APHRODITE S MIRROR Reflective Images of Illumination By: Barbara Barber Stockton 2007
Aphrodite s Mirror Reflective Images of Illumination, Copyright 2007 by Barbara B. Stockton. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No Part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address SEW Fine Publications P.O. Box 17647, San Diego, CA 92177-7647 or E-mail: sew-fi nepublications@san.rr.com. SEW Fine Publications books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please write: Marketing Department, SEW Fine Publications, P.O. Box 17647, San Diego, CA 92177-7647 or E-mail: sew-fi nepublications@san.rr.com. First edition self-published by the author in 1995. ISBN 978-0-9798793-0-2
Dedication To my daughter, Linda, who has given Birth to her Mother in a new dimension In gathering my writings and artwork in this book in 1995. And to my daughter Sarah for further encouraging me to continue my quest in publishing this in a more formal format in 2007. i
Acknowledgments I wish to thank my daughter, Linda, for her patience and diligence in helping to fi nd the most creative format, the selection of font and the arrangement of thought presented so artistically, as well as her help in editing. It took many trials to fi nd just the kind of presentation I wanted. I am so grateful. I wish to thank my daughter, Sarah, for the fi nalization of this work and the formal presentation. I wish to thank my friend of long standing, Richard Snyder, for photographing my paintings of various sizes. They are beautifully photographed with great care. His work honors them well. I wish to thank my many family members, friends and teachers who encouraged me to share my life s joy through writing and painting with more people. I now have a legacy for my family. ii
Dedication Acknowledgements Table of contents Introduction Poetry/Artwork Title Table of Contents iii Artwork / Media 1. A Dream Watercolor 2. Night Mare Watercolor 3. Archimedes Dream & Archimedes Watercolor 4. Before Grounding Watercolor 5. Soul s Birth Watercolor 6. Battered Child Watercolor 7. Soul Guide Watercolor 8. Dark Woman Watercolor 9. Gift Watercolor 10. Sh-harlot Watercolor 11. Death/Life Watercolor 12. Aphrodite s Mirror Watercolor 13. Lotus Watercolor 14. Wellameana Watercolor 15. Polarized Watercolor 16. Rose Mystica Watercolor 17. Black Man Charcoal 18. Frank Incense Charcoal 19. Hell Goat Oil 20. Baptismal Bird Watercolor 21. Fire Bird Watercolor 22. Day Break Watercolor 23. New Bird Watercolor 24. The Poet s PlaceIndia Ink 25. Alchemical Retort Watercolor 26. Hands Watercolor 27. Ariadne s Gate Naxos Watercolor 28. Naxos Watercolor 29. Re-membering the Rainbow Watercolor 30. Heaven and Earth Watercolor 31. Self-Fish Watercolor 32. Rain Scratchboard 33. War Conversations Watercolor 34. Christmas Rose Watercolor 35. Sea Mares Watercolor 36. Inner Sea-ing Watercolor 37. Thought Wave Oil 38. December Full Moon Watercolor 39. First Birth Watercolor 40. Angel Gabriel Oil Pastel 41. Salamander Watercolor 42. Flam Watercolor 43. Great Ape Charcoal 44. Old Butterfly Watercolor 45. Bibliography Photograph
Introduction Aphrodite s Mirror is my life craft through painting and poetry, dreams, visions and active imagination, Weavings on the warp of all my days, Insights bringing form and meaning to each day s joys, trials, sorrows, losses and gains, Soul-making where love is grounded in my own being, Reflective images of illumination. iv
During a writing class at Wesley Palms, the retirement community in which I live in San Diego, California, I decided to write about how my book came to be. In my writing I explained that I had been invited to do a lecture on this particular collection of my paintings and writings for the Friends of Jung group in Lafayette, Louisiana. Friends of Jung groups exist around the country for people that study the philosophy of Carl Jung. Carl Jung taught his philosophy and psychology in Germany for many years. Jung has also written many books. The Friends of Jung group in Lafayette, Louisiana is headed by a dear friend of mine by the name of Richard Chachere. I prepared the lecture, gave it to the group in Louisiana and it was well received. I used the notes, photographs of the paintings and writings from this lecture to compile a three ring binder in which to savor the experience of that lecture. Recently I decided to present this collection in a more formal, book form. The photographs of my original paintings were taken by a friend of mine, Richard Snyder. Richard was an active member of the Friends of Jung group here in San Diego. I used recordings of the lecture I gave in Lafayette while compiling the fi rst version, in the three ring binder, as a memory of my lecture experience. For the three ring binder, the writings were typed and photographs of the paintings were arranged by my daughter, Linda Hendrick. This served as the model for this current book. My daughter, Sarah Woolley, has helped me present this fi nal, formal version in book form. Richard Chachere has encouraged me in my efforts towards publishing this book for which I am grateful. It gives me great pleasure to present this fi nal version of my experiences in my later years. v
A Dream I am opportunity Come dance with me, Together we swirl To the music of the spheres Absorbing the many colors Of eternal wisdom 1
Night Mare Night mare White winged horse Roaming the darkness Of your being Showering night dreams With golden Insights 2
Archimedes Dream Blue waters of wisdom flow from my inner depths Golden spirit of enlightening wisdom pierces my core Water and light spiral out from my center In ever widening waves Into me Into the world Into the universe I stand in this center of unbounded love In silence my microcosm moves The macrocosm moves To unseen music Archimedes When you re in a mess And things look bad, I will tell you what to do: To bring up the waters Of life and love, Get an Archimedes screw. 3
Before Grounding My hair streams in wild tongues of fi re Uncontrolled thoughts from the unconscious Rage within, even now after many years The terror of molestation in my early childhood My legs and feet bloody from old woundings Are beginning to grow back again The ground is opening up to receive them With a quintessence of possibilities Healing of my soul my legs, feet and soles Will take time, but it is starting I hold a single floret of a pink hyacinth A promise of spring, a new beginning a grounding For the flowering of my true self. 4