Raven Spreads Her Wings

Time for a break from the travelogue I have been doing.  When I went through my croning ceremony at the Woman's Summer Solstice Gathering we were given the option to choose a name.  I decided to give myself some time to think about it.  I knew it would involve Raven somehow but waited for the idea to come to me.  The name came to me in a dream and I decided to paint it.  In fact I am planning on doing many paintings with this as a theme.  My crone name is

RAVEN SPREADS HER WINGS

She is painted on 18 x 24 Mixed Media paper using Liquitex basics and oil pastels. This whole idea is also related to another project that I am working on that I will talk about tomorrow.

The Summer Solstice Gathering

The Women Summer Solstice Gathering that I went to in Washington State was fabulous and wonderful.  I met so  many wonderful women. If you can imagine being with 200 other women all on similar paths meeting in community you can have a little tast of what it was like. It is a recreation of how women were treated and valued in the time of the Goddess and in some native cultures.  Females from 4 months to age 76 attended.  There were workshops, sweat lodges, a moon lodge and a healing lodge along with a sellers market and many sacred ceremonies.  Picture were not allowed due to the sacred and personal nature of events.  I did manage a couple though in the off times.

This is Jeanne, I camped my tent next to hers and it was a good decision.  She is an artist and we had a lot to share. This is the day it really poured rain, so much that we both got water in our tents. Jeanne was working in the healing lodge giving a massage to Lynne. That turned out to be a momentous thing for both of us.

Here I am with my friend Lynn. She invited Jeanne to stay in her cabin. Jeanne immediately said oh I can't leave Kate by herself so I was invited too. We had to stay in the top bunks but we'd be warm. The big plus was connecting with these fabulous women.

Patti and Cheryl were also in the cabin.  A lovely mother and daughter from New Jersey. It was great getting to know them.

Often at the ceremonies people really dressed up.  I got a snap of these two lovely ladies before things began.

One of the amazing days was Saturday where we went through rites of passages workshops.  That evening there were ceremonies honoring these rites. I can now say I am officially a wise-women crone. This was a life changing weekend for me.  I can't wait to attend next year.

I did very little art while I was gone. This doodle was about the only thing.

I started this page a few days ago. I will probably add a poem or some journaling to it. The girl was drawn separately and glued down.  I used Gelatos and colored pencils to color her in.