IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO INNER WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS
Seeing, Shamanism, Shaman, Ordinary Reality, Non Ordinary Reality, Night Vision, Seeing In The Dark, Visible Worlds, Invisible Worlds, Spirit World, Spiritual Guidance, Seeing In The Dark, Walking Between Worlds, Ordinary Reality, Non Ordinary Reality, Prophet, Prophecy, Meditation, Monkey Mind, Mind Chatter, Abundance, Credit Crunch, Mappa Mundi, Mappa Vitae, Map of Life, Tree of Life, River of Life, Ascension, The Tree of the Soul, William Law, Mystic, Rainer Maria Rilke, Poetry, Elizabeth Carothers Herron, Madonna & Daughters, The Things We Create, Sacred Landscape of Marriage, Shaman Sisters, Upside Down Boat, Upside Down Children
MAP TO THE SPIRIT WORLD £195
SEEING
'There lays a world // beyond our own, // a world which is far away // very close and invisible. // And it is there where // God lives and the dead reside, // the ghosts and the saints, // a world where everything has already happened and everything is known. // This world speaks. // It has its own language. '
Maria Sabina, female shaman
NIGHT VISION (30 x 30 cm) £125
The human heart as an owl, acquiring night vision, when doing shamanic work
This webpage has come about as an extension of the SHAMANISM page. Recently I have done a lot of paintings about things I have 'seen'. By 'seeing' in this context I do not mean seeing in everyday ordinary reality (as I can see the computer screen in front of me right now) but 'seeing' as in looking into non-ordinary reality. Seeing the spirit world, the place where shamans go to ask for guidance on behalf of their community.
One definition of a 'shaman' is a man or woman who sees in the dark. In many indigenous cultures this the literal meaning of the word 'shaman'.
Another definition of a shaman is 'someone who walks between worlds', our everyday world of ordinary reality and the other world of non-ordinary reality.
PETROGLYPHS DEPICTING SHAMANS OR SHAMANIC FIGURES
Inspired by Rock Art in the American South West (SOLD)
Old English offers a word for someone who sees by means of an 'inner eye': SEER (In medieval times, seers were not infrequently blind people).
SEER (noun)
1 One who sees
2 One who sees into the future, a prophet
I invite anyone who would like to read more about shamans and shamanism to visit the SHAMANISM page.
This page is going to feature shamanic paintings, in other words: images that I saw in meditations or while doing shamanic work for people.
THE MONKEY MIND £195
This painting is about what happens if you manage to 'put the monkey mind to bed'. When you manage to let go of the mind-chatter of the everyday mind...when the human ego withdraws... this is when you can start doing shamanic work. Once your clear the space - your mind - new information, new ways of 'seeing' can move in.
BLIND BIRD STUDDED WITH JEWELS (30 x 30 cm) £110
This is one such image: a blind bird studded with jewels. My interpretation is that sometimes we need to close our eyes to see the things that really matter in life.
ABUNDANCE (80 x 100 cm) £599
This painting is about Abundance, about daring to believe in abundance. Quite a feat in these days of the Credit Crunch and tightening our belts! Yet nature abhors a vacuum and when a space opens in our lives, something will move in to fill that space. It is up to us to decide what form this will take. I am realising more that we are the creators of our own reality. The limits of our own thinking and believes limit what is possibly in our lives. So.. defeat the credit crunch and dare to believe in abundance, dare to open your eyes to the abundance that can enter our lives even when things are tight financially. Sometimes being poor in terms of money can mean being more time-rich. Time can be the greatest gift of all, something we have lost track of in our busy city lives.
MAPPA VITAE (Sold)
This painting started off as an extension of the concept of a Mappa Mundi. Literally the Latin translates as 'Map of the World', but in reality a Mappa Mundi is a medieval convention that depicts stories from the Bible. (See also the MEDIEVAL AND MOZARABIC SERIES).
'Mappa Vitae' translates as the 'Map of Life'. We usually think of an embryo growing from the love that exists between a couple, the parents. However, those parents started their life as an embryo and every embryo carries the genetic blueprint for its parents. So there is such a thing as 'the parents in the embryo' as well as the 'embryo resulting from two parents'.
THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE RIVER OF LIFE £495
(God created man in his own image, Book of Genesis, The Bible)
This painting belongs to the Sacred Trees Series and Creation Stories page. I have added it to the Seeing page too because I once did a piece of shamanic work asking to be shown the Tree of Life in all its manifestations. It was of the most visually impressive pieces of shamanic work I have done so far and these images made their way into this painting.
CLARA LUCES: ASCENSION (80 x 100 cm) £495
This painting was made during the months of November and December 2008 while listening to litte known Christmas Carols of Latin American Baroque origin. The image was inspired by 'The Tree of the Soul', a diagram created by William Law, an 18th century English mystic.
'A beam of light from the world of consciousness pierces the "dark world" of the unconscious in which the tree of man's spiritual and psychological development is rooted. Passing through the firre world of suffering and experience it opens out in the light of greater consciousness towards the light of God'. This is the process Carl Gustav Jung refers to as Individuation.
The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:
Oh, I who long to grow// I look outside myself, and the tree//inside me grows
And here is another image of a tree...
"SUPPOSE" £275
From the tangle of the two// an exchange surprises// the bear and the deer// become a tree
We might see// whole jungles// emerge// from an embrace
A poem by Elizabeth Carothers Herron that really spoke to me, I had to paint the images it evoked
To see more work by Elizabeth, please follow this link:
The image of the Madonna and Child is a great icon in our culture. However, it always portrays mother and son: the Holy Mother Mary and her son Jesus. At times I have felt the lack of pictures celebrating the mother-daughter relationship in the same way.
Here I must admit that I have three sons and no daughter. Long before we had children I once 'saw' a little girl that asked to be our daughter. For a few days she followed me around. The time wasn't right, we didn't have children for another five years or so. That litle girl stayed on my mind. I suppose I expected her to wait and arrive later.
Three sons later I realised that my longing for a daughter dates back to that little spirit girl. I did a meditation and asked her to visit me one more time. She came and showed me a vision that I have captured in the painting above. She showed me that there have been many lives in the past where we were mother and daughter and that a soul connection remains. That she is my daughter in the spirit world. This image helped me let go of a dream and made me aware of soul connections that exist beyond our time and space dimension.
THE THINGS WE CREATE £235
For me the year that has passed has offered lessons in facing up to 'the things I create'. I have moved away from believing that things 'just happen' and I have started to see a larger web of things' In particular I have started to realise that my own ways of thinking create things that I can 'feed' or 'starve' by thinking about them and investing energy in them.
For me the best example of this was our decision to adopt a little girl to complete our family. This plan starts off with an idea: that our family (with three boys) would need a girl to be 'complete'. Having embarked on the adoption process, one day I realised that I had created a situation where the social workers were 'acting out' the drama that was going on in my head. Mentally I was waiting for this mythical event, for this day we were going to adopt 'our daughter'. Every month that passed caused grief. The little girl we nearly adopted but then went to another family brought heartbreak. But she brought freedom as well, because I reached the point where I realised all these dramas were of my own making. They all dated back to an idea, reinforced by society and comments at the schoolgate, that a family of boys would require a girl to be complete. Once I became willing to let go of that idea, I realised that I had the perfect family all along: three amazing boys. Once I let go, I realised that what I perceived as a drama and emotional rollercoaster, was something created by my own mind, The moment I let go neither this idea nor the social workers had any power over me. I was free to enjoy my life and my many gifts and blessings. I made a conscious decision 'not to feed the monster anymore', the monster being this notion, this idea of the daughter we never had.
THE SACRED LANDSCAPE OF MARRIAGE £350
I made this painting after doing a piece of shamanic work reflecting on the challenges that being married throws up.
I was shown a beautiful landscape that stretched out in front of me. There was a cave nearby, the River of Life flowed through it and in the distance there were regions as yet unexplored.
I was told that this is the Sacred Landscape of Marriage: there is much left to discover, even after many years together (in our case 23). We have to dip into the River of Life from time to time to water our marriage and keep it alive. Our past and the past of family ancestors lives on in the cave and can be visited. The two people in a marriage are seperate individuals who feel at home in different settings an elements. The art of marriage is to build bridges and meet on common ground. Cubs live in the Sacred Landscape of Marriage and it is in our gift to look after them and raise them as well as we can - after all they chose us for their parents.
The most important lesson I received was not to give up lightly: we chose the lessons that marriage offers and there are great riches to be discovered in sticking with those challenges and seeing where they take us.
HOT CHOCOLATE (30 x 30 cm) £125
This painting was inspired by a cup of hot chocolate I enjoyed in Brighton recently. They had stirred some cacao powder into the foam on top and there was an unmistakable bird spirit in that froth. I showed it to my husband and he too said: that is pretty incredible!! Not quite a phoenix... but definitely a storm in a cup of hot chocolate!
A year ago I might not have seen the bird because my rational mind and belief system would have told me that there couldn't be a bird. But today my attitude is to look at the world the way a child does and suspend disbelief. Magic is everywhere! I have seen dolphins in the sky and bird spirits in hot chocolate!
'The books of the white man aren't sufficient for me.// The Great Spirit has given me the opportunity to study at the university of nature, // the forest and the rivers, // the mountains and the animal world.'
Tatanga Mani, Stoney
SHAMAN SISTERS £235
This painting is about me and my 'Shaman Sister': Judith. Embarking on the 'Pathway of the Shaman' has brought amazing people into my life. I met Judith at a Sacred Trust workshop and together we have been learning and remembering and rediscovering a soul connection that has been there for a long time.
It is a great privilige knowing you Judith, this one is dedicated to you, with gratitude!
We are about to start a channelling and healing partnership and soon there will be a new page on this website sharing the teachings and sacred information that comes through. I will post a link here as soon as this page opens - watch this space!
SHAMAN SISTERS (DETAIL)
ROADMAP OF MY BODY
I made a sketch for this painting after my 'Shaman Sister' Judith did a healing session with me. In some ways it turned into a 'tutorial in chakras'. For every chakra she worked on (in silence but with a tape of dolphin and whale song playing) images came that taught me about myself and the ways in which I perceive my life and body.
By the end of the session I felt energised and free of pressure, as well as speechless at the images I had received in just one hour. I felt like I had watched a whole movie in that time!
This session was instrumental in me finding the courage (and facing up to the desire) to do my own healing work with people. I can only begin to image how this will evolve while doing the shamanic training.
THE ATAVISM OF ANCIENT ANCESTORS
(81 x 81 cm) £385
I am going to conclude this page with a few examples of THE THINGS MY CHILDREN SEE...
UPSIDE DOWN BOAT FOR UPSIDE DOWN CHILDREN £195
This painting was inspired by a drawing our 4 year old son Brendan did recently. He called it 'The Upside Down Boat For Upside Down Children'. I talked to him about this and he said that this is a boat for 'spirit children in the other world', not in our everyday world.
I was struck by the way that he insists on this upside down aspect. At age 4 he is not reading yet and he has certainly not read the books on Shamanism and Indigenous Peoples that I collect and read.
In both Lapland and Siberia as well as for the Inuit there was/is a concept of things in the other world 'being reversed': Siberian peoples believed that dead people walked upside down in the footsteps of the living. The Inuit believed that the seasons were reversed in the other world.
I have talked to Brendan some more and he says that in the other world it is night when we have daylight and the sea is hot. It is an upside down world...
THE ORANGE SUN AND THE BANANA MOON
In this painting two very different and unlikely sources of information come together: a mathematical theorem and a comment made by our 4 year old son Brendan.
Brendan recently said that he prefers the 'Orange Moon' (i.e. the full moon) to the 'Banana Moon' (i.e. the waxing or waning crescent moon). Around the same time Mathematician Robin Whitty kindly gave me some feedback on my paintings about mathematical concepts. He mentioned that the Banach-Taski Paradox would be a favourite theorem with many mathematicians. I checked this out and learnt that in mathematical terms it is possible to cut an orange in five pieces which can then be rearranged to form a ball the size of the moon (or sun!). Robin explains on his webpage
that this notorious paradox is a bit of cheat because the pieces must be very complicated and they will make up a moon with a huge amount of empty space. Having said that: a mathematical orange has an infinity of material and infinity can fill up as much space as you need it to. At least it can if it is well-ordered! And so in this painting my son's comment and Robin's intriguing Well Ordering Theorem come together. A reconstructed orange makes an Orange Sun and a reconstructed pea makes a Banana Moon...
THE HOUSE OF THE BEAR AND THE SNAKE
Painting inspired by a healing Navajo picture
"My grandfather gave simple advice. // He recommended to everybody to ask himself four important questions that should be his guidelines. // Am I happy with what I am doing? // Does what I do contribute to the confusion in the world? // What am I doing for peace? // How will people remember me after I am dead?"
Yahwnode (Twylah Nitsch), Seneca
Maybe we should all ask ourselves these questions in order to 'see' where we are going...
Imelda Almqvist
(this page went on-line on 24th March 2009)
Seeing, Shamanism, Shaman, Ordinary Reality, Non Ordinary Reality, Night Vision, Seeing In The Dark, Visible Worlds, Invisible Worlds, Spirit World, Spiritual Guidance, Seeing In The Dark, Walking Between Worlds, Ordinary Reality, Non Ordinary Reality, Prophet, Prophecy, Meditation, Monkey Mind, Mind Chatter, Abundance, Credit Crunch, Mappa Mundi, Mappa Vitae, Map of Life, Tree of Life, River of Life, Ascension, The Tree of the Soul, William Law, Mystic, Rainer Maria Rilke, Poetry, Elizabeth Carothers Herron, Madonna & Daughters, The Things We Create, Sacred Landscape of Marriage, Shaman Sisters, Upside Down Boat, Upside Down Children
IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO INNER WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS
.jpg)
