Divine Feminine Icons

This series of paintings, Contemporary Icons of the Feminine Divine, is a personal offering, exploring images of the sacred feminine symbolized in the figure of Mary, experienced both as a healing balm for our broken selves, and for our dying Mother Earth. The viewer is invited into a state of contemplation and personal experience of the sacred. The paintings are intended as reflections and mirrors of the sacred feminine that resides within each of us, male and female alike.

The seed of the idea for these paintings was planted twenty years ago... Link Here

Annunciation

ANNUNCIATION

Hail Mary,
full of grace,
Wisdom
is with thee.
Blessed art thou,
and all women,
and blessed
is the fruit
of our wombs:
new life,
from thought,
from word,
from seed,
from anything
and all.
Holy Mary,
Mother God,
come to the aid
of your children,
now, in this hour
of our dire need,
and at the hour
of our death.
Amen.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

O Lady of Guadalupe,
I imagine you smiling
at the celebrity
you’ve become.
Your image is everywhere,
on coffee mugs and T-shirts,
earrings and dish towels,
your colorful legacy
a talisman of hope
for common folk
laboring in the daily grind.
Our longing for
compassionate presence,
a mother’s unconditional love
and tender care
is met by your sweet gaze.
Along with Juan Diego,
your first incredulous disciple,
we believe in miracles –
believe that roses can bloom
on rocky ground,
in wintry desolation.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Sacred Marriage

SACRED MARRIAGE

It’s rumored
that Mary Magdalene and Christ
were lovers.
Why the scandal?
Doesn’t every human heart
long to see its image
mirrored in another's soul?
In their union –
if it’s true –
what’s been torn apart
is brought together,
reconciling polarities,
restoring balance,
naming holy
their embodied
and transcendent
love.

TRINITY

O Holy Trinity,
you wear earth’s sacred cycles
as a garment:
the diaphanous potential
of youth-like spring;
the fecund generativity
of fertile summer;
wisdom’s autumnal shedding
of all that no longer serves.
You teach me that every ending
is a new beginning,
and that each beginning
resolves itself
in dissolution.
At the hour
of my own death,
plant me in the earth –
blood, bones, and flesh –
seeds wind-borne back home.

Trinity

Viriditas

VIRIDITAS*

O greening power
of Creation,
life -force pulsating
through every blade of grass
and ripening fruit,
moisten the aridity
of our insolence,
the drought
of our arrogance,
the human-centric hubris
decimating your web of life.
May we fall humbly
on our knees,
awestruck with the Mystery
of our garden home;
and commence the crucial task
of world repair.
Forgive our toxic trespass
on your astonishing creation.

* “the greening power of the Godhead,”
from Hildegard of Bingen, 12th century mystic

STAR OF THE SEA

O Star of the Sea,
you are the watery depths,
the womb of creation,
original matrix of life,
sacred fluid container
that swells and recedes
with the waxing and waning moon.
You are the morning light,
the compass rose
who guides weary sailors home
across tempestuous seas,
to the safe harbor
of your calm assurance.
May I be a welcoming port
for all who are lost
in stormy chaos,
a luminous beacon
signaling safe passage home.

Star of the Sea

Gate of Heaven

GATE OF HEAVEN

O Gate of Heaven,
you invite me
to cross the threshold
to my deeper Self,
past the frightening guardians
who confront me
with what must be left behind
so that I may pass
through fear to love.
May the doors of my own heart
swing open;
may I be a gate
through which your light
enters the world.

MYSTICAL ROSE

O Mystical Rose,
enfold me in your
velvet-like compassion.
Intoxicate me
with the fragrance
of your love.
Inspire the full flowering
of my own unique becoming.
Teach me to trust
that buds will return
when your beauty lies dormant
within barren thorns.

Mystical Rose

Mirror of Justice

MIRROR OF JUSTICE

O Mirror of Justice,
reflection of the Living Light,
image and likeness
of the Divine within,
transcending divisions,
may my life
bear witness
to love’s transforming power,
as I move
from vision,
to word,
to deed.
Give me courage
to speak my truth.
May I be
a living mirror
of justice
in the world.

O FRUITFUL LIKE THE OLIVE TREE

O fruitful like the olive tree,
you stand strong and resilient
though gnarled from age
and the ravages
of merciless storms.
Your face,
a storied map,
guides me to the truth
of Wisdom’s price.
In spite of all,
your withered limbs bear fruit.
May I be so rooted and grounded
in the orchard
of your generative love
that my true worship
is a harvest
of justice, integrity, and compassion.

House of Gold

O Fruitful Like the Olive Tree

HOUSE OF GOLD

O House of Gold,
you fill me
with the bountiful sweetness
of life.
Disarm my cynicism
and my fear of scarcity
with the flow
of your rich abundance.
Awaken my heart to awe
as I witness
the alchemy of transformation,
as harvested nectar becomes
the amber honey
of nurturance.
May I receive with joy and gratitude
the treasure
of your golden radiance.
May I be a source
of sustenance for others.

COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED

O Comforter of the Afflicted,
hide me in the shelter
of your wings.
See me with the tender sight
of your many-eyed vision.
Caress my wounds
with your soft healing touch.
Open me to the paradox
that the crucible of sorrow
may bear unseen gifts.
As your merciful care
embraces and assists me,
may I be a sacrament of presence
to all whose sufferings
touch my heart.

Comforter of the Afflicted

Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrows)

MATER DOLOROSA (MOTHER OF SORROWS)

O Mother of Sorrows,
your short-sighted children
have ravaged your tender body.
We have raped and pillaged
stripped and mined
drilled and plundered
your sacred womb of creation
with the arrows of our greed.
O Mater Dolorosa,
source and sustenance
of our very lives,
in your infinite compassion
forgive our corporate sin
of ecocide.

To read more about the birthing of the Divine Feminine Icons please Link Here