"The Light Bringer"
Jennifer Christenson 2007
Oil on Canvas - 4' by 7'
This lovely lady made her debut at Sirens & Swords first exhibition, two years ago tonight. This image represents the maiden aspect of the triple goddess archetype.
She is but one version of a life-force we collectively refer to as The Naeyad. She celebrates the beautiful wildness in humanity (while it remains a teaching tool on the planet). She is mother to all, protectress of children (and the child within).
The Naeyad takes many forms throughout our story. She is everything and nothing, love and light, darkness and shadow, mountain peak and sea-floor chasm, sun and moon, summer rain and winter frost.
An Audio and Pallette Reference:
I'm listening to "A Song for a Winter's Night" as I write -- (Sarah McLaughlin's version - written by Gordon Lightfoot)...
Sarah's vocals invite me on a haunting journey...
"The fire is dying,
The lamp is growing dim,
The shades of night are lifting...
The morning light steals across my window pane,
where webs of snow are drifting"
The Beauty of All-One-Ness:
It is a blizzard outside and, although I have a preference for tropical climes, I love the solitude of a storm...Wind blows, drifts build and I reflect. Whether the water around me is frozen or drifting on the tide...I am immersed.
Sarah's lilting lyrics comment on being lonely, but I haven't felt that in a long time. I remember being such, but don't feel it...I don't emote.
There is a vast difference between alone and lonely.
Although it is a romantic gesture to miss someone on winter's night, it implies one is not whole without another. External yearning ends, when answers are found within.
The Naeyad waits for this foundation of peace to be realized by all.
On Fractal Light:
I love the panes of glass Jen painted in this background. The details are lost in translation via the blog. If you have the opportunity to see her at an exhibition, you may be transported for a time, into one prismic pane.
If you have ever traced the frosted corners of a window, you know crystallization can be captivating! Tracing frosty filaments is common in these parts.
Facets eventually combine or disappear as temperatures rise. Which is a nice metaphor for human development. The warmer we are to each other, the less separation occurs in the corners of society.
The Naeyad knows the necessity of contrast:
Lies increase the value accorded truth.
Certain mortality adds sweetness to life.
The bitter-sweet... star-crossed lovers...things that almost were, or never meant to be are at home in the company of this lady. She exists in the spaces between, where our eyes can not fix.
The collective energy of The Naeyad is ever present and as elusive as the most distant star, hanging on the fabric of the cosmos.
The Greatest Gift:
The Naeyad's cryo-genic suspension ends, as we all learn to;
- love unconditionally
- give thanks for all that is
and
- enjoy living in a state of peace
