Art & Yakshi
Lovely weekend- sunny as hell for Seattle and Forrest was, as usual, home for the day both Sat & Sun- we did the usual routine- we cooked a lunch, he had a hot tub, some trampoline, later walks on the beach, followed religiously by a BBQ...all with a lot of maniacal hooting & hand waving...
This weekend we did RPM lesson on art- lots of me chatting and him responding (haltingly) with the letterboard.
It was a lot for him and he got verbally in my face but we kept the focus...
We went over :

Painting- Painter
brush-brushes- paint- paper- canvas

Ceramics- ceramic artist- potter
Wheel- clay- fire- glaze

Sculptor- sculpture

wood sculpture- wood carving
wood- carving tools- knife-

Weaver- weaving- knitting
needle- thread- wool- loom

Photos- photographs- photographer
pictures- camera

The last sentence I asked him was what art HE wanted to do...he clearly thought about it and then spelled out PHOTOGRAPHY- cool - we have to get him a simple camera

Later we went to the Shoreline Arts Festival- he was as usual uncomfortable by the overload but we just ended up doing a speed race through the whole thing (him dragging me along- at 6'2" he has height but I an deffinitely stockier- but he mostly prevailed...) but he did show interest in the collages & photos....so...


Later....he is back at Fircrest, Im sore (bum knee for weeks now...) and meditating:

I see the trees around the yurt we pressure washed off and on all day
In my mind I see a buddha...goddess...and I know that She is a/the Tree
I embrace her coolness and she opens her branches/arms to embrace
And I know that Yakshi is a Dryad, that the God of the Forest embraces the Tree...and the Tree is Yakshi who Ive learned in digging is Vana Durga...Goddess of the Deep jungles & forests....
Living under the embrace of many trees alters everything...Im not sure how.

Here is a bit on her from Sophia's Book 'goddess empowerment'
http://www.psychicsophia.com/UGGEPR.html


The Goddess Yakshi

Yakshi is an ancient Hindu Goddess who personifies a tree or all trees. Her origins reach far back into the beginnings of Dravidian (pre-Aryan) Indus River Valley culture. Some variants of her name are YAKSA, YAKSHA, YAKKHA and YAKHO. The root of YAK seems to be “Nature” and the various endings mean Divinity or spirit. Probably the most common name given to tree spirits is Yakshini (literally: feminine nature spirit) and though Yakshi is sometimes considered the over-arching Goddess of Trees, the plural is most common, Yakshini are tree spirits, much like the Greek Dryads, and as such they are accessible divinities for most humans. Not all trees were Yakshini, yet the careful and observant traveller through the lush tropical forests of Asia knew a tree spirit when he or she met one. Their forms would emerge from trees or they would be seen peering seductively from the underbrush with wild black eyes. Yakshi or Yakshini could be kind or mischievous and are said to be intensely protective of trees and wildlife. They are said to lure the unsuspecting deep into the forest but just as often save or help those in need. Yakshi is a full-bodied sensuous Goddess with a voluptuous figure, narrow waist and large breasts. She is naked, surrounded by vegetation and she often stands bending as if in dance, one ankle crossing the other, arms lost in tree-limbs, facing the sky. She is one of the great Primal Goddesses, trees after all being some of the earliest venerated living things in the world. The Tree Goddess may, in her most primal form, be an aspect of Durga, one of the great Goddesses of Nature. She is often shown with trees growing from her to feed the world and, after saving all the Gods by destroying demons, she vowed to reappear as Sakambari: the Tree Goddess. In her honor it is chanted “Plants O ye Mother, I hail you as Goddess.”
Yaksha and Yakshi are also seen as elemental beings, spirits that are male and female correspondingly. They are sometimes small, like elves, and often black. They are ruled over by Kubera, the very ancient god of wealth and prosperity. He can thus, on another level, be seen as the Mate of Yakshini. Later on it is Ganesh, the Elephant-headed God who became lord of the Tree Spirits and mate of Yakshini. We are dealing here with deities that are very old, much older than the current Hindu Pantheon, the Gods and Goddesses of a tropical Southern India rooted in the Mohenjadaro culture. Though the origins are ancient, even today some tales or the Tree Goddess survive. The archetypal hero Vijaya was wandering in the woods one night when Yakshini appeared as a beguiling and beautiful woman. She led him deep into the woods until he was lost, but she could not hurt him due to his magickal power. She then appeared in her true form as the tree Goddess Kuvanna and he pursued her. Catching her, he seduced her and she fell deeply in love with him so they became married.
In temple are Yakshi always appear on Gates, in fact the Tree of Life, which is Yakshi Devi, is synonymous with Gate in Hindu cosmology. Creeping branches,the protective Goddess or sometimes Yakshi in the form of the Saptamatrika (7 Mothers) are found protecting and empowering portals to temples. As some believe, the Earth Cycle is the Gate, the Tree of Life that links us all together. It is interesting to note that Yakshini are sometimes horse-headed and are said to transport or carry the gods. As the most fundamental form of living Shakti on the planet, the Tree mother protects and transports oxygen and life-force. We call upon her unified force, the total life-energy of all the forests of the earth, to rise up and protect the Tree Devas that the Earth may survive! May we understand the tree as Universal Gateway to Understanding of the Great Mother.