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. 

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.)

creation two ways: a visual meditation

this video is best viewed in full screen.  if you are not able to view it on my blog, you can watch it here on youtube.  creation two ways is a creative response to some of the material i am currently engaging with in an online course, women on the threshold, offered through abbey of the arts.   enjoy!

moving water - a poem from rumi

meandering by stacy wills

(9" x 12" mixed media on watercolor paper)

moving water

when you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

when actions come from another section, 
the feeling disappears.

don't let others lead you.  they may be blind or,
worse, vultures.

reach for the rope of god.  and what is that?
putting aside self-will.

because of willfulness people sit in jail, 
the trapped bird's wings are tied,
fish sizzle in the skillet.

...you've seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment.
now see the invisible.

if you could leave your selfishness, you would see
how you've been torturing your soul.

we are born and live inside black water
in a well.

how could we know what an open field of sunlight is?
Don't insist on going where you think you want to go.

ask the way to the spring.
your living pieces will form a harmony.

there is a moving palace that floats in the air
with balconies and clear water flowing through,

infinity everywhere, yet contained
under a single tent.

- rumi (1207 - 1273)
translated by coleman barks

silence on fire

o be still, while

you are still alive,

and all things live around you

speaking (i do not hear)

to your own being,

speaking by the unknown

that is in you and in themselves.

i will try, like them

to be my own silence:

and this is difficult.  the whole

world is secretly on fire.  the stones

burn, even the stones they burn me.

how can a man be still or

listen to all things burning?

how can he dare to sit with them

when all their silence is on fire?

-thomas merton (1915 - 1968), 

from his poem, in silence

the fire rises in me (a poem by symeon the new theologian)

the fire rises in me,

and lights up my heart.

like the sun!

like the golden disk!

opening, expanding, radiant--

yes!

--a flame!

i say again:

i don't know

what to say!

i'd fall silent

--if only i could--

but this marvel

makes my heart leap,

it leaves me open-mouthed

like a fool,

urging me

to summon words

from my silence.

-symeon the new theologian (949-1032)

places to pray in

everybody needs beauty as well as bread;

places to play in and pray in,

where nature may heal and cheer and

give strength to the body and soul.

-john muir (1838-1914)

source image: cypress swamp along the natchez trace

stay here

thinking gives off smoke

to prove the existence of fire.

a mystic sits inside the burning.

there are wonderful shapes

in rising smoke

that imagination loves to watch.

but it's a mistake to leave the fire

for that filmy sight.

stay here...

at the flame's core.

-rumi (1207-1273)

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday

soften

soften your gaze awhile...

until life comes

into focus again

into the silence

...god is laboring in me

i need to be silent for a while,

worlds are forming

in my heart.

-meister eckhart (1260-1327)

wordless wednesday