Monday, March 30, 2009

Ganesha's Labyrinth

"Ganesha's Magic Labyrinth"
Kate Jobe 3/30/09

Illusion builds
the bones that bridge
Ganesha’s
magic labyrinth.

Listen.
The dance of
laughter shines through…
revealing golden keys
cascading
from shrouds
veiling open
doorways:

Breathe Trust.
Pray Forgiveness.
Embrace Love.
Inhale Truth.
Plunge
into
the flowing stream.
Be Abundance.
The mandala art featured above began as a rambling doodle that evolved into the image of an elephant and as I continued to embellish it, I transformed it into a mandala. The poem came after I meditated while focusing upon the image. I then researched the symbolic meaning of Ganesha, a Hindu deity, here and here (among many other sites), and discovered that Ganesha, while generally depicted as red, is also shown in blue or pink. Ganesha can have a snake draped across him and has a silver or gold crown with a red ruby on his forehead. He is sometimes shown with long flowing locks of hair. Upon reading this information, I was, once more, affirmed of how, when we allow ourselves to be guided by our intuition, we are more in touch with the interconnectedness of all things than we can imagine. Ganesha brings the gifts of wisdom and abundance and is said to both place obstacles before us to keep us on our right path and to also assist us to remove the obstacles from out paths. Many times in my life, I have been frustrated by challenges that I perceived as deterrents from what I wanted to be doing. Sometimes they were in the form of timing; Sometimes jobs or relationships, or lack of one of these, that created the challenge for me. As time passed, I would eventually unveil a greater gift that was woven into the guise of my challenge. These keys to awareness allowed me to see that I had skills I had not realized I possessed, or taught me how to stand stronger for myself, which ultimately led me to pursuits I would previously not have attempted.
When you look back over the challenges in your life that you resisted, what gifts did you eventually find within them? What challenges are facing you now that are waiting to be transformed into greater wisdom, truth or abundance for you?

Friday, March 13, 2009

Celebrating the Year of the Woman


2009 is the Year of the Woman and Sunday was the International Day of the Woman. The art featured above, "Sharing the Dance," is a vibrant, but dream-like representation of the joyous power that occurs when women are united, sharing their gifts to accomplish great things, but at the same time, are able to maintain their individuality. In addition, it a symbolic depiction of the maturation phases of a woman's life.

This year, the Omaha YWCA has allowed me to re-introduce the "Sharing the Dance" print, which I originally created for their 100th anniversary, 15 years ago, to sell in a smaller poster size version. I am offering this to you in image size of approximately 8-1/2" x 14", printed on 80# 11" x 17" paper with a satin finish for only $40.00.  Signed posters with a 12" x 18" image, printed on high quality 13" x 19"photo paper with high quality photo inks can be purchased for $75.00. Because the original piece was 3' x 4' in size, this larger sized print does represent the art in a more dynamic format.  To purchase "Sharing the Dance", contact me @ my email address kjjobe@gmail.com.

8" x 10" copies of the segments of the picture ("Beginning the Dance"; "Nurturing the Dance"; "Honoring the Dance" ; "Rejoicing in the Dance") are also available for sale for $30.00 each.

To view all of these pieces and to read the narrative on these works, you can access my blog at this link . Be sure to begin @ the post at the top and read down to see all five entries.

Please pass the link to this blog post along to anyone that you think would want to purchase one of these. They make great gifts: birthday; celebration; new mother; friendship; life passage event; etc.... for all the special women you know...young or old....they would make wonderful gifts.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Love: A Rose Unfolding

My seven year old granddaughter, Maddie, spent Friday and Saturday night with me. Her paternal grandfather unexpectedly passed away this week and, to allow her parents more time to spend with family and friends after the funeral luncheon was over, I asked her to spend some time with me. On the way to my house, we bought ice cream cones and ate them outside on a remarkably warm Friday afternoon. Later, we selected sympathy cards for her father and grandmother and then went out for Chinese food. On the way, we purchased stick-on faux fur moustaches that both of us wore while talking to each other in manly voices. Our conversations were minimal because Maddie kept having hysterical fits of laughter.

Without coming out and saying it directly, Maddie let me know that she needed my attention and needed to be close to me. At night when the lights were out and she was cuddled next to me in bed, she would sometimes talk about what had happened that week. She wanted to know if I had cried at all at the funeral and when I affirmed that I had, Maddie told me that she had cried some at school that week when she thought about her grandfather. After we talked we played what she calls, "The Bird Game," which involves listening to peaceful music with our eyes closed, while we take turns telling each other what bird we are seeing. The game never fails to rapidly relax her and put her to sleep.This evening we saw a white crane, a small songbird, an eagle, a golden oriole, a golden fox, a brown bear and a Pegasus.

Together, we planned and prepared a menu of hamburgers, chips and fresh fruit in yogurt to serve on Saturday night. Maddie sat the table with celedon green plates and cobalt blue water glasses and entertained herself, as well as me and our dinner guest, my sister, by telling lively stories and making up jokes that were truly, very funny. After dinner Maddie began creating mandalas. She drew the one above, a free-form spiral, with chalk pastels on paper, selecting the colors by herself and carefully blending them until they merged together. She made a mandala for her paternal grandmother and a stunning crosshatched turtle mandala that she collaged onto black paper with a silver metallic paper heart. She drew mandalas with angels on them and she cut out a little paper heart for her aunt. It's message, very simply, but poignantly filled with love, said, "Why are you so sad? I love you."

Maddie is not consciously aware that making mandalas can assist with others healing, but she very clearly knows that sharing her heart is important when the people she loves are sad or in pain. She instinctively knows that creating art and finding ways to make her laugh will help her to feel good when she needs grounding. Like most children, Maddie may not always be able to succinctly express her feelings with words, but sometimes, words are not necessary. When love is present, it is enough.

Is there someone on your life that needs the simplicity of your love and compassion?