The SUN; the Golden Dakini Tarot

                           THE SUN CARD

       from THE GOLDEN DAKINI TAROT 

 

Spring is unfolding outside as we stay in our isolated, internal worlds here in the north – and crave the glory of the SUN after this hard winter. Having been entirely immersed in creating a new deck of Tarot cards through the winter and spring, I will be unveiling them one by one, as I complete the deck. And will slowly introduce them… a compilation of years of images, most of the cards incorporate my photographic work with painted bodies. My visionary journey into the magical world of Tarot, interpreted in my own style –  combining painting, photography  and symbolism, merged  through modern digital processes is psychedelic in inspiration and perspective; shamanic, contemporary yet timeless. Creating the deck is an ongoing journey.  Its magic and mystery unfold daily as I do … I hope to have it completed and unveiled by Summer’s end.

The Lovers

Titania and Oberon, the Fairy Lovers unite, and Spring blossoms with their passion.

Angels among Us…

They appear from nowhere, stepping out of the mist along the water’s edge… Wings slightly tattered she stood on the shore, looking out to the gentle infinity of blue. When she looked at me I saw it in her eyes – reflected. She stood there and focused her gazer slowly upon me. Light radiated from her face, the third eye in her forehead, and her flaming hair. I stood silent , gently absorbing her radiance.

 

I  can only be thankful I was there at that moment. I followed her walking along the beach. I watched as she danced, the two of us alone on the shore as the birds swooped around her, like music. we were connected as if by a psychic thread, a while glowing string that pulled me along as she walked….I followed her further, walking through the places no one walks, abandoned warehouses and a shoreline that skirted the grey city as if sh e were a mermaid who had found both feet and wings..

We walked, her movements connected somehow to my heart with that glowing but invisible string pulling me along, as if I could walk over water. I wondered where she was going, and where she would take me; where she lived and if she would walk gently over top the silvery water of the lake. Nothing seemed real and nothing seemed impossible. She looked as if she had walked out of time, stepping through centuries or decades at will, with her black boots and her wings carrying her. Her black coat was long and old. Trimmed with fur and wide skirted, swirling its heavy skirts in the wind as she moved in her joyous circles, its sleeves covering her hands that flashed white like her face. She could have stepped from any time or place… Medieval England, Victorian Ireland, she could have been the original Strega de Buonaventura, or a salem witch… her beauty was rich – half spirit and half earthling.She walked as a spirit among us, half flesh and half an electric being of light , her cells were oscillating wave lengths  filled with rainbows of light. I saw them when I looked into her clear, almost transparent aqua eyes. . The radiance was  blinding.

Darkness was falling quickly. The moon was in perigree, full and about to rise. She was hurrying somewhere, taking me with her.. The lake and city spread before us across the lake. I watched the sun set through the darkness of her silhouetted wings.

Angels appear as messengers, harbingers of change at times when we are most sensitive, when the veils thin and we can  see the angels and spirits that walk amongst us … She  glowed with light and fire, mirroring the sunset.  I watched them both fade as she became a chameleon, her skin slowly merging with the colours in the sky until it turned into darkness, and she disappeared into the early winter night.

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Venus enters Aries

Venus slips from Pisces to Aries… Her body is touched by flames as she rushes now, to meet her lover Mars, who calls to her.Venus is on fire and has no patience …she leaves the angel wings of Pisces behind, letting them drop like an unneeded costume. She feels her passion ignite and slips into the beckoning flames.

Venus on Fire in the Golden Lake

A new painting is flowing like music, as if pouring out of my hands and my heart. It is like a golden lake. A work in progress, soft coral clouds form a sky on the canvas, painted with layers of paint mixed in thin washes of time.Dull gold gleams as a base somewhere  beneath the reds and creams. Placed there about ten years ago, like time trapped on canvas and preserved, glazes hold floating fragments of gold. Small fires and soft explosions are caught there forever like old loves that continue to smoulder; their beauty never dies, gold in our hearts. Venus is now fully in Chiron’s embrace. I feel them mingled together… the wise teacher and healer and the Goddess of beauty are meeting in the last sign  of Pisces, the fully opened heart, yet they are restricted in their expression and flow by a square from Saturn. Love and compassion merge in their embrace like a joyous lake inviting us to swim in its magical waters healing our collective heart through gentleness. The square to Saturn in Sagittarius enables us now with the concerted effort to speak out, for our beliefs and collective truth – to have heart, the message of Venus in embrace with Chiron and in the realm of Neptune – the message of love.

Clouds of bright gold leaf are forming in the foreground. I see the changes coming in this beautiful inner sky that is unfolding before me and can manipulate them into what I wish to create – into a future  reflection, my own inner sky.  The canvas has been waiting for its completion patiently for years.Now marked by layers of time, a patina is giving its own gift of depth into the background that makes the foreground sing.

There is a certain degree of possession in painting… I must admit it. It cannot be denied, and is true of most art. The artist can become possessed; obsessed completely by his Muse. Once experienced, the artist seeks the same communion, hungering for the presence  of the Muse, wanting to be once again hers, taken over, like an instrument. Once kissed fully on the lips by the Muse when she comes to him or her, the artist, singer or dancer is never the same. A divine elixir has been tasted. The desire for that sweet essence can become so keen and so subtly invasive that it takes over the human heart with a deep love and yearning. Perhaps this is the secret truth behind the passion of the artist…

the  seduction of his Muse.

The Year of the Phoenix…

Phoenixes and Angels; both rise up to Heaven… A bronze cast from a wax original, standing four feet tall, my sculpture, “Golden Shakti”is photographed here against  a painted detail of an abstracted wing. Rising up from the flames into a golden sky,  reborn and crowned with gold, the Goddess is rising like a Phoenix. Rising up from the ashes of our own self immolation, we feel the planets collectively as Uranus in Aries, wild and willful, opposes Saturn in steady Capricorn. We feel the desire for freedom and for truth as the Feminine arises empowered refusing to be restricted and restrained. Venus, the Goddess of love and Chiron the Healer are meeting in the sign of Pisces in their yearly embrace. A wave of compassion, a rising up of the Feminine is spreading, healing pain with solace and releasing love to the world from the collective feminine heart. Angels will be rising like Phoenixes in their flames – the Year of the Fire Cock is coming, giving us the rare opportunity to rise up like a Phoenix and fly.

 

Heart Song

The Moon and Jupiter are kissing in the sky in Libra, ruled by Venus the Goddess of Love. Uranus the Electric Planet opposes the two so we can expect some wild and crazy love, with Mars in Pisces. Water needs to flow, and this is powerful watery emotion – use it wisely. There is a Grand Cross in the heavens. Become fluid, embrace the flow. Make art, dance and sing. Singing lets the love flow and you can share it, so the world becomes a better place… Keep the faith, sing your heart’s song, and share the love…

The Cosmic Heart with Doves….new work, recently completed, below.