Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Mermaids on Retreat: Photos & Doodle-Sketches

Last weekend, I traveled with my mermaid sisters to Orcas Island for our annual Imbolc/Brigids Day retreat. We are a circle of women who first gathered together during the Goddess classes I taught in the 90's. They went on to complete the priestess training program I created. I have long since stepped down as "leader" and am glad to be one of a circle of equals. I have many other dear friends locally and around the country — but there is something very special about sharing your soul with a group of women that you have known intimately in sacred space for nearly fifteen years.

We spent most of the weekend talking and listening, cooking and eating, walking and laughing. This year we chose topics for our rounds — Health, Finances, Work/Career, Relationships, Spiritual Path, What We Care About the Most. And at the end, we set goals for the coming year. We would go around the circle by topic and each woman had a chance to speak as briefly or as long as she liked about that issue in her life. Then the rest jumped in with feedback or questions. The process becomes a cauldron for self-discovery and reflection, and I believe we all emerge from the Retreat with new energy and new clarity about our lives.

Oh, are you wondering why we call ourselves Mermaids? I wrote about that here, a few years back.

I opened a new sketchbook and sat and doodle-sketched throughout the weekend. I'm sharing some of those doodle sketches here. Please, be kind! These are not even remotely polished like my professional work. They are done solely for my own pleasure. It's pretty fun though, how I've managed to capture the essence or attitude of the mermaid sisters through a few simple lines.

Blessed be.

Church of the Old Mermaids - finally in print

Longtime readers of this blog will remember how much I love Kim Antieau's novel Church of the Old Mermaids. I was honored to read it in its pre-publication form a couple of years ago, and promptly fell in love with these Old Mermaids who found themselves living in the New Desert when the Old Sea dried up. I've gushed about the novel here and here and here. I am so happy that it has finally been published! I've already downloaded it to my Kindle and am joyously rereading it. 

The characters of the Old Mermaids seem to be so much more than fiction to me — they feel like they are the embodiments of Deep Wisdom, and in some ways they have taken on a life of their own.

Are you new to the Old Mermaids? Just listen to a few of their voices: 

Get the starfish outta your eyes, sister. —Sister Sheila Na Giggles Mermaid 

She who laughs a lot laughs a lot. —Sister Laughs A Lot Mermaid 

Sing, dance, create. If you have to choose one, do all three at once. —Sister Bridget Mermaid 

Go with the flow — and watch out for waterfalls. —Sister Sophia Mermaid 

You ask me to tell you about love? Showing is so much better. —Sister Magdalene Mermaid 

Laugh or weep. We swim in your tears. —Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid

You can visit Kim's blog and read the first chapter of the novel here. And swim swiftly — don't splash! — to order your own copy. Buy a few for your mermaid sisters, too.

Home

I’m home, yes I’ve come home, to the muted silver and taupe palette of the Northwest in winter, so different from the sky-blue, snow-white clarity of Maine.

I’m settling in, getting back into my old routines. I’m almost back on west coast time. This weekend I’ll be immersed in sister-time, as I host our annual Mermaid Retreat at my house here on the island.  After that, I’m looking forward to concentrating on the dual paths of getting ready to move and finishing up the Tarot art.  I feel a bit anxious about the fact that the Seven of Fire has been sitting half finished on my drawing board since late November.  Between the holidays, an abundance of paid work and my trip to Maine, I have not made much progress on art.   I’ve changed my deadline for finishing the deck so many times that I’ve decided not to have a deadline at all.  I still have hopes the deck will be complete by the time I go to the Readers Studio in April.   We’ll see!

Can it be true?  Is Spring truly on Her way?

Blessings of Candlemas / Imbolc / Brigid’s Day to you all!

Season of Solitude, Season of Community

The terrible Northwest storm pretty much passed us by.  It was devastating to the south of us.  But, as Sister Kim Mermaid says, it was pretty much an average NW storm for us.  I was grateful that we didn't lose power.  (I was sooo prepared for it!) 

While the storm was raging outside, I was alternately fighting off a cold/flu while decluttering and deep cleaning in preparation for our annual Santa Lucia Party this coming weekend. The first wave of mermaid sisters and brothers arrive tomorrow and the second wave on Friday.  They'll help us decorate and prep the food and we'll help each other learn our lines — those of us who will be Numinous Beings during the party.  We'll have around 50 or 60 guests here on Saturday night.  Last year the Giftbringer was a big surprise — it was Mother Star Stupendous Mermaid!  I'm not sure she'll make it this year.  It would be hard to top last year's appearance.  But whoever comes, she or he will indeed be wonderful.

This will be the 8th and last Lucia Party at Heron House.  My deepest appreciation goes to Helen Farias, who began these parties back in the 80's as a way to honor a female Giftbringer (Lucia). Helen taught me so much about creating spectacular, dramatic parties.  We are still carrying on some of the traditions she started.

The deepest gifts of this season, I think, are the twin companions of Solitude and Community.  Let's make room for silence and solitude during these frenzied days, as Mama Gaia would have us do.  And let's gather together to celebrate with our chosen tribe and families, and turn the Wheel once more.

(Photograph from our 2000 Lucia Party by Paul Bingman.)

Of Whales and Mermaids

My mermaid sister Nora was visiting the island for a few days last week.  Late on the afternoon of the 4th, we headed over to the mermaids' favorite beach on the west side of island.   We soaked up sun, silence, water, rocks and waves, giving thanks for this special place and for our friendship.   I thought to myself, "The only thing that would make this day more perfect is if we saw some whales."  I've lived on this island for seven years now and had visited for several before that.  I've often heard the stories of orca-sightings.  I even put them into my Canoe (Chariot) card.  But I'd never seen them here, even though they swim by every summer in pursuit of salmon.  After awhile Nora and I began a deep soul conversation, as mermaid sisters often do; and just as I heard myself say, "You've got to think outside the box . . . "  I gasped and pointed:  "Whales!  Whales!  Whales!"   

Old Mermaids in Maine

My first mermaid in Maine.

We are everywhere!

The Mermaids Talk and Listen

I've been away for the past four days at our annual Mermaid Retreat.  I've written about it before, here and here and here.   Our partners and children often want to know what we do on these retreats.  Well . . . we talk.   And listen.   And talk.   And listen.  Sometimes we talk formally, in circle, and sometimes we have informal conversations. We cook for each other and praise each other to the skies.  We poke around in the shops in the village, even though many are closed for the winter.  We go for walks on the beach and through the woods.  Then we talk and listen some more.   We throw in a few Tarot readings and tell Old Mermaid stories and drink Old Mermaid-inspired teas.   We laugh a lot.   We cry.   Then we talk some more.

And we listen.

Siren Song

"Sing, dance, create. If you have to choose one, do all three at once."
—Sister Bridget Mermaid, Church of the Old Mermaids

I've been inspired by Cate's weekly postings of the "Mama Says Om" themes for months now and finally decided to give it a try myself.  This week's theme is "song," and the first thing that came to mind was Sister Kim Mermaid's excellent revisioning of the term "siren song."  Wikipedia tells us that "the term 'siren song' refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad result."  And we all remember those nasty stories about mermaids luring sailors to a watery grave with the haunting melody of their songs.  Definitely a demonization of the sacred feminine.

But leave it to the Old Mermaids to uncover — recover — create — a new meaning for the term.

It's Snowing at this Old Mermaid Sanctuary

A new Old Mermaids story

I just finished reading Sister Kim Mermaid's birthday present to me.

I chuckled, I chortled, I giggled and laughed out loud.  And at the end, I cried a little bit too.  Then I went to the stove and brewed up a blend of Old Mermaid Tears Tea and Reading Magical Tales Tea and poured myself a cup. 

Magic is afoot here, sister Mermaids!  My heart is full.