The post On the Rio Grande first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.

published September 23, 2019

Cranes, seen gliding over the water, searching for food in muddy wetlands and flying overhead in beautiful formations, are graceful, elegant birds – masters of three worlds – air, land and water.

Crane is truly prehistoric with Miocene fossil evidence dated back 10 million years ago. Cranes, with their long necks and legs, are the world’s tallest flying birds. Fifteen species of crane found everywhere except for Antartica and South America live mainly in wetlands, marshes and swamps. Some make a permanent home whereas most migrate almost 10,000 miles from far north to more temperate areas for the winter.

Royalty, Grace, Patience, Balance

The Chinese revered Crane as lord of feathered beings, believing that the souls of wise ancestors rode in crane-drawn chariots. Crane images on robes of top-ranking officials reflected importance. The Anishinaabe tribe of North America believed Crane to be a great orator – symbolic of leadership.

Unlike many birds who flit from perch to perch, Crane lives peacefully, walking gracefully or standing balanced on one leg. Crane can maintain this stance for hours, patiently peering into the water waiting for prey – then pouncing. Crane’s beautiful dancing also speaks to its balance and grace.

Longevity, Vigilance

The average lifespan of cranes is 15 – 30 years. However, a Siberian crane lived for 83 years in captivity.

In Ireland it was believed that a solitary crane had lived on Inis Kea since the beginning of time. The Japanese believed that Crane lives for 1000 years. They gift 1000 paper origami cranes to newlyweds, wishing them 1000 years of prosperity.

To the Chinese Crane is the embodiment of longevity. Its wings were used as a talisman for endurance and perseverance.

Cranes, fierce defenders and skillful predators, are very territorial and will fiercely protect their homes. Yet they do not rush into conflict preferring privacy and security over aggression.

Lugh of Celtic myth, used a crane-prayer (corrghuineacht) to inspire his troops and curse his enemies. To do this he imitated a crane’s pose – standing on one leg with one eye closed. The Celtic War Goddess, Badb also took this stance. 

Call on Crane for protection from your adversaries and for the gift of endurance.

Fidelity, Communication, Wisdom, Secret Knowledge

Cranes are monogamous, choosing their mate between three – five years old. Before mating, juvenile cranes travel together in “bachelor flocks.” In India they believe that if one of a crane couple dies, the other will starve itself to death.

Crane loves to dance and dancing is important to its pair bonding. Its exuberant dance is a response against aggression, relieves tension and strengthens the couple. Cranes of both sexes and all ages dance.

Crane builds its nest on shallow wetlands. Both sexes gather the materials but the female builds it alone. Both share equally in the incubation process. Known to paint themselves with mud for nesting, thus becoming less visible – they are ever secretive when nesting.

With a reputation for being noisy, cranes employ a full vocabulary of calls. Their richly evolved communication system is used to keep the family together, to strengthen the pair-bond and to signal danger.

The Greek Hermes and Roman Mercury were inspired to create their alphabets by watching cranes in flight.

Wisdom comes with age and with wisdom comes esoteric knowledge. Crane, symbol of secret knowledge, was attributed supernatural qualities by the Celts. It was believed that through watching the bending of Crane’s legs, Celtic Ogma created ogham – the sacred alphabet of druidic tradition. Druidic teachings are often called “crane knowledge.” St Columba, a famous 6th century Irish monk whose early training was in Druidry was called a crane cleric.

Crane calls you to stay loyal to and to protect your family, to maintain good communication with loved ones, to keep your affairs to yourself and to call on the wisdom of experience to guide you in both worldly and otherworldly matters.

Happiness, Good Fortune, the Sun
Crane, who soars high in a sun-filled sky, stands peacefully in wetlands, and dances with abandon, must have seemed like the essence of happiness to ancient people.

The Chinese have many paintings depicting cranes gliding through the sky, symbolizing happiness and good fortune. Some Native American tribes also associate Crane with good fortune.

The Red-crowned Crane of Japan is depicted with the sun – symbol of life and abundance.

Renewal/Rebirth, the Otherworld
Cranes of Europe and Asia fly higher than any other bird – up to 32,800 ft. This ability connects Crane to the divine – the eternal realm of spirit.

Crane was sacred to early Celts. Albeit most associated with women and goddesses, Annwn, King of the Celtic Underworld, could shape-shift into Crane – three cranes guarded the entrance to his Underworld.

Though the Celts often associated Crane with treachery, war and evil women, Celtic mythology places Crane as guardian of Otherworld secrets.

Goddess Aoife, in mortal guise, was transformed by a jealous rival’s curse into a crane. There upon she flew to the underwater realm of Manannan mac Lir in which form she lived for 200 years. When she died, returning to the eternal, Manannan created the crane bag with her crane skin, hiding his magical talismans there.

Where there is death there is rebirth. The items in the crane bag were most likely mystical tools of transformation – tools hidden within the crane bag – the body of the Goddess.

With one foot in the temporal and one in the eternal the “corrghuineacht,” (cursing stance) was possibly also used for blessing.

Several cultures practiced the Crane Dance as rituals of rebirth and renewal.

In Japan the 1000 year old Crane Dance is held every April to honor the belief that cranes who lived on the Isles of the Bless transported souls to the Western Paradise. Many still believe cranes carry their spirits to heaven.

The Greeks recorded their first performance of the Crane Dance (Geranos) as being by Theseus and his companions after their escape from King Minos. He received it from Ariadne whose thread led him out of the labyrinth, freeing him from the Minotaur. The Minoans must have performed the Crane Dance for centuries before. Crane and the Labyrinth were associated with rebirth.

Crane, who flies far and high during both day and night, is associated with both the Sun – the bright abundance of day – and the Otherworld- the twinkling of spirit. Crane knows the way to the Otherworld – threading the path between the mundane and the divine. Crane sounds the call when a change is in the air, a new beginning is around the corner – offering assistance during life transitions.

When Crane enters your life you are being called to recognize your own worth, to learn patience, to focus and move forward with knowledge and wisdom, to keep your secrets, to remain a loyal protector with good communication and to seek balance.

Crane offers protection from adversaries and the gifts of endurance, happiness and good luck. Crane draws your focus upward and inspires you to trust spirit to provide.

Sources: Mystieurious, Exemplore, Japanese Mythology and Folklore,  Independent.ie, Lewellyn- 2010 Calendar, Maryland Zoo, Le Origini della Danza, ALISSAACSTORYTELLER,  A Druid’s Cave,

The post Crane Spirit Guide first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.

The post The Power of Intention first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.

I heard an interview with the scientist and environmentalist, David Suzuki, on the radio a few days ago.  He gave an amazing description of how we’re all connected.  In the Pacific Northwest it all comes down to the salmon and nitrogen.

The salmon, who run up the rivers to spawn, bring lots of nitrogen with them.  It’s stored in their bodies from the food they eat in the oceans.  Bears and eagles and other critters eat the salmon and then leave their poop, filled with nitrogen, on the forest floor, which feeds the trees and helps them grow.  Of course the salmon need the trees also, to keep the rivers cool and to provide their food.

A quick miniature canvas of a little birdie.

Even more amazing is that the part of the salmon the bears leave behind gets consumed by flies who then lay their eggs.  These eggs, loaded with nitrogen hatch in the spring just as birds from South American are flying north to have their little birdies.  So now the nitrogen is in the birds who will eventually head back down South and leave some of it there. Plus many of the salmon die in the river, leaving behind a rich layer of nitrogen on the river bed.

So the oceans are linked to the rivers and lakes, which are linked to the forest which is linked to South America.  It’s all connected.  It’s all one whole

Hearing this explanation reminded me that I had a dream vision a few months ago which I had jotted down in my journal.  My vision was one of trees and humans and other mammals all connected in one great matrix.  Now I’ve got rivers and fish and birds to add to this vision.  I feel a new painting about to begin.

Click here to view a video of Suzuki on this topic.

The post It’s All Connected first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.

We are in the winter of our souls.
A cold wind blows across the land.
A bleak sky pours down.
The land is strewn with the dead,
mowed down by hatred, bigotry, and ignorance.

The gates of the Underworld are open wide.
And we must walk through to get to the other side.

It might be long.
It might be hard.
It might be cold.
But winter will surely give way to spring one day.

The post Winter of Our Souls first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.

The Reindeer Goddess – first published Dec 18, 2016

Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is the day of the least daylight and the longest night. Long before Christmas our Northern European ancestors celebrated the Winter Solstice, the moment that heralds the return of the sun and with it the promise of new life in spring. Without the comforts offered by modern technology, this time of year must have raised fears in the hearts of our ancestors; fear that the sun would not return to its summer glory, fear that there would not be enough food for the winter, fears that surface most easily in the dark. A celebration of light would have been most welcome and needed.

The longest night was called “Mother Night” as it was during this time that the Goddess worked her magic to nurture the seeds laying dormant in the dark womb of earth so that new life could emerge in spring. It is a time to celebrate the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Many of the elements associated with Christmas have their origins in our Goddess worshipping past: evergreen trees, holly, mistletoe, the wreath, lighting candles, and yes even our favorite Santa Claus and his reindeer who both have their origins in Northern European Sun Goddesses.

Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian goddess of light and the sun, took to the skies on the Winter Solstice in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer.  She journeyed with the aide of Her smith, who forged a golden cup in which to catch Her tears which then transformed into amber. During Her flight through the heavens she threw these pebbles of amber, like little bits of sun, and apples down to the world of humans below.  She was a spinning Goddess who used her skill to spin the rays of sunlight onto the world.

Saule ruled all parts of life, determining life, death and the well-being and regeneration of all.  She was the sun, riding every day in Her chariot across the sky. She also welcomed the souls of the recently departed into Her apple tree in the west.

Beiwe was a Sun Goddess of the Sami or Lapps, the indigenous people of the Nordic countries. The Sami were reindeer herders who relied on the reindeer for their survival. Beiwe, Sun Goddess, nourished them and their herds and helped Her people maintain mental health during the difficult months of darkness. She flew through the heavens with her daughter, Beaivi-nieida (sun maiden) in a ring of reindeer antlers flinging fertility and life back onto the land. On Winter Solstice Her people  smeared offerings of warm butter on doorposts to help Her gain strength for her flight high into the sky. Beiwe, like Saule was associated with spinning. Spinning wheels and flax were left as offerings on Her altars.

The Norse goddess, Frigga (Freya) was also a spinning goddess. She sat at her spinning wheel during the Winter Solstice weaving the fates of the year to come. This celebration was called Yule, from the Norse word for wheel. Christmas is often called Yule or Yuletide. The Christmas wreath was adapted from Frigga’s “Wheel of Fate,” symbolizing the cyclical nature of life.

Rozhanitza, Slavic Winter Goddess is also associated with reindeer and the Winter Solstice. She is depicted as a horned Goddess with reindeer antlers. Folk art of red and white embroideries were made of Her for solstice celebrations. On Her feast day, December 26, cookies made in the shape of deer were given and eaten for good luck.

Reindeer are the only members of the deer family whose females have horns and are stronger and larger than the males. The males shed their antlers in winter, leaving it to the Deer Mother to fly through the long, dark night of Winter Solstice. The Reindeer was a sacred animal to our ancient ancestors of Northern Europe. The doe was seen as the giver of light and life. Their horns were associated with the tree of life and often times they were depicted carrying the sun, the giver of life, in their horns.

Esther Jacobson in her book, The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia, concludes that the deer images found throughout the early nomadic and semi nomadic cultures of the vast steppe and mountainous regions of Eastern Europe and Asia are evidence of a Deer Mother as the source of life and death. Monolithic “Deer Stones” are found through out this region, carved with stylized depictions of reindeer as if in flight.

Horned Goddesses are found in the Celtic world also. Elen of the Ways, in Her most ancient form was the Guardian of the Leys, the ancient track ways. In Her guise as the Horned Goddess, She led the way on the migratory tracks of the reindeer.

With time the reindeer became the deer in many Celtic myths. Elen of the Ways also opened the pathways for the red deer in the forests of Northern Europe. Flidais was associated with the deer who she milked to provide sustenance for Her people.  As more time passed the deer became the cow. From Brigid to Boann, many Celtic goddesses are associated with a sacred cow.

We can learn from the wisdom of the past, a time when humans understood more clearly our tiny part in the cosmic web of life. and the necessity of honoring the earth and all its life. At this time when the shadow side of human nature once again seeks dominance through naked self-interest and the promotion of fear and hatred of others, let us remember and honor the Ancient’s belief in the Reindeer Goddess, the Sun Goddess and the Mother’s Night when She both flies high in the sky and dives deep into the earth to nourish and promise a renewal of life in the coming spring. Though it may be dark now, the light will return.

Sources: Gather- Wild Food/Magical Cookery, Shamanic Drum, Winter Goddesses and Traditions, We Are Star Stuff,

The Mysterious Art of Painting and the Tree of Life – first published September 7, 2011

The post Judith’s Blog first appeared on Judith Shaw Art.