Terra Oceana
Materials used:
- River wood, Wyoming
- Painted plaster face cast
- Blue fin tuna bones, Hi.
- Obsidian chips, Southern California
- Two wild boar tasks, Hawaii
- Three worn white murex shells, Hawaii
- Ant gravel, northern Arizona
In an honoring of the elements of Earth and Ocean, I have chosen materials from both earth and ocean for this mask artistry creation I title “Terra Oceana.”
EARTH: Mngamo velvet seeds from Hawaii are the ultimate symbol of earth’s natural riches for me. They are also referred to as the Hawaiian pussy willow.
The obsidian pieces intrigue me. Shot out of fiery volcanoes as spun glass eons ago, they are formed from a magical force deep within our Earth. Thought to be a powerful cleanser of psychic disharmonies within an aura, obsidian’s sharp edges can cut energetic ties to break negative attachments.
Those stones with shiny surfaces were used in the past as a tool for prophetic scrying. Many of the stones I’ve chosen have that shiny side.
They are also excellent grounding stones. Their residence within the base or root chakra is very strong, and they have a powerful vibration to help to ground energy.
OCEAN: The multiple bones of a blue fin tuna head that my husband and I found in Hawaii, are beautiful in both shape and texture. The bones here are specifically from the pectoral girdle. The larger bones are from the cleithrum bone type. The shells are worn down white murex shells, also from Hawaii. They both are symbols of ocean for me.
I honor all the oceanic creatures (whales and dolphins and jellyfish!) and features (spewing waves and sandy beaches come to mind.)
By the simple contemplation or imaging of any of them, creatures or features, my spirit can be uplifted. It is that uplifting Oceanic surge that combines so well with the grounding deepening with Terra earth. Kind of like a double energetic whammy...
That combination of Earth grounding and ocean uplifting is what I imagine when I gaze at this mask piece.
When I work with my theater actors, I sometimes use an energy imagining for a warm-up exercise before a performance. In that image, energy is attracted from the universe, brought down through the head, spirals the heart clockwise, and is released though the soles of the feet into the earth. At the same time, energy is brought up from an imagined Pacha Mama’s cave at earth’s center, rises up to the heart, spirals counterclockwise, and then is released through the crown chakra at the top of the head. Try it. It is expanding and grounding, at the same time.
This beautiful juxtaposition of uplifting and grounding at the same time is the foundation for this mask’s meaning to me.
Gaze at her for a while, and see what happens to you energetically.