in her garden
with
she is the spirit of this place
she is a smoke that lingers in my mouth
she is a drop that gets under my skin
she is the call of the bird in the tree
she is a leaf in a whirling eddy
she is the dappled light that graces the rocks
she is here…
I can feel her presence in every particle.
🍃
in Sedona
with
She gives voice
to creation
brings it to being
through her breath
Looking back at this Goddess Portrait Session, I cannot help but smile! What a time! What a women! Jamie and I twirled all over Sedona that day, taking pictures…
But the parts I most remember were these moments of pure connection and communion:
When we countered the awkwardness of photo-posing with forced laughter, which quickly lapsed into fits of giggles!
When we sat in a tea house, taking a break, and lost ourselves in deep conversation about the amazing work that Jamie does. She is a voice coach and singer, and I could feel the passion she has for her work as she spoke.
And that most-cherished moment, on the crest of an ochre mesa in the dusk, when she encouraged me to sing, to push past my shyness and reach that deeper voice.
We all have our own incredible gifts. It is a special moment when we can share these gifts with another person, and it is also special to be on the receiving end. While I was the one who had been hired for my photography skills, I came away feeling as if there had been a wonderful exchange. It is truly a privilege to witness these women I work with, seeing their talents, hearing of their dreams, watching their ways. They amaze me every time!
at Crescent Moon Mesa
with
The conversations I have shared during Goddess Portrait Sessions are some of my most treasured memories - outpourings of oft-hidden ideas, dreams, visions and inner musings. I cherish these talks.
One of my favourite conversations began in a car. Bridget and I were off to find the sunset, and we were deep in a discussion about the importance of bridging realms…
The Upper Realms
… the spiritual …
These are the spaces and forces that stem from the Great Mystery, all that we think of as inherently spiritual or transcendent. Think: the heavens, the celestial movements of the planets, the macrocosm, your upper body, your brain, the intelligence, the consciousness, the spark that inhabits us, the crown, third eye and throat chakra. The imagery of reaching up, seeking, looking for something higher than ourselves is indubitably ancient. It is here that one may find a sense of detachment, taking on the perspective of the endless observer - that which witnesses, that which reflects. It is here that so many practitioners have found a sense of peace, returning to the original truth of one-ness - the idea that all things stem from the same source, and all are one. All of us sparks of the infinite Source of all things.
The gift of the upper realms = the remembrance of our distant origins and our true natures. This is a precious gift.
The Lower Realms
… the physical …
While the higher realms can connect us to the unseen, the lower realms are all about the physical world - all that can be touched, tasted, seen and felt. Think: your feet, your fingers, your root, sacral and heart chakra, this earth, our core instincts as animals, the needs of all beings, nourishment, growth and decay. All of these things stem from our being-ness. For so long, the lower realms of the body, the desires, the senses and sensualities have been vilified, criticised and avoided, in an attempt to reach for all things “holy” in those upper realms described above. A kind of dichotomy was made, with one being good, the other bad. And yet, we are just now, very recently, remembering the immense gifts of the lower realms. As humans on planet Earth, we have the incredible privilege of experiencing ourselves in this vast and beautiful existence! Our senses allow us to engage with the world, which is an absolute miracle in and of itself! We can eat peaches, do handstands, run like the wind, see our loved one’s faces, stand on our own two feet, and hug each other. Embodied, we can also feel so deeply. We get to feel a wide range of emotions. Emotions like sadness, joie de vivre, annoyance, melancholy, excitement, and love! Above all, love. What a gift, to be able to live in a body, on a planet, in a universe! How decadent. How rich! I sometimes imagine that angels would wish to experience the ins and outs of a life on Earth, to be able to feel all that we can feel.
It is of the utmost importance that we remember ourselves in all these different ways - that we do not push aside or forget the one or the other. We should not forget that we are stardust, nor should we forget that we are animal. Our gifts as humans may stem from our intelligence and creativity, but we must remember that, as animals, we rely on this Earth, and we have a responsibility towards her. It is in this remembering that so many wounds may be healed.
Like a tree,
We can both reach to the stars,
And grow roots in the ground.
My conversation with Bridget reminded me of these important puzzle pieces, and just for that day it felt as if two little women, one from the upper realms and one from the lower, came together to meet in the middle. These photographs were a product of Bridget’s strange and wondrous ideas, mixed with my own very earthy style. (The most whimsical idea involved dragging a mini-trampoline up onto a mesa top!)
The end result is an exploration of elements - both the outer, physical elements of Earth, Air, Water & Fire - and also the inner, more personal elements that make up Bridget’s life.
EXPLORING THE ELEMENTS:
“The meaning of life is not to transcend the body, but to embody the transcendent.”
