Altars
Our house is so sad right now. First I was just about gutted by the latest news of the all-out assault on American womens rights the attack on Griswold, foundational to Roe and so much more. I wept. My entire adult life I have considered how important the bodily autonomy of women and girls is to their lives, their very being.
It was only two or three days after that when Putin laid siege to Ukraine, where my husbands grandparents came from, to Vienna in 1914. He is feeling rolling grief not this, not again.
I finally made an altar for Ukraine. It is simple, but helps settle my mind. The background is blue and yellow, and I have blue and amber glass votives. I added two little Byzantine icons I got while in Crete 23 years ago: one is the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ, and the other is her cousin St. Elizabeth holding the infant John the Baptist. The mothers of Ukraine are valiant. There is a heart made of rose quartz. I brought out the bottle of homemade slivovitz, and tucked it in the back. Ill add a copy of the Invocation to Berehynia, patron goddess of Kiyev. If I can find something to represent President Zelenskyy himself, I will add that. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who like Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian Jew, called him a Lion of Europe.
All my altars, in the end, are about women, and under the circumstances in our own country, where womens rights are under assault I feel I need to rearrange some pieces and make one intentional to the moment. My calligrapher friend LK once sent me a print shed made in honor of Harriet Tubman.
Harriet Tubman:
I had reasoned this out in my mind,
there was two things I had a right to,
Liberty and Death,
If I could not have one, I would have the other,
for no man should take me alive.
1815? - 1913
The print is matted, tho not framed, and is much too large to fit on my usual bookshelf (move books: assemble altar). But I know where it can go, and I will make it the centerpiece of the altar for American women, 2022. Until now I had not known quite what to do with this print. I do now.
Blessed Be.
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
littlemissmartypants
(25,695 posts)I've been burning sage and drumming. ❤
(But I'm ready to make voodoo dolls if necessary.)
🌻🇺🇦❤🇺🇦🌻
Hekate
(94,994 posts)Right now, this is all I can do.
littlemissmartypants
(25,695 posts)🌻🇺🇦❤🇺🇦🌻
Easterncedar
(3,608 posts)I have been despairing. Your way is better. Love and peace and hope to all.
Silver Gaia
(4,895 posts)I also create altars, both inside and out, for various reasons. I love them.
Your altar for Ukraine sounds wonderful. Now I am inspired to create an altar for Ukraine in my home, too. The Invocation to Berehynia sounds perfect. I will look for that.
Last week, I put garden flags out in my front yard that are bright golden yellow sunflowers against bright blue sky with blue butterflies. I made signs for them that say "For Ukraine" in blue and yellow ink. But I need to create something inside, too.
Thank you so much for sharing this and inspiring me. I need a way to channel this grief and rage. Bless you for this.
Blessed BE!
💙💛 🌻🇺🇦🌻 💛💙
Hekate
(94,994 posts)I added a handmade Czech Easter egg I have kept carefully for some 30 years the mother of one of my sons grade school friends made them to give away every year.
Thank you for your kind words.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12192935
Silver Gaia
(4,895 posts)A dear friend from high school sent it to me when he was living in the Czech Republic on a teacher exchange program about 25 years ago. It was made from a goose egg.
Thank you for the link to Wicked Blue's post. I had missed that. (I was just going to Google for it.)
Hope you have a blessed day...
Wicked Blue
(6,714 posts)Hekate
(94,994 posts)Poster printed to 12X9, from the artists website
( https://harriettubmanmural.com/product/poster-with-title-take-my-hand/ )
and a sticker, under 3X5, from Amazon