Smile...

"Smile with the flower and the green grass.
Play with the butterflies, birds and deer.
Shake hands with the shrubs, ferns and twigs of trees.
Talk to the rainbow, wind, stars and the sun.
Converse with the running brooks and the waves of the sea.
Speak with the walking stick.
Develop friendship with your neighbours, dogs, cats,
                               cows, human beings, trees, flowers, etc.
Then you will have a wide, perfect, rich, full life.
You will realise oneness or unity of life.
This can hardly be described in words.
You will have to feel (this) yourself."

~Swami Sivananda~

Lenten poem...

 

O God, who makes all things new,

 

new stars, new dust, new life;

 

take my heart,

 

every hardened edge and measured beat,

 

and create something new in me.

 

I need your newness, God,

 

the rough parts of me made smooth;

 

the stagnant, stirred;

 

the stuck, freed;

 

the unkind, forgiven.

 

And then, by the power of your Spirit,

 

I need to be turned toward Love again. Amen.

From The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent by Pamela C. Hawkins

Susan Seddon-Boulet, artist...

She drew her inspiration from a wide variety of sources: mythology and poetry, Jungian psychology and worldwide spiritual traditions, as well as a deep love of animal and the natural world. There is a fairy tale quality to her work, a sentimental reacalling of childhood dreams of fairies and castles and magic. Her art exerted and continues to exert a profound influence on the lives that it touches.

http://www.turningpointgallery.com/bio.asp

 

Today Susan Seddon-Boulet is considered one of the founders of the visionary art movement in the United States. Her paintings are widely held in collections around the world. Published works include "Shaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet", "Susan Seddon-Boulet: The Goddess Paintings", "The Power of the Bear" and a most magnificent overview of the artists' life and art "Susan Seddon-Boulet: A Retrospective" .

Anais Nin wrote:

"These figures are out of our dreams, those which flee from us upon awakening, those which are dispersed like dew at dawn, those which fall apart between our fingers like dust-roses.
Susan has a more muted step, or perhaps she is invisible...more soft-voiced, soft-gestured, as the images do not escape from her. She can return from her voyages with intact descriptions...from places never visited by us but which we remember."