Reflecting on the Willow Moon Willow Moon Reflections by Joanne de Labruere Vermont Rivers Ever since my childhood I have had the luxury of living near some of Vermont's most beautiful rivers and lakes. The sound and sight of water flowing around rocks and nature all while providing substinance to humans, plants, and animals has been a great source of deep peace and inspiration. It only makes sense that I have recently found ways to incorporate rivers into my art so that I could spend more time enjoying there beauty. This in turn leads me to the Willow Tree as I connect with its strong need to gravitate and be near water and rivers. The Willow's Message The Willow is the tree of dreaming, intuition, and deep emotions. It belongs to the begining of spring when all life is stirring in the depths and begins to shoot outwards once again. In the ogham alphabet, the willow is Sallie which means a sudden outburst of emotion, action, or expression...similiar to how an artist creates art. The ancient Celtic Spiritual leaders consider the Willow a container for water and moon attributes and thus used the Willows branches to invoke a deeper connection to their intuitive nature. In our journey towards artistic expression we need to connect to Willow energy which helps us get in touch with our feelings to express them, let them out, own them, and charge them with fantastical leaps of inspired eloquence. As artist we need to embrace the flexibility of the Willow's twigs which inspire us to move with life, rather then resist what we are feeling and to let go of conditioned responses to life's experience. We need to realize that like the Willow we can bend much more then we realize, without breaking, and then bounce back again, renewed and ready to go forward. Also like the branches when we become disconnected we must learn to find soil and water & grow, find a new direction, and within the growth & healing become a new tree. The Moon's Message The Moon reminds us that everything has a cycle. When self realization comes full circle, to it's perfection it is like the moon which grows over time from darkness and non-existence to full moon. Like the moon, art grows through it's cycles from nothing visible to something splendid like the full moon. The cycle starts with the New Moon which is the time of planning and seeding our intentions. As it is with the New Moon we start with creating and manifesting our art. We then complete the cycle with the full moon illuminating what we have created, celebrate, and release it so we can make room for a new cycle....a new creation. |