The city of Venice is renowned for its legendary beauty. A gilded dream of a city, created in a lagoon, battling rising water levels and decaying yearly, it’s mere existence is fantastical. I fell hard for its stunning beauty when I was lucky enough to visit for short time.
Venice is jewel-box of a place. I already knew that I was a sucker for baroque beauty, but I had no idea how much I would find in Venice. The buildings are beautiful, the gondolas are beautiful, everything in the shops is beautiful, and the people are beautiful. (There are a few unpleasant things here, but it really is beautiful…)
I spent all my time drinking in the beauty of Venice with all my senses. While I had seen photos of Venice before, I found my personal experience there like being drenched in an exotic, heady perfume of beauty. I touched exquisite Murano glass beads, I feasted my eyes on gilded rococo fixtures and elaborate masquerade masks. I listened to the silence of a place with no cars and only waves. I smelled the ocean so intimately accessed, I listened to the laughter of people enjoying themselves on the streets.
My soul was nourished by all this beauty. It is usually nature’s beauty that restores me, but Venice reminded me of the miracle of beauty that is expressed when man creates some beautiful thing just from his own imagination.
Man’s ability to create beauty is surely one of the finest things about being a human being. Creating beauty is one of our highest callings; really it is the living of our purpose to honour our Creator.
I suggest remembering this beauty of creation, as the antidote to the winter blahs.
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In the spirit of celebrating the creative spark, I was honored in December, by the lovely effervescent Patti, at Light Spirited Being who awarded me the “Beautiful Blogger” award. She truly has a beautiful, sparkly soul! Her blog shares so freely of herself, and I resonate with her philosophies deeply, and appreciate her insights
As a condition of receiving this award, I have been asked to:
– Share 7 things about me that you probably don’t know
– Pass the award on to 5 other beautiful bloggers
Here are…7 Things You May Not Know About Me
1. I lived in rural Africa for two years with my family when I was a kid. I used to live in the middle of “nowhere”, and it was great. We had lots of exciting adventures just living our daily lives. Exotic illnesses? Yes! Participating in fascinating traditional tribal ceremonies nearby? Yes! Elephants attacking our lorry at the game park? Yes! Living in a little town with mud huts and lots of friendly people? Yes! Going to see what the “witch doctor” had prepared for that week? Yes!
2. I love South America, and someday I would like to live there with my family. I loved spending some time in South America, and I would love to go back. Fascinating cultures? Incan ruins? Beautiful climates? Jungle and ocean? Spanish speakers? The love of dance and music? What’s not to love…
3. I used to have a horse. I have always loved all kinds of animals since I was a little girl. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little, and always had many pets. I can often spot animals in the wild easily, even if they are hidden to the naked eye. I still love animals, even though I only have my dog living with me currently (if you don’t count my kids). This connection with animals is what allows me to do readings for them.
4. I have double-jointed elbows. Is that something that you wanted to know? Maybe not. But you’ll never be able to twist my arm…
5. Singing is my soul’s happiness. I have always been a singer, ever since I was a little girl. Singing has always been something that my soul just wanted to do, that made me so happy. ( I noticed some transcendent experiences while singing as I got older.) After having kids and getting time crunched, I haven’t sung much since. Occasionally I still sing in my car or to my kids. My favourite types of music to sing are baroque music, and folky/soft-rocky tunes. I have no idea when or if I will return to more singing.
6. Water is my happy place. I’m not really into traditional swimming, (lengths and things like that), but I adore being in a lake, an ocean, even a pool if need be. I love just swimming around on my own, feeling the currents, or looking at the bottom. I still dream about one entire day we spent snorkeling in Thailand with the brilliant fish, and fantastical corals. I hope Heaven looks like the ocean there.
7. I gave birth to my children at home with no drugs. Yep, I’m hardcore. (Before I get too uppity, I’m just going to point out that women all over the world do this every day, some with no home at all.) Being in my home was no big deal of course by the time labour was in full swing, as any woman who has laboured could tell you. I could have been in a burning barn, during a hurricane, attacked by rabid weasels, and I probably wouldn’t have cared. The labours were not pain free, but the results were worth it. I also gave birth in water, so that probably helped me a lot. Ask our downstairs neighbor at the time, how exciting it was for him all night. He did send the biggest bouquet…
And in turn I am now passing on the Beautiful Blogger award to others:
Lisa is a beautiful old soul and I love her. I also love her work, as I have had her read for me, and cut cords all with excellent results. She has such a beautiful way with those she reads for. She is funny, profound, nurturing and pretty much just fantastic all the way around. She has such easy and deep connection to the spiritual realm, that I know she will be famous before long.
Darlene took the fabulous photos of me that are in my blog headers. She made me feel so beautiful that day, from the way she made me look in the photos she took of me. It took days to wear off!
Darlene transmits her beautiful, soulful vision of the world, through the lens of her camera. A quote on Darlene’s Facebook page sums up how she wants to make people feel with her photos: “When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” (Robert Frank) And her photos do this for the viewer.
c) Image Maya
Mark creates amazing, beautiful, psychedelic shamanistic images. I never get tired of looking at them, and sometimes they almost make me cry I find them so beautiful. The first time I looked at his images, I was shocked that someone could so skillfully bring what it looks like in the shamanistic world, into this “real” world. Anyone who can bring the unseen world into the real world is an artist magician.
Mark’s images are so chockful of visual information that they are each like self-contained histories of the mysteries of life. He made a spirit image for me that hangs in my house, and fills me up with beauty for me every single time I look at it.
This is Avia Venefica’s main site on symbolism. From her amazing headers which show her (a gorgeously, striking woman) to the beautiful, artful way she explains symbolism, I fell in love with her numerous sites. I first discovered her websites when I was researching power animal symbolism on-line. Her related websites are amazingly rich resources on symbolism, and her personal work with symbolism is so thoughtful and soul-satisfying. She has given me so much soul nourishment with her words, and beautiful images.
I have had no acquaintance yet with Christine Delorey, the creator of this site, but I want to share the beautiful wisdom of her site with others. Her weekly and yearly numerological insights are always profound, and are accurate. I have learned alot about the energy of numbers from her site, and continue to go there often. Her site fills me up with the beauty of the hidden infrastructure of the numbers behind the scenes.
Thanks to all of you for filling the world with the beauty you create bearing the stamp that is uniquely you. May you continue to create for as long as it fulfills you (to quote Patti).
Please share these beautiful links with others. May Beauty continue to shine!!
Beautiful comments are welcome below.
Need an inner beauty tune-up? I am as close as an email, and I have 3 spots left for readings this month, conduitofjoy@hotmail.com.
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