B is for…

is for beasts

We can thank the nighttime theatre of my dreams for today’s inspiration.   It started on Mount Olympus where I was being given a tour and introduced to various characters, mostly gods.  At one point a part-man-part-beast character challenged a man to show him exactly how he could fly since clearly he didn’t have wings.  The guy was a bit reluctant, but soon they were both tumbling around and then rolling up a wall. Once they were up there there was clearly no way to get down safely, and the man had to fly.   And so he produced his wings.  Which happened to be window-shade like contraptions that unrolled when needed, and also happened to be painted with Michaelangelo’s works.  I couldn’t help but laugh, and knew I was being invited into the world of there’s-more-here-than-meets-the-eye.

When I woke up this morning my mind was filled with inspired thoughts about Matryoshkas – those Russian nesting dolls.   Only instead of the usual nesting people, I was imagining wonderful magical beasts, and when you opened them you found another entirely different creature. 

While I have to percolate exactly what I want to create, and how I can possibly do it, I WAS inspired to do a bit of collaging for today’s ICAD challenge.  I did a little altering and jerry-rigging of a wonderful fantasy beast image to capture what I imagined. 

Inside this lovely beast is a wonderful garden that is home to a magical bee.  You have to open the beast to catch a glimpse at the garden.

Yesterday when I decided that this month’s blogging challenge was an abecedarium, I naturally thought of beastiaries as well.  They seem like closely-related cousins to me.   A beastiary is a collection of descriptions of all sorts of creatures, both real and imaginary, which are meant to contain allegorical or moralizing messages.

But I was thinking more in terms of how fun it would be to do an alphabet book of totems and all the wonderful creatures who show up as allies, whether for a lifetime or a one-time appearance.   I have dedicated  journals to all my major totems and it’s been a source of great joy to me to develop these over the years.  But I’m thinking a short little alphabet book would be great fun.  The idea has definitely been recorded in my latest Idea Reliquary journal.

But in the meantime, there’s a wonderful on-line example of a Medieval beastiary with plenty to explore.

And just this weekend I downloaded an app-  What the Walrus Knows: A Guide to Beastie Energies! – that I’m giving a big thumbs up to.  Use it like an oracle deck to connect with some needed guidance, or connect with the message from a particular animal.  Lots of goodness here. You can read more about it here.  

You may also want to connect with the creator Sarah Seidelmann through her website as well.  Which is delightful on its own, but totally gets additional bonus points because of its name – Follow Your Feel Good.   Many of you know I have website that I sell my flower essence and auric spray products through called Feel Good Energy Shift, so you know I’m all in favor of Feel Good.

So what’s your favorite beast? Do you have a favorite practice for connecting to or honoring your totems?   Have your nighttime dreams been an inspiration to you?   And just what kind of wings would you have?  Do tell, you know I love to hear from you!