May Day

Beltane

One of the four "fire festivals" or "greater sabbats".  Its significance focuses on fertility.  In Ireland, the hawthorn tree flowers from May to early June; it is known as the May Tree.

 “All wanted then was to fill my arms

with sharp flowers,

to seem, from a distance, to be part of

that ivory, downhill rush. 

But I knew,

…the custom was

not to touch hawthorn.

… So I left it

stirring on those hills

with a fluency

only water has.

… in
the unmarked lights of a May dusk --“

White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland

Evan Boland

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost. 

Never give all the Heart

W.B. Yeats

"Canterbury"

VERNAL EQUINOX  

One of the four solar holidays marking the beginning of spring.  The rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death; or the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect (e.g., Persephone returning from the Underworld.)

I fell asleep

oblivious to

the planets clouding over in the skies,

the slow decline of the spring moon, the songs crying out their ironies.

Achill Woman, Boland



Woman on a Hill
Mixed Media



Imbolc  

a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun

The sound of the rain or sound

Of every wind that blows;

…

A grey stone fireplace with an open hearth,

A candle and written page.

In My House/“Meditations…” W. B. Yeats

The Winter Solstice

The shortest day of the year, when it was believed that the Sun stood still in the sky... 

…then the next day continued on his way, and the days began to lengthen!

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind? 

                        ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Tree of Life

A tree on a moonless night
has no sap or color.

It has no flower and no fruit.
It waits for the sun to find them.
…

Let the sun
inch above the rooftops.

Let love be the light that shows again
the blossom to the root.

Eavan Boland

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Within this blog you will find images of my monoprints, and the backstory to some of them; juror's statements; where they currently reside (private or public collections) or where they have appeared (journal covers); also included are some of my Miniature Artist’s Books, and recent paintings.

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