trust change, 12”x12”, mixed media
I’ve been working on this painting for a couple of weeks now and finally finished it…I’m a slow painter! I have to walk away and look at it for awhile, come back to it, walk away again…think about it...and so it goes.
I never know what I’m actually going to paint until I begin. With this one I knew it was going to be a bird before I started but was surprised when I started thinking “raven”…ravens are amazing birds and incredibly smart but they’re not exactly pretty birds…and I was thinking more along the pretty lines. Mr. I wandered by to see what I was doing and said that he thought it was a bit dark…the connotations with ravens and crows can be menacing or threatening and associated with death…but that wasn’t where I was going here.
I googled the “totem” meaning for the raven and was surprised to read that they are harbingers of change. It continued on to say that:
“ The raven totem is a reminder that all things on earth must one day end but that in that ending there is a new beginning. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, ‘what the caterpillar calls the end, the world calls a butterfly
The Raven is not the bringer of destruction or the weapon of destruction. The function of the Raven is to prepare the person for the ending of a situation that has served its purpose, and point them to a new situation that will lead to greater spiritual evolution for the person. Raven’s message is to trust.”
After reading this I realized that several of my art journaling pages have recently been about change and transformation.
Change can be unnerving if we feel we’re not in charge of the changes…I guess that’s where “trust'” comes into the equation!
There's so much change happening in the world these days and it feels as though much is changing within me as well. I'm sure it's no accident that I recieved this message!
When we are no longer able to change a situation,
we are challenged to change ourselves.
Victor Frankl
