 |
Dimensions: 30 in. by 48 in.
Status: Available
Dancing on the Ladder Without Ignoring the Chaos that Fills our World
God created the world out of the Chaos (the darkness on the surface of the deep). The bottom represents the Chaos that was the world before God made Himself manifest (again) by giving us the Torah. The middle represents the ziggurats that the Babylonians and early Mesopotamian people created in their attempt to reach heaven. The top shows the true ladder to God, not one that humans can physically ascend, but with the rules of Torah, one that allows a connection to the holiness of God and to a civilized life. |
|
Dimensions: 30" x 48"
Staus: Unavailable
Connected to the Earth With Chakras and Moons
She is rooted to the earth rather than lost in contemplation of the throne chariot. Kristen Eykel and Amy Eyrie are teaching us novice yoginis about Chakras. Given to Abby Vernon, a wonderful yoga teacher at Akasha, La Jolla.
|
 |
Dimensions: 30 in. by 48 in.
Status: Available
Housecat Watching for the Mythic Cat
We search for contact with the Sacred from our profane corner of the universe, the same way the House Cat watches for the Mythic Cat.
Being a simple girl, I find Merkavah Mysticism easier to understand than the Kaballah, but I do understand the vessel overpowered and shattered by the light it contains.
From Eliahu Klein's book "Kabbalah of Creation": The Supernal Emanator saw the vessels He created had shattered for the light was overpowering and they could not contain this light; thus, it arose in His will to recreate all these worlds so they could bear the light. As a result, the lights returned more concealed; thus the worlds were sustained and enabled to contain the light.
|
 |
Dimensions: 30 in. by 48 in.
Status: Available
Jacobs Dream of the Ladder to Heaven Imagined as a Vortex
A painting of Jacob's Dream of the Ladder to Heaven as he slept. This is probably my favorite passage in the whole Torah. ("Surely Hashem is present in this place and I did not know.") Rachel is on the horizon at daybreak with her flock, sensing something had changed. A lecture series I heard said that the word for "ladder" could also be used for "ziggurat"--the stone step towers to heaven built contemporaneously by the Sumerians and other people of the second century BCE in Mesopotamia. We must frame our own myths in the symbolism and language of our times--else there is no comprehension.
|
 |
Dimensions: 24 in. by 30 in.
Status: Available
Luminous Darkness Above the Light
In the late antiquity someone we call Pseudo Dionysius
searched for God in the Luminous Darkness Above the Light.
I have imagined this as an exponential function, with the
darkness above the curve and the light between the axis
and the curve. |
 |
Dimensions: 24 in. by 36 in.
Status: Unavailable
Many Sunsets Between Earth and the Heavens
This was painted for Sandeep, a lovely and clever yoga teacher, who admired another painting. It has an Eastern philosophic attitude, and some Sikh imagery, including the sword and the bracelet.
The attitude of the girl resembles Dancing Shiva. It also continues my theme of our human goal of gathering what we can from life while we can (hence the sunsets).
|
 |
Dimensions: 36 in. by 36 in.
Status: Available
Watching Babylon Flood
I painted over an old painting from 2004 leaving only the cat in the foreground. She is on a mountain watching Babylon flood in the distance.
The flood stories come from Babylon, where the rivers do flood. She is near Jacob's ladder. The ancient Hebrews knew about Babylon and ziggurats. The story of the Tower of Babel teaches us we can't physically ascend to heaven. However, God can come to us if we are watchful.
|
 |
Dimensions: 24" x 36"
Status: Available
Yom Kippur 2013- Hidden and Revealed Things
"What shall we say before You, who dwells on high... You Who knows all the Hidden and Revealed things..." The hard part after the hard part is maintaining that sense of communicating directly with Hashem back in our mundane workaday world.
Merkavah mysticism derives from Ezekiel's vision of the Throne Chariot. I listened to a fascinating Jewish Mysticism lecture series. The professor said that before the Exile, the Jews were "henotheists" --God was envisioned as a local deity with local power. (e.g.: when David fled from Saul to Philistine, he had to worship Philistine gods because he was outside of his God's reach.) But when Israel was exiled to Babylonia the Jews became true monotheists--and they continued to worship God even outside of the Land of Canaan. They came to see God as the only God, who existed everywhere. The idea of the Throne Chariot, enabling God to move across the sky, helped communicate this very important transition of God from a local deity to the One God.
|
 |
Dimensions: 40 in x 30 in
Status: Available
Dancing at Angkor Wat
Zen Saying: Open Mouth...Already a Mistake... |
 |
Dimensions: 24 in x 24 in
Status: Unavailable
Through a Glass Darkly
Now we see through a glass darkly, then we shall see face to face. Expressing the Hindu idea of Maya, the veil which prevents us from seeing past our perceptions. Given to Stephanie Pafford, owner of Askasha Yoga Studio, La Jolla.
|
