Angel Blessings Rain Upon Us!

The Angel of Blessings

Serenely towards us she bows;
Love flames in her heart,
Grace touches her lips,
Light glows from her Being,
And serenely she bows to God's earth.

Gently to us she gives;
Starlights to illumine our way,
Flames to enliven our Souls,
Love to guide our Paths,
And gently she gives to us God's gifts.

Softly to us she whispers:
"Peace" to you who fight;
"Comfort" to you who ache;
"Life" to you who despair;
"Joy" to you who embrace this day;
Softly, in each moment, she whispers to us
God's words.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Angel of Blessings"
Doodle, ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Looking into the Vesica Piscis

Vesica Piscis: literally "vessel of the fish" or fish bladder (Latin); the shape that is made when intersecting two circles with the same circumference. "Pythagoreans believed it represented a similar intersection of the spiritual and material worlds, a sacred doorway between two states of being.... [O]ne of the most important shapes in sacred geometry.... Also any place the Goddess is worshipped will generally have a representation of the vesica piscis...." (Taken from The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar, Harper Element, 2008.)

Looking into the Vesica Piscis...

Peering into the sacred doorway of the Goddess,
what magnificence awaits?
What glories lie quietly sleeping there?
What wisdom stirs and moves,
resting comfortably--or maybe uncomfortably--
until the birth pangs begin:
Forcing emergence of the new Life form.
Is it Spirit or Matter, union or intersection?
How can we, who once dwelt in this Sacred Vessel,
enter again this hidden passage to become a different blend,
a re-formed intersection?
Embracing what we once knew, and forgot;
Forgetting what we once lived, to remember.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Looking into the Vesica Piscis"
Mandala in ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Message Treasures

What message comes through this collage today?

There are words: Treasures--a new life--love every day.

There are images: leaves--circles--spirals--buttons--ribbons--flower--stamp--odds and ends--wings--a partial wisdom face--statue--dragonfly.

There are textures, colors, even a bit of black and white doodling.

What message comes through this collage today?

Love every day is the wisdom I see.
Love every day is the "seed."
Love every day creates growth--a colorful flower from leaves of black and white.
Love every day reveals treasures and a new life that begins in each moment that we. . .

LOVE
EVERY
DAY.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Treasures"
Collage Journal Page
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Black or White Revelations

Despite the many shades that fill my life,
is black or white still my guide?

Perceiving of each experience,

situation, person

as either/or:

"good" or "bad"

"worthy" or "lacking"

"enough" or "not so much."

Too many black-or-white moments

blur the image of the One

who stares back at me,

reflected in the Mirror of Life.

Black or white reveals:

judgment sticking to my thinking.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Black and White Revealed"

Mandala created with ink pens on paper

Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

New Collage Mandala: my interpretation

Today I am posting a new mixed media collage mandala that I finished yesterday; I call it "Fabric of the Universe."

Most people will focus on the bird in the middle. I love the bird, too, which is why I chose to cut it out and use it in the collage. To me, the bird represents the Universe. And the Soul message from the Universe is by Rumi, reminding us that to enter the Mystery, we need to go within, to find the "fabric of the Universe," we need only to look inside.

But the background of the collage is just as important as the central image. I created the background by tearing the elements and choosing pictures of wood, metal, fabric--anything that is used to build or create something else. The painted part is like the sea or space of creativity. So the "fabric" part comes out of that sea/space and in the center of the "fabric," we discover the Universe and the inspirational message for our journey.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Fabric of the Universe"
Mixed media collage mandala
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Collage Mandala Wanderings

I have been thinking and trying to figure out how I can blend collages and mandalas. I have come up with two ideas that I have posted here today. Both are using the same collage, which you can see below.

Not necessarily my most brilliant work. To be honest, I call this collage "Odds & Ends." I created it using a piece of scratch paper on which I did all kinds of things like put leftover paint, doodled a bit, tried out a sample collage element and a different type of paper, and finally added a few collage cutouts to make it more of a cohesive collage.

The first collage mandala is done in Photoshop. I took a slice and created a digital mandala from the collage. I call this mandala "Kaleidoscopic Senses" because 4 of the 5 senses are represented--sight, smell, hearing, and taste or touch (depending upon whether you see the red shape as a tongue or a heart, although technically we don't "touch" with our heart, but we do "feel" with our hearts--you get the idea...).

The second collage mandala is the actual collage trimmed to fit into the circle I drew. After gluing the collage, I added some of my doodle art. This mandala is titled "Wishing Upon A Star."

Each version of the collage seems different to me.

• The original collage has the feel of "odds and ends" and fragmentation. But there still is a sense of balance in the way it coaxes the eye to move from the bottom to the top where the star is. There is also a feeling of movement due to the "wave" of the music and the plant sketch at the bottom of the collage.
• The digital mandala definitely looks different, of course, and more conventionally mandala-like. There is a bit of humor in it, though, because of the way the eyes point in opposite directions. But there are lots of interesting shapes that give it a kaleidoscope-feel. The outside edge is very Art Nouveau. And I find the star in the center is hypnotising in the way it draws the eye into the center. The color palette, however, is a bit strange!
• The final version has a cohesiveness to it. The collage seems to grow out of the doodles. Michel said it looks like the collage is rising as a mountain, like the collage is created from things being piled on it. I find my eyes looking everywhere because there is a feast for my eyes. The doodles seem to be the foundation for the collage.

Which one do you like best? Which one seems to be more of mandala to you? I would love to know what you think about this experiment.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Odds & Ends" Collage
"Kaleidoscopic Senses" Collage Mandala
"Wishing Upon A Star" Collage Mandala
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

The Energy Behind a Collage

The mandala posted here was taken from a collage I created a few years ago for my two daughters. The collage (posted below) is titled "On the Path to the Sacred Feminine."

To create this mandala, I took a slice from that collage. The finished result is an introspective into the energy of the Divine Feminine. For example, what do the longest arms of the center star look like to you? To me, the answer is obviously female! (That shape came from the skirt of the central gypsy's dress. How interesting!)

Creating this mandala has shown me that my collages have an energy behind them...and like a hologram, that energy resides in every piece or section of the collage. What a delightful discovery!

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Energy of the Divine Feminine"
Digital Mandala created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione