OPEN CALL TO THE FEMININE CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
24TH FEB 2024
We are born with a bright flame within us. This flame is fuelled by the energy of all those who came before us, and all the living beings and creatures that share our air through this lifetime. It glows with the golden light of spirit and truth.
At times this flame is just a tiny flicker, dampened down by those who seek to corrupt it or draw too much of its energy, or the overflow from the waters of life.
Other times it is an all-encompassing burning tower, overwhelming us with its passion and need to conquer.
In the cycle of femininity, there are three pinnacles of flame when this burning energy rises, at times overpowers, but also imbibes us with its passion and force. The first is when we enter adolescence.
The female within the Lovers tarot card offers us a landscape of bodily lust and first love, and within the Rider Waite imagery we see the burning sun lighting up the sky, the Angel’s halo dancing with flames, and the tree that stands behind the male archetype fruiting with glowing torches.
Our young bodies burn with the awakening of our need to physically connect, create new life, and evolve into womanhood and all its glory.
The second pinnacle of the flame takes us to the archetype of the Empress.
The Empress brings us to the epitome of fertility, motherhood, and creating and nurturing life. It is a softer fire with more of a caressing nature, but no less fierce.
It is that immeasurable ache when you hold new life in your arms.
That fierce burning need to protect that life at all costs.
The all-consuming fire of rage when you perceive that life to be threatened.
Thirdly comes the burning away of all these layers of self to come back to the essence. Menopause literally means ‘to stop the moon,’ it heralds the end of the fertile cycle, and it does not discard it easily. Stepping from one state of being to another requires letting go of labels and identities that we once felt defined us to come back to the true essence of that flicker of light outside our conscious and material presence.
The heated skin, nights of never finding relief from the burning of our bodies, and explosions of hot fury eventually give way to a quietening; a feeling of true peace in who we are within the collective cycle of those who came before and those who will follow.
A return to that golden light of spirit and truth.
We therefore complete the circle as the High Priestess. She not only holds the power of the moon’s energy but understands it. She takes her place within its cycle, from the glorious possibilities heralded by the show of the new moon, through the expanding manifestation of these possibilities in the waxing phase, to reach the heady power of the full moon flame, and finally to the softening glow of gratitude and wisdom reached in the waxing crescent.
She sits with the knowledge of the collective unconscious and bears its testimony.
She holds the golden light of spirit and truth.
*******************************************************
I would like to invite all those who identify as feminine and may resonate with any of these ideas, to join me in a collective creative focus during the FULL MOON of 24TH FEBRUARY.
I am asking you to take a few moments to meditate, in whatever form that works for you. Candle gazing, focusing on breath, listening to soothing sounds or music; whichever way you can take yourself outside of everyday trials, responsibilities, and the physical body. I would like you to try to connect or resonate with other female energies you have known or share space with. Then, when you are ready, please take a piece of paper and writing implement and allow yourself to write automatically. No preplanned ideas, no conscious thought, just whatever words or phrases, imagery, or mark-making that your hand makes until you can feel your conscious thought returning to direct the pen – that is the place to stop.
If you are comfortable to do so, I would be very grateful if you could write your age, location, and perhaps your first name on the paper and send me a photograph or scanned image of the results. I would like to use this to inform new artworks for a forthcoming exhibition in collaboration with The Art Station who are a collective group of creatives who have kindly invited me to share their space for a short time.
With gratitude, love, and light to all participants.
Emmalene
Instagram @ emmalene.maguire.art
Email @ [email protected]
