. Price has been reduced too. To learn more, please read description below!

An astrological reading done by a competent astrologer should be an enriching and transformative experience. However, nobody knows better about the way your birth chart works than you. The Astrological language is composed by symbols that exist in each one of us, symbols that carry potentials and myriads of meanings. They don't determine or induce anything; it's up to you to use them in a constructive, creative way.

Creative Astrology comprehends three workshops designed to conduct you into a beautiful and precious journey through your inner self. Using the languages of Astrology and Art you'll find out your life path, talents, and learn how to transform challenges into growth potentials. You'll learn how to use your birth chart as a catalyst to change and creativity, as you create a Mandala Journal to help you channel your psychic energies, gain focus and insight. As we explore your chart and the way its symbols resonate within you, you'll be introduced to the basic elements that compose the astrological language – elements, planets, signs, and houses – in a perceptive and intuitive way, and learn how they relate to your personal experience. Group discussions and sharing of insights and art-making will enrich even more our journey.

Workshops will start at every second Monday of each month, and will last ten days. They are not intended to be a complete course on astrology, which would require a lot more time and a different learning method, but are designed to give you a glimpse of how the astrological language manifests itself, in yourself and in the world around you. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of astrology or art training to participate. All you need is an open heart and willingness to spend a few fun hours cultivating your own spirit and creativity.


Creative Astrology was created for:

• people who wish to begin understanding astrology and their birth charts in a ludic and intuitive way;
• people in self-awareness or therapeutic process, who wish to obtain new insights about themselves and their psyches;
• people who wish to unleash or develop their creativity;
• people who wish to express themselves, relief stress, or even to  share experiences with others. 

In this workshop, you will:

• learn how to read and understand the basics of your birth chart, through music, images, poetry, etc, and connect them with your own experience; 
• learn techniques to build personal mandalas and identify their symbolism;
• learn how to start and keep a mandala journal;
• improve or jump start your creativity;
• develop comfort and confidence in your art making;
• express yourself, interact and learn with other people's experiences.

ALL WORKSHOPS ARE LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS.

THE STEPS OF THE JOURNEY

THE SUN'S PATHWAY: myself as the hero of my own story

Starts: February 8th
Cost: $30.00
Click Here to sign up!

THE MOON WITHIN: revering the child and the feminine in me

Starts: March 8th
Cost: $30.00
Click Here to sign up!



Learn more - CREATIVE ASTROLOGY FAQ

CLICK HERE TO SEE ARTWORKS FROM THE EARLIER CREATIVE ASTROLOGY - LIVING THE FOUR ELEMENTS WORKSHOP!

Creative Astrology FAQ

1.How does the course work?

The Creative Astrology Workshop is an interactive, online course that joins astrology and art. We will use a discussion list on Yahoo Groups as our virtual classroom, which makes the process highly dynamic: everybody can participate, according to their availability, and learn with others' experiences and observations. You will learn how to read important points of your birth chart and connect them to your life experience. Each session will include discussions and reflections, meditation, questions and answers, and exercises to develop your perception, intuition and creativity. Simultaneously, you will be producing a visual journal and submitting your artwork to the group, sharing your experience, perceptions and insights and connecting them to your birth chart, making an evaluation of your personal growth that week.

That's how it works:

• By Monday of each week you'll receive a PDF file containing texts, images, reflections and worksheets of the week's theme. You will also learn how to read your chart and how the energy of the planets and signs manifest in you.
  

• By Thursday you will receive instructions on how to develop your creative practice of the week. You will have the opportunity to watch videos and listen to mp3 files that will facilitate meditation and the creation of a sacred workspace. Until Monday of the next week, you are free to create and share images of your artwork with the group.

• During the week I'll be assisting you in your journey, with answers to your questions and comments on your discoveries and insights. I'll be also guiding you in the exploration of your birth chart, providing you with personalized information. You are strongly encouraged to interact with each other, exchanging ideas, insights and support.

2.What is included in the course?

Each participant will be granted an invitation to the list Artessence, on Yahoo Groups, which will work as our virtual private space for conversation and sharing of artworks. You will also receive a copy of their birth charts, which is an important part of the process. A weekly PDF file with plenty of information about the week's theme, reflections, worksheets with questions to ponder, and suggestions for creative practices. Videos and mp3s will guide you in your meditations and creative process.

3.What type of material will I need?

Basically, a computer connected to internet and a image capture device like a digital camera, scanner, cell phone, etc. For the art practice we will work with a variety of materials, like paper or boards, colored pencils, chalks, pastels, watercolors, brushes, old magazines, pictures, and support materials like compass, ruler, pencil, and eraser. Please, don't worry about buying the best materials in the market or being fully equipped for the course – you can very well adapt certain materials to your needs or even improvise, if necessary.

4.What's my commitment by taking part of the workshop?

By being part of the Creative Astrology group you will need to commit to a few activities that will enhance and enrich your experience. As human interaction is an important part of our journey,  it is strongly recommended that you talk to the group about your experiences and also offer support and suggestions when necessary. Revealing your identity is not a request – participating in the experience under an alias is perfectly fine. You are also required to produce a piece of artwork every week and sharing it with the group, as well as your creative process.

5. Will the workshop schedule allow me to cope with my regular activities?

The workshop is designed to give flexibility to the participants. You won't need to be online at a certain time of the day to attend the classes, and you can take part in the discussions at any time you are available. Of course we have a structure to be followed, but the way you will organize your schedule is entirely up to you.

6. What subjects will be discussed in the course?

We'll be basically discussing astrology, spirituality, and creativity, both in a theoretic and personal way. Jungian analytical psychology and Mythology are constantly evoked. As the course develops, is not uncommon that other subjects related to the Arts or Mysticism come up!


7. Will I be able to read a birth chart in the end of the course?


The course is not intended to be a complete course on Astrology, which would demand a lot more time and a different approach on the subject. But you will be able to recognize some of the most important points of a chart and learn how to read them intuitively, connecting them to your own experience of life. You'll learn how Astrology can help us connect to the nature forces and the flow of life and the Universe.



8. What creative medium will be considered in the workshop?

We will be basically working on two-dimensional projects – drawing, painting and collage – to create a visual journal with mandalas. However, depending on the week theme, you are not limited to express yourself using only the suggested materials. Feel free to create and share artworks other than mandalas or two-dimensional pieces whenever you want!

9. Why creating mandalas?

Mandalas were chosen as the primary path to expression due to its power to heal and integrate fragments of our selves. Working in a circular shape can create focus and be at one time a meditative and calming activity. You are not limited to create always in a circular shape, if you don't feel like it – however you soul chooses to express at that time, it's the way to go. Read more about mandalas here.

10. Is there a minimum age required to enroll?

Due to the interactivity of the course, many times we may discuss subjects that parents may not find appropriate to a child or teen to participate in. A minimum age of 16 years-old is recommended.

11. I am not an artist. How can I benefit from this course?

This course is about creativity and attunement with your inner self. Is about to create bonds with your basic energies and use this connection to spark your creativity. Creativity is not an attribute of trained artists; its a quality that is in each one of us, a revelation of our Divine part. The creative process we will develop in this workshop has nothing to do with beauty standards, mastering of techniques or a high quality final product. Our big purpose here is the process we are in as we create. The joy. The fun. The discoveries about our inner selves. The connection with something greater, not limited by the intellect but ruled by the heart and soul. Since they are not tied to rationalizing about how their art is supposed to be, non artists can feel even more at ease with the process than trained artists, who may need a little more time to get “unprogrammed” and enjoy the process with freedom.

12. I am already an artist. How can I benefit from this course?


I truly believe that Creative Astrology can greatly empower practicing artists, by providing ways to explore their art-making in a most intuitive way, less committed to preconceived standards. By linking creativity to spirituality and self-awareness, you can experience more freedom in your creative process and understand that true art comes from the soul, from your connection with your true self and your experiences as an unique human being. When you are in tune with your special nature, art becomes a sacred practice. You stay in tune with the universal source of creativity and are less likely to experience blocks or inhibiting processes.

13. How much does the workshop cost? In case I realize the course is not for me, do you provide a refund?



The cost for the Creative Astrology classes is of $30.00 for each 10 days workshop. Refunds will be available up to one week prior the course starting day, minus a $10 administrative fee.



Still have questions? Please contact me at ariel@patricia-ariel.com It will be a pleasure talking to you!

Ready to enroll? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

Creative Astrology: Living the Four Elements - First Edition

I just can't express my joy and gratitude for the wonderful group that has been, for almost 2 weeks, sharing with me the first Creative Astrology Online Workshop. It was for sure an exciting start, blessed by the energy of the Fire! I want to congratulate all the group for so much life, love and creative energy, and thank them for sharing their inspiring insights.

Here are the amazing artworks produced by the group:

 Jasmine

Delphyne

Lucy

Lynne

Silere

Why to make mandalas?

Mandalas are pervasive images in the art of folks and cultures all over the world, existing in the form of paintings, dances or buildings. They express the notion of Cosmos, of reality unified in a whole, the perfect relationship between space and time, form and movement. The universal symbolism of the circle resonates deeply with our inner self. It symbolizes the idea of perfection, completeness, and wholeness.

In spiritual traditions worldwide, mandalas are largely used as healing, meditation, and teaching tools. They have the power to work as a mirror for the spiritual or archetypal content of the psyche. Through the process of mandala-making, one could access levels of consciousness that could not be achieved in a state of alertness. The colors, shapes, symmetries of a mandala can alter the pattern of our brain waves, providing changes in perception and a sensation of freedom and serenity. This is when we get connected to our inner self, or Divine nature; then the invisible comes to the surface and becomes available to the physical view. Due to its character of wholeness, the mandala can take the viewer and the maker to an experience of connection to the Universe, helping to reunite the fragmented pieces of their selves.

In today's world, when people are so easily dragged by the urges of the contemporary lifestyle, they forget to live their inner life, or attend to the needs of their souls. They become shattered, allowing illness to find a fertile ground to grow. Illness is nothing but unbalance, disconnection, disharmony between the parts of a whole. This is why making or meditating on a mandala has the power to provide relief for stress, bring focus and work as a tool for integrating mind, body and soul.

Workshops

My workshops are designed to awake the creative self, promote self-awareness and inner transformation, and trigger a sense of purpose through the understanding of our essential, divine nature. My goal is to create a space where people can explore their creativity and discover potentials and talents, cultivating their uniqueness and self-esteem, and finding support and encouragement through their interaction with others. They are indicated to people who believe in the importance of reserving a little time to cultivate their spirit and creativity, in order to enrich their lives and change themselves and their environment.


In my workshops I integrate symbolic arts like Astrology and Tarot, visual arts, movement and corporal expression, creative journaling, writing, meditation, creative visualization, music and mandalas. In both live and online workshops human interaction and sharing of experiences are highly encouraged. Absolutely no previous art training is necessary - only a willingness to exploration, adventure and play.


I am available to facilitate retreats for companies, groups and organizations, as well as spiritually-based spaces and communities. Workshops can be customized to attend the needs of your group. I'm based in Kentucky, USA, but available to travel to other areas. Please contact me for more detailed information.




Live Workshops (One Day/Weekend)

Astrology and Mandalas

• Creating Mandalas for Healing (Workshop details coming soon)
  Explore the potential of Mandala-making for healing, gaining focus and insight.
  
•  Creative Astrology - The Sun's Pathway (Workshop details coming soon)
  Find out your soul's essence and personal path through your birth chart and Mandala-making, exploring the Hero's Journey and how it connects to your horoscope and personal experience. 

Art and Creativity Development

• InFlow (Workshop details coming soon)
  Explore your creative self. Have fun, have joy. Flourish. Connect. Heal yourself. Get transformed.

On Line Workshops

• Creative Astrology
  Astrology & Mandala Journaling workshop. Learn how to understand your birth chart while developing your creativity.

Astroportraits

The Astroportraits are very special fine art portraits inspired on your astrological profile. Your picture will show merged in a web of images, symbols and colors that represent the energy patterns showed in your birth chart - Rising sign or Ascendant, Sun and Moon signs, predominant element, Moon Nodes and other important points. It is like a visual poem, a register of your potentials and talents, a reminder of  how special and unique you are. A representation not only of your exterior image, but also of your inside, of your heart and soul.

 

Portraits are made in colored pencils, watercolors and graphite. Before starting, I'll raise your horoscope, analyzing its main points and identifying its symbology. I'll send you a questionnaire that will help me identify  how you have been living your symbols. I also use the Tarot and meditation. The whole process works as a look inwards... For such I encourage creative visualization and self-analysis, based on the astrological symbolism. With good resolution pictures of you in hands, the brainstorm process can then begin. Until I finish the initial sketch, we’ll discuss the work, the elements and colors portrayed in the picture, based on my insights and also on your own ideas, as you wish. The initial sketch will be sent to you for your reviewing as many times as necessary until you get totally satisfied. Concluded this process, it's time for the next step, or the making of the final picture.

You can also have the portrait of your child or other loved one. Or even the portrait of both of you together, based on your synastry (the astrological study of relationships.) Astroportraits make wonderful gifts and precious keepsakes.

What you will receive:
- Original portrait
- Hand designed birth chart
- Art statement explaining all the symbolism contained in the picture in how it relates to your horoscope
- High resolution PDF version of the portrait, for printing purposes
- Certificate of authenticity

 Price: $160.00
(9 x 11 in full color portrait. Please contact me for other sizes and b&w.)

 

To commission yours, please visit my store.

Services

COMING SOON!

About Me

My name is Patricia Ariel, and I am a Brazil-born artist, art  facilitator and self-taught astrologer. My formal education includes a bachelor degree in Art Education/ Art History and technical degrees in Fashion Design and Nursing. Besides painting and drawing, my experience with the Arts involves dance and corporal expression, drama, music, design, and literature (fiction and poetry.) While in Brazil I worked as an art teacher in schools and courses, and run workshops in several subjects related to the arts and astrology. I've been studying mysticism, spiritualism, mythology, symbolism, sacred geometry, art therapy, and tarot for quite a while;  as well as with the Arts, I was awakened to spirituality and mysticism in early age.  My art and spiritual path complement each other; they have been revealing themselves as fantastic tools for healing, bringing joy, expanding my consciousness, and tuning me into the sacred rhythms of life.  They have deeply connected me to the Divine light and filled my life with purpose. I am a true believer in the power of  the Arts to connect us to our deeper selves, healing and provoking changes, and also in the principle that every major change in the world starts in the individual. My goal is to contribute to a greater change as a worker for the Universe, sharing my passion for the Arts and inspiring and helping people to live more meaningful and creative lives.

About Artessence

The Artessence project was created to cover all my activities regarding to education, counseling, and artistic commissioned works like visionary portraits and mandala making. My goal is to humbly share my experience and talents with the ones that believe that life should be a richer and more fulfilling journey. The ones who believe that creativity is a sacred achievement, a potential that remains in every individual, and who want to learn how to develop and improve it. The ones who have their minds and hearts open to the gifts of life independently of belief systems or dogmas. The ones who wish to flourish as sparks of the Divinity and to live a creative, joyful, and gratifying life.

I use a blend of Art, Astrology, Tarot, and meditation in my workshops and artworks. Since all these tools deal with symbols and archetypes present in the human mind, they complement each other in a very rich way, providing many resources for creative exploration of the psyche. You are invited to know my work and get involved! To be informed about new workshops and services, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my mailing list.

Contacts

In case of interest in any of my workshops and services, please contact me at ariel@patricia-ariel.com

Dare to be creative

Since I was a little child, I've been exercising my artistic creativity in the most varied forms. I don't remember any time of my life when I was not doing anything creative, and I was never blocked by my parents or teachers. So my creativity flourished and became part of my understanding of life. Later, when I started to break a little of the big barrier of introversion that had permeated my life and had a closer contact with other people, it was sort of curious to realize how their views of life were different from mine. Part of my difficulty in teaching art is based on my attempts to understand how things work for people who don't create on a regular basis. It is like trying to understand how it is to live underwater when your nature is to walk on the ground.

Some my say that artists are lucky, privileged or "gifted" people. But I don't think that I, or any other creative person, are really any of these things. We are just exercising something that in reality is within everyone. We are so addicted to the feeling of happiness and realization that comes from the act of creation that we want more and more - I, for instance, wake up thinking about art and go to bed thinking about art.

There are no “creative” or “non-creative” people. All of us are creative people. Creativity is nothing that people cannot develop and exercise themselves – because, as sons and daughters of the Creator, that's our intrinsic nature. It is just that the second type probably had few or no chances to develop their creative beings as a natural thing. We go to school and we learn that math and history are more important that music or fine arts, because they are things of the intellect and arts of the perception, and since intellect is more important than feelings, therefore the arts are not really important. Artists are just those lunatics that make beautiful things to hang on our walls or put some sounds together to help us relax in the end of a stressful day. Nothing really important like money or a nice house and a car, or like science or engineering, those things, you know, that build and make the world you live in "work". Some people even say that creating art is not even a real job.

Oh, the world. That wonderful, comfortable, sick world of people fragmented and unaware of their own emptiness. That same people who learned so efficiently how to maintain the status quo are the same ones that know few or nothing about themselves. The same ones that look for a God somewhere over the rainbow and are unable to realize that He is in fact inside themselves, in their owns hearts... But they cannot hear Him because their hearts have been silenced for so long that they even forgot they have one.

According to the Eastern wisdom, things like creativity, perception and emotions are seen as ways to set us free from ignorance and suffering. It's only trough those things that one can access levels of conscience that are not within reach of the conscious mind. Eastern wisdom teaches us that we must function as wholes, and not in fragments, like the mechanistic Western thought has instructed us to do for so long. What follows this deep unbalance we live in cannot be less than sickness and distance from our true essence – and from Divinity.

Being creative does not only mean to create art in its strict sense; being creative is to be ourselves, it is to let your imagination flow and bring it to the world in physical form. It is to let your light shine from within to the outside. This light ends up illuminating not only own our existence but also everything and everybody else that comes to get in contact with us. And thus our personal contribution to a world more conscious and free from old, limiting patterns takes effect. Creative people are in straight touch with themselves because they are in constant process of self-understanding; at the same time, they are freer because they learn how to transcend their reality (this type of transcendence, or encounter with something bigger than ourselves, it's ordinarily attempted through common forms of escapism, which can include things like drugs, organized religions or TV.) They become conscious of their uniqueness and improve their self-esteem and self-respect. They leave their marks in everything they choose to put their love into: a meal, a painting, a new way to decorate the living room or to make the working team more productive. They become inspiring, more sensitive to other people's needs, more empathic and more able to contribute to their world in a loving way, because they learn to recognize the Divine in themselves and in others, understanding that through that divine inheritance we are all connected.

Recycling... Organizing... Creating.

I'm going through what appears to be a recycling phase in my artistic life. There are some things that are not working as I'd like, and others that sound to me to be in need of urgent changes. I've been experiencing different techniques and approaches toward my themes and also trying to find ways to turn things a bit more organized and exciting.

At the last Lexington Pagan Pride I saw a tarot reader that warned me about the need of some changing in my professional life. At that moment I didn't realize that I needed that, everything was just fine the way it was, but a couple weeks ago I began to look at my works with different eyes and everything suddenly made sense. In fact I've been too eager in embracing new opportunities and getting involved with so many things that I've been feeling overwhelmed. And it is not bringing any good to my development as an artist - or my sanity.

It seems that Artessence will also change. I've been planing bigger things to this humble space and attempting to transform it in a real project. I'm excited. While it does not happen, I leave you with this wonderful interview with the Dutch philosopher Robert Happé (the website is in Portuguese and also the video subtitles, but the interview is in good English), which is pretty much the spirit of Artessence. Enjoy!

Studio updates here!

When this blog was initially constructed, it was intended to accommodate my insights in astrology and spirituality. I had the project in hands and mind but I still didn't know very well what to do with it. You know, I have this tendency of accumulating projects, and then I end up with so much stuff in hands that it gets almost impossible to handle everything. So I recently took the decision on taming my super-ultra-mega Gemini tendency of working in one thousand things at the same time and put my projects together in just a few places.

I used to have a Livejournal to keep people updated with news about my artwork. But since I found out that they are now putting advertising everywhere on the site, and I don't feel inclined to pay for an ad-free account, I thought that maybe it would be a better idea to bring the artwork updates here. After all, this is also a blog about art and its connections with the spirit. And I'd have one less thing to take care of, what's always terrific when you are an artist and full time mom... ;)

So, if you want to keep informed about what I've been doing and don't really care about astrology, tarot cards and metaphysical stuff, just look for the label Studio Updates on the right.
And be welcome!

ooooops!

if you're visiting this space right now, sorry for the mess. I'm trying to organize everything around here and, as you know, it takes a little time. don't forget to come back soon!

my stroke of insight

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard's neuroscientist, talks about her experience of consciousness expansion during a stroke in 1996. I found it absolutely touching - and not because of the somewhat "preacheresque" tone of the lecture. It's great to see somebody with scientific knowledge experiencing something we've known for so long, and bringing it to the light out of the mystical/esoteric spheres. Highly recommend. Subtitles in Portuguese.


Part one:


Part two:

into the fog

I am not an astrology freak. You know the type: the ones that don't put their feet out of bed in the morning without consulting the stars. I am more likely to let life flow and don't really check my transits except when I am about to take some important step. Or when I begin to observe patterns in my daily life, and then I have no choice but take a look at the sky and see what's going on.

Since a couple weeks ago I found out I was getting clumsier than usual. I also began to lose and forget things - I've been forgetting essential items in my grocery list since 3 weeks ago! My energy levels also have been decreasing. My body fights to stay in bed in the morning, and my legs and feet are often heavy and hurt. I like to have one or another beer once in a while, and also a couple weeks ago I was feeling like drinking almost everyday. Last weekend, getting ready to leave the house, I could not find an outfit that could help me not to feel "sloppy". I've been also approached by people in need of help that ask me to "take a little look" in their charts or read the tarot.

Yes, you've guessed. Neptune is here. Yesterday I checked out my transits and found out that it is exactly 120 degrees from my Sun. A perfect and neat trine. And since trines are not always the agents of heaven's grace, as many believe, it's good I start to use my friend's energy to something constructive or I'll end up getting sick - the Sun is the physical body. My experience tells me that when we are naturally attunned to the energy of a planet, its transits don't use to be really devastating because we know how to deal with that force. I don't really tend to get lost in the neptunian fog because I've been dealing with it all my life and I know the shortcuts. In my case, Neptune is one of these planets. So, I am now pondering how I can restart a yoga program (interrupted since I was 8 months pregnant), give more attention to my social art projects or simply wipe the dust off my drawing table - have not been working since almost a month, occupied with other not-so-fun professional activities. Anyway, I am expecting nothing less than a sea of inspiration in this interesting phase.

under a little construction...

Stars with Tea now is Artessence. Because is maybe a better name to accommodate all my musings on the soul languages.

Just a bit more time before changing the url and links.

Lizzie Siddal, Dante Rossetti and the one thousand faces of Neptune

I finally finished reading the dazzling “Lizzie Siddal – Face of the Pre-Raphaelites”, by Lucinda Hawksley. The book is a delight in every page, specially for who, like me, have a big interest on the Victorian era and mainly on its artistic movements. Among them, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and its romantic protagonists play a key role. I have a great fascination with the life of the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and by his “femme fatales”, to which the stunning Elizabeth Siddal many times loaned her face. Siddal became Rossetti’s lover and finally, almost in the end of her troubled life, his wife. Rossetti and Lizzie were the protagonists of a relationship seasoned by the typical romanticism of their time, marked by poetry, art, laudanum, religiosity and tragedy. Neptune in all of its fashions.

Lizzie Siddal didn’t have, for her time, what one could name a conventional beauty. Tall, slim, pale face and red-haired – what was still considered a sign of bad luck – , Lizzie was seen with strangeness and caused controverted feelings, of both admiration and repulse. However, for the eyes of the young painters of the Pre-raphaelite Brotherhood, she was some kind of idyllic creature. One after another they invited her to sit for them, starting off a career she had never dreamt about and that would immortalize her, as well as it would open the doors for her work as a painter and poet.

Unfortunately it was not possible to find the complete Lizzie’s birth data, but is known that she was born at July 25th, 1829, under the stars of Cancer. Incredible sensitivity, mood instability, romantic inclinations, attachment to the past – what made her to identify almost instantly with the Pre-Raphaelite themes and use them in her own paintings – don’t leave doubts about the typical Cancer temperament. Therefore, one could imagine the extension of her sorrow and sadness by bearing during 10 years the hesitation of Rossetti in marrying her. Even more painful was the experience of giving birth to a stillborn baby. Family and children are of vital importance for Cancer people, and they use to be very maternal types. Of melancholy temperament, Lizzie suffered from an unknown illness that stole her vitality and that was only getting worse with the passing of time, in spite of the efforts of Rossetti and some friends to help her heal. When in treatment, Lizzie used to go to water stations – a Cancer treatment – around England. When Rossetti was with her she always experienced relief, what indicated that her illness was probably of emotional causes – Cancer again.

Rossetti and Siddal lived a very troubled relationship. Although Rossetti postponed their marriage and had several affairs during his courtship to Lizzie, their attachment was strong and had a spiritual tone, like the one of two people destined to be together. Rossetti took their relationship to the extremes of the romantic idealization. Lizzie was his Beatrice, homonym poet Dante's beloved, and in the skin of Beatrice he portraited her for several times. But the most symbolic and powerful Rossetti's piece on the same theme is undoubtely Beata Beatrix, his last painting of Lizzie, made after her death on an overdose of laudanum.

Beata Beatrix is an essencially neptunian work. It starts with the supernatural light that surrounds Beatrice and other subjects, giving them an spiritual aura. Beatrice is shown in the trancelike atitude of a martyr, prepared for her passage into a fairest world. A nonrealistic, red-coloured bird brings a poppy in its beak and flies over Beatrice's hands, in an allusion to the Holy Spirit. In the background, the figure of Dante stands by a well, a symbol of rebirth not only of Beatrice but also of himself. On the left, the figure of Love in red sends us to Venus. Being Neptune the higher octave of Venus, and considering the intensity of Dante's love for Beatrice, I see this composition as quite suggestive of a transformation, or evolution, of the material, human love - Venus - to something purer, or most sacred - Neptune. Love as rebirth and a bridge to the heavens. And there's indeed a bridge in the background, the bridge over the Arno river, in Florence, where Dante and Beatrice lived until her death. A sundial shows on the figure nine, the number mystically connected by Dante to his beloved, which is symbolically the number of compassion and higher forms of love.

Another reading of the painting, made by Hawksley herself and that gives us another neptunian facet, is curious and pretty much disquieting. What the fantastic dove is carrying in its beak is nothing less than a poppy - a symbol of death and sleep, but also the source of opium. Beatrice/Lizzie's ecstatic attitude can be interpreted as the one of an addict, the kind of sensation they experience, unconsciously seeking for the neptunian peace of the primeval waters...

However, the most disturbing in the making of Beata Beatrix is its "supernatural", premonitory character. Some scholars may think that that was a piece painted after Siddal's death, as some kind of tribute, but the truth is that Rossetti started it before his wife's overdose on laudanum and consequent death. As we know, the psychic and mediumistic are also Neptune dominions. Later, Rossetti describes the work as "not as a representation of the incident of the death of Beatrice, but as an ideal of the subject, symbolized by a trance or sudden spiritual transfiguration."

Images: Beata Beatrix (1864) and Portrait of Elizabeth Siddal (1854), both by Dante Gabriel Rosseti

Cancer

When I come, it comes Summer in the north and Winter in the south. Right nine months before Aries, symbol of birth.

I am the mother. The principle of generation and conservation. I am everything that is inside, that nests and protects. Womb, cave, the homeland. I am your refuge and your home. Mother Earth. The essence of the feminine, the ying, the anima, the passive side of every human being. I am your roots, your past, your nest, the place where you turns back to when you need comfort and feel like a child again.

Mysterious, as every water sign. Who dares to find out what is hidden below my surface? But my water is gentle, my water nurtures, fertilizes. It eases your thirst. However, it can be dangerous sometimes. Be careful or I can drag you when my arms assume the shape of rapids or waterfalls.

I am the Moon, I am the Woman. The High Priestess. My breasts overflow with milk and remembrances. With open arms to receive you, here for you when your soul is troubled and your heart is hungry. You don’t need to tell me anything; I just know. And I’ll take care of you when the rest of the world becomes hostile and dry. I will even fight for you if necessary, for I am strong and hard outside. However, I expect from you the same consideration, the same love. Are you ready?

I see the world through silver lenses, I can make it a more beautiful place with my imagination. I go up high to catch stars above and know their secrets, to hear the whispers of my sister Moon. To write words of wonder with my silvered fingers. But sometimes I fall… So deep, so painfully deep I couldn’t even remember my dreams. How could I understand the mystery of being so strong and the same time so crystal fragile? Sometimes, a blow can shatter my heart in a thousand pieces. And I’ll remember them forever. Each one of them. Every piece of myself that I put together, again and again.

I am inside you, with my rainy eyes and hair covered in water lilies. I am that part of yourself that wants to care and nurture, when you scream with emotions and instincts. I am where you feel at home and protected, and where you want to protect. Where you take your nourishment from and feel safe. I am where your soul is – nothing less.

Image: Mother and Child, Gustav Klimt