There is a wonderful cave called the Font-de-Gaume, in the Dordogne region of France. In 2008 I was lucky enough to visit this gem from the Magdalenian period (18,000 to 11,000 years ago) and experience for myself ancient spiritual art. Beautiful depictions of horses, mammoths, reindeer and aurochs flow throughout the cave but the main animal is the bison. There is a row of anatomically perfect depictions of these majestic animals in one part of the cave that were painted using the natural relief of the cave walls. This made parts of the group of bison stand out proud from the wall and in the flickering light of fire gave the animals movement. Finding the natural forms of these animals already within the walls must have seemed sacred to the people, and perhaps it seemed to show them a way they could enter the spirit realm. As Professor Randall White in his book “Prehistoric Art – the symbolic journey of humankind” writes.

“The act of representation, using the natural contours of cave walls, is seen as a process of ritually materializing the animals spirits already present in the underground”.

Spiritual and visionary art has continued from these early times into rock carvings of spirals and other abstract geometric signs on outcrops of rock, chambered tombs and standing stones of the Neolithic period 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. It has wound its way into western art of the early renaissance through artists such as Hieronymus Bosch and Botticelli. It then continued with artists such as Van Gogh and Franz Marc up until present day visionary painters Alex Grey and the Peruvian Shaman Pablo Amaringo.

I am a visionary artist too. The majority of my paintings deal with personal experiences I have whilst in nature. Many of these experiences seem to happen by chance but I have physically and mentally set out to find these intense spiritual moments. Woods, rivers, mountains and all other natural landscapes offer artistic and spiritual pilgrimage to me. Within these havens I have many encounters with animals and birds, and also other like minded people that help convince me of the validity of the visions I paint upon canvas.

The painting ‘Meeting’ was one such encounter of this intense feeling. I was walking on the edge of a wood when glancing into it I saw two deer. One of the deer saw me and we stood facing each other for what seemed a blissful eternity, but was just a matter of seconds before they  disappeared silently further into the trees. I have painted the two deer purple and yellow to show the calmness of the moment and given the central deer a halo to show its spiritual significance.

The ‘Awakening’ picture was created after an intense moment of realization when I knew I was part of nature. This awakening experience happened whilst sheltering from gentle rain under a tree in the fields near my home. Everything seemed to be of that moment; I felt a calmness come over me and a belonging to the huge power of nature. In a recent article in Resurgence magazine author and teacher Steve Taylor writes.

“From time to time, most of us have moments when the world becomes more real and beautiful; when natural phenomena like trees, rocks and the sky seem to come alive and reveal their inner being to us. An atmosphere of harmony seems to fill our surroundings and we feel a tremendous sense of wellbeing. The world becomes a benevolent place, and our normal sense of separation seems to fade away; all things appear related and we ourselves feel a part of this oneness too.”

He goes on to further investigate this subject in his book “Waking from Sleep”.

I continue into this subject with the painting ‘The Doors of Perception’, the name of which is taken from William Blake’s quote

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.”

This theme was taken up by the author Aldous Huxley in his mind investigating book also called “The Doors of Perception”.

We all have different levels of awakening consciousness and some of us express this through creative mediums like art, poetry, music, dance, and more. I believe it is possible for us to train our senses into harmony with this and then give self expression to it. Stepping outside of the routine of conditioned daily life and finding the joy of physically and mentally travelling in nature is essential to these deep spiritual feelings.

In my painting ‘Pathway’ I have chosen to depict this voyage into the havens of the mind and body. A perfect trapezoid path leads the viewer to an inner doorway of a realm of spiritual awakening. The bird and deer look towards it in the physical world whilst the fox sleeps and dreams of it. The warm colours help to give a feeling of calmness in the autumn wood.

Most of my artwork is now given over to these deep spiritual moments and continues to grow with each new experience. My advice is to search for these awakenings in the physical world and within your mind and soul.

Edward Foster is a professional artist living and working in Lancashire. He also teaches many art courses. To see more of his work please visit www.edwardfosterart.co.uk

With pastel pictures, the first part of the painting tends to be a coloured background that describes spiritual aspectsrelating to the client. In this case a love of birds and nature was indicated and the light colours were being sent as waves of healing from the lady’s guides.

The outlines of this guide show a nun praying. This is intensifying the healing being sent tothe client and the guide is letting them know that she is with her when she is praying. Also that her prayers are working.

The completed picture shows a gentle, reverent spirit guide, The lady for whom she wasdrawn had sustained a very bad accident one year before, had been told on other occasions that she had a nun with her and told me that birds were her favourite things.

I work with a number of artists from the spirit world. Each has a completely different style of working and they are always happy to throw in some surprises.This keeps me feeling fascinated (what will they come up with next?) and I feel that this sense of fascination and wonder makes it easier for these spirit artiststo work with me. This was certainly the case with this particular picture.

Firstly, each part of the picture was finished, nothing else needed doing to it later. In this first part it was clear that the guide was a craftsperson who loved bright colours; loved creating things, had a treasure trove of creative ideas all flying about at once, worked methodically so as to keep on track and was celebrating with great joy the fact that my client was meeting her in this picture.At this stage, the natural elements (waves, flowers) and the very style and feel of the picture made it clear that the energies involved were creative, elemental, nature spirits. The guide was like a figurehead or orchestrator of a number of guides, each with their own particular role. In other words, a collective.

Right at the end, the guide appears. Strong, quiet, creative. The lady whose guide this is creates fabulous crystal items – dragonflies, boxes, jewellery and her mind teems with creative ideas at all times – she lives in a world of beauty and colour

Surprise 1. Some time after the guide was finished, my client (on the right) returned with her friend and business partner and her guide picture. The guide is identical to her friend (a powerful energy worker and creative) from her raven black hair to her big violet blue eyes. So spiritual guides can be people who are living. Or perhaps their spiritual energy exists as another entity on the spiritual planes, where they have a physical presence on earth whilst a spiritual aspect of them helps and guides from the spiritual planes. This picture seems to illustrate that simply being who we are has the most extraordinary power energetically.
Surprise 2. The friend/guide had brought 2 champagne flutes to Gorton for the friends to drink from. When the picture was turned upside down, the celebration bells looked just like champagne flutes. This does often happen – guide pictures, when turned sideways, upside down or looked “through” or when seen in subdued lighting may show different images, pictures or information. It has also been that a picture that shows so many colours that the guide does not look “real”, will look like a monochrome photograph of someone when scanned into a computer and reproduced in black and white.

For more information about Ros’ work please visit www.spiritguideartist.com

Read another of Ros Coleman’s articles

The Mandala is an art form, which has survived both the centuries and the preferences of almost every culture since time began. They have been discovered drawn in the transient medium of sand, carved in everlasting stone and painted with exquisite reverence on almost every other surface that you can imagine.

Whether you hold them in your hands or walk the Mandala-like labyrinths found on the floors of some churches, Mandala’s act as meditative tools, which can either take you outwards and upwards to the heady world of spiritual experience or inwards towards quiet contemplation of the inner self.

For many years now, in my spiritual development classes, my students and I have used painted mandalas as an aid to meditation, although surprisingly enough, the actual act of creating one of these little works of art has proved to be just as therapeutic as meditating upon them.

The traditional shape of the Mandala is circular but, although the circle is often surrounded by or decorated with, highly symbolic shapes and patterns, it is the magical energy created by the Mandala’s outer circle and the sacred nature of the inner space that it encloses, that makes it such a powerful tool for manifestation as well as meditation.

So with manifestation in mind it occurred to me one day, that the Mandala would be the perfect vehicle with which to create a painted, symbolic affirmation. I was teaching a very disadvantaged group at the time and I thought that they could look upon it as a sort of visual prayer or statement with which they could work each day to inform the universe of what they needed so badly in their lives.

So after discussing at some length the emotional vibration of colours and the symbolism that we could use to represent the qualities, and even the physical objects that we wished to bring into our lives, my class set about preparing their affirmation – Mandalas. You could have heard a pin drop in that class as each student put into their art work not only their artistic skills, but their heartfelt yearnings for abundance, love, companionship and a mass of more practical objects such as cars, homes and holidays. They worked so hard and with such intent that I wasn’t really surprised when one by one, in the coming weeks, they would come in and say “Guess what happened today?” and then go on to describe how something on their Mandala “wish list” had suddenly manifested in their lives.

The term eventually came to an end and it was some months later that the real proof of the enormous power of the Mandala came to light. I was standing in line waiting for my coffee at break time, when one of my old class came rushing up to me. When I say “rushing”, she was very heavily pregnant at the time, but the new baby proved to be about the only thing that had not been in her Mandala. She told me how she had been living in a refuge at the time of the Mandala class, separated from one of her children and very unhappy. So she had quite literally drawn a new home, the son that she was separated from, a little pile of money and for good measure, a new man, a car and an aeroplane to represent a holiday.

The week after the .andala class the council had moved her out of the refuge and into a new house where she could also be reunited with her son.  The new man (with the finances) arrived soon after that, and the car and the holiday were a natural outcome of the new partnership. Even I was shaken by that, but I have kept the Mandala lesson in my spiritual development course ever since and believe me, the miracles still go on happening!

HOW TO MAKE A MANDALA

To make a Mandela all you need is some paper, some crayons, pencils or paints and some time when you can be quiet and uninterrupted.

Take a piece of the paper and a large dinner plate and draw around it to make a circle. The colour red is full of energy, so you might wish to draw the circle in red to give extra energy to your wishes and dreams.

Now sit quietly for a while with your eyes closed and think about what you want to invite into your life most of all. This could be a general atmosphere like peace or love or you might wish to become more creative or adventurous. It could be something far more solid like a person or a home but, whatever it is, draw it squarely in the middle of the circle, either in symbolic or abstract form or as a straightforward drawing. Don’t worry if you can’t draw well, the Universe is not going to make any judgements upon your artistic merits.

As you make your drawing really focus upon it and think what life would be like if that particular dream manifested in your life.

Go back to your mediation with your eyes closed again and think about what else you would like. It might be connected to your original dream or it may be something completely different. When you are ready, place that in the circle too and once again draw with the intent that you really will bring this wish into your life.

You may add as many wishes and dreams to your Mandela as you like, but each time, give it some thought, and place it in the enchanted circle with real purpose. Think too about the pleasing effect that you are creating artistically. Pleasing to you that is, not to anyone else!!

Put in all the colours that you like and also that you associate with the various themes of your Mandala. You may also want to decorate the spaces in between the objects or around the edge of the circle. Try to become entirely engrossed with your task and don’t stop until you are satisfied that you have let out all your heart’s yearnings.

This is a task that you might want to share with a friend, but ideally it is something that is best done alone and then kept to yourself. If you are sensitive to energy you will find that if you hold your left hand a few inches above the Mandala, when it is finished, your hand will get quite tingly or warm. Such is the power of the Mandela!

To work with the Mandela and keep your dreams alive, you might wish to meditate with it on your lap or between your hands. Some people even sit on their Mandala’s while they are meditating but, whichever way you choose to work with it, just keep meditating with it and sending the messages that you have encoded within it out to the Universe and then what ever is meant to be, will surely be.

By Heather Golding\

http://www.huulanaya.com/