Raven’s Cloak
This painting was completed during the lightning fires, whose threat we remain under as I write.
In Native cultures Lightning is associated with potency and a means to fight off chaos and evil powers. It is a way to release saving waters.
The ancient Mayans said that maize was discovered when lightning opened a rock to reveal the original corn seed.
In Chinese culture the word for lightning is shen. Which is the expansive force of the universe that brings rain and life support.
Shamanic wisdom states that lightning represents contact with the unconscious, clairvoyance.
It is a warning and clarification; cloud to ground enlightenment.
Reflection
The world is a great mirror. It reflects back
To you what you are. If you are loving, if you
Are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will
Prove loving and friendly and helpful to you
Raven’s Cloak
The world is what you are.
–Thomas Dreier
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The following are comments from friends that viewed this painting:
- Shattered, fractured
- Indecision/possibility
- The moment prior to Transformation
- Leaving the past behind and moving to a sea of possibility
- Excitement and fear
- Regret
- Everything going back to the void
- Longing
- Raven, cloak, watching, power storm, sadness, observing, transformation, wisdom and sorrow
The Northwest Coast Indians call the Raven the” Real Chief”, “One whose voice is to be Obeyed”
The raven uses its sharp beak to coax us out of our shells, steal the light, then teach us how to sow, thus rearranging our moral landscape, putting into question what is sacred and profane.
From the point of inspiration that started this, it was the melting of the glaciers, Arctic and Antarctic. The unending warming of the planet, a historic unprecedented fire season simultaneous with flooding that is embracing the United States.
These are the times we live in and very much on my mind and on the collective minds of humans today.
My process is to let the image unfold, this was not drawn ahead of time, it is the collective unconscious speaking.
Trust
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward;
You can only connect them looking backwards. So, you
Have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in
Your future. You have to trust in something-your
Gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach
Has never let me down, and it has made all the
Difference in my life.
–Steve Jobs
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Original Painting by Diana Dunlap 2020
Acrylic on canvas 30″x40″