New Art! "Water Breaks"

Here it is.....my new painting entitled
"Water Breaks"
48x60

This painting was PROFOUND in the way it changed my perspective.  Thus, I chose this passage from Romans 6 to accompany it......especially on this EASTER.

◄ Romans 6 ►
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for he who has died is freed from sin.

8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Note.....Fr. Raschko always said to NOTICE when someone is reading Romans....conversions happen (St. Augustine among them).

Thoughts on the MOTHER of all BOMBS

I've been contemplating the use of MOTHER when discussing the MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS today. I think this underscores the masculine lens in a very important way. The Male lens associates the "mother of all bombs" with the most badass biggest strongest of all potential destructors. Similar to the Queen of the hive.  Intimidating.  Bold.  Powerful.  But......deadly....and a tool to be used by men at their discretion.

This is where we need to shift the lens. Mothers are totally badass. We are timeless warriors. We are bold, intimidating, and strong even as we walk into the paradox of vulnerability.

We are the inverse - we are not Destructors,  we are the Creators of new life.  We go through the suffering of childbirth (an experience that makes even the most hardened special forces guys struggle to watch). Ripped stem to stern, bloodied and brutalized, we then immediately turn toward sustaining the life of our new child. This experience of CREATION isn't associated with badassery in our culture. In fact, our very birth canal (pussy) is associated with weakness! 

BIRTH rivals the most traumatic events that men have experienced in war throughout history, and yet we edit it out.

I reject the use of the word "mother" associated with today's bombing. Instead I will illuminate the feminine from the perspective of a WARRIOR WOMAN.  As creators, we are truly badass miracles. And if you want to be a REAL badass, show your heart to EVERYONE.   An important thought this week of the crucifixion.

Rest - Art and Poetry

I grasp at my own will
As if the momentum is my own
To direct and push and pull
Walking ahead with the fierce 
Determination
Of a timeless warrior.

Go.
Do.
Preach.
Help.
Walk.
March.
Run.
Fight.
Resist.

Phallic arrows searching outward
For the unbridled darkness
Known but unexplored
And once touched,
Must be felt to comprehend.

Profound wisdom steeped
In the womb of Woman.
The source of all
Seeking
Being
Helping
Hoping
Desiring
Birthing

New life.
She is the entire ocean,
Undulating and wide,
Brimming with miracles,
Beneath a surface unseen.

Poisoned by toxic exploration,
Pressured to remain calm,
Lamented for her power,
She remains untamed.

Those that navigate her surface
Cannot comprehend her depths
Of brilliant darkness
Unimaginably illuminated.

She is the source.
Flowing.
Pausing.
Being.
Allowing.
Enveloped in the womb
Of crystalline
Sacred Mystery
She rests.

Original Art and Poetry by Heather Thompson, Blue Phoenix Art

"Rest"

Meadow Woman

Rooted, SHE begins.
From the depth of the
Meadow
Where she walks…
She observes the peaks of
Mountains on all sides
Forged in fire,
Yet frozen in ice.

SHE walks the nutrient-rich soil
In between.
Where wild flowers grow
Abundance
And rivers caress the land
Carving new formations

Where individuals become communities
And crops feed the tribe
And horses gallop through
The billowing blades of grass.
She persists.

Where barbed wire separates the land
And blood is shed
Humans battle against one another
The stench of death a harbinger of
Decomposition…
Absorbing into the Earth…
Enriching the soil…
And bursting forth new life

Tiny sparks of green
Poke through the blackened dirt
A new beginning…
In the meadow
Vessel
Container
Of Life.

Original Art and Poetry by Heather Thompson Blue Phoenix

Meadow Woman - NEW ART!

Rooted, SHE begins.
From the depth of the
Meadow
Where she walks…
She observes the peaks of
Mountains on all sides
Forged in fire,
Yet frozen in ice.

SHE walks the nutrient-rich soil
In between.
Where wild flowers grow
Abundance
And rivers caress the land
Carving new formations

Where individuals become communities
And crops feed the tribe
And horses gallop through
The billowing blades of grass.
She persists.


Where barbed wire separates the land
And blood is shed
Humans battle against one another
The stench of death a harbinger of
Decomposition…
Absorbing into the Earth…
Enriching the soil…
And bursting forth new life

Tiny sparks of green
Poke through the blackened dirt
A new beginning…
In the meadow
Vessel
Container
Of Life.

Original Art and Poetry by Heather Thompson, Blue Phoenix Art

Meadow Woman201748 x 60

Contemplating Angels through the Lens of Synesthesia

Rest

I am tired this morning. I completed a painting yesterday that took a lot out of me, and today I complete my independent study of Angelology by meeting with my advisor. Both are significant accomplishments; yet, I feel the need to DO SOMETHING at this moment.

Thankfully I have learned to notice my thinking. "I should work on my book! I should paint! I should do my taxes! I should walk my horse! I should catch up on book-keeping!"

All the thoughts pinging through my head are nothing short of dizzying...until I drop into my heart space, and feel a sense of calm. REST. Take the luxurious time. Relish in the opportunity to do whatever you want - how often have you had the ability to do this on a Sunday Morning in recent months? Ahhhhhh....thank goodness I learned at some point that I am NOT my thinking mind.

REST

Heather Thompson, Blue Phoenix Art