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Spirit Calls Again… and I’m listening

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It sometimes takes my brain a few days to catch up to the Guidance I receive, especially when it involves a major change of plans (was never very good with those), but it has, and I’ve got exciting news to share.  My latest Spirit Call is sending me to Bali in April to attend a Flora Bowley intuitive painting workshop + extension program.  Now that the decision has been made, it feels great. Once again, the signs were quite clear, but letting go of what I thought I was meant to do (3 full trimesters in Vienna) wasn’t so easy.  I still might do part of the third trimester, but that depends on a few things, some of which are out of my control.  Let me recap before filling you in on the signs that led to this latest decision.

trust

Recap:

  • In the winter of 2013,  I was strongly guided to attend the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts for 3 months thanks to a series of events that started with my finding Flora Bowley’s book and taking her 5-week e-course.
  • When I exceeded my fundraising goals and the Academy changed its curriculum so that the original 3 months of drawing were split up throughout three trimesters, my left brain kicked in, and I came to the conclusion that I must be meant to stay here for the full school year (9 months of classes)
  • I currently have a visa that allows me to stay in the country until December 21 and have experienced quite a bit of stress (still learning about trust) due to the delays in the Academy’s certification by the Austrian government, which have caused delays in my being able to apply for a residency visa to stay longer.  It was only 2 weeks ago that we were told that because I hadn’t used up the 3-month visa-free tourist allocation, I could actually stay until March.  That takes me to the end of the second trimester. What a relief that was!

All this uncertainty around the visa situation certainly tested my abilities to let go and trust. As I wrote in my September 28 post, before I knew I could stay after Christmas, I was one step closer to achieving that: “I open myself to guidance and will live day by day until there’s something I can do”.  What I could do was pray for signs.  And signs I got.

  • In early October, our in-class music playlist included the soundtrack to Flora Bowley’s e-course, reconnecting me to that experience and filling me with joy.
  • Determined to spend more than 3 months on my art education even if the visa didn’t come through, I looked at Flora’s website in the first week of October, but the timing/programming for the retreats she was a part of in in Mexico and Ireland didn’t speak to me.
  • On October 14th, I received the advertising email for her 2 Bali retreats, which got me so excited (one in March during the Academy’s Spring Break and the other in April) .  Her 100% refund policy was the security blanket I needed to apply right away, even if the logistics/decision-making process involved had me a bit overwhelmed.  I applied for the March one, thinking I could go for a week and come right back for the beginning of term should my visa come through, but asked if I could also go to the April one in case I wasn’t allowed back in Austria.  The idea of 3-4 weeks in Bali had me dreaming.
  • The application form asked for an introduction/description of why we wanted to attend as they would handpick participants.  I filled it out quickly and got an email back right away saying there was a bug in the system and that the description part of the application hadn’t come through.  I had to rewrite it in an email, giving me a chance to tell my story more completely (you know how wordy I can get).  I wanted to be totally honest about the uncertainty of my 2014 plans and the path that had led me to applying.
  • After that, I was fully able to let go and be present for our wonderful 2 week Intensive (Oct. 14-25).  The decision was out of my hands and I knew that whatever answer I would get, it would be a sign.  I wasn’t attached.
  • Once the Intensive was over and we were getting ready to go buy our art supplies for the next phase of our course, I asked if I could use the oil paints donated to the school instead of purchasing my own set as I wasn’t planning on using oils again after the course (mostly due to my concerns over toxicity and my current preference for quick drying intuitive work).  This led to one teacher asking me “Then why bother learning it?” – a very fair question that propelled me into clarifying my artistic and arts education goals over the next few days.  Indeed, it helped me remember that I had never intended on learning oils, but had originally signed up for 3 months of drawing. I will definitely learn very valuable skills and principles in the next month of working with oils and the Mischtechnik that I’ll also be able to use with acrylics (and who knows, I may fall in love with oil painting although the fumes are already getting to me) and have no regrets about that at all, but this teacher’s question assisted me in letting go of the idea of having to complete an entire year to get what I truly wanted. (I’m not the most comfortable with uncertainty and knowing I had the next 9 months planned would have been nice, but the Universe /Austrian government wasn’t going to let that happen anyway).
  • With clearer goals, I started imagining myself hermitting somewhere with YouTube to focus intensively and solely on my drawing – no matter if I could attend 2 more trimesters. After a month of drawing classes here, I’m off to a good start, but realized that I’m so far from my original goal and that I don’t have enough time to just practice.
  • In the first days of November, therefore, I came to the conclusion that the workshop in Bali would definitely be in line with my goals and would help me integrate all I’ve learned back into my more natural way of creating.  This time (vs. in the e-course), I might not stumble when it came to adding drawing elements to my pieces.
  • On the morning of November 5th, 3 weeks after my application, I woke up saying/asking that if I heard back from Flora that day, I would definitely go – it would be a clear sign. At this point, I was only thinking of the March workshop in Amed since it fell in between my school terms, so it wouldn’t be affected by whether or not I could return to Austria. It would only seriously affect my finances.
  • 10 minutes later, I heard the “ding” of an email coming through – I got it!  I was handpicked as 1 of the 14 out of over 80 applicants!  But wait… it wasn’t for the Amed one, but for Ubud, the one that started at the same time as the third trimester.  I immediately emailed back asking to be put on the waiting list if someone cancelled from Amed that day.  Two days later, I got an automated message that my message had never been delivered (an effect of Mercury retrograde or perhaps some Higher Assistance?).
  • During those 2 days, however, I had had a chance to review my finances, my plans, my goals/desires, and the fact that I was indeed receiving clear Guidance, even if it wasn’t what I thought I had wanted/expected.  I came to the conclusion that actually, only 1 week in Amed (missing the last 2 days of classes here in order to get there on time and then rushing back) wasn’t such a good idea. Plus flights to Denpassar are 22-30 hours long according to my initial research. Therefore, the Ubud workshop in the artistic/cultural centre of Bali seemed better in some respects – plus this workshop also offered an extension week to keep painting with the co-facilitator Nicole Lawrence whose second home is in Bali.
  • Several emails back and forth with Nicole led to my being reassured about the safety of staying alone in Ubud for an additional 2 weeks in a small very affordable family-run resort that her relatives uses all the time.  I haven’t firmed up all the details of that yet (she might also hook me up with a private drawing teacher), but it feels good, despite the risks.  (Indonesia/Bali have travel advisories attached to them, as it is governments’ responsibility to do so after a few terrorist incidents in the past.  But then again, I was cleared out of a New York airport due to a bomb threat, so anything can happen anywhere.  I’ve considered the risks – as millions of tourist to Bali do every year.  I have to trust my inner guidance on this one and choose love over fear.)  Double checking with my Guidance tools has also reassured me.
  • On Friday, I sent my deposit.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the signs along the way, but this gives you an idea of my decision-making process. Now you’re up to date on my life and where the funds you’ve helped me gather for my art education are going.  I smiled when yesterday’s mantra in the 21-day online meditation program I’m following was:

“I set my goals, allow the power of the living Universe to take over and enjoy the ride.”

My Spirit Calling cards have also been very useful in this decision-making process.  You already saw one of the messages I got at the beginning of this message. Here was another:

prosperity

I haven’t booked my plane ticket yet.  I’m still unsure of what I’ll be doing and where I’ll be going after Bali.  With the difference in prices between return flights vs. one-way tickets to Bali followed by one to Canada – and the fact that I already have a ticket from here back to Canada in June – I think I’ll leave here for Bali 88 days within my tourist time so that I can come back and either stay for the Spring Intensive and special workshops here in May/June + self-directed drawing (if I get a residence visa), or pick up my stuff and head home to Canada within my leftover 2 days of tourist time allowed in Austria.  I won’t need to figure that out right away if I buy a return flight here.  One thing for sure, my budget will be stretched to its very limit, so there’s still a bit of figuring out to do before I buy my ticket. I’m definitely waiting until after Mercury Retrograde stops today though, which can affect things like transportation, technology and major purchases/contracts.  According to my trusted astrologer, November 12th is supposed to be the best day of the month for this kind of thing and more (and a great one for the year too) – it also happens to be my birthday.  Finding continued direction for my life as I explore and express my love of beauty and the beauty of love has been a great birthday gift indeed!

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Czech Homecoming

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IMG_3532It is difficult to express in words how filled my heart felt last weekend when I returned to the Czech Republic to visit friends I hadn’t seen in 20 years.  Since I’m a blogger, however, I will give it my best try.

I’ve now lived in 14 villages/towns/cities in 5 countries and have developed varying degrees of connection to each one thanks to the people I met there, the energies of the land, or the quality of experiences. My connection to the Czech Republic, however, has always been one of the strongest, both on a soul and heart level.  First, the speed at which I learned the language and some magical moments I lived there in the 90s have me convinced that there’s a strong past life connection to this place.  Second, I cherish the friendships I developed there, the multitude of new experiences I lived, the scenery filled with forests, red roofs, and old architecture, the culture, the more social side of me that came to life there, etc.  It’s not like I’m choosing to wear rose-coloured glasses – I was also reminded this weekend of a couple of near-near-death experiences (one in a canoe and one due to a roommate’s mental health crisis), betrayals, personal challenges, weight gain due to an excess of deep fried cheese and pastries, etc.  Nevertheless, I feel a very deep fondness for the Czech Republic and its people, and 20 years hasn’t changed that.  If it’s true that “Home is where the heart is”, I actually have several homes, and this weekend was a true homecoming; my cup was filled to overflowing with love given, received, and felt … and for that, I am grateful!

There.  That’s my introduction. Now for the details.

Friday was a holiday in Austria and so at 5am, I headed to the Praterstern train station by tram and got there an hour early (of course), which gave me time to figure out where my platform was and to observe all the costumed drunk Halloween party-goers making their way home.  Halloween is pretty new here, I’m told, but it’s definitely catching on.  Once on the train, it took me a while to figure out that I was only allowed to sit where there were no little papers in the slots beside the door – those seats were reserved.  I was hoping to find a cabin filled with Czechs so that I could listen and practice my Czech that I hadn’t used in 20 years, but no such luck.  I ended up with a young Austrian couple who I’m sure would have preferred the cabin to themselves.  They soon left all their stuff behind to go explore the rest of the train.  It’s only 1.5 hours to Brno with a bit of a stop in Břeclav, where the cabin filled up, but unfortunately not with chatty folks.  Still, I spent some time peering over my neighbour’s shoulder at her newspaper, trying to jog my memory with the occasional recognizable word.  Before I knew it, we were in Brno, and no one had come by the cabin to check passports.  That was really strange for me – but once in the European Union’s Schengen area, there really isn’t very much border control anymore. Interesting!

I was meeting my friend Antonin (Tony) at the train station.  I wasn’t worried about finding him in the crowd (you’ll see why in the photo below), so I followed the other travelers from the platform down the stairs and back up into the main lobby where things started to look very familiar (I used to use the train a lot between Brno and Adamov – two places I lived – and for weekend trips).  This was really the first time I had returned to somewhere I had lived long ago, so in a way, I felt like an old person on a memory trip all weekend (“Do you remember when?”  “Oh, I remember this!”  “Wasn’t there a Cukrárna (bakery) right here?”).  It was strange in a way, but also a lot of fun to test whether I remembered where things were.  I soon recognized Tony coming up the stairs, even before his height gave him away. Some people don’t change much in 20 years! After a great hug hello (that lifted me right off the ground), we headed to the car.

Antonin was my first contact here.  My first day in the Czech Republic in 1992 was on the eve of his wedding.  I came one month before my ESL teaching contract started, thanks to one of the other teachers in our sister-city program who had been invited.  The program, it turns out, was cancelled while we were on the plane, but we only found out a couple of weeks later, and it didn’t matter because Tony found us jobs in the city and places to stay.  For the month before moving to Brno, however, we stayed in his apartment in the small town of Adamov where his new wife remained while he was off to some other country for work.  Since Tony was the only fluent English speaker around, I was completely and gratefully  immersed in the language and culture.  Perfect!

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After leaving the train station, Tony drove me around the downtown core at my request, just to see if I could remember anything, and then we headed out of town, through several villages (picking up a hitchhiker who missed his bus from one village to the next) and to the Adamovka tower in the forest overlooking Adamov.  The leaves were mostly all fallen and it was a bit foggy, but I can’t tell you how good it felt to look through trees or across fields and down into valleys after living in Vienna, where you often can’t see past the buildings across the street. I especially got excited at seeing apple trees – that’s where fruit come from? (I’m turning into a real city girl!) Don’t get me wrong. I do love Vienna and its amazing architecture, culture, etc., but I simply want it all and am finding ways to get it.

Although we only talked in English, catching up on each others’ lives, Tony did get a few calls on his car’s speaker phone for work and to coordinate meetings with our friends and so my ears started getting used to the Czech language again.  Oh how I love it! But when we stopped for lunch in the chateau behind the Krtiny pilgrim church built by Santini (in a location where Mother Mary appeared in the 1200s), only German came out when it came time to order (something that continued happening in restaurants throughout the weekend).  So what did I have for my first meal back in the Czech Republic?  Well, I almost got wild boar when Tony misread the upside down menu, but my surprise at not remembering the word for “chicken” (which they had run out of) helped us realize the mistake and I ended up instead with a big brick of breaded and deep fried Edam cheese with french fries (my old standard pub food that I must confess I had been looking forward to).  Myum!  After I was done though, I declared that that was enough of that for the weekend (only to have it again two other times, once more because they had run out of duck and dumplings and another because they offered a healthy baked version I just had to try… ).  While Tony took a few minutes after lunch to work on a task for his job, I explored the church and its surroundings – beautiful!  The vibe of the land and the look of the village around it was so familiar.  It felt fantastic being back!

We then headed to Blansko where Tony and most of my other friends now live. It’s a bigger town than Adamov, but still much smaller than Brno, which is the 2nd biggest city in the country after Prague.  When I walked into Tony’s beautiful new condo, I was greeted by another huge smile and hug. Seeing Sonia again was great, and that’s when my Czech started spilling out – shocking both them and me.  Sentence after sentence, it was rolling off my tongue (with the occasional missing word, of course). The biggest shock, however, was seeing Iva and Honza – their children who were no longer children.  Although Tony and Sonia hadn’t changed much in 20 years, there’s no hiding the passing of time with babies.  Wow!  Iva was born while I was here and Honza wasn’t even an idea yet.  After catching up a bit and seeing some of Tony’s skydiving videos, including a recent one of Sonia’s first tandem jump, they showed me to their other condo 2 floors down where Iva is living with her boyfriend Jakub.  Although it totally wasn’t necessary, they gave me their apartment for the weekend, sleeping upstairs for one night and in Jakub’s village for the next.

Jakub and Iva
Sonia and Honza
View from above Blansko

By 6pm, we were at the restaurant for what felt like a family reunion (Lenka and Milan (no longer together) with their daughter Petra, Tony and Sonia with their daughter Iva and her boyfriend Jakub, and I).  Although they still all lived in the region, some hadn’t seen each other in a while, and so the night was filled with stories and laughter. It was simply awesome!  This is where words can’t describe how I felt seeing everyone again.  And surprisingly, I could follow most of the conversation and even contribute a lot to it until I got tired and stopped understanding altogether.  I do know that Tony shared some of my updates with everyone, but I am not sure how much of it was accurate, not only because he’s not too much into the esoteric stuff (as Sonia confirmed while I was admiring her chakra mandalas on the fridge), but also because he’s famous for exaggerating details… a great storyteller indeed!  So I’m not sure what they actually know about the last 20 years, but that’s OK.  I went to sleep that night in my big comfortable bed in a state of total bliss.

Iva, Jakub, Milan and I
Lenka and her 6 week old puppy
Milan, Petra and I
Milan, Lenka and I
Petra choosing her magnetic bookmark
chocolate anyone?
a nice restaurant

The next day, my good friend Lucka (oh, it was so good to see her too and I learned that her spiritual path and mine are quite alike these days) came from Brno and joined Lenka, her partner Ladya, Sonia and I for post-breakfast pastries before heading out to Rudice to see the 120-year old school where Lenka is the principal.  It’s currently under renovation and she and Lucka (who is also a school teacher) had a lot to talk about.  Lenka still had one of my paintings in her classroom, something that touched me deeply.  We then visited a historic mill in the village, as well as an old sand pit where the colours were stunning.  After lunch, we headed to Milan’s, where I was happy to meet his new family and friends and listened to more of Tony’s stories once he got back from his morning’s trip to northern Moravia, where he was supposed to skydive, but the weather had turned bad.

Rudice mill
Lucka and Lenka

We left in the late afternoon as Tony and I had plans to head to southern Moravia for a Halloween party in a village where some members of the old skydiving gang would be.  I brought all my stuff with me as it was just like in the old days – we didn’t know if we would sleep there on the floor with dozens of other folks or head back to Blansko.  There’s an informal, down-to-earth, welcoming social quality to the people and lifestyle I encountered through Tony that I always enjoyed.  By the time we got there, it was very dark and we made our way to the very large backyard with a roaring campfire, a big group of adults and children dressed up for Halloween, several dogs (I was in dog heaven all weekend!), and a pathway lined with over a dozen lit up carved pumpkins that led to the great unknown.  After all the gatherings of the day, however, I was tired and mostly sat content by the fire, taking in the festivities and engaging in occasional conversations, both in English and Czech.  By about 9pm, we decided to head back as the party was nowhere near finished and Tony found out he had to drive up to Poland on Sunday again for work. I was glad as a comfy bed and a hot shower in the morning before meeting my other friends in Brno seemed like a good idea.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we headed to the train station for our so-longs after being teased repeatedly for insisting on being there more than 2 minutes early. Still, we got there early, giving us time for photos and hugs.  I’ll be back soon – I know it!

Half an hour by train later, I was in Brno again where I was met by my good friends Jana and Robert.  Jana taught at the same schools I did, and I ended up living with them for most of my first year there and then beside them when I returned for another year following a year of ESL teacher training in Canada. They recently moved out of that neighbourhood and into a beautiful new home where we ate a delicious lunch and spent several hours relaxing and talking while it poured outside.  Ivo, the oldest of two sons, was home for the weekend from Prague and joined us for a little while.  Once again, it was great catching up and simply being in their presence.  It was just like old times, except that once again, the children had grown and now there was a cute little dog in the mix.

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Once the weather cleared up, we drove around and then went walking through the historic downtown, totally memory-tripping as so much of it is relatively the same.  What a wonderfully mellow day.

IMG_3535At 9pm, Robert dropped me off at the train station. Once I found a spot in the train, I quickly fell asleep until I woke up in Vienna, groggy and confused because one of the passengers in the small cabin was talking about Florisdorf being the last stop instead of Praterstern due to technical issues.  The name of that station was familiar, and I was relieved to find out it was actually the end stop of the Underground line that takes me directly home.  Unfortunately, nothing was open at 11pm and the ticket machine didn’t take 20 Euro bills for a 2.10 ticket, so I had to wait until someone could change it into 2 10s.  No big deal.  I was home a little before midnight and slept well until it was time to wake up to go to school.

I’m sure I didn’t do justice to parts of this story, but you get the picture. I had an amazing weekend!  I’ll be going back for sure – it’s so easy to travel there from here and even learned about a Czech bus company that charges a fraction of the price of Viennese buses or trains.  Perfect!  Either way, I’ll definitely be going back. It’s amazing what time with good friends can do. Yesterday, one of my classmates was commenting on not having seen my silly side before… I definitely feel more open, happy, free, etc. after my time in the Czech Republic with my old friends.  I could even see a significant jump in my drawing skills.  That place definitely brings out the best in me.

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I ran out of time … at a museum!

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OK, so if you’ve been following my posts, you know that I’m not a big fan of museum, but that I still appreciate zooming through them, mostly to see the architecture and also just in case something catches my attention, either visually or energetically.  I am a curious being, but there’s something about museums that I find either stale or overstimulating – not quite sure how to describe it.  Anyhow, today after eating our bagged lunches in class, Donnalyne and I headed out to the Neue Burg – the big palace I walk by every day on my way to school, to visit the 4 museums there that we have free access to with our annual museum membership card.  And would you believe it? I ran out of time just going through the first one – the Arms and Armor Museum.  I totally didn’t expect to be interested much in this one, but something about all those knights in shining armor caught my fancy. Seriously though (although yes, I’m a hopeless romantic), the craftsmanship, details and designs were amazing! Leaving aside the fact that these very heavy uncomfortable metal suits were designed to protect men in times of war while killing the enemy, they were really cool.  I also enjoyed seeing all the fake horses wearing their own protective gear (check out the one with the tail coming out of a dragon’s mouth).

Perhaps I enjoyed this museum so much because it plunged me back into the Hollywood epic historic fiction movies I like, or perhaps I had a gratifying past life in the 15th or 16th century military (perhaps with or as a knight in shining armor?). Who knows?!  I certainly didn’t have this kind of a reaction to the modern military displays being set up in the plaza in front of the palace (including 6 helicopters – something the men in my family would enjoy) in preparation for Austria’s National Day on Saturday.  The tanks reminded me of my childhood on Canadian Armed Forces bases in Germany, when we had to stop classes because of the noise each time a long line of tanks went by on their way to an exercise.  But generally speaking, I’ve been avoiding walking through this plaza this week because looking at all that  – especially from within the palace, peering at it from the window behind the balcony where Hitler made his famous speech – felt quite eery.  Peace be to all!

With only 2 more days of long lunch hours, though, I’m debating whether I’ll be trekking to the pay-what-you-can Pakistani buffet tomorrow or going back to these museums to explore some more.  Now that says a lot!! Next time though, I hope to have my real camera, not just my iPhone.

Combining / Layering Elements of our Personal Mythologies

After lunch, our class headed out to the small park in front of the Votive Chuch,  where I had spotted a big stone table and chairs the day before.  The weather was great and yes, the idea of sitting around this table reinforced the whole Hogwarts or Knights of the Round Table (although this one wasn’t round) themes.  We spent a couple of hours drawing sketches that combined or layered various concepts from the personal mythologies we story-boarded yesterday.  I had fun doing this.  This sketch is but a first draft that combines my ideas of

  • God (one of many names I use) as a radiant, accepting, open, nurturing, gracious, loving source of energy and life
  • our being within God and God within us
  • soul families setting intentions and making agreements before incarnation
  • the ever-present spiral as symbol of evolution, holistic growth, release, awareness of the one within the context of the whole, connectivity and union with God and cosmic energies, direction, expansion, journeying, and development … amongst other things
  • chakra system
  • ripple effects of our beingness on this planet
  • the mirrors of life
  • the map/path and fruit of unconditional love – part of our journey into and out of our Selves and back to God

IMG_3273This is only the second drawing concept I work on since starting classes  – I got a great sense of how our personal mythologies can be an infinite source of imagery for paintings and  I’m definitely motivated again to improve my drawing skills.  This was gratifyingly deep work that I’d like to see evolve.

We then returned to class to work on various projects.

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What a Party!

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I surprised myself last night (or should I say this morning) by coming home at 6:30am from a great night at a sacred dance gathering by Avaloka. I don’t even think I snoozed during any of the meditation sessions, but I did get a wonderful vision of a multicoloured square spiral all lit up and floating in space feeding the roots of an equally tubular/lit up tree  – all that with a rolling ocean floating far underneath in space  (can you believe I’ve never even tried drugs?!).  It’s hard to describe, and I guess that’s one reason why visionary artists paint what they see (I’d have to learn more about perspective and 3D shaping before I could manage this one, but at least there would be no human figures to draw).  I was still energized when I got home, but fell asleep relatively quickly and got a short 5 hours in before waking up to noise in the apartment. What a role reversal – I’m usually the one making noise in the kitchen after my young university student roommates come home at 4-5am as I’m waking up for my day.  Now I know how it feels.

Recap:

IMG_3105Renate, a wonderful Austrian student in our special 2-week intensive, and her friend Bernhard came to pick me up and we headed to their friend Walter’s apartment for a few minutes before finding our way to the 23rd district on the outskirts of the city where the Avaloka event was being held.  The event started at 9pm and there were already a lot of people there when we arrived at 9:30pm- some enjoying a campfire outside, others sitting in the indoor stairwell with a gorgeous projected drawing in the style I’d like to make (that was also the smokers’ hangout), others having a drink in the room with a bar, others sitting quietly in the small meditation room, and others standing around chatting in the main room where the vegan food bar, DJ station and band stage were located.  I couldn’t believe that this was a temporary set up.  Every wall and floor were covered in felt and the whole decorated in a combination of Tibetan buddhist style and techno with projections on walls and ceilings.  These are the folks who put on our school’s opening party, but that didn’t prepare me for this night.  As an ex-events-planner, I could fully appreciate the organizational skill and talent that it took to put this together.

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We just had time to say hi to all our classmates before the opening meditation started, and I’m amazed I understood a lot of it, mostly because the leader used a lot of body language and talked about stuff I was familiar with. I had also used Google Translate to read the schedule ahead of time and knew he would be addressing inter-religious perspective and a Tibetan meditation that opens the brain and body to cosmic rays. This was followed by a solo dance performance that led to great dancing to an ethnic and tribal DJ music mix. It felt so good to just close my eyes and move to the music, focused on my own internal experience, just as everyone else was.  Being a barefoot event, however, my knees could only take so much, so I had to take frequent breaks.

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I liked the fact that there was a quiet meditation room I could go to when the noise and crowds were too much.  We could still hear and feel the vibrations of the music through the walls and floors, but it was still a very serene room.  I returned there at midnight for some Tibetan and Sanskrit chanting and when we came out, I could see that the crowd in the main room had doubled and that there was an awesome band, Airrapide (drummer and didgeridoo player) that really got the crowd going.  I’ve never seen a didgeridoo player go for so long – amazing!  At 2:30, I and most of my classmates returned to the meditation room for a session led by one of our Academy friends and models, Alexandra.  It was beautiful, accompanied by hoop drumming and chanting.  This was definitely my kind of party.

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More dancing, a plateful of roasted vegetables with couscous & hummus, more chatting, and just hanging around and then it was time to leave.  Renate & Bernhard were going to drop me off at the U6 end stop, which is in direct line to my place, but they accurately sensed that I was nervous about riding it alone at that late hour (although the world was waking up for Sunday in Vienna), so they kindly insisted on driving me all the way home.  They reassured me that Vienna is an extremely safe place, as I had heard before, but I’m just not used to being out at night anymore so I truly appreciated it – comfort zones stretch and shrink and stretch and shrink – such is life.

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I took it easy today and tomorrow starts the last week of our Intensive “In Quest of the Inner Image” workshop. I’m looking forward to it.

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So Many Gifts

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Warning: This is another long one…. so much happens here in a few days.

I smiled when I received the artist Flora Bowley‘s e-newsletter this week, with a theme of breakdowns leading to breakthroughs.  Appropriate.  My struggles earlier this week led not only to reminding me that I need to practice both self-love and drawing more, but also helped remind me of my true goals.  Because of the nature of my school and our exercises, I had set “drawing real 3-D” looking figures as my goal when indeed, my real goal is to eventually insert stylized drawing elements into my art.  Somehow, simply changing that verbalized and visualized goal during my paraliminal sessions has been of great value.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t need to learn to draw realistically first, but that I can let go of the need to do that perfectly or even really really well in order to achieve my goal.  My art is not meant to be like that of many visionary artists – and that’s OK.  Sure, I still have to work hard so that I can sketch a happy baby in a crib if I want to instead of a crushed baby in a cage, but that will come.  I don’t feel as much pressure (self-imposed) or discouragement as I did earlier this week – instead, I feel that the disheartening that led to questioning that led to clarifying has been very valuable. Indeed, I feel quite fulfilled and relieved (yes, I’ve been known to live life on an emotional roller coaster at times).

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“In Quest of the Inner Image” with Vera and Kuba (continued):

This has been an amazing week and the last two days of our intensive workshop with Vera and Kuba did a lot to bond us as a group and to bring me back to a very welcomed way of living / being that I had been blessed to experience on a regular basis back in Canada.  From opening chanting circles (that grew intuitively from our previously simple OM sessions), to creative visualization sessions (that brought each of us unique visions and experiences which we later shared in a circle), to lectures on higher consciousness, dreams, individual artists’ spiritual journeys (that facilitated making new connections between my spirituality, my art, and to visionary art in general), to entering an image through meditation and movement (that led to experiencing what it’s like to be the sun and the ocean, opening my heart and soul to their expansiveness and love)- what a week!  I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the highlights, and I didn’t take many pictures, but it’s very telling that by Friday’s art-making time, I voluntarily pulled out my sketch for my trimester painting, which I had worked on for weeks, and changed my approach to the two human figures in it.  I’ve let go of the need to include facial features (that may change again, but the letting go was freeing) and stylized their hair in a way that felt fun and much natural.  I enjoyed going back to my sketch and playing with the possibilities. Yay!  We finished the week with a last sharing circle and group hug – nice!

Two More Museums:

I really took advantage of our longer lunch hours this week – after finishing my packed lunches on Thursday and Friday, I headed out to visit some of the smaller neighbouring museums which are included on our annual membership card for the Arts History museum.  I didn’t spend much time in either the Treasury or Theater Museum, but I’m glad to know what’s there and a few pieces fit in with what I’m working on in class, so that’s always nice.

Treasury:

Theater Museum:

A Tribute to Vienna:

My tourism highlight of the week, however, was definitely the world premier of A Tribute to Vienna, a 70-minute show in the Spanish Riding School with musical performances by the Vienna Boys’ Choir (the most renowned boys’ choir in the world) and with highlights of the Ballet of the White Stallions (featuring the world famous Lipizzaner horses).  I remember the Lipizanner horses from a childhood trip here with my family and longed to see them dance again. My original idea was to stand in line several Saturdays in a row to see if I could get a reduced priced last-minute seat to one of their regular shows.  They usually sell-out though and the throngs of tourists in town don’t seem to be diminishing at all with the colder weather, so when I saw this special event performance advertised with standing room tickets at 23 Euros (about $33 Cdn … some of the seats go for up to 171 Euros), I jumped on the occasion (their next Tribute to Vienna performance isn’t until December). What a treat!  Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I’ve just found this excellent 2-part documentary on these regal horses and the Spanish Riding School in Vienna (12 minutes each).

By the way, we didn’t have a dark stallion in our show and yes, I got quite nervous when the rider actually led the horse from the ground, standing immediately behind it – I wondered if any rider survived the many years of training bruise-free.

I respected the fact that we were asked twice before the show not to take pictures as the sound/flashes irritates the horses, but I do wish they would have also asked the audience not to clap as some horses reacted each time to the echoing fire-cracker sound of clapping in that big hall, taking away from the overall graceful effect of the ballet.  Still, it was well worth it – yay! one more thing off my Vienna bucket-list.

P.S. I walk between the school and the stables daily as they’re right beside the Palais Palffy where I have my classes. What a gift!

Saturday Morning Shopping

Today, after doing my laundry (never thought I’d meet another student at 7am in the laundry room on a Saturday, but I met 2!), I headed out to the Nach Markt for the first time, a famous 1.5 km outdoor farmer’s market 6 days a week that expands to include a flee market 4 rows deep on Saturdays.  Wow!  What crowds and so much to look at that I didn’t see much in the flea market part.  I thought I was safe in that part until I hit the many stands of 5 Euro cashmere silk scarves – I found a nice green one that called to me.  As for the rest, you really have to like this kind of thing to find what you’re looking for or never knew you needed until you saw it.  The food section, which some of my classmates go to regularly, even at lunch time on school days, is huge and includes many permanent stands and mini-shops (cheese, meat, organic goods, etc.) and rows of temporary stalls.  There’s also an alley full of restaurants with outdoor seating (blankets provided).  I can see why this place is such a tourist draw.  I came home with falaffel (15 for 3 Euros), 2 kinds of cheeses, a few vegetables, a mango (2 Euros instead of the 8 Euros I saw at the organic store next door – that’s $11.25 Cdn!) and a small piece of a 100% fruit/nut loaf (you’ll see a picture of it – gorgeous before you cut into it).  Also, make sure to notice the architecture in the background (grateful for my iPhone – with all the groceries, I left my real camera at home).

On the Way:

IMG_3082On my way to the Nach Markt, I found a Vegan grocery store that was quite impressive.  I found a few more healthy goodies there to add to my cupboards. I’m really quite impressed with the number or organic and vegan stores (not only food) around here.  I’m no longer vegan, but I don’t eat a lot of meat and having a variety of healthy foods to choose from is such a gift!  It’s not cheap though – I’m sure that if I calculated what I actually spend on my packed lunches, I probably spend more or the same than if I bought my lunches at the healthy take-out places near my school, including the all you can eat pay what you can Pakistani buffet.  Hmmm….

IMG_3083I also found a hair studio on the way that won some European Masters award in 2012 and that advertised organic / natural products – Happy Hair.  The place gave off a good vibe, so on my way back, feeling courageous, I stopped in for a delightful hair-cutting session. I had gone a month longer than usual, and it was time.  I enjoyed my time in Anita’s chair –  she speaks less English than my German, but body language is effective too. She’s also a painter.  If I wasn’t on a student budget, I would have considered her suggestion of adding colour to some of those back layers and perhaps some blonde highlights (I miss being blond, even if I feel like a dumb blond in class sometimes – sorry, couldn’t resist that one…).

Last, but not least, I’m so grateful to the tailor I found on the way to the market who gave me a needle and a few meters of thread for free – the washing machines and in-class yoga has been tough on my clothes, it seems.

A Night Out (Avaloka – Let’s Dance For the Good of All):

Now it’s time for another bite to eat before I head out to an all-night meditation / dance event (I don’t know if I’ll last all night) on the outskirts of town. Most of my class (and a segment of Vienna’s spiritual/artistic/new age crowd) will be there.   It starts at 9pm, so that in itself is a stretch of my comfort zones – but I’ve been psychologically preparing myself for it all week – getting there, late hour, hundreds of people, etc.  When we stretch our comfort zones, we grow.  Stay tuned for the next blog post…

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So Much to Share

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I’m not sure if you’re keeping up with my blog … there’s so much I want to share that I hardly have the time to do so.  Yesterday was another fantastic day for at least 4 reasons.

1- Walk to School
Do you walk to work/school?  Do you take a different route each time?  I recommend it! I usually arrange to live 30-60 minutes from where I need to go on a daily basis as I love walking  – I avoid the crowds, nausea, and expense of public transport, plus there’s always so much to see. Plus varying my route awakens the senses!  Since yesterday was surprisingly sunny and warm, I extended my walk past the Parliament and into the Volksgarten, and with my iPhone, I don’t need to lug my big/real camera when I’m not on a dedicated photo trip.  Nice!

2- Mana Prima

OK, this was totally cool and fun!  One of our teachers, David Heskin, has developed this technique of using powdered pigment and water to create abstract designs. It has since been taught to thousands. It’s a lot like what I was doing with airbrush colours, liquid acrylics and water, but with much more control and playing time. So I guess what I’m saying  is that it’s totally different, but similar in its intuitive creative play qualities and hand application as well as in its freeing spirit – anyone can do this.

Here are some pictures from today – we started with white pigment on black with a drop of blue/magenta (collaborative boards, and then individual black gesso-covered papers) and then colour on white. Then we went outside in the courtyard to spray them with acrylic varnish as there are no binders in this technique, so water re-activates the pigment. I’m so enjoying this intensive – I feel like Me again.  David then taught the class how to mirror images in Photoshop to create cool worlds – something I enjoy doing with my photography, but I’ve never done with my paintings.  The two mirrored images are of 2 of my pieces (not the best quality as shot on iPhone) – if you can see them close up, you’ll find lots of faces and creatures.

3- Pay What You Can Restaurant – Really?!

I love to eat – you probably already know that.  I enjoy delicious food about as much as I don’t enjoy cooking.  So an all-you-can-eat Pakistani buffet at whatever price you feel like paying sounded too good to be true.  But it was absolutely awesome!  Since our lunches this week are half an hour longer than usual, I initiated a group trek to Deewan to partake in an experience that some of the students had told me about.  Wow!  First, the food was absolutely delicious.  I had two plate-fulls and desert – healthy ingredients and lots of flavour and variety.  Second, the atmosphere was unique.  Yes, the place was absolutely packed – all three levels – mostly with young people.  All the tables were full, so we sat on a raised platform with cushions and low tables at the back of the 3rd level down. There was a definitely a higher consciousness feel to the place, yet I could see or sense no religious affiliation or agenda.  It simply seemed to be what it was – I’m definitely curious in learning more about it all as, after 7 years, they must be making a profit to survive while providing such a wonderful service.  Third, the price is right.  Drinks and take-out have set prices, but the buffet is truly a pay-what-you-can/want.  I even had to figure out where to pay on my way out, handing my money to a man on the phone who just dropped it in his cash without really looking/counting.  Interestingly, I chose to pay 4 Euros ( about $5.50 Cdn – more than some and less than I’ve ever paid for a meal out here).  I chose to do so because I could – a mix of both abundance and scarcity motives it seems…. very interesting.  I chose to do so, however, knowing that next time I will pay more, also simply because I can.  This payment system very much reminded me of how I run garage sales – I ask people to pay me whatever they want / can over $1 – some pay $1 and some ask me how much I originally paid for something and pay me that.  Very interesting indeed!  Again, I’ll have to go back and chat with them when they’re less busy or read up more online – I’m very curious –

4- German Conversation Meeting

This week, I returned to the Tunnel Club for the Couchsurfing German Conversation Meeting.  If you’ll remember, I went 2 weeks ago, but no one showed up for the first half hour, so I left.  This time, I went with Lizzy, one of my classmates, and we were soon joined by a man from Poland, 2 Austrians, another from Poland, one from Turkey, and so on.  By the time we left at 8:30pm, there were about 20 people around the table and I’m sure more showed up later as it goes until 11pm.  It was great!  We got to practice and to learn even if we were the most beginner students there. It was a very welcoming atmosphere. We’re going back next week.  Couchsurfing events in town (there are lots) are free, so that’s even better!  They’re everywhere around the world, so you might want to check it out for yourself.  A truly wonderful organization.

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Day Trip to Melk, Wachau Valley & Krems

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Happy Thanksgiving Canada!  There is so much to be grateful for!

This year for Thanksgiving, I took a solo train trip to the neighbouring towns of Melk and Krems, with a river cruise through the Wachau valley on the Danube river from one to the other (a summer combination ticket available from the local railway company until the end of October for 57 Euros (about $80 Cdn) ).  The ticket also includes entrance to the Melk Abbey.

I got the idea for a weekend day-trip on Thursday morning and headed to the nearest train station to ask where I could go.  Unfortunately, even if Florence made me a student card on Friday, when I bought my ticket, I learned that “student” really means “young student” under 27.  Oh well… This was my first time out of the big city in my month and a half in Austria, and it was definitely something to be grateful for.

Melk:
I was up bright and early and out the door before 7am to walk to Westbanhoff, about 20 minutes away to catch the 7:36am train.  I’m glad I arrived early because as I asked passengers which direction the train was going to decide where to sit (seats are arranged face to face), they engaged me in conversation and I learned that this train didn’t go to Melk.  Luckily, I had time to run back down to the ticket office to find out that I was on the right train, but needed to transfer in St. Polten… that would have been useful information to get when I bought my ticket.  Lesson: allways ask if it’s a direct train as there may not be an agent around to answer that question (no one checked my ticket on the first 2 trains of the day).  About 45 minutes later, I was in Melk, known for its baroque Benedictine monastery, a cultural and spiritual center for Austria.

One definite advantage of being an early bird is that I got there before the throngs of tourists/ tour buses.  I wandered the historic streets for a while before going up to the monastery where I happily strolled through the gardens for over an hour before taking an English guided tour (2 Euros) through the courtyard, gallery/museum, and library (no photos allowed in that one).  There are only 30 monks left now at the abbey (which still serves as a school), but only 5 came to the mid-day prayers (1 late), presided by 2 of them.  I had read somewhere that these 15-minute daily prayers are chanted and had expectations for an uplifting concert by a church full of well-practiced monks (ah, those expectations).  Still, I tried to join in the one and only song, following the German in the printed leaflet at my pew with little success.  Nevertheless, it was nice to be in a church on this Thanksgiving weekend, knowing that my family in Ottawa would be doing the same at some point.

I then headed to town to look for a quick bite to eat before heading to the ship docks.  I had a great pizza (surprise, surprise) and practiced my German with the Afghan cook (I seem to have a lot of German/English conversations with Afghan pizza chefs here in Austria – the most conversation I seem to have outside of class – nice ones too!)

Blue Danube River Cruise:

My wish to be on the water came true this weekend. I got to feast my eyes on the Fall colours as this cruise went through the beautiful Wachau valley, famous for its scattering historic towns/villages, castles (Richard the Lion Heart was held prisoner in one of them), vineyards and apricot farms.  Beautiful!  I didn’t partake in the alcohol soaked apricots that they were selling, but I did have an apricot gelato later in Krems.

Krems:

Krems is a beautiful historic town that has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.   I didn’t learn much about its history or visit any of its buildings or museums, but I had a great time wandering the streets and taking pictures for several kilometers (zigzagging) and about 6 hours .  It’s a good thing I enjoy my own company – I don’t mind traveling on my own, especially when I have my camera and tripod. It’s true, I wasn’t thrilled when the 0% chance of rain turned into getting soaked for half an hour, but I was grateful when the lights came on at nightfall and the reflections off the wet cobblestone enhanced the beauty of it all.

I took the 8:01pm train back to Vienna and was in bed by 9:30pm, exhausted, but happy.  Today, I did laundry, cooked, edited photos, and blogged (you might think this is a lot of photos, but it’s less than a quarter of what I started out with…).  I’m now off to get turkey schnitzel at a neighbourhood take-out joint if they’re open – I like turkey on Thanksgiving now that I’m no longer vegan.  There’s so much I’m grateful for, and the plenitude of restaurants around here is one of them.

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The Fuchs Villa

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On Thursday, my class went to the Fuchs Villa, a private museum which is also still the home of Ernst Fuchs, my teachers’ teacher and one of the founders of Fantastic Realism and Visionary Art.

01_DLH_3412I knew nothing about Professor Fuchs before I came here, but I get the sense that his life would make an amazing movie (of Jewish background during the Nazi occupation; baptism into the Roman Catholic church; acceptance into an Art Academy at 15; years of poverty followed by international recognition; fortune gained, lost, and regained; life in Paris, Israel, US, etc; devotion to Jewish-Christian understanding and many commissions by the church; 16 children from 7 women, and so much more) .  Recognized by Salvador Dali as his Austrian counterpart, Fuchs has created a plethora of work in his 83 years – drawings, paintings, sculpture, music, architecture, etc.  I certainly didn’t have a sense of it all before our visit. All I really knew is that he had developed a unique style of painting mixing egg tempura with oil paints over white (that I will be learning in the next 2 months), and had passed down his knowledge to several students who will be our teachers. I’ve occasionally seen him as he drops into our classroom, but his memory/ health have been affected by age and he hasn’t really interacted with us much.  Still, knowing a bit more about his work and his life after this visit has increased my understanding and desire to learn.  Although I don’t resonate with much of his subject matter or paintings in general (I resonate much more to the work of his students / my teachers), I can’t ignore the mastery of colour and technique and am in awe of the scope of his work. I know that when I start painting, I can be pretty prolific, but none of my work is as detailed and obviously time-consuming as this… I simply can’t imagine how he accomplished so much in one lifetime- and he’s got work all over the world, some of massive scale.  Simply amazing!

These are two examples of his drawing from his time at in art academy, where he was accepted at the age of 15.

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The villa itself was designed by famous Austrian architect Otto Wagner in 1888. When Fuchs was a young child, he told his mother he would buy it for her one day … and he did.  She spent the last decades of her life there after Fuchs saved the building from disrepair in 1973 .  The house itself is amazing to see – I’m not sure how many of the details are Wagner’s and how many are Fuchs’ as he pretty well designed everything in and around it, so I’ve simply created one large gallery of my visit there. As you’ll see, the artwork is certainly not limited to framed pieces on the walls.  Enjoy your virtual visit of the Fuchs Villa. Click on the first image to see it large and to proceed through the whole gallery at that size if you prefer.

I like this one -a bit like how I imagine integrating human figures in my abstract work.

To find out more about Professor Ernst Fuchs, his foundation, or the museum, go to his website.

 

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And My Soul Went Ah……

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My class had a field trip to the Fuchs Villa yesterday (I’ll blog about that in my next post), and when I looked up where it was, I saw that there was a big green space next to it, so I left a couple of hours early and went to explore.  I took one of the metro lines to the very last stop at Huttledorf and followed my iPhone’s map app (so grateful for that!) for about 15 minutes to Huttelbergstrasse where both the museum and the park are located.  Wow!  The minute I opened the gate, my heart and soul breathed a breath of fresh air. Already, my walk there on the tree-lined streets was refreshing (my downtown district doesn’t have any trees, it seems), and once on the steep forest path, every cell in my body was singing.  At the top of the path was a park where I brought my class back at lunch time for our picnic (a very long picnic table and benches carved out of big trees) and paths that circled up, around, and back down a hill with wildflowers still blooming. Bliss!

After the museum, Daniel (a local classmate/model/volunteer) invited us to his place 15 minutes away by bus. What a magical place – organic garden and bee hives, music room with djembe drums and other instruments, crystal haven, creek, forest, and an artistic natural oasis indoors where we relaxed for a couple of hours – it felt very familiar to me – part of the world/community I’ve called home around the world.  Nice!

I love nature!!!

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Museum Week Continues

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I know I said I wasn’t much into museums and so you’d think that going to 10 on Saturday during the Long Night of the Museums would have been enough, but surprisingly…. no.  I went to one on Monday and today our class spent the day in another (which I’ll write about another day when I go through my 300 photos).

Do you remember that in my last post I said that there was 1 museum I couldn’t get into on Saturday because they’d given away their 800 spots for the night by 7pm?  Well, I decided to go on Monday with Donnalynne, one of my classmates.  The museum is called Time Travel, and it’s basically a trip through Vienna’s history, from the days of the dinosaurs, Romans, wars, etc. through until today – all presented in a very entertaining fashion in an old monastery around the corner from our school.  I have some pictures here (Note: these are iPhone photos – I say that apologetically 🙂 ), but they don’t include the best part, which was the 5D movie in a theater where the seats move and things brush against your legs while rats take over the streets during the plague part of the movie, and blasts of hot air hit the back of your head as bombs explode during the war.  Pretty cool!  The whole tour took about 50 minutes and also included inanimatronic-figures, various multimedia shows and sound and light effects.  I was entertained – a great way to learn about history.  One definite advantage of going on Monday was that we were only 4 visitors instead of the 42 max per group, which would have been the case during Museum Night.  I can’t imagine being in the bunker or many of the other stations with 41 other people blocking my view.  Instead, we really got to enjoy both the entertainment and the setting.

these moved and talked like in Harry Potter
The Royal Family took us through their history – this is Sisi
yup, that’s me
Mozart greeted us into the music chamber
these turning seats were part of the music chamber
After the war, where I lived was part of the US zone, but my school was in the international zone
in this movie, the flying horse carriage gave us great aerial views
down into what used to be the monastery wine cellar

After the Museum, we went for dinner in a non-smoking restaurant (I didn’t know those existed!!!) with Austrian cuisine and then walked the cobblestone streets exploring the passages (many of those who owned houses/ villas/ palaces downtown created throughways for pedestrians as it was too dangerous to walk in the streets with all the horse carts). Today, many of those remain. I’m not sure if the one we found was part of that, but today it is filled with boutiques, cafes and cool spots.  See for yourself.  I got home at 11pm, much past my regular bedtime, so I had to wake up with an alarm on Tuesday …. not fun.  I obviously did no homework that day.  Oh well…. it was worth it.

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