In Search for My Manifesto

Dreamer

I begin the search for the words that best express my work in the world ”  I adapted this quote from Audre Lorde “I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t. “

“I create learning experiences for those women who fear creating,
for those who fear their creative voice because they were taught to respect
fear more than their creative selves.”

Shared in Medicine Doll online class May 2012

Healing Doll Energy

A woman I know had a dear friend who was struggling with ovarian cancer.  Her friend had purchased another one of my dolls and knew my work.  She asked if would  make her a doll. I asked what would this doll represent and she said “New Beginnings”.

Winter Solstice is the doll I made for her.

Winter Solstice is a time to acknowledge that there is love, hope, and healing in the world as long as you make the space and time for it.  It is the promise of the future.  There is magic to this sacred time…take time and believe.

MEANING OF THE SYMBOLS

HALO – communication with self
HOLLY – blessing for the new year
PINE TREE – prosperity, magic and growth Talisman of prosperity, anchors the blessing
SILVER SPIRALS – Moon energy – healing energy
SUN & MOON – passive and active forces of nature
She holds small sticks symbolizing connection with Mother Earth. She has symbols on her abdomen of the ovaries and uterus that reflect light inviting focus and prayer. Unfortunately she passed the day before the doll was ready for delivery. The doll is displayed at the hospice she was in when she died.

I recently visited this page on my website http://www.barbkobe.com and wondered what the healing energy of this doll might look like. I place the photo into Photoshop and this is what came of that.

Would it be amazing if this was indeed the energy that comes from making a healing doll?  Consider that this “healing doll” is an image of the solution.  And, even though the woman for whom the doll was created was healed….reached a state of new beginnings.

A healing doll can be a healing image of what one desires or is moving toward, and in the process, are letting go.
Here is a healing ritual that may be used to welcome healing energy into your body along with witnessing the doll.

Light a candle

Perform a small ritual in the presence of the doll and person for whom the doll is for.

Say a prayer such as,
Blessed be this creative image
By art made, by art changed

Thou art a symbol of my hope, wish and intention

I name the…………………… (name the doll) 

I ask that you symbolize my move toward _______
Bringing power into my body and mind.
Awaken my connection to my heart, my will and my spirit
In all the worlds.

Blessed be. 

It’s About the Light

Wish Me Into the Light

I often find myself searching into the darkness (the shadow) of myself for healing.  Many of my dolls have been created while I focused on fear, anger, grief.  Several years ago I coached a female teenage artist who was living with a brain tumor.  She was an amazing artist and I helped her to put together a show of her work at her alternative high school.  She lived with two parents struggling with addictions and she worked at a local fast food chain; bringing in money to support her “family”.  Several months after I met her I was told that she passed on from the tumor.  I made a doll to deal with my feelings.  After I made the doll I journaled with the image and wrote this message with my non-dominant hand (see this for explanation http://www.artisjoy.com/artheals.shtml)…. “My life has been a carnival ride, now wish me into the light.”  I felt as if the young artist was speaking to me and directing me to to let her go into the light.   As you can see the doll’s costume is very earthy, in fact her structure is made of tree branches, as well as her fingers and toes.  The doll she holds and extends forward is faceless; her body a loose form of a body wrapped in purple and gold with a beaded headdress.  The creation of this doll and her image served me well in letting the young girl go in peace and love, and later on when my father passed away the same message showed up in my journal and brought me great comfort.

 In the past year I’ve been reinventing several dolls.  The image, metaphor, symbol of their meaning had done it’s work and I wanted to transform it into the next offering.  I took apart Wish Me Into the Light and placed all the body parts on my sewing table.  I looked through my fabric collection for colors that spoke to me and seemed to speak to each other.  I created a new face and put the doll together, changing the position of the arms.  I made her a hat, painted the face to work with the colors used in the design of her and put the hat on.  I liked her but something seemed missing. I looked through my box of miscellaneous items and found a perfect pin to put on the hat.  The pin seemed the crowning…she was complete.

Often, after completing a doll, I hang her on the wall, as this one, or stand on a table and spend time with her.  Looking at the design, colors, shapes I get my journal out and dialogue with her.  I noticed that she too wears a earthly gown suggesting a tree or a plant, only the colors suggest spring or summer…a growing season.  The pin on her hat looks like a light that a miner wears to go into the earth to find treasures.  I write, ” You are entering a growing season, and like any well nurtured plant you will grow toward the light.”  ”Why the brilliant shiny gem on the pin?” I ask.  ”To show you the way out of the darkness…..” she says. I pause, somewhat stunned by the beauty of the affirmation and then I notice both dolls were about light, both made by my physical hand, and yet I feel as if they were guided by a hand greater than my own.

Growing Toward the Light