Menopause, Inspiration and Reclaiming the Wild
Reclaiming the Wild
It has been a journey over several years to bring the ‘Reclaiming the Wild’ Art and Audio Exhibition alive. It started as a small seed during the life changing transitional phase in any woman’s life – menopause. That seed took shape through my love of mythology, Goddesses and our natural world.
During menopause I become a collector of natural things that I found or spoke to me on walks and pilgrimages to ancient holy places. A collector of feathers, sticks, stones and shells. It seemed to me that I was gathering in the bare bones of life. Connecting with the spirit medicine of feathers that came on my path - swan, pheasant, crow, magpie, duck and raven. Marvelling at shells as the safe houses they had provided for their occupants with their grooved markings of spirals, lines and shades of tones and colours. Holding the stones and feeling their weight, the ground, the earth, and the wisdom of the ancients whispered through a natural material that reflects eternity. And sticks. Sticks of fallen yews, twigs gathered from the ground at holy places that exude the power of the yew as otherworldly talking sticks and for creating ritual tools.
They all reflected my journey from the start of menopause into and through this life changing rites of passage for a woman. I had been gathering in the wisdom of my life, of the land, of the ancients in a modern-day world that doesn’t honour the sacredness of this time of life. Where the loss of youth and fear of the process of ageing gives rise to menopause being treated as a medical condition rather than a profound rite of passage.
While cleaning out my office late last summer I saw the need to create a designated place for these gathered treasures and the stories they told. A display area with shelves on my wall in my home office where I do all my writing was the perfect place. Where they could be seen, honoured, and displayed in a way that spoke to my heart as the next phase of life started to open. The fire and tides had now turned into a deep ocean of calm and peace. A small seed of creativity started to open… the gathered feathers led the way.
The first painting that came in the ‘Reclaiming the Wild’ series is called the Cycle of Completion, and she had a totem bird accompanying her, the crow. She was a turning point painting, and I realised that I was to paint a Goddess, or Goddess Archetype for each of the feathers that I had collected and bring the bird spirit medicine awake into new forms of connection. As I was painting them, around one a month over 8 months, it became clear to create an exhibition that also incorporated an audio myth telling accompanying the painting and an interactive, reflective part to the exhibition. I wanted to bring alive the paintings and the frequency behind them as the powerful journey they represent and create a multi-dimensional experience.
The whole exhibition is created as a Rites of Passage where you move through a cycle of reclaiming the wild nature of your Soul, back from the mind made world we live in today with all its burdens and complexities. In our modern day lives we have lost the connection to the pulse and rhythms of the earth and to the way the Feminine, or the Goddess, speaks to us through nature. Through the rocks, the stones, the trees and all Her creatures. Through the wind, the sun, the moon and the stars and the many great Beings embodied in the land. This exhibition is in honour of the Great Goddess, the Divine Feminine principle that sustains, nurtures and shapes our lives yet whose reverence is lost from our daily lives and conscious awareness.
‘Reclaiming the Wild’ is a visual and audio journey with 8 Goddess Archetypes and their mythologies. Each Goddess also has an associated bird that brings a message as the symbolic language of the ancient Bird Goddess, s depiction of the Great Goddess.
Click the button below to see details about the exhibition and Admission Tickets.
