Still Life on Table

To be viewed simply without comment.

River Deep, Mountain High

I was at a Life Coaching Open meeting last night and one of the fun things to do in Life Coaching is the LIFE WHEEL. This is a circle with eight segments each marked on a scale from one to ten of how satisfied you are with those aspects of your life. Fine, I thought, but why does it have to be just geometry and numbers? This is a business person's way of thinking. Another idea is to draw this as a landscape of with a mountain range, or an image of Manhattan with skyscraper blocks competeing for height. Much more fun. Let's say the first mountain is 'My Career', the second is 'My Money'. Are they level or are they mismatched in height? When you compare the height of the trio of mountains 'My health', 'My friends and family' and 'My partner' is should some interesting similarities or anomalies according to where you are right now in life.

So, why not draw a mountain range? It's not a wheel, sure, so it doesn't flow as it's supposed to, but it's just as good for seeing your life in perspective and taking it from there. If you join the dots of the wheel, it becomes more like a wonky wheelchair, not moving you forward, but I prefer the mountains. If they balance each other they seem like a unified range, if not, then maybe they have some more growing to do to assemble themselves in unison. Try it...

Chocolate

One tip from a friend is: Add chocolate, cocoa or anything that smells good to your paint so can actually SMELL your paintings to tickle your olfactory senses. Thanks for the tip.
Yum. I might eat my latest painting when I'm hungry...

what this is not

Let me just say, this will all be from a gay perspective, no way round it. Also, that it is not designed to fill all the emotional gaps in people's lifes. Art is not a new religion, a stop gap for all the leaking stuff inside: writing, painting, creating are a set of methods with specific tools. Using them doesn't have to have such a purpose, they can be fun in their own right. But they might work a few patches on the bad stuff, if you try. Healing is a long and mysterious process whereby you deal with painful feelings over time. If you don't deal with the feelings, they often haunt you anyway, so it's a choice. Write the first story, or do a cut and paste life montage and see what happens. It's simple really.

Astrology

Astrology is also.... ' a healing art' , as Vogue says, if it helps us to understand ourselves and our relationships with others. It is something you either are open to, or are not. So, no need to bother with long-winded explanations as to whether it works. Either it does, or it doesn't, for you. If not, then try something else. The funniest notion of how we simultaneously believe/don't believe it came from Arthur C. Clarke who said, "I don't believe in Astrology: But, that's because I'm Saggitarian, and we're supposed to be sceptical."

Forget Sun Signs - that's all just magazine sooth saying fodder. The generic advice given is good for every day. If , however, there are knots embeded deep in your personality, blocking your forward growth, then you can bet that a locked aspect such as an oppostition or square might help explain it. Even worse is to have, like me, a grand cross of all the tough planets, causing me trouble. Also, to have Cheiron in my Seventh or Relationships House means that is where I have a sore spot.

If you have an argument with someone, isn't it better to know that it's because you can never see eye to eye with that person because they are your opposite sign. I just find that sometimes helps to defuse problems.

Cheiron, the centaur

Cheiron is the ruling emblem of this site. He was a Centaur and a teacher of the healing arts and a truly fascinating mythological figure.

Even as a healer, he could not heal his own wound. Hercules pierced his teacher's flesh with the arrows of the Hydra. The wound was poisonous and he couldn’t heal himself, even though he was a wise sage. He begged Zeus to resolve his dilemma as he could endure his agony no longer. Yet, because he was immortal, he couldn’t die. Who could bear such an eternal wound? Cheiron agreed to die, if Jupiter released Prometheus, also in agony from having his liver eaten nightly by eagles. So, Cheiron an immortal voluntarily died to free the spirit of genius in humankind.

The themes here include sensitivity to rejection, being emotionally wounded without possibility of being fully healed, the notion of being trapped between half instinctive animal and half reasoning human – and the ability to rescue sources of strength from our own life pain, to use this fruit to teach and help others with the wisdom gained. Healing is also an art.