Category Archives: art

Where Are YOU in the Sacred Stories of Advent?

advent, art, seasons, solstice, spiritual practice, , ,

When I was a little girl, my December ritual was to sit alone in our living room beside the twinkling tree lights and imagine myself into the coffee table manger scene. I visualized myself with the shepherds underneath a Bethlehem sky full of angels until the angels and the tiny God lying among the ox and cows felt real, became real to me. I wasn’t spiritually advanced, I did the same thing with the Santa’s Workshop pop-up scene that sprang to life when I opened our Ronco Christmas album cover. Both these imaginings were how I felt “The Christmas Spirit”

When I grew up, I experienced some heartbreaks that made the Christmas season too painful and I avoided much of it. Adopting my daughter and getting to play Santa for the first time dissolved those pains and I turned the car radio to the Christmas station. When O Holy Night played, I cried through the whole song knowing I was part of the weary world who at long last was given a thrill of hope.

Photo Credit Below

I unpacked the manger set from my childhood and imagined myself into the scene again – but now the rich metaphors of the annunciation, nativity and epiphany unveiled truths of my own life. These Christmas stories – together with long winter nights and a longing for the sun – are a powerful gateway into a deep part of my psyche. The part that holds my most painful wounds, my most naked need to be seen, valued and loved as well as my deepest capacity to fully love those around me.

Now I am a new grandma with a precious baby, a daughter and a son-in-spirit to love until my heart explodes. When I held my newborn grandson fresh from the womb – the angels singing at the Bethlehem birth became real for me in a whole new way, as did the desperate love of the parents and onlookers at the manger. My wounds still hurt, my needs still poke me with longing, my capacity for love keeps expanding – and the stories of Christmas and the returning sun still offer me beautiful new ways of exploring these truest yearnings of the human heart.

It is from this experience with the stories of Christmas that I created the Spiritual Imagination and the Nativity Series at Loyola Spirituality Center in St Paul starting Dec 4th, 2019. My intention is to carve out a time and space for participants to explore their own Christmas imaginings using music, art and guided reflections. Click the link for more info and to register.

Even if you’re not able to join us, I invite you to spend some quiet time with the sacred stories of the season exploring the rich metaphors they offer.

Middle Photo Credit: Cosmic Birth/Sacred Moment in Time ©Mary Southard marysouthardart.org Courtesy of Ministry OfTheArts.org All rights reserved

Everything is a prayer

art, creativity, legacy, spiritual practice, , , ,
Philippe Wojazer / Reuters via nbc news

During the breaking newscast of the Notre Dame fire, the words

“They were creating a giant prayer…” in reference to the creation of the cathedral caught my attention.

I cried.

I cried again later during another news report which said, “Firefighters directed much of their efforts towards saving the artwork stored at the back of the cathedral.”

It moves me deeply to know that my fellow humans value art, beauty and history to the point of risking their lives.

Years ago, I cried while watching a documentary about Afghan professors rescuing art from the taliban. And while reading about US soldiers rescuing art from the nazis.

These acts of heroism speak volumes to me about what it means to be human and what it means to care about the legacy we offer future generations.

But

the people who cried on 4/15/19 and put their resources and power towards saving Notre Dame,

my people – the ones of European Christian ancestry,

allow corporate greed to destroy God’s art.


Indigenous peoples go to court to save the Amazon from oil company greed.
Image Credit: Mitch Anderson/Amazon Frontlines

Imagine the state of our planet today if

those who claim to believe that God created the forests, valued natural Creation as much as the Creation of our greatest human artists.

Imagine too the state of the world if we recognized the Sacred in every culture.

What if we saw God in the history and traditions of every race and continent? What if those saving Notre Dame did all they could to stop the destruction of the Sacred in all its expressions around the globe?

During yesterday’s fire, I was privileged to know that the wealthy and powerful shared in my grief, and were doing all they could to stop the destruction of the Sacred art and history of my own spiritual ancestors.

Today I ask what if the wealthy and powerful did all they could to stop the destruction of the Earth and of all peoples?

All life would be recognized as a prayer.

December Event: What if Christmas Season 2018 was Different?

advent, art, creativity, darkness and light, love, seasons, solstice, ,

Halloween is more than a month away, and already the stores are cluttering our minds with Christmas merchandise. Dread of the imminent Holiday muzak is starting to make us sweat. But…what if Christmas 2018 was different? What if this year you reimagined the spiritual essence of the season?

What if……every time you saw a nativity scene, you visualized the baby as a metaphor for the mysterious, beautiful Spirit that is constantly birthing itself  into the world?

…every time you heard a song with lyrics such as ‘O Come Let Us Adore Him’ you remembered to honor the Spirit that is already alive within you and within everyone you meet?

…every time you encountered any version of the Christmas story, you allowed it to serve as a reminder that although the Spirit is “forever being born in the human soul,” we must constantly make room in our awareness for it – emptying our minds of the clutter, opening to the reality of the present – because otherwise “there is no room in the inn for such a mystery?”

Spiritual Imagination & the Nativity Retreat at Loyola Spirituality Center in St Paul

Join me on December 1, 2018 at Loyola Spirituality Center for this afternoon retreat.

Using art, music, storytelling and guided visualization, we will:

reconsider the Nativity story – angels singing in the sky, refugee woman giving birth in stranger’s shed, lowly field men approaching in awe – as a metaphor for the moment when suddenly the Universe stops and loudly announces  “The Spirit of love is here! Alive in the world! Incarnate!”

and

reflect on ways we can be like the wise men who followed their intuition and outsmarted evil so the Spirit could flourish.

What if the point of the Christmas story has always been that:

1) this mysterious, beautiful Spirit is already present “hidden inside of everything”

2) yet we’re still always waiting (longing!) to see it revealed in the world because we’re so clouded from the reality that Spirit is everywhere and already birthed inside of us?

Follow this link to register by November 1.

(All quotes come from Richard Rohr’s Advent Message video which can be found here.)

Artwork credit: Cosmic Birth/Sacred Moment in Time ©Mary Southard marysouthardart.org Courtesy of MinistryOfTheArts.org All rights reserved

Depressed? Connect!

art, community, creativity, darkness and light, depression, legacy, love, spiritual practice, ,

Depression is disconnection.

Disconnection from:
self,     others,      the world around you      and      the great Mystery.
Medications and therapy ease the symptoms, but are not a cure.

You know that, right?

My guess is that every person reading this either takes, or knows someone who takes, anti-depressants and still experiences some level of depression.

Why? Because CONNECTION is the only path to relief.

Anti-depressants can give us the boost we need to get out of our ruts and seek connection,
but without that critical step – connection – there is no real end to the misery.

Need some ideas of what can connect you?

I have suggestions,
but the key is to do something mindfully,
meaning that you are present in the activity
rather than just trying to get through it or pass the time.

Connect to the moment.

Be present to the moment and clear in your intention.
If your intention is to connect with yourself,
then create something that releases your spirit onto a physical form – paper, clay, garden plot – even if just for your eyes only. Or move your body in a way that focuses your attention on how the air fills your lungs or the sun warms your face or each of your muscles pulls and releases. 
If your intention is to seek connection with others,
then be mindful during your interactions with others of feeling tenderness for each person. Dare to have deeply honest and meaningful conversations.
If your intention is to connect with the world around you,
then be present to the clouds, the grass, the birds.
If you intention is to seek connection with the great Mystery,
then let your mind soar into the space of your ancestors, the moment you came into being, or the source of all Love and Beauty.

You can connect by:

gardening, painting, writing, running, playing, volunteering at a senior living center, dancing, volunteering at an animal shelter, taking a slow walk in the forest as the trees graciously fill your lungs, performing your own water ballet in the deep end of the local pool, meditating, volunteering at a crisis nursery, praying, heart to heart talks with an old friend, heart to heart talks with a new friend, doing something for the sheer joy of it, reading a book that questions reality, watching a movie that shows you life through fresh eyes.

What works for you?

If this sounds overwhelming or you don’t know what will connect you and you don’t have the energy to find out –
then get the boost you need from medication, therapy –
and then take that next step towards
connecting yourself to what brings meaning to your life.

Full of Yourself in the War Between Love and Hate

art, love, resistance, spiritual practice, , ,

This post stems from the lowest of lows in public discourse – a trivial social media disagreement about a pop culture topic.

Specifically, a group of nice, middle-aged white ladies (yes, I’m the pot with the kettle in this story) criticizing how “full of herself” Beyoncé was during the “spectacle” of her Grammys performance.

I don’t know much about Beyoncé. I’m generally dismissive of pop culture artists since they are often just corporations in disguise. I don’t listen to much pop.

I watched the Grammys from my sick bed while recovering from the flu and goofing around online.

Beyoncé’s performance mesmerized me.

Visually stunning, it was not based on the usual shock-factor or hyper-sexuality that dominates so much of pop star women’s performances. Rather, it seemed to be exalting the love between mothers and daughters, Black mothers and daughters, to sacred status.

At one point Beyoncé said,

“If we’re going to heal, let it be glorious/ One thousand girls raise their arms.”

Quite a powerful statement given how much healing we’re yearning for in this political climate, and how girls and women are leading the march towards healing in unprecedented ways.

I googled Beyoncé’s  words and learned that they came from the Somali-British poet Warsan Shire, whom Beyoncé collaborated with to make her Lemonade album.

Shire also wrote the devastating poem “Home” about the refugee experience, which begins:

“no one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark”

Please read the whole poem. Read it now.

It turns out that in addition to being “full of herself,” Beyoncé was using her platform to highlight a voice that needs to be heard, a story that needs to be told.

Which brings me to the point of my post:

These days the battle between love and hate has been pushed to the forefront in a way I have not seen (noticed) in my lifetime. As one of those nice, middle aged white ladies, I am not confronted with hatred often – I get to observe it from the safety of my couch while watching the news. Even so, I can plainly see that hatred (toward refugees, people of color, anyone made to live on the margins of society) is more out in the open, but love is too.

I appreciate artists using their medium to elevate love to its sacred status.

Let’s appreciate the voice of love when we see it – especially if it takes us out of our comfort zone.

It’s easy to say that we stand for love, just like it is easy for some people to go to church and think they’ve done their weekly work for God. But standing for love and being close to God is not meant to be easy.

Living our lives as embodied love is elusive. You can work at it for years, studying the great spiritual leaders of your faith, doing the psychological uncovering of your ego and yet still be withholding love in countless ways – from your too-loud neighbors, or from a community of people in your own town who are struggling in ways you’re blind to, or even from your own child who is working your very last nerve.

We each withhold love in various ways each day and that is what separates us from the Divine. Moving closer to God means moving closer to fully embodying love in our daily lives.

What if our love for others was as bright and bold as Beyoncé’s headdress?

We have arrived in an era when hate speech and love speech are more out in the open than has been the case for awhile.

If you are on the side of love, it’s time to be fully love, full of love, full of yourself as love. Anything less is to comply with the hate that surrounds you.

And white readers, if we are turned off by something that a black or brown person is doing, let’s think long and hard before using “they are full of themselves” as a proclamation of our distaste.

If we are on the side of love, we strive for everyone – especially those who have blatant hatred directed at them just for existing – to be fully themselves.

Photo Credits

Courtesy of Beyoncé/eonline.com

beyonce-en-deesse-solaire-a-la-ceremonie-des-grammy-awards-2017_230698_w696[1].jpg

Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NARAS/eonline.com
Womens March in Providence, RI (AP ) NYTCREDIT: Sait Serkan Gurbuz/Associated Press

 

 

Legacies

art, community, creativity, Disney, Gratitude, legacy, Prince, spiritual practice, , , , ,
  • I’m watching an American Experience episode about Walt Disney on PBS. He certainly was a flawed human, but I’m fascinated by his early designs and models of Disneyland and how deeply satisfied he was when his vision finally came to fruition. He kept an apartment underneath Disneyland’s Main Street USA, and could be found walking the park early mornings in his bath robe.

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  • Six months after Prince’s sudden death, people are flying across the globe to visit his home and studio, hear the music he was creating and absorb his energy. Just as he had hoped.

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  • A few days ago, I met with a dear 90 year old friend, who after serving as an important spiritual and meditation mentor for decades in our city, is retiring out of town. She presented me with beautifully printed booklets of her writings and icon paintings.
  • Meanwhile, a dear longtime friend, my age, has entered into hospice care. The trees around her house are filling with ribbons placed by friends and loved ones, each bearing a blessing for her. Messages are pouring into the house, telling stories of how she has impacted the lives of others and positively influenced her community. I read some of the messages aloud to her, and she smiled.

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As I sit here only middle aged and in fine health, I can’t help but wonder:

What can I do for my loved ones and my community?

What can I create that will surpass me?

I also wonder about the connection between the quality of the relationships we nurtured, the work we’ve done in our communities, the creativity we brought to life – and our comfort with death and dying.