Circles: A Poem by Hafiz

(best viewed in full screen)

Circles

The moon is most happy when it is full,

the sun always looks like a perfectly minted gold coin

polished and placed in flight by God's playful kiss.

And so many varieties of fruit hang plump and round.

I see the beautiful curve of a pregnant belly

shaped by a soul within,

and the earth itself.

I have gotten the hint:

There is something about circles the Beloved likes.

Within the circle of a Perfect One

there is an infinite community of light.

-Hafiz (1325-1389)

This is the fourth installment in my Mandala Meditation series, and was inspired by the words from one of my favorite poets, Hafiz.  I enjoy creating and sharing these videos in the hope that they might provide an oasis of beauty and rest in the midst of your busy days. 

The mandalas for this video were created using some of my existing artwork (alcohol inks) as source images. 

A Pause for Beauty

Everyone needs to take a little break now and then....

The artwork in this video was created using my alcohol ink paintings as source images, with music from Hildegard of Bingen, Vision 1 - The Fire of Creation.  If you are unable to view the video on my blog, you can watch it directly on YouTube at A Pause for Beauty.

Ripen

Ripen (Stacy Wills, 2013)
digital, mixed media from source image (seen below)

Spring has arrived

and with it comes

the furious planting,

the anxious waiting.

I, too, will plant

 in my own way,

and I will come

forth with new life.

But I will not be hurried.

I will not cast off

Winter's stillness

like an ill-fitting garment.

I will take my time -

my own sweet time...

to ripen.

-Stacy Wills (3/21/13)

Because Her Womb Grew Fruit (Stacy Wills, 2013)
alcohol inks on river rock 

Many Portals

Time and Space (Stacy Wills, 2013)

digital, mixed media from a source image

Hodie Aperuit

Today a closed portal has been opened

that which the serpent suffocated

in the wise-woman

is revealed to us.

Now the flower of the Virgin

is alight in the dawn.

-an Antiphon by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

During this season of Lent, I am traveling with Hildegard of Bingen and a blessed company of kindred spirits, through an online retreat  led by Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts.  Creative expression is an important part of this journey, and  I hope to share here some of  the art that  is bubbling up  in me as a result.   As it so happens, it feels as though many portals are opening all at once in my life right now!

Although I knew of Hildegard because of  her connection with mandalas, I truly "met" her for the first time this past year during another Abbey retreat, Women on the Threshold, and came to appreciate more fully the scope of her vision and understanding.    The visual meditation, Creation Two Ways, was inspired by her.

Time and Space was created using the alcohol ink painting below as a source image.

    Bubbling Up  (Stacy Wills, 2013)

3" x 4" alcohol inks on yupo

Here is a recording of Hildegard's beautiful antiphon:  Hodie Aperuit  
(As you listen, I invite you to click on Time and Space for an enlarged view.)

Awaken My Heart

O, You who are ever

giving life to all life,

moving all creatures,

root of all things,

washing them clean,

wiping out their mistakes,

healing their wounds,

You are our true life -

luminous, wonderful,

awakening the heart

from its ancient sleep.

-Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Waking Up!

Awake!  (Stacy Wills, 2012)

"Beyond living and dreaming

there is something more important:

waking up."

-Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

Rain in the Desert (a poem by John Gould Fletcher)

south by southwest (stacy wills, 2012)

Rain in the Desert

The huge red-buttressed mesa over yonder

Is merely a far-off temple where the sleepy sun is burning

Its altar fires of pinyon and toyon for the day.

The old priests sleep, white shrouded;

Their pottery whistles lie beside them, the prayer-sticks closely feathered.

On every mummied  face there glows a smile.

The sun is rolling slowly

Beneath the sluggish folds of the sky-serpents,

Coiling, uncoiling, blue black, sparked with fires.

The old dead priests

Feel in the thin dried earth that is heaped about them,

Above the smell of scorching, oozing pinyon,

The acrid smell of rain.

And now the showers

Surround the mesa like a troop of silver dancers:

Shaking their rattles, stamping, chanting, roaring,

Whirling, extinguishing the last red wisp of light.

-John Gould Fletcher (1886-1950)