A Fecund and Sensual Nature

PREFACE:  This post is inspired by a much needed sojourn in late May into the Jemez Mountains.  The photographs are of the Divine and Fertile Feminine.

A couple of weeks after taking the following photographs in the Jemez Mountains in late May, I journeyed north, very north to Michigan via NM, TX/OK Panhandle, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan.  I began writing what would become this two-part post from a cottage near Green Lake (thanks to my generous Austin framilia) in the northern woods of the lower peninsula of Michigan.  It's been a very wet and late spring in the Midwest. I'm surrounded by water here at Interlochen... between Green Lake, Duck Lake with marshes, bogs, and creeks beside, between, and around them.  It's a mere 25 miles as the crow flies to Lake Michigan, which I crossed via a four-hour ferry ride.  I spent 5 hours one afternoon blissfully paddling in a pretty red canoe... across Green Lake then up and down the verdant little stream that feeds it.

But back to my beloved Land of Enchantment.

I write in the present tense as it returns me to the immediacy of the moments of my experiences.   I recall Anaïs Nin's words, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect."

Jemez Mountains, New Mexico.  Last full week of May, 2013.   

I sojourn...

north into the Jemez Mountains ~ poignantly aware of this historically severe drought.  Even my soul feels fine dusty dry... in want of rain.

I ruminate...

900 years ago a fifty-year drought sent the ancient peoples of Chaco packing.  I moved to the southwest a mere thirty years ago.  I'm 53.  50-plus years is a long time to live in a drought.  I contemplate time in this timeless landscape... how it is that a mere 75 million years ago this sacred landscape formed the bottom of an inland sea...  an apropos baptism.  Miraculous.

I recall...

Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things...

“Then to give the kids a historical perspective, Chacko... (How serendipitous!  Chaco and Chacko... converging here in the middle of this stream of thought?!) ...Chacko told them about the earth woman. He made them imagine that the earth - 4600 million years old - was a 46 year old woman...  It had taken the whole of earth woman’s life for the earth to become what it was. For the oceans to part. For the mountains to rise. The earth woman was 11 yrs old when the first single celled organisms appeared. The first animals, creatures like worms and jellyfish, appeared only when she was forty. She was over forty five - just 8 months ago - when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The whole of human civilization as we know it, began only 2 hrs ago in the earth woman’s life…”

Geological time perspective can be enlightening, soothing.  But our wee selves in our daily fleeting lives live a more temporal awareness. 

I intend...

comfort ~ even before I know I'm intending it ~ and Spirit obliges.

I seek...

renewal and connection to the earth and sky, hope, optimism, joy... the concrete feel of water or at least a morsel of enlightened equanimity.

I believe...

in the 600 year old words of the mystic, Julian of Norwich, that "…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

       

       

I am...

reassured, comforted, inspired, feeling whole upon my return.   I have taken over 1000 photographs and gleaned these.    you will surely note their overriding theme, their fecund and sensual nature.  

I know...  

that all is well and all is well, and all manner of things shall be well!  For our Great Mother Earth is resilient, patient, generous!

Quartet: High Desert Stars

stars fall

burst against 

high desert drought

learn to speak 

ancient
agavoideae 

hopeful

stardust

a prayer for rain

available individual or as a quartet

photographs taken in the 

Elena Gallegos Open Space

Albuquerque, NM,  May 2013

SEPIA HAIKU

West Wind blows secrets -

a thousand white cherry blossoms

land in my ear

SWEET WILD PRAYERS AND DUST

sensate
sublimate

prostrate

take off your shoes in respect

let your socks go feral

defer to the soft wisdom of dust

decay

detritus

watch the grass grow

through last years brittle blades

up between your naked toes

watch green spring rise up

from the rio's wandering wet edge

to your winter weary tears

the earth is eager for your sweet wild prayers

RAVE'N: So Much to CRoW about!

"Raven Communing with the West Wind in the Painted Desert"

I am a RaVe’N with so many beautiful and magical things to CRoW about! GRiN!   

This sweet mornin' I find myself settling into my new home here at 'Casa von Erffa Prasse' on Indian Farm Lane in the North Valley of ABQ... in walking distance of the Rio Grande... the river, the nature center, and the boulevard!   I'm in a playful mood as I settle into my new home full of easy laughter and fresh challenges with Sally & Kurt & baby-makes-three-in-9-weeks, & dear Sophia, their sweet 17-year-old cat... and my new 'gig' as  NaNNY JuJu, fée marraine, f.c.  (that's fairy godmother, first class)...  I be dancin' a jig! 

Once upon a time not so long ago I was house-sitting here in ABQ in the summer of 2010.  I fell in love with the Land of Enchantment, the friendly community-oriented big small town of Albuquerque, and particularly the neighborhood referred to as the North Valley that parallels the Rio Grande.  I'd already decided I was going to move here, when, while driving down Candelaria Road to the Rio Grande Nature Center, I had the thought that I would love to live in a house in this neighborhood, a home in which I imagined teaching workshops, hosting retreats, and having fun dinner parties.  (We had one here Sunday night!  And Sally asked if I would be interested in co-teaching workshops with her.   YES!  So watch for the announcements.)

As many of you know I had been looking for a new living situation here in Albuquerque since last autumn ~ and while doing so I have been living more of my gypsy aspect than I'd bargained for...  floating from one pet-sitting gig to another to house-sitting, to "couch-surfing".  (I'd say bed-surfing but that would imply more intrigue than happened.)   

It is here that I wish to send out great big ever-lovin' gratitudes to all who cheered me on and helped get the word out about my pet-sitting services and my abode needs... in particular, Billy Brown, Virginia & Ed, Elene, Lizzie, Dawn, Jules, Stephanie, and Alison.  Muchos gracias! 

And extra special biggie humongous ever-lovin' gratitudes in particular to the Austin familia who welcomed me into their busy, full familia household for the previous 15 months; to Susy & Randy who housed me a few days that I might avoid a nasty bug before my trip to San Francisco to see Victor at Christmas, to Penny, Gregory, and the Goodman's for your hospitality between gigs; and to Jules, Caroline and her pup, Lola!;  Marjorie and her kitties, Prince & Cinnamon; Donna & Phil and their pups, Bohdi & Jackson for the pet-sitting gigs.  How I love y'all furry and furless alike!  For all this and more I be RaVe'N!  XoXo!   Julie

CHAMISA 'SOL' ON A CLOUDY DAY...

Breathing February's essence... her purifying, cleansing cold fire... thinking about how I feel when I'm inside her out of doors... feeling a certain bliss knowing that I carry her within me always and can consciously tap into this sweetness anytime I wish!

These photopoeticas are from early winter last year... I miss this little community. 

Dear Chamisaness, I will come visit y'all soon!  xoxo, Julie

Qui❤ART Retreats Info

'QuiYART' Retreats

@ THE WHITE BUTTERFLY STUDIO

with Julie SuZaNNe BroKKeN

artist, poeta, photographer, teacher

Come to any or all!  Upcoming and ongoing 

QuiYART dates:

     Thursday, MARCH 7th

     Thursday, March 21st

TIME: 6:30-8:30ish PM...

FLEXIBLE PRICE: Pass the hat! +/-$15 per person.  All are welcome.

Bring friends!  Last minute OK... RSVP not required

 

WHERE:  Julie's White Butterfly Studio @ The Factory on 5th Art Space

 1715 – 5th Street NW, Albuquerque, NM  See MAP at the bottom of The Factory's website...

http://www.factoryon5.com/

I look forward to seeing you at the next 'QuiYART' Retreat

Please contact me if you have any questions, need more info or would like to schedule a private retreat for you and your friends, family, co-workers, club, group, et al.  505.604.7850

PARTICIPANT COMMENTS:

Perfect!

Fun and Inspiring. Nice people and nice energy.

It was really lovely to have a quiet and relatively unstructured space to come and draw with other people. There was coffee, tea and water for us and the lack of a structured agenda for the art was really refreshing. Julie was there as a knowledgeable and attentive resource when needed and helped me solve a perspective problem I have been struggling with for quite a while. Thank you Julie!!!