Symbolica

The symbolism of the wind could be appropriate to use for feelings of boredom, being stuck, fear of change, or transitions in relationships or life paths.

How can we represent something that isn’t visible?

In the past the wind has sometimes been represented by wings or even a fan. A kite would also be a good choice to use, as flying a kite is an excellent way to ‘enjoy’ the experience of the wind. You could also meditate using a visualisation like mine below or create your own.

Picture the wind picking you up and carrying you on it’s back.

Transporting you from a place of stillness to a place of action.

Perhaps you have felt stuck, unable to move forward.

Perhaps you have been in a place of contemplation, a place of vision,

and now it’s time to act on that vision.

The wind is coming from the East, the place of the sunrise, the place of beginnings.

It whispers in your ear.

It begins to blow, filling your head, your entire body.

It may cause you to feel slightly agitated but it also invigorates you.

You feel some of your heaviness starting to fall away as the wind strips away the parts of yourself that no longer serve you.

It animates you, like an invisible magic carpet, and carries you into the North.

The North is the place of action, the place of strength, courage and determination.

The wind veers you away from your old well-worn path onto a new unfamiliar one.

You may feel irritated, fearful, vulnerable.

You sneeze.

As you whirl around down this new path you notice nature all around you,

joining you on your windy ride.

You are not alone. You have companions.

Many new tools are presented to you.

They may come to you in many guises.

They may be thoughts, ideas, realisations, visual signposts or bodily sensations.

The new path that you travel is beginning to excite you.

You may feel refreshed, cleansed, energised.

You realise that you now can move of your own accord.

You run or walk freely along the new path.

You are lighter for the things no longer needed you have left behind.

You are ready for change.

When I get caught up in the daily grind, or are feeling down I love to be reminded of the simple wonder of existence. Living in the city, we can more easily forget our connection to the Earth. We often appear to live oblivious to the fact that we are still creatures of nature and that the natural world is still all around us. If we take time to contemplate the elements around us we can find that are daily troubles are given a better perspective.

My husband bought me a beautiful amber pendant for my birthday and I love it. I have always had a secret desire to own and work with a piece of amber, but felt that the time and circumstance had to be right. It was an interesting adventure when we went out shopping to find the right piece. I nearly succumbed to bracelets of beads or earrings because I thought they looked nice as jewellery. The picture in my mind though was of a single piece, one that I could develop a relationship with and use as an ally in my symbol work. The jewellery I’d seen so far just didn’t speak to me in the right way. Then I spotted a large irregular oval pendant and it was love at first site (though I dithered about the price).

Amber is beautiful (personal taste I realise- but I’m certainly not alone in thinking so), light, warm and natural. Each piece is interesting in it’s flawed state, whether it has insect inclusions or not. If you rub your amber until it is quite warm you should detect the faint aroma of pine. This act is a powerful way to connect you to the ancient pine forest from whence the amber originated, rather like listening to the sound of the sea in a shell.

Amber is the resin from coniferous trees dating back from between 60 to 90 million years ago!

If you contemplate the length of time your amber has existed on this earth, and how that makes you feel, you may begin to connect with the overwhelming longevity and power of earth itself. (which is considered by geologists today to be about 4.54 billion years old)

When rubbed amber becomes charged with static electricity and our modern word ‘electricity’ comes from the Greek name for yellow amber ‘electron’. It symbolises the psychic line between individual and cosmic energy.

Therefore it is excellent to use as an aide for any psychic work and connecting to the spirit world. Amber is very popular with people who work in the field of witchcraft.

Over history, many different cultures have had a variety of uses and associations for amber. Here is a link to a Andzia’s Amber Jewellery- quick facts about amber page, which contains lots more interesting cross cultural tidbits regarding amber. The most popular uses appear to be as amulets for protection, preservation and youthfulness. It has been closely associated with the sun, in fact it has been considered to be made of ‘solidified sunbeams’ . It has also been employed for all kinds of medicinal purposes.

One of my favourite tidbits, which comes from The Dictionary of Symbolism, regarding amber is that the Chinese word for amber (hu-po) means ‘Tiger’s soul’ as it was believed that tigers sank into the earth upon death and transformed into amber.

Richard Busch has written an informative page with some good tips for detecting fake amber (which appears to be quite prevalent.)

So what might be a relevant reason to employ amber today?

• Spiritual work/psychic work/meditation- an aide to connection between yourself and Spirit/the cosmos/or God.
• Connection to the Earth (particularly the past)- through sensory perception.
• Connection to the sun and it’s energetic qualities- new beginnings/sunrise, warmth.
• A need for preservation- perhaps there is something in our lives that needs preserving. It could be a physical thing or it could be a memory. A good example could be using amber in a wedding ceremony.
• Desire for youthfulness- perhaps here rather than fighting the forces of nature and resisting the ageing process, we could link back to the energy of the sun. We could look at our internal youth, focussing on qualities like- play, silliness, laughter, joy, innocence. It could be a good amulet to give a youth as an acknowledgement of approaching adulthood, accompanied by the encouragement of maintaining some of their youthful qualities.
• Protection- I like to think of this as an ally or support in times that we may feel vulnerable or afraid. We all experience these times and to have something or someone familiar to you on hand when you need them is of great importance. To work with an object that has been employed by many in the past for the same purpose will add to its power and effectiveness.
• If you are a lover of the tiger as I am then you could use you amber to evoke the power of all those tiger spirits out there. Goodness knows what you could achieve with a power like that- just keep it friendly!

I have been driven to work in my studio over the past couple of days. In particular I wanted to make the Egyptian Heart amulet for a friend of mine. So due to lack of time, my writing has had to take a back seat. I have tried to discipline myself to writing a new post every week and completing at least one design for my Cafe Press store. When the desire to go into the workshop gripped me I was worried that I would become too distracted and break my pace. I found though that by deviating off my regular path and doing what I felt a strong desire to do, I have felt truer to my goal of bringing the magical world of symbols and their uses into the modern world. My personal path feels like it is becoming clearer and gaining strength.

If you would like to have an amulet made you are most welcome to contact me via e-mail. (go to the contact page)

I work in many different materials and I love to explore new ones. I also love researching symbols to suit particular requirements. There is no limit really, only time constraints, so for now I do like to keep the amulets quite simple.

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I like the idea of dedicating a day to celebrate death, and honour those who have died. To encourage people out of their private grief through the power of ritual and community support can be of great benefit. The Day of the Dead is a day celebrated within the communities of Mexico, loosely associated with All Saints Day (Hallowe’en).

Imagine sharing one another’s grief and sorrow over the loss of loved ones, but also sharing stories, joy and laughter in the same context.

Imagine familiarising our children with death and dying through the fun of art play and celebration.

Imagine honouring the gifts of life by honouring the dead. If we take time out to contemplate our own deaths we may in turn be prompted to think more deeply of our life path.

Let’s look at some of the symbolic aspects of the Mexican rituals and how might we use them or adapt them for ourselves.

Part of the Mexican tradition involves creating of an altar of offerings to the loved ones who have died.

The altar includes four main elements of nature — earth, wind, water, and fire.
Earth is represented by crop: The Mexicans believe the souls are fed by the aroma of food.

Wind is represented by a moving object: Tissue paper is commonly used to represent wind.

Water is placed in a container for the soul to quench its thirst after the long journey to the altar.

Fire is represented by a wax candle: Each lit candle represents a soul, and an extra one is placed for the forgotten soul.

The above is authored by Mary J. Andrade on her site Day of The Dead ,which is a great site with lots of information and photos of the the celebration across South America.

Ok, so many people in the West wouldn’t dream of creating an altar and may have all kinds of prejudices against the idea of doing so. But if you do feel this way try to think of an altar as a place or area where you might have already gathered some related cherished items. It may be a cabinet at home dedicated to your child’s sporting achievements, or even a scrap book containing mementos of your growing up. Creating an altar isn’t really so different. It is simply the purposeful grouping together of any number of objects in order to facilitate a particular outcome.

Creating an altar is a ritual in itself. It takes thought, reflection, creativity and usually a bit of time. Though how much time is up to you.

You could incorporate the altar idea into a decorated banquet table. The food on the table representing the Earth. Tissue paper decorations or even simply paper napkins, representing the wind. Bowls or jugs of water placed in the centre, and of course candles for fire to symbolise the souls of the deceased. I also suggest the idea of having one spare place set and served to represent all those deceased you are there to honour.

If you do have a separate altar, decorate it with plenty of colourful flowers as well as the offerings to the elements. Invite guests to bring the favourite foods, photos and mementos of their loved ones to lay on the altar, and encourage the telling of stories, the playing of music and anything else that will make your celebration special.

If you encourage the celebration to happen every year on the same day you will find special traditions may grow from small beginnings. Oh and I guess the best time to celebrate is at the same time as the Mexican celebrations, which are the first two days of November or the last day of October when Hallowe’en is celebrated around some parts of the world.

Another fun part of the Mexican rituals I like is the making and distributing of the personalised candy skulls so that the person may ‘eat their own death’.

The Heart symbol was an important aspect of the soul to the Ancient Egyptians. It was regarded as the seat of the power of life as well as the source of both good and evil thoughts.

The most important of rituals upon death was the afterlife judgement of weighing of the Heart against the feather of truth (Maat).

The shape of the ancient Heart symbol, being more realistic than our modern depiction of the heart, is reminiscent of a container or vessel, (and was often employed as such).Rather than representing love, it represents the ‘holding’ of a person’s life. Therefore it was very important for the Heart to be well protected in life and death, just as it is today.If you use a Heart amulet, look after it. Regard it seriously and do not give it away. You may request to be buried with it or if it is of sufficient size it could be the used as the urn for your ashes!Use it as a vessel to speak your life dreams and desires to, you could even write these down and place them inside (better if the inside is hollow) . When seeking answers of life direction and purpose, use your heart amulet.

Make sure though that you do not fill your Heart with misery or bad thoughts about yourself or others. This is not the place. It is the place for words of prayer and love spoken with care.

The Ka was thought to be the LIFE FORCE or SPIRIT aspect of the soul. It existed independently from the bodily self.

The Ancient Egyptians referred to ‘returning to one’s Ka’ or ‘travelling in the company of one’s Ka’ upon death.

Imagine today the Ka being present as an ally. The Spirit guide that stands by your side, connecting you to the source of life and remaining by your side upon death.

A comforting thought when contemplating our own death or the death of a loved one.

This symbol is a most powerful symbol to include in our funeral rites.

To hide death in the background is bad for man.

Text of the Pyramids,1439

When death comes, it embraces the old like a child in the arms of its mother.

Papyrus of Ani

What can we do in modern western society to help improve our inevitable experiences with DEATH?

Can we better prepare ourselves by enriching the experience through art and/or ritual?

Why is death so hard for most of us to accept when it is the one certainty of a life’s journey?

I’m speaking from a non-religious Western cultural perspective because that’s where I come from, but I am aware that people from different religions and cultures do have some practices in place that make their relationship to death more palatable.

I’d like to explore some ideas, continuing on with the Ancient Egyptian theme of the soul, over the next coming weeks and I invite anyone out there to share their death dealing stories or recipes.

Below are some quick links I found related to Death and dying:

Death Online is a general information site from the museum of Australia on the facts of death.

A Natural death site from the UK with all types of information about more ecological funerals and burials. Even though a lot of the information is UK specific, there are relevant links for people in other countries as well.

Life Art, a company based in Australia who make eco-coffins which can be painted.

Ecopods are some of the coolest looking coffins I’ve seen. Again they are biodegradable. The company is based in the UK.

The deathclock site is funny though a bit spooky and coud be a good wake up call for some.

I also found this really great article by Celebrant, Pamela Gray about her thoughts and ideas on how to create a funeral personal and special.

To the Ancient Egyptians, the Ba, (often depicted as a hawk with a human head), represented the individual’s soul and specific personality. It takes flight from the body upon death, but would also revisit the body and reanimate it and converse with it . It was regarded as eternal and yet could slip into decay if not properly nourished ie : offerings from the living.

It was as important to the ancient Egyptians to care for their Ba as it is for us today to nurture all aspects of ourselves. The way we care for ourselves has a bearing on how we feel and how we are perceived within our communities. If you believe in any kind of life after this one then to feed your Ba with love and wisdom today may benefit your existence beyond death.

Take this image and idea and make it your own. Make your own Ba. Create a version of the symbol that represents ‘You’. An ally who knows you completely because it is the essence of you. It represents the part of you that people think of when you are not physically in their presence. It represents the part of you that’s imbued in the things that you create and the part of you that lives on after you die. Feed it well. Look after it. Be familiar with it. Send it out into the world as your ambassador. It is one of the most powerful symbols you can have on your side.

Your Faculty of movement or Ba will live forever,
Like Orion set in the navel of the Goddess of Heaven.
You will become as gold,
You will shine brilliantly.
In the constellations of the stars you will fulfil a royal function.
Your name will be great in the West.

Ritual of Embalming

The above text is taken from The Living Wisdom of Ancient Egypt

I’ve uploaded a simple black and white version of the above design to my Cafepress store.

I’m currently in the process of setting up my own Symbolica shop at Cafe Press to sell some of my art work and generate some income. For the sake of simplicity I’m starting with ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and symbols (my favourite era by far). I am choosing glyphs that look interesting as well as say something appealing or have a symbolic purpose.

As well as t-shirts there are lots of other items you can buy through Cafe Press. I just love the simplicity of the concept of having someone else provide the products and service to the customer whilst I concentrate on my art work and design. What I also love is that anyone can use this type of service to create their own products, for themselves or for gifts for friends.

I realise that many people out there have been aware of this concept for a long time. I am a bit slow, but I am ready to embrace the process heartily because one of the major stumbling blocks for me as an artist and craftsperson has been the amount of money I’ve needed to outlay in order to make a living, especially as a jeweller.

With regards to my jewellery, I also discovered Ponoko . The concept is basically the same, you set up a shop and upload your designs but instead of having them printed on t-shirts your designs are laser cut into timber of acrylic. People can order your product and buy directly from the Ponoko site as well.

I read an article on Ponoko’s Blog – (small excerpt below) about ‘Generation C’ (which means Content created digitally) that really inspired me to get moving down this path.

I think the Make-It-Yourself movement is very much linked with other shifts towards sustainable design and consumption, a return to crafts and appreciation for uniqueness and individualization, and filling the needs of many long-tail consumers. I think this trend will most definitely prevail beyond 2008 and become a major part of the status quo.

I will work on setting up shop on Ponoko next once my shop at Cafe Press is up and running smoothly. I’ll keep you all posted with both.

My first Cafe Press design is actually one I illustrated a number of years ago for a t-shirt for my friend’s child. The illustration was influenced by a photo I took when I was in Egypt in ’82. The character carved into the huge stone block lying on the ground before me was incredibly striking and very different to anything I had seen before.

He was the God Bes and was regarded by the Egyptians as protector of families, especially women and children. I’ve always loved his playful, if somewhat menacing figure. I like the idea of him protecting me and my family from any lurking evil spirits out there, and as I say in the blurb next to the t-shirts for sale- If your kids wear this symbol they’re sure to frighten off any bullies in the sandpit or playground!

If anyone has a symbol design or product request please let me know and I will do my best to oblige.

Oh wise, industrious little Honey Bee,
Buzzing away in your studio of creation.
Will you energise us with your song and nourish us with your honey?

The bee is a perfect symbol for artists of all kinds. It’s dual nature symbolises not only the material but also the spiritual aspect of life.

Working with the symbol of the bee can be especially helpful for someone who is feeling listless or uninspired creatively. Contemplating the bee can encourage us to let go of our egos in order to return to the flow of creative activity.

The bee symbol is a good reminder that our works of art can nourish and sustain our community as well as ourselves.

Because of the major role of the queen bee and the thousands of female ‘workers’, the bee has long been associated with the feminine aspects of nature. Therefore she can be used to develop the creative feminine aspects within us all.

Historically the bee has been employed by many cultures. The ancient Egyptians used the bee symbol within their hieroglyphs to depict royalty. Incidentally in my research I found that the honey bee would also be a good symbol for any women out there called Melissa, as the name has a Greek origin meaning ‘honey bee’.

What sets the honey bee apart from insects like the equally industrious ant, is it’s ability to fly, it’s very important flower pollinating duties, and the act of distilling honey from the nectar of flowers.

The bee is equally revered for it’s collective work within the hive as well as it’s individual qualities.
As an individual she has been used to symbolise the vital principle, and is an incarnate of the soul.

“Busy as a Bee”
“Working bee”
“A bee in your bonnet”
These relatively modern uses of the word ‘bee’ all invoke focussed and busy activity. Either working collectively or individually.