Goddess Alight

I am your moon and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden and your water too
I have come all this way, eager for you
Without shoes or shawl
I want you to laugh
To kill all your worries
To love you
To nourish you
                       --Rumi
 ​

Goddess Alight explores the concept of the divine feminine and includes a number of symbols from various cultures, theologies, and eras, so I thought to provide some context through these classic interpretations. Here are a few clues to the symbols in the painting to get you started on the road to reflection. Just hover over the images to read about the meaning. 

​For further food for thought, here are a list of the colors used in the painting and their meanings:
​
Black- the color of power, mystery, hidden aspects of the life cycle. It relates to the secretive, the unknown, and times of waiting and preparedness.
Blue-the color of peace and spiritual power. It connects to the throat chakra and verbal expression.
Green-The color of growth, fertility and harmony. Connected with the heart chakra and the element of air, green is connected with love and nature, and believed to bring wholeness into our lives.
Gold- Represents wisdom, higher ideals, enlightenment
Orange/ Apricot- The color of creativity, sexuality, energy, balance and warmth. It is associated with the sacral chakra and the element of water.
Pink-the color of caring, compassion, love. Pink is aligned with Venus (love) and the moon (feminine power.)  It has both fire and air elements.
White-the color of peace, innocence, birth, marriage. Pure and powerful, it symbolizes oneness with the universe.
Yellow- The color of hope, imagination, joy. It connects to the solar plexus chakra and the sense of sight.


 Just in case you’re interested, here’s a super quick art history lesson:
(You can take the girl out the classroom, but.....)

Symbols, both figurative and geometric, have been integrated into works of art for a long, long time. In fact, signs and symbols can be found in nearly every Paleolithic site in Western Europe. You can read more about that here.
​
Moving on the twelfth century. Symbols were commonly embedded in Gothic, Byzantine and Renaissance art. As few people were literate during that time, paintings acted the storybooks of the day. Colors and symbols and the placement of both in a painting were part of a rich and consistent visual language. For example, Mary was always dressed in blue; St. Nicholas in red. To make doubly sure that St. Nick was properly identified, he held three golden orbs. As well, each type of flower and fruit in a painting held a particular meaning and message for its viewers. Placement was important, too: keys in a man’s hand represented St. Peter and the keys to the kingdom, but keys laying near a cup or a bowl of fruit represented corruption. People of the time were adept picture readers and easily translated the symbols of the day into their intended meanings. You can learn more about that here.

Fast forward to today, where the thought's the thing. Infographics, iconography, emoticons and other symbols mix with and replace traditional text to spread ideas quickly and across language barriers. You can read more about that here.