Encaustic Art

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new encaustic weavings at Spring Equinox

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sacred familiar
dear children of the Sun, 
wherever you are on our Earth
however you are experiencing flow in the turning of the Wheel
I hope your Equinox has brought a sense of Balance

here are some new encaustic weavings
for a textile project I am dreaming in
the medicine of colour
Spirit of Equinox, Oracle of the Bee
Julia Inglis
Bird Shaman

Owl Medicine
Ancestors
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Fate up against Your Will: Re-Visioning the Past in Neptune Retrograde

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Oracle of the Bee - Encaustic, Julia Inglis

I thought I was going mad and then I found out that on 6th of June Neptune went into Retrograde. Neptune is the planet that rules dreams, intuition, memory, magic and emotions. When a planet goes Retrograde (backwards) we begin to go back in our memories and dreams (Neptune) to revisit old events and experiences to understand how we dealt with those issues in past times. For the past week I have been dreaming back into my past - not the great memories that I'd like to relive again. Oh no, I haven't taken a trip back to all of those amazing early gigs I went to you in my youth - the gigs I can't quite remember unfortunately because I having so much of a good time. No, I have been revisiting all of the terrible workplaces and jobs I did in my teens, 20s and early 30s - so many soul-destroying temp jobs. So many... I've pretty much done it all. And the driving force? To pay the rent. To survive. And I've been getting a nightly reminder - it's not a trip down memory lane, more like being dragged down a dark alley that I've avoided visiting for a long time.

Spirit Dancer, Encaustic Oracle - Julia Inglis

And it's ok. Because the gift of Neptune Retrograde is that if you stay with your dreams long enough, really sit with them, write then down and connect with all the very uncomfortable feelings that come up with them, you will receive a great gift : a missing part of yourself returned. I am seeing all of the ways I mistreated myself in the past when I could not admit that I was an intuit and artist. I have been feeling again the pain of what it was like to go into an environment every day that felt like enemy territory. And there's no judgement of the people there or even the work itself, it just wasn't the right environment for me. A painful reminder of what it feels like when you are ignoring your own spirit and trying to accommodate everyone else. Each night I am being shown that these kinds of actions, particularly done daily over many years, creates Soul Loss. Soul loss occurs when you become so far removed from your authentic Spirit, your Dreaming Self, that a part of you gets lost or bound up in the past event. And even though we feel this missing part of ourselves keenly, we often don't know why and so we try to fill this hole with all kinds of shadow behaviour.

Last night I feel I had the last of this sequence of dreams when I saw myself in a tiny room in a high office block. I was working for a bank and pretending to work because there was actually nothing to do (how many of us have been in that situation before?!). I was so bored that I deciding to sneak outside for a walk and I found myself beside the ocean. It looked so beautiful and deep. However I ignored the sea because I realised that I could not find the door back into the building and panicked. I wandered the city streets and laneways trying to find my way back until I came to a small make-shift pop-up-shop, where a couple were calmly and happily creating the most beautifully crafted and detailed hand-made boots. The shoemaker smiled and asked me to sit down and began to measure my feet, preparing to create a pair of boots for me that were made to my exact needs and measurements. When I woke up I felt this beautiful pair of boots was actually the missing part of my soul that I'd lost all of those years before. When I woke up I saw so many links and symbols of meaning. How many of us 'work for the bank' - basically to pay off debts and mortgages? Becoming debt-free is of utmost importance for us now. As much as we can we are urged to live simply and within our means. It was a reminder of  the beauty of what it feels like to be doing my own work now with my own hands, and most importantly, beholden to no-one. The intricate boots were a symbol of authenticity and individuality and even a little nod towards the traditional shoe of the witch?!

In retelling this dream I hope that it helps anyone who is feeling the burden of these changing times. I know it can be scary sometimes and we are often consumed with worry over how we are going to pay our bills. Believe in what you are doing and try not to make decisions out of fear. We are at a time of change and I believe we will soon see the Artisan acknowledged and honoured again. We are so sick of anything that is mass-produced and cheaply produced. We want to support local businesses and craftspeople. And we want to hold something unique and hand-crafted. This is the sacred art of enchanting inanimate objects - infusing them with love and care. The archetype of the shoemaker has stayed with me all day and I was reminded of the fairytale The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Grimm Brothers. I think it's a story to encourage us all to put our love into our work, to hang in there in the tough times and to be grateful for kind help that comes along the way - however strange and magical that may be!

As I was writing, The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen began to play. I read that Ian McCulloch woke up from a dream with the words 'fate up against your will' in his head and wrote the song from there. This 'All Night Version' is so beautiful, I hope it helps you to sail the seas of this Neptune Retrograde that is going to be with us until November. Do not fear it but set sail with all of your divining tools - stay with the ship and read the maps, become the cartographer for your Dreamer. In the depths are the jewels and you can only reach them by diving right down.

Sweet dreams, beautiful artisans. See you in the Deep.

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Mothering the Dying - Dropping Into the Mystery

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Monica Sjoo
Leslene della-Madre
This weekend I had the honour of taking part in Leslene della-Madre's profoundly moving workshop - Mothering the Dying: Midwifing the Final Passage. What an incredible and deep experience of Life. What a revelation to truly understand that when we embrace the sacred threshold of Death as a return to the Ancient Mother, we then truly learn to Live.

The gift that Leslene gave to me was the reminder of permission to 'drop it'. We spend so much of our life trying to fix or heal difficult issues and relationships. In fact I feel we spend most of our time obsessing about what we feel is 'wrong' and trying to make it 'right'. When truly all we have is this moment and to be present in it's mystery is all that is required from us. And so I gladly embraced 'dropping it' and in that moment embraced so much more of my life energy and space. Creating sacred space around Death also teaches us to create the same sacred and clear water around ourselves in our daily living. We cannot be all things to all people. We are here to honour our spirits and live its full expression. And this expression is felt so deeply when we drop into the mystery of presence. When we give up all need to 'know' we are in the presence of something far deeper and sustaining: belief and faith. And what we believe and have faith in, is totally our own choosing - no need to give any explanation.

My heartfelt thanks to you Leslene for bringing this celebration of return to our wise women's ways as we reclaim our belief in our ourselves and our innate and sovereign ability to mother the dying. It is such intense and deep work - not fearful as we have been taught to feel about death but a process of facing and then dropping our deepest fears to discover the bliss and joy that awaits when we do. I regained such a strong trust in the regenerative powers of nature, the cosmos and my own spirit.  And an enormous thank you to The School of Shamanic Midwifery for bringing Leslene to Australia and for the endless work you do to create pathways or memory back to the Women's Mysteries. 

I am still in the fathomless depth of this experience and so when I have few words I create with encaustic. Encaustic is an artform that requires you to drop out of the mind and into the heart - hot beeswax cannot be controlled or tamed, merely held in a space of deep trust in the process. So similar I now understand to what is required from us when we create and hold sacred space for the Soul as it journeys through the threshold of Death into the arms of the Ancient Mother again. I urge those of you called to understand more of the sacred practice of holding space for the dying to seek out Leslene's work and her book, 'Midwifing Death'. We are all remembering that there is no need to ever fear, Mother Earth is a constant source of love in the endless dance of Birth - Death - Rebirth. 

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Full Moon, Water Witching and the Wild Bee

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via

How was your Full Moon last night beauties? We were immersed in essence making here in Sherbrooke Forest in the middle of a rain storm it was inspiring and strangely calming - water witching under the Chestnut Tree with water pouring down and yet the tree kept us quite dry.

Today there is a soft blue hue over the forest, it is dark and only 2pm and we are getting ready to prepare the fire... the beeswax calls. We will be offering new encaustic beeswax art and meditation circles from the forest very soon, I am just waiting to confirm the dates in a venue where we can have an open fire! Here are 3 encaustic paintings that were birthed at the Autumn Equinox - each speaking beautifully and guiding me so much at this time. There is an old saying: 'ask the wild bee what the Druids knew'. Blessings of the wild bee for your full moon dreaming.

Equinox encaustic oracle : Sacred Familiar
Spirit Dancer encaustic oracle: Sacred Familiar
Swan Maiden encaustic oracle - Sacred Familiar

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Earth as Art - Our Incredible Encaustic World

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How stunning and encaustic do these photographs of the earth look?! They are part of a series of photographs 'Earth as Art' created by NASA. I began to see very similar images in meditations and dreams years ago and was over the moon to find I could create similar images with encaustic (beeswax) art - now I know that I was envisioning the beautiful Earth from far far away! You can download the free ebook Earth As Art here.

I thoroughly recommend it as a great meditation tool and teacher on the wild natural beauty of earth. How could we ever want to 'blend in' when our Earth is as vibrant as this?! Show your true colours - be SuperNatural.

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The Eye of Beauty looks with Love upon Perfectionism

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Here are some recent encaustic beeswax paintings I created in between packing. Making art is a beautiful way to balance the 'busy-ness' of moving and a great cosmic escape from clearing the mundane clutter! The painting above was one that I did not feel anything 'happened in' at first and almost threw away. What I love about painting with beeswax is that very often you are asked to deal with your need for perfection. When I placed the image on our Facebook page and asked readers to tell me what they saw, it opened up a whole new world. I love looking through different eyes - you can read the comments here and I'd love for you to share what YOU see.
We are looking forward to offering encaustic workshops from our new nest in Sherbrooke Forest. How clearly the bee will speak in that forest sanctuary! The details for this workshop will be available very soon xx

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Encaustic Art Kits - Last order for the year

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Encaustic Oracle - She Speaks to the Eye of the Dolphin
Julia Inglis 2012
Last week I sold out of all beeswax encaustic supplies and have just received 2 more orders for the Encaustic Beginner Kits. So I will make one last order for the year for Beginner Kits ($115 plus postage) and also a full range of colours and papers. If you would like to order a new kit or supplies to take you over Christmas, please get in touch before Friday. Bee well, Julia x
Encaustic Oracle: Crow Mother
Julia Inglis 2012