Back to beading !

This week, I started beading again, after a very very long pause.

True, there was many things happening in my life, but I can't help noticing my creativity stopped just after I started working on the Maid with no Arms, and DOM, the Decent Old Man.

Dom, the first from the left on the picture below, was cut out from the ceremonial cloth I carried with me in shamanic workshops, and in India (to be honnest, this cloth is what made me decide to start visiting India by coming though Chennai/Madras - yes, i know it is very foolish). He is supposed to help me heal from the legacy of wounded ancestors...

A few days ago, listening to Clarissa Pinkola Estes' tape "How to love a woman", I discovered the Inuit tale of "Skeleton Woman". I cried, and creativity came back... Just like me, she doesn't like being photographed. It is funny because I kept wanting to add bones in my october page...

Gentle cleaning

Denise Desjardins

Today I saw a film about Denise Desjardins, and she was there after the screening to answer questions.

I first heard about her many years ago through my yoga teacher.

A much loved figure in France, she was first a successful painter and decorator. After her marriage, she spent much time in India and followed the teachings of Mâ Ananda Mayi, and later on of Swami Prajnânpad. Together with her husband Arnaud, she founded the first ashram in France in 1974.

She went through a kundalini experience, and experienced memories of past lives simply lying next to Swami Prajnânpad. She says past lives are not to be understood as something that belong to you, but rather as energies that are deeply imprinted in your psyche for some reason or other, and that should be cleaned, so that you can find the real you.

She never chose between her spiritual life and her family life. She used to take her two children with her in India. She managed to maintain a balance.

She explained this idea, which I heard in India, that a woman taking care of her family and children does not need special rituals or mantra, because her whole life is devotion. However she follows the paths of fullfulling all the heart's desires so long as nobody is hurt, not even yourself.

She is funny and warm and so simple. What an inspiration !

Goodbye 2008, hello 2009 !

2008 was good.
I loved that year, it was full of new experiences and truly great people.
It was full of laughter and tears, fears and happiness.
And I learnt to relax. Well, almost.

2009 will be good I'm sure. Because each minute is precious. No matter what is going on outside. Each minute we have the power to change it all !

I wish you all a very happy, prosperous and healthy new year !
May you find peace, a few Coyote surprises, may your creativity flourish, may you live fully !

Love,

Hélène

Happy Holiday Season

I wish you all a Happy Holiday season.
Lots of warmth, friendship and nice foods for body and soul !
I wish you relaxation and good fun !

What do you need to be happy ?

All week-end I learnt how saying

"thank you", "i am sorry", "i love you"...
can change your life.
This is the method of a very generous soul, Mabel Katz.

Now I am on a high !
You know what ? I love you ! :o)
No, but seriously, I do.

More information here and here

A glimpse of my november BJP

This is a glimpse of my progress on the november page. Not an easy month. I choose the fabric, and did the moon first (a japanese embroidery design). Then I stopped for many days. I opened Women Who Run With Wolves at random and find a scary story about a girl who gets her hands chopped off, but survives and gets stronger. Days later I envisionned the police outlines of corpses and thought about Keith Harring. I started the spirit doll body. Next day The Bombay terrorist attacks started. We hear that two French nationals were killed ; the founders of a delightful underwear collection that especially appeals to teenagers and young girls. This month's theme is about the freedom of women, the freedom to love and be oneself. The importance of keeping the heart alive, even under the ash of fear, hatred, jealousy, sorrow, contrary winds...

This page is still in progress. May peace be with you.

7 little known facts about me

Bobby has tagged me to reveal 7 little known facts about me. So here it goes. I am a pretty weird lady (I'm sure you know that already)...

1. When I was 18, I fell madly in love with a beautiful and cold young man. He made me feel like I was a number on a list and that my only interest was my virginity. I developped heart problems and had to take digitalin. These problems healed with time. That guy is living in India now.

2. I went to India this year after reading Sarah Macdonald's hilarious "Holy Cow", and started losing my hair after that visit - just like her.

3. During my first night home after that visit I had the weirdest dream. I was alone in a forest surrounded by strange spirits or monsters. They told me to stay with them, I said I couldn't because I had to take care of my children. They said OK, come back later. I woke up terrified, not knowing where I was.

4. I had a spontaneous out of body experience when I was around 13, just walking in the college playground after lunch. I don't remember what was on the menu that day, but I do remember the smell of the birch trees. That experience really scared me, I waited many years to talk about it.

5. I did a few Holotropic Breathwork sessions. This changed the idea I had of myself, life, mental health and all that. It's a pretty violent therapy but it helped me cure from whatever problem I had - post traumatic stress, chronic depression (?) ... I still don't know but I feel better.

6. While in India, I came face to face with some of the big lies I had been telling myself. I am still trying to digest that.

7. At the moment, I have very little energy. I think I know why but I can't tell with words. Probably more on that in future beaded pages ? ;o)