I ran out of time ... at a museum! - Dominique Hurley

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

This 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.