I love when an idea grabs hold of you and won’t let you go – it feels like such a mysterious adventure with promised rabbit holes to fall into, new discoveries to be made, and reordering of old understandings. That’s how I’m feeling about my recent discovery about zodiacal birds. And the fact that this time of Leo is associated with Peacocks.
There’s something so showy about peacocks with their beautiful colored feathers and of course there is something magical about the eyes in peacock feathers.
I’ve been wanting to do another blog abecedarium for a while and as I was pondering topics it occurred to me how I associate peacocks with treasures. And that this would be a perfect opportunity to open up my treasure chests and give you a peek into some of the things I love. And so let’s begin…
is for altars.
I have little altars everywhere. While I’m by no means a religious person, I am most definitely a spiritual one, and I suppose one of my true gifts is the ability to see the sacred in everyday things. And so I’m forever gathering things that delight me, that I wish to honor, that call to me for reflection. And I make little altars. Some of them are more formal with inclusions of traditional elements such as earth, air, fire, and water. But many are not formal at all.
Such as this one.
Just a simple gathering on a wall. From the angel’s hand as well as from the picture itself there are hung a number of things that are important to me.
I love Hatian art done from reclaimed metal and this star-placing angel is one of my favorite pieces. It only seems right that this angel should also keep track of some of my other treasures as well like the jeweled flaming heart, a tiny locket with the crab constellation (my birth sign), and a locket with a pressed pansy.
Propped on the painting are a few more treasures. Here’s a closer look at a piece from South African artist Hettienne Grobler called House of Heart.
House of the Heart is a term that has great personal meaning for me and when I found Hettienne’s piece I knew it was meant to come to me. Isn’t it wonderful?
Keeping it hanging from the Mary picture feels like the perfect spot, and also a bit of a tribute to Hettienne herself. She often blogs about her Mary garden and has in the past invited people to share their Mondays with Mary. I think the feature is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment, but I think about it every time I pass a Mary altar in our neighborhood. Some day I’ll remember to take photos.
Hettienne is currently working on Sacred Altar of the Mysteries oracle deck, creating altars which she’s photographing for a deck she will be creating. I can’t wait to see it. Do check out her site.
And there you have it – the first peek into my alphabetical treasure chest. What “A” item do you treasure? Are you a peacock lover? Wish you had feathers with eyes? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
Love all that Mary stuff! I’ll have to mark Hettienne’s site.
Definitely!
A items I treasure…one thing I treasure is my Apple iPod. It stores a variety of music, readily available to me, that I love. Music is so healing for the soul and to have such an easy way to access all of my favorites in a moment’s notice is an amazing gift…one that I am truly grateful for.
Nice Michele. It’s wonderful being able to keep an extensive library on such a tiny little device – kind of magic if you ask me. 🙂
One “a” item I’m learning to treasure is my own awesomeness. 🙂 I think that we are all awesome in our own way and if we let that uniqueness shine through, the world is better off.
Whoa Sarah – that’s the most perfect A! We are indeed all awesome and I’m delighted you’re treasuring you!