The Joy of Color

Yes, subtle and neutral is wonderful but in the autumn color is what prepares us for the gray days of winter. I go out and soak up color: mature wheat fields, the deep blue September skies, ripening pumpkins, red-tinged dogwood leaves, the last of the late summer flowers, the dahlias, sunflowers and asters, and trees laden with dusky reddening apples.

Nothing neutral about autumn.

Nothing neutral about my heart space.

Or HeartSpace.

Please click here to see the latest in HeartSpace's Store.

The Cosmic Egg Hatched: Altar Assemblage

Over a month ago I promised photos of the completed piece, with the working title: The Cosmic Egg.  A fanciful depiction of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, for a special patron and artist, Melanie Weidner, the piece was completed at the end of July, in time for Melanie's landmark birthday.  The santo is now on it's way to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Melanie has a very good camera, and a skilled artist's eye, so I am posting her photos, which are better than I usually have.  Here you go!

detail: The Cosmic Egg

In this piece I have incorporated several aspects of the spirituality and art of Hildegard and the art and spirituality of Melanie Weidner. See her work http://www.listenforjoy.com

Hildegard's face, the moon and the egg are sculpted with Das Clay, combined with fabric, a wooden bowl, and found objects.

My desire was to incorporate natural objects reflecting Hildergard's work with plants, especially as medicine.  I remembered my stash of dried rose hips, collected on a late autumn.  Likewise, the feathers from goldfinch, raven, bluejay and sparrow.  The shape of the altar, though a octagon, not a hexagon, still evoked the chambers of a bee-hive, a place of mystery, and relating to Melanie's name, derived from the Greek for honey bee.  

The industry of bees reminds me of the industry of an artist, especially Melanie.  She has been pondering her diverse interests as a spiritual director, teacher, artist and contemplative and how to further synchronize them.  The work of the bees, gathering from so many different flowers to make honey, reminded me of all that we draw together in creating our life work.

I have placed a tiny replica of the Labyrinth of Chartres within the golden, sunlike egg. Opposing matrices combine in the creative process, requiring intuition, patience, even hard-scrabble struggle. Within the Cosmic Egg is a labyrinth that can seem endless. In the bee hive of the brain impressions are transformed in the folds and crannies unseen, so much like the twists and turns of a labyrinth.  The brain is somewhat like an egg (intelligent people are teased for being egg-heads), hiding the gestation of ideas.

The moon and the loving old crone, who is part bird, with the feathers of combined birds, is a reminder of the magic that occurs outside the brain in the heart.  It is the mother-love with which we nurture ideas that transform them into art.  Little by little the mother bird feathers her nest, and little by little our creations unfold.

All through the process of making this altar I kept this quote in mind that Melanie shared with me: "The order of the universe is toward compassion." -Dr. Pete Terpenning  Every aspect is designed to curve and meld into the other, just as I imagine the spinning galaxies and the universe unfolding.

This piece can be turned several ways.

100 Steps Beach: Offering Hope at the Altar

Two heart-shaped rocks left by Heart Space

                                                                
At the top step, at One Hundred Steps beach, I wondered if my sore legs would carry me all the way down to the seashore and back again.  There may be only one hundred steps but they are steep ones and my knees can play tricks on me.

It is hard to commit to a hike, with rheumatoid arthritis, because I can't predict when or where the flare-ups will appear.  Still, this is my own beach, the one I claim as entirely special.  You never know when you will see a seal, an eagle, or a pelican, which definitely trumps any fear of a little pain.

I decided to make the offering of my strength, such as it is, to the hike.  I could take it slowly, and if any especially speedy types approached me on the trail, move over and let them pass me.  So I made my plodding way with care.

At every turn I appreciated these stairs, the rails constructed of found objects and driftwood, how they offer quirky diversion. Soon, I'd forgotten the swellings and aches that accompanied me, and was able to keep up with my companion.  He made the sacrifice of going slowly, so that I could feel hardy enough, and in the end, probably reaped the benefits of the smaller details.  You just can't see them when you're whizzing past slow people on the trail.

The stairs themselves, constructed lovingly by someone who has made the remote beach accessible to most all who can walk, are a sacrifice, are an offering of compassion. Only the best of climbers could have accessed the beach before there were steps.  And those who climbed must have made a mess of the flora and fauna. Such places give me hope for humanity - both because they were made by good souls, and are respected by humble enjoyers of them.

Some sights, even the speedy can't pass without noticing. The little shelter two-thirds of the way down the trail, appears to be a sort of shrine, or has been made into one by passersby.  It is here, with gratitude for the sunshine, the sea, a pile of tiny agates in my pocket, that I left my one heart-shaped rock, and my love left his, too.  (You can see in the photo, there is a kind of makeshift altar, and an interesting drawing, almost a petroglyph, nailed by someone above the shelf where we put our stones.)

Never do we know, when we begin an undertaking if we will see the end of it.  We must obey our hearts and set out into the unknown with hope.  Hope can be as complicated as one hundred steps down and one hundred up again, or as simple as one step forward into the unknown.  It is hope that carries us to the best places, sites that we can share with loved ones, and all of humanity.

Filigree and Fiddle-dee-dee to Fashion

There are lots of blogs telling you what to wear.  I won't do that.  I am going to tell you to have fun with your jewelry.

Why not?  I have fun making it.  I'm always on the look-out for interesting materials and juicy gems.  I love the hunt.

For instance, I recently found these antique brass filigrees that remind me of flowers, and combined them with gorgeous golden freshwater pearls and sundrops of citrine.  And Voila!

They'd be lots of fun, especially on someone with light-colored blonde to red hair, or short hair of any color.  Very feminine and Victorian feeling ~ like one of my favorite flowers, the fuchsia.

I have more citrine, if anyone wants a nice little necklace to go with these earrings.

GEM LORE: Pearls are very fashionable this year, but do you know they have healing properties as well?  Pearls are cooling and soothing, can help balance emotions, and symbolize purity.  They are very absorbent of whatever the wearer feels, but when pared with citrine, which deflects negativity, the energy is very balanced.

The Special Gift: Have You Found What You're Looking For?

Something New: Red Tiger Eye, Garnet, Jasper &Copper

I love giving gifts.  I don't always have much to spend, but how I love figuring out a way within my means to bring a look of pleasure to someone, along with the sense that they are appreciated and understood by me.  At the end of this blog post, I will share some of my free or low-cost ideas for gifts.  If you can afford very reasonably priced jewelry items, I recommend you visit my Etsy site to do some carefree gift-shopping. I will even gift wrap for you and postage within the USA is free this season.


I hope that my ready-made designs will please some, but I am always open to collaborating to create something that speaks to the heart.  That is why I call my store the Heart Space, because I put my own heart and soul into these items.  It is a way of sending my joy outward - via color, precious metals, beautiful beads and natural stones.

If you have an idea for a gift that you might like my help realizing, please don't hesitate to contact me.  We might be able to collaborate.  You can contact me via email at santomilagrito@yahoo.com, where you can leave a message, even attach a photo of something you might like.  I'm fully aware, gauging by sales this year that this might be a tight season financially for me and many others.


Here are a few ideas for free or extremely low cost gifts and community-building that I especially enjoy.

10 Hearfelt Gift Ideas

1. The gift of time. Start with a hand-written invitation on a pretty card (You can find many nice cards on Etsy, by the way)  Invite a friend for a lunch you cook yourself.  Sit deep and catch up on each other's lives.  
2. Copy out a favorite poem on nice paper - choose one that reminds you of someone special.  Copy it in your best handwriting or on your computer with a nice font. With a glue stick glue on a relevant picture from a magazine or old greeting card.  Toll  Tie it with a pretty ribbon. 
3. Even BETTER - if you can write a poem or paragraph of your own - with a memory of a special time with that friend or loved-on.  You can decorate it to the extent of your ability - and time.
4. Give nature lovers something you have found in their favorite places - the beach (a shell?), the mountains or forest (a river stone or pretty pine cone).  You could combine this gift with a poem above, or quote from Nature writers such as Thoreau or William Stafford.
5. A loaf of bread, a dozen cookies, a jar of spaghetti sauce, anything home-cooked to anyone living alone or anyone terribly busy is always welcome.
6. Time again - invite someone to accompany you for a special walk. Bring a picnic?  If it's cold you could eat it in the car.
7. Sachets: Buy bulk lavender at the Health Food store.  Sew tablespoons into little pockets and fill in the rest with cotton stuffing.  Tie with pretty ribbons. Include in gift baskets with bars of nice soap, or your homemade jam - or the sea shells or poems. (See above)
8. Shop local and help small businesses succeed - these are your friends and neighbors.  A few pennies saved here and there can't make up for the community you lose (not to mention the gas to drive around) when big stores take over and the little guys close down.
9. Even on Etsy, there's a shop local feature where you can find people in your city and state from whom you can buy gifts.  Heart Space is located in Portland, Oregon.
10. Always shop in a good mood.  Take a walk in the fresh air first and you will be in a good mood.  Believe it or not, statistics show that when you are happy you make much wiser choices overall.

I hope these suggestions are useful to you.  Here's to a Happy Holiday to each and every one!

The Little Lupitas

Three New Little Necklaces 

The third one has sold already!

 

You Are What You Love

Clarita loves the color robin's egg blue. 

What do you love?

Today I recommend a new form of shopping that costs absolutely nothing.  It occurred to me while contemplating how people who shop on Etsy leave virtual "hearts" at their favorite Etsy stores, or give to items that catch their fancy. Maybe an Etsy shopper never buys that thing, but just having "hearted" it, they've made it a part of their Favorites Section on their Etsy site. It's a way you can come to know a person on Etsy, by what favorites they display.  Some people keep their Etsy hearts secret from all others, but many are so proud of their favorites that they announce them on blogs or on Twitter.  Maybe this is a metaphor for a very valuable spiritual and creative exercise: listing your favorite things in some tangible form.

First, spend a few moments with your Heart's Longing, what you'd love to see around you, or how you would like things in your life to be.  Then imagine that you have left a bit of your heart at the place where those beloved nouns are sold, or appear, or congregate, just as an Etsy shopper might.

Finally, create a book, either real or imaginary where you might store images or words that represent those nouns, or even some verbs, if what you love is an action word.  Now imagine that this book has a photo of you on the cover.  All these qualities, things, experiences, etc. are part of what you store in your heart.  You might title that book: My Heart's Desires.  

Such intentionality might actually help you obtain some of these desires.  I intend to make such a book this summer and keep it in a sacred place.  Can you list at least a hundred things you love? I guarantee that just doing this will lift your spirits. 

What do you cherish in your Heart Space? Please leave a comment with one favorite thing you love.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy or ponderous: just what first comes to mind!

Wishing you every happiness,

Clarita

The Audrey Necklace: Wondrous Citrine

This is my latest posting in my etsy store (link at left).  I call it the Audrey Necklace because it evokes the 1960's style of the elegant actress, Audrey Hepburn.  It is reminiscent of a necklace Audrey wore in the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I was aiming to create something classic and natural enough to go through an entire day: from breakfast (at Tiffany's?) to that nightcap on your penthouse balcony.  Okay, you don't have a penthouse, but wouldn't these stones catch the sunlight on the way to work?  Wouldn't they brighten up that tired black linen suit?

The longest strand of this necklace is approximately 19 inches long and the shorter strand about 17 inches.  But the most interesting facts about this necklace are the stones, gorgeous citrine, which has a topaz-like glow and a wonderful LORE about its supposed properties.  

LORE: Citrine emits such positive energy, it is said to never need cleaning to remove negative vibes, as some stones do.  It's the recommended gift stone for Virgos and your 13th and 17th anniversaries. The joyful golden color of citrine probably inspired the lore that it's the Success Stone, which brings good fortune in unexpected ways.  If a long lost uncle dies and leaves you a million dollars, or the old poetry notebook you threw away falls into the hands of an enthusiastic editor who searches you down to publish it, you might be wearing citrine!  

Those who believe in the healing powers of stones say citrine helps the heart, kidneys, muscles and promotes mental clarity, as well as heightening sex appeal. Hmmm, all that abundance, AND it eliminates any self-destructive tendencies you might have picked up on the way to the bank.  

I don't have anyway of proving all the lore, but the rich golden color of the citrine makes me happy just to wear it.  The sunlight moves through them and spills out golden rays.  More gold than yellow, they look good anyone who can carry off gold jewelry.  

The Audrey necklace is one of my favorites so far, and it available for $50, from my Heartspace etsy store.  Just click on the etsy store link at the left and check out my new summer jewelry. 

What's Happening at Heart*space?

Hi Friends,

I've been neglecting my Etsy Store and this blog for a few weeks due to some unpleasant adventures. Trust me, it was no picnic, but love carried us through. At last everyone is well and hope is rising with the flowers.

I'm back on a creative binge.  I have begun work on three altar installations and have placed some of my newest jewelry creations at a cool beauty salon called Images Unlimited where Jenny, Tari and the other talented stylists help men and women to look their best from head to toe.  I'm so pleased to have already sold a few of my most fashion forward pieces to Images Unlimited clients already!  Just for joy and for a Mothers' Day gift to myself I got my scraggly hair cut for the first time in ages.  I must say they did a great job.

So, if you live in Portland, Oregon and need a good haircut, you'll have to run down to Images Unlimited where they'll pamper you royally.  Tell them Claire sent you and take a look at my Mermaid Necklaces, one with the look of beach glass, the other with charms and pearls.

While my life settles back to its usual happy chaos, I will finish the Wise Women installations and hope to post them soon.  In the meantime, I pray that spring warms into summer less eventfully, or at least may all your events be blessed.  I know I am glad to be alive and living right here at this time.

Saint Valentine's Day

St. Valentine certainly existed in Imperial Rome during the days of the Christian martyrs, but no one knows exactly why he's the namesake of the February holiday, other than his martyrdom on February 14.  

Long having lost its association with the saint, Valentines Day bears little trace of this Christian martyr, beyond the traditional depiction of of the Valentine heart with an arrow through it.  He may have been martyred by a piercing of the heart!  Before his death, matters of the heart were a major concern for Valentine.

The story is that St. Valentine married Christian couples at a time when the Romans forbid this.  This may have something to do with him being the partron saint of engaged couples, lovers, and happy marriages.  

While awaiting his execution in Rome, St. Valentine is storied to have befriended his jailer's blind daughter, and finally restoring her sight.  Legend has it, he penned her a note on the eve of his death, saying, "Farewell, from your Valentine."

I can find no connection with St. Valentine's story and the fact that he is the patron saint of beekeepers.  Maybe that's the source of the tradition of Valentine's Day sweets?

If you wish to celebrate St. Valentine's Day with a gift of a heart, please visit my Heartspace Etsy. I will be thrilled to assist your gift with wrapping, etc.  Go to Heartspace:

http://heartspace.etsy.com/ 

and check out the Valentines Section.  Most items are less than twenty dollars with postage!

Wishing you love and every happiness,

Clarita