Our Lady's Feast Day and my 116 Works of Art Retrospective

 

See the SHILOH SOPHIA ONLINE GALLERY  – 116 Works of Art from 16 Years

See the me in a spontaneous video today…with a sneak peak of the show!

Blessed Is She That Believed

There is a place in the heart past the old stories and the new stories
to the left of the old baggage to the right of the hopes for the future
beyond the ideas of what is and isn’t and was and wasn’t.
I have seen it. I have felt it.
There is a place in the heart that is whole.
Unharmed. Beyond reproach. Holy. Healed.
Sometimes it feels like too much damage has been done.
Like the heart has sustained too many wounds
and the mind won’t allow it to be otherwise,
and we want to give up. Not surrender, but
g i v e u p
on our hopes. On ourselves.

This is a very dangerous place
and we must leave there at once,
searching with our little lights for the holy place.

This place in the heart I am speaking of
was put there by God,
and it is tended by Our Lady of Love.
She nurtures it and waters it and keeps it from whithering
from our lack of frequent enough visits.

Because she herself has lived through worse than what we endure,
she understands.

Then finally, when we believe that there is a place for us,
a place prepared by God –
we can go into that mysterious chamber called the heart
and believe once again in possibility. In goodness.
In our own bright future.
Sure there is much to be said of doom and gloom
that would take us off our path if we let it.
But we won’t.
Instead we will believe that good will triumph.
And we will practice visiting that holy place inside ourselves
and sharing it with others.
Because that is what we were born to do:

LOVE

Yes, we were made for love, from love.

Dear Ones,

This is the most sacred of times to honor our blessed Mother in the emanation of Our Lady of Guadalupe who appeared on the sacred mountain of the Goddess Tonantzin in 1531. While there are many strange and unholy things associated with the invasion of indigenous cultures by those whose aim it is to conquest and control, there is one thing that remains true. There remains a legend of a mother who comforted her children.

A mother came to the people, she did not leave them without Her. The Feminine Divine, even in a new form, was not lost. She would not leave her children without a mother, and the people, though they sometimes might need to seek her through smoke and mirrors, can feel that her hand extends to them throughout history. And despite so many challenges by those who sought to oppress.

If you have yet to learn of the legend of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Her many miracles, including manifesting roses, and requiring a temple to be built in Her honor, then there is plenty enough to study online, all with the proverbial grain of salt. I don’t think it is surprise to anyone, that the patriarchy, and certain religious sects convert all towards that which it is they want us to believe regardless of what actually happened. You decide.

But…that is changing. And…this weekend, the site which carries Her mystical image on the tilma of a humble servant in Mexico City, will be visited more than any other sacred image and site in the world. Think of it – this very weekend, falling on December 12, Her Feast Day, is more honored by more people in a 48 hour period than ANY SACRED site in the entire world. What does that mean? It means the energy of honoring our mother is more active at this time than any other time in the calendar year. And, we can honor Her, If we so choose, each in our own way.

Thankfully, we are thinking for ourselves. We are searching out our Blessed Mother and Her 1000 names and 1000 outfits and 1000 different colors of skin and saying, we choose you Mama, Mommy. We seek you Madre. We honor you, even though we may not know who you are yet…we still seek our mama. We may not know who you are for us yet. But still, there is something in us, in the heart of all people who know that any divine or human story has at its root – a mother.  Someone to sooth our fevered brow and mend the broken bits of our heart back together with red thread and mother spit, which heals almost every ailment. Someone, who gave birth to us. When I was little I asked my mother, was the Christian story a broken family? Where was the mama? It wasn’t until MANY years later that I truly encountered the Blessed Mother – who brings me to her Son. And, He brings me to His Mother.

This weekend marks the event of the Feast Day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, what will you do to honor Her in your life – or the form of Her that you choose to honor? Will you take an hour to pray – to paint – will you create an altar. I am calling you to Her altar. Calling you to Her love. Why not ask Her into your heart if you have not, it might sound something like this…
Precious Mother

I do not know if I know you but I know want you in my life.

Sometimes it scares me because I wonder if it is ok, I feel afraid to call on you because of all I have been taught.

Help me to unlearn what it is I no longer need. I don’t know you or how to honor you, but I seek you now. Please, will you come, you who have been here all along, into my heart?

Love, Your Daughter

Yesterday my beloved Priest, whom I adore, came and blessed my paintbrushes for my Rites of Passage happening Saturday night. As he sprinkled those new born bristles with holy water, underneath those brushes in the bowl was the sparkling red thread we shall use this weekend. I shall think of you during my ceremony and when I build the shrine to our Lady – will you think of me?

Many of us, had imperfect childhoods and mothers. It is no wonder, when we think of what their mothers and the mothers before them went through. Let us, also this weekend, honor, forgive, bless and give thanks to those who came before us.

Shiloh, Daughter of Caron, Granddaughter of Eden, Great Grandmother Ethel, Great Great Granddaughter of Nasaya, Granddaughter of Helen, Great Granddaughter of Mary, Sister of Laurel, Shannon and Bridget. Artist Daughter of Sue, Niece of Janet, Child of the Most High, Daughter of the Blessed Mother of All.

Can you hear the voice of your Holy Mother Calling you…? She is here. Come. Sit a while at her campfire and listen as She spins her tale of healing….

Today I built a shrine for Her at the gallery. Tomorrow we paint her image. Tomorrow night, we gather in ceremony on her behalf, and because I love Her, for my Rites of Passage, moving from one phase of my life into the next. What a journey!

They say on this weekend, that Our Lady grants prayers and wishes. They say that this weekend, you can ask Her for anything, what will you ask her?

This writing was modified from a letter I wrote to my students of the Black Madonna this morning…I was inspired to send it to you…