valkyrie

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/valkyrie.html


valkyrie

In Norse mythology the valkyries (Old Norse Valkyrja "Choosers of the Slain") are dísir, minor female deities, who served Odin. The valkyries' purpose was to determine the victors of battles and wars, and to choose the most heroic of those who had died in battle. Freyja, called Mistress of the slain (Valfreyja) and of the Valkyries in general, chose half of these fallen heroes for her hall Fólkvangr. The rest went to Valhalla where they became einherjar. In Norse religion, the einherjar or einheriar were spirits of warriors who had died bravely in battle.
In modern art, the valkyries are sometimes depicted as beautiful shieldmaidens on winged horses, armed with helmets and spears. However, the valkyrie 'horses' were most likely the packs of wolves that frequented the corpses of dead warriors. Whereas the wolf was the valkyrie's mount, the valkyrie herself appears to be akin to the raven, flying over the battlefield and "choosing" corpses. Thus, the packs of wolves and ravens that scavenged the aftermath of battles may have been seen as serving a higher purpose.

taRAtears

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/taratears.html


taRAtears

Tārā (Sanskrit: tārā) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (rje btsun sgrol ma) in Tibetan, is a female Buddha typically associated with Buddhist tantra practice as preserved in Tibetan Buddhism. She is the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. Tārā is a tantric deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness. In Japan she is known as Tarani Bosatsu and is known in China as Quan Yin.
The most widely known forms of Tārā are:
* Green Tārā, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
* White Tārā, known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
* Red Tārā, a fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
* Black Tārā, associated with power
* Yellow Tārā, associated with wealth and prosperity
* Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger
* Cittamani Tārā, a form of Tārā widely practiced at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as green and often conflated with Green Tārā
* Khadiravani Tārā (Tārā of the teak forest), who appeared to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is sometimes referred to as the 22nd Tārā.
The main Tārā mantra is oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā (pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists who follow the Tibetan traditions as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha).
Within Tibetan Buddhism Tārā is regarded as a Boddhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokitesvara (Chenrezig) and in some origin stories she comes from his tears. Bodhisattvas are often considered metaphoric for Buddhist virtues.
Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in samsara. Quotation from H.H the Dalai Lama about Tārā, spoken at a conference on Compassionate Action in Newport Beach, CA in 1989:
"There is a true feminist movement in Buddhism that relates to the goddess Tārā. Following her cultivation of bodhicitta, the bodhisattva's motivation, she looked upon the situation of those striving towards full awakening and she felt that there were too few people who attained Buddhahood as women. So she vowed, "I have developed bodhicitta as a woman. For all my lifetimes along the path I vow to be born as a woman, and in my final lifetime when I attain Buddhahood, then, too, I will be a woman."

spiderwOMan

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/spiderwoman.html


spiderwOMan


Spider Woman is a metaphor for she who creates from a central source. One day it is She who will pull all of her creation - back to her source. Her web represents the grids or matrix of our reality - the Spider Web Effect. Spider Woman's web links you to everything and everybody in our reality. It is how we learn to be psychic and to connect telepathically.
The Spiderweb Effect means that all things originate from a central source, spiral out in a matrix, grid, lattice, or web, following the same geometric design, are connected to each other and that source. That is, if something affects one part of the web, it affects everything.

Samurai

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/samurai.html


samurai



Samurai (侍, Samurai) is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. The word samurai is derived from the archaic Japanese verb samorau, changed to saburau, meaning "to serve". A samurai was expected to read and write, as well as to know some mathematics. Samurai were expected, though not required, to have interests in other arts such as dancing, Go, literature, poetry, and tea. The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching due to it offering a process to calm one's mind.
Bushidō (武士道, Bushidō), meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery and honour unto death.
Katana (刀 or かたな, Katana) is a type of Japanese sword (nihontō) often referred to as a "samurai sword." The term is sometimes incorrectly used as a generic name for Japanese swords. The katana gets its gentle curve from quenching during forming; it is actually straight prior to quenching. Differential quenching causes martensite to form predominantly in the edge of the blade rather than the back; as the edge expands, the blade takes on a gently curved shape. The samurai used various weapons, but the katana is the weapon that is synonymous with samurai. Bushido teaches that the katana is the samurai's soul and sometimes a samurai is pictured as entirely dependent on the katana for fighting. They believe that the katana was so precious that they often gave them names and considered them as part of the living.

Triquerta

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/triquerta.html


triquerta


Triquerta or Triquetra (IPA: [tɹaɪ'kwεtɹə]) is a word derived from the Latin tri- ("three") and quetrus ("cornered"). Its original meaning was simply "triangle" and it has been used to refer to various three-cornered shapes. Nowadays, it has come to refer exclusively to a certain more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis, sometimes with an added circle in or around it.
Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans use the triquetra either to represent one of the various triplicities in their cosmology and theology (such as the tripartite division of the world into the realms of Land, Sea and Sky), or as a symbol of one of the specific triple Goddesses, most notably Brigid, representing the mother, the maid and the crone. Triplicities were in Celtic myth and legend, one of the possible reasons Christian beliefs were so easily adopted by the Celtijmc people.
The symbol is also sometimes used by Wiccans and some New Agers to symbolize either the Wiccan triple goddess, the interconnected parts of our existence (Mind, Body, and Soul), or many other concepts that seem to fit into this idea of a unity.

RAflowerDalas

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/radalas.html


RAdala

ShaRi, thanks for sharing, it is just beautiful, brings to me a sense of calm and peace. Love Rita (from Australia)
If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly, like a millionaire intent on going broke. Even if it is just the simple beauty of your smile~spend it lavishly!~Brenda Francis


RAdala1

Ra (Pronounced Rah) (Rê and later Amun-Ra; reconstructed as *ri:ʕu) is the ancient Egyptian sun god. He is a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion by the fifth dynasty. Identified primarily with the mid-day sun, though he was said to be the sun in one form or another at all times.


RAdala2

The Bennu bird is Ra's ba and a symbol of fire and rebirth. The sun disk, also shown as the hieroglyphic ⊙ ; Ankh, symbolizing the life given by the sun; Obelisk, representative of the rays of the sun and worshiped as a home of a solar god. As the sun, Ra was thought to see everything.


RAdala3

Ra was thought to travel in a sunboat (The Boat of the Millions) to protect its fires from the primordial waters of the underworld it passed through during the night. Ra traveled in the sunboat with various deities. Those deities included Ma'at, who guided the boat's course, and Set and Mehen who defended against monsters in the underworld. These monsters included Apep, the serpent who tried to stop the sunboat's journey every day by consuming it. So, the Egyptians saw the sunrise as the rebirth of the sun through Nut, the sky, and thus attributed the concept of rebirth and renewal to Ra, strengthening his role as a creator god.


RAdala4

Ra who is Horus of the Horizons, was intended to link Horakhty (as a sunrise-orientated aspect of Horus) to Ra. It has been suggested that Ra-Horakhty simply refers to the sun's journey from horizon to horizon as Ra, or that it means to show Ra as a symbolic god of hope and rebirth.


RAdala5

Khepri was the scarab beetle that rolled up the sun in the mornings, and was sometimes seen as the morning manifestation of Ra. Similarly, the ram-headed god Khnum was also seen as the evening manifestation of Ra, while Ra was often seen as the representation of midday, when the sun reached its peak at noon.


RAdala6

By XI Dynasty, Ra had become much like the Christian God. Mythology told that he had created the world for man, and that evil was a result of mankind's actions. In this respect Ra was closely affiliated with Ma'at, goddess of law and truth. It was even implied that he would punish the evil after death.


RAdala7

During the New Kingdom, the worship of Ra becomes yet more complicated and grand. The walls of tombs were dedicated to extremely detailed texts that told of Ra's journey through the underworld. Ra was also now said to carry the prayers and blessings of the living with the souls of the dead on the sunboat. The Holiday of 'The Receiving of Ra' was celebrated on May 26 in the Gregorian calendar.

ManDalas

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/mandala.html


ManDala

Mandala (Sanskrit "essence", "having" or "containing"). It is also translated as "circle-circumference" or "completion", both derived from the Tibetan term dkyil khor. Mandala is of Hindu origin, the term being used for the books of the Rig Veda, but is also used in other Indian religions such as Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of anuttarayoga tantra meditation practices.


ManDala1

In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of aspirants and adepts; as a spiritual teaching tool; for establishing a sacred space; and as an aid to meditation and trance induction.


ManDala2

Its symbolic nature can help one to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises.


ManDala3

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self," and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.


ManDala4

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective.


ManDala5

A kyil khor (Tibetan for mandala) in Vajrayana Buddhism usually depicts a landscape of the Buddha land or the enlightened vision of a Buddha (which are inevitably identified with and represent the nature of experience and the intricacies of both the enlightened and confused mind): a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe.


ManDala6

Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation. More specifically, a Buddhist mandala is envisaged as a "sacred space," a Pure Buddha Realm and also as an abode of fully realized beings or deities.


ManDala7

The mandala is also a support for the meditating person, something to be repeatedly contemplated, to the point of saturation, such that the image of the mandala becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and which can then be summoned and contemplated at will as a clear and vivid visualized image.


ManDala8

In the West, mandala is also used to refer to the "personal world" in which one lives, the various elements of the mandala or the activities and interests in which one engages, the most important being at the centre of the mandala and the least important at the periphery. Depicting one's personal mandala in pictorial form can give one a good indication of the state of one's spiritual life.

ManDala9

The centre of the Mandala is the ultimate divine principle uniting the object and the subject as they spin out of the centre.




ManDala10

Mandala is the essential plan of the universe, balancing the centrifugal and centripetal forces, combining the beginning and end, a symbol of wholeness or poornata. Its centre is unity, equidistant from every point on the circumference of the outer circles, signifying the unity that exists between all phenomena and experience. The centre point represents the divine, surrounded by potent concentric circles. It is a compact mystical diagram, concentrating spiritual energy at the centre.


ManDala11

In Tantra, the Mandala serves as an external support for meditation. It helps to provide the right feelings and visions by which one can arrive at a sense of unity within oneself and the universe outside. The most concentrated point of the universe, and the goal of the individual, is the Bindu, the irreducible point from which everything moves outwards, and towards which everything is directed. The Bindu has no beginning or end, is neither positive nor negative. It also suggests the waves of vibration emanating from the centre. In its totality the Mandala represents simultaneous evolution and dissolution, intention and repose, and perpetual motion and rest.


ManDala12

Timeless and all-pervading, the Mandala is one of the greatest symbols of human discovery and experience. Its concentric form represents the passage from state to state, from the material to the spiritual. Its centre is eternity, its periphery, perfection. It represents the universe, the image of God and serves as an aid to meditation, leading to inner peace.

ManDala13

We are capable of unlimited possibilities when we learn how to focus and 'listen' to the non-thinking all knowing aspect of our consciousness. Different forms of artistic expression that are powerful representation of energy. Most often by creating simply through intention and without a logical plan. It is guided primarily by the subtle psychic sense. By exploring where the inner world and outer world meet, we can create beyond previous limitation and learn how to step over the line; allowing creativity and inspiration to flow effortlessly from the 'zone'.

ManDala14

All knowledge is already present, and the most we can do is create conditions in which intuition will occur. It's like rain pouring down from the heavens; to have more of it we need only to remove our umbrella.~Jagdish Parikh

Lillith

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/lillith.html


lillidala

LEGEND OF LILLITH

"My name thou knowest not,
and yet shall know,
And know too late.
But, know thou this indeed:
Joy is my sister. Sister I, to Death."


lillitotem

It is said that Lillith was the twin sister of Adam and dwelt with him in the Garden at Paradise. Adam was king of Eden and Lillith wished to be co-ruler with him, but the Lord of Light permitted it not. Lillith was beautiful and wise. She wearied of her brother, Adam, who was less wise than she. Lillith refused to bear children from Adam. The Lord of Light was angered and turned Lillith out of Paradise. Samuel, an angel of the Lord of Light and a son of god, fell in love with Lillith. To Samuel, Lillith bore three half-god, half-human children, all called the nephilim. Their wisdom, power and beauty was so great that the children of Darkness were afraid of them and called them monstrous names to defile them. Lillith would not be defiled.


lillith

From her beloved Samuel she learned the wisdom of the Lord of Light and became the first witch. She lived as a daughter of the night mother, calling the people to dance and be joyous by the light of the moon. Her symbol was the night owl, and those who followed her called her Arionrhod. The children of Darkness trembled and barred their doors at night seeking to protect themselves lest Lillith take them and teach them the ways of the wise ones, the witches of old.

KAzmoDala

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/kazmodala.html



KAzmoDala



Ka~(ka)~In art the ka was portrayed in several ways: a person identical to the person whom it was associated with, as a shadowy figure, as a person with two upraised arms on his head. The hieroglyph for the ka was the shoulders and arms with the arms bent upwards at the elbow, similar to the "touchdown" gesture in American football. The ka is a symbol of the reception of the life powers from the gods. It is the spiritual double that resides within everyone.



KAzmoDala2

The ka lived within the body of the individual and therefore needed that body after death. This is why the Egyptians mummified their dead. If the body decomposed, their spiritual double would die and the deceased would lose their chance for eternal life. An Egyptian euphemism for death was "going to one's ka". After death the ka became supreme.
When the ka acted, all was well, both spiritually and materially. Sin was called "an abomination of the ka". The ka could also be seen as the conscience or guide of each individual, urging kindness, quietude, honor and compassion. The ka is the origin and giver of all the Egyptians saw as desirable, especially eternal life.

InSpiRAtion

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2007/10/inspiration.html


InSpiRAtion1

I love the b & w stuff you are doing! and reminding people of patterns patterns patterns... michelle


InSpiRAtion2

Michelle took the background photae of the ceiling at York Minster.


InSpiRAtion3

When that light of the divine Oneness hits the reflecting mirror of our true human Oneness, the pattern revealed is not of this world alone.~Cynthia Bourgeault


InSpiRAtion4

The One light, like a pure diamond blazing with the invisible light of heaven...is in everybody, and if we could see it, we would see the billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of the sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely.~Thomas Merton

ErinTrilogy

http://lightdances.blogspot.com/2008/07/erintrinity.html


ErinTrinity

The Trinity as a Christian doctrine, states that God exists as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases (that which stands beneath), but is one being. The persons are understood to exist as God the Father, the God the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.



YinYangTrinity

The Trimurti (English: ‘three forms’; Sanskrit: trimūrti) is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Viṣṇu the maintainer or preserver, and Śiva the destroyer or transformer." These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity". They are often looked at as the creator, preserver and destroyer respectively.

According to the Ayyavazhi religion the Ayyavazhi Trinity is the incarnation of God in the current stage of world development (Kali Yukam). Ayya Vaikundar, the Incarnation, is the combination of the Ultimate God, Narayana and Human Being.
The avatar (incarnation) of Vaikundar is the combination of three dimensions of God and it happens in three stages.

* The Soul - The Soul of Ultimate God
* The Spirit - The Spirit (Karana Sarira) of Narayana
* The Body - The Body of Muthukutty (Human Being)



TrinityWeb

In ancient Indo-European mythologies, various goddesses or demi-goddesses appear as a triad, either as three separate beings who always appear as a group (the Greek Moirae, Charites, Erinnyes and the Norse Norns) or as a single deity who is commonly depicted in three aspects (Greek Hecate and the cult image of Latin Diana Nemorensis, of whom Hecate is one part). Often it is ambiguous whether a single being or three are represented, as is the case with the Irish Brighid and her two sisters, also called Brighid, or the Morrígan who is known by at least three or four different names. In most ancient portrayals of triple goddesses, the separate deities perform different yet related functions, and there is no obvious difference in their ages. In Wicca and related Neo-pagan religions, the Triple Goddess is, along with the Horned God, held in particular reverence, and her three aspects are most often portrayed as being of different ages: Maiden, Mother and Crone.