Things that helped me:
Chen Rong, the Nine Dragons, handscroll, ink on paper.
"The scroll is also very significant in terms of the Daoist philosophy behind it. In China, the dragon is a personification of the energy of the universe or Dao. ... The dragons are elusive, blending in and out of the clouds emulates the meditation experience....
Study of this scroll helps me understand where I am going, where I hope to be, Echo. The range of emotions ~ the raw fear, the rage, the surprised confusion ~ all of it is there, in this scroll.
I don't know why it helps me as it does.
But it does.
Now, I give that strange kind of strength in it, that mysterious understanding that we are all progressing through something we cannot know or name, to you.
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Here is something else about dragons, about transformation, then:
"In the third transformation the dragon suddenly finds itself plunged into a dark chasm. In a desperate attempt to stop its plummeting, it claws at the edges of the abyss. Where only moments ago it had been soaring on waves of newly liberated energy, now it finds itself in a sudden and terrifying free fall. Both the danger and the desperation are real."
The Abyss
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For this relief, much thanks; 'tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.
Hamlet
Wm Shakespeare
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Sybil remembered the crucifixions of her past, and by each of them, where she herself hung and screamed and writhed, she saw the golden halo and the hands of the Fool holding and easing her, and heard his voice murmuring peace."
The Greater Trumps
Charles Williams
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"You are not involved in word games.
You are fighting for your spirit, your sanity, your soul."
I don't know where I got that one.
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...one of his violin strings broke. The audience grew silent but the violinist did not leave the stage. He signaled the maestro and the orchestra began its part.
The violinist played with power and intensity on only three strings.
Asked later how he had accomplished this feat, the violinist answered, "It is my task to make music with what remains."
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Seboulisa
mother goddess with one breast
eaten away by worms of sorrow
and loss
See me, now...
your severed daughter
laughing our name into echo
all the world shall remember.
Audre Lourde
The Politics of Women's Spirituality
Cedar
