The Mystic’s Lament
The Mystic’s Lament
Acrylic on canvas
24” x 36”
Georgina Langdale
For the past two years I have been training with the Onespirit Interfaith Foundation in the UK. The training took us through rich territory: ceremony, life cycles, faith paths, spiritual traditions, and ways to hold space for someone in a spiritual, soul-based way. I was drawn to the training because of so many conversations I had with people I worked with as they were facing their own end of life, or a loved one dying. I wanted to increase my fluency in a spiritual vocabulary so I could, in the words of my great friend and wise sage, Thomas Moore, “meet them where they are”.
Next week our training will culminate in an ordination ceremony. This will take place at Glastonbury in England and sadly, because of being in New Zealand and unable to travel at this time, I am unable to be there in person. At the invitation of my tutors, I created this painting over a number of days, as a way to be present at the final retreat at Ammerdown, and at the Ordination Ceremony at Glastonbury. But in reality it has taken many years to create.
The figure is not intended as a self-portrait, but rather as an icon of the divine feminine, goddesses, Mary, Hildegard of Bingen and other wise women, myth makers and healers through time. She wears a green, leafy crown as a nod to one I created at Ammerdown at our year end retreat in 2023. She holds a greening bough in reference to Hildegard of Bingen, who saw herself and the power and spirit of Mary, as the energy in leaf and bud. She called this ‘greening greenness” – Viriditas. In her other hand, she holds a golden orb - the sun, in all its life-giving energy. The blue robe she wears is a copy of a blue robe in a painting made by Hildegard in the 12th Century.
The painting references many aspects of my two-year journey towards ordination with Onespirit. Around each circle are words that tell a short story of the symbol and its meaning to me: an aerial view of Stonehenge as a nod to my nature-based sense of spirit; mitosis reflecting my creation story; the rose as Mary Magdalene and the Desert Mother; the black and white orb showing the mystery and revelation of god in Islam; the labyrinth as a place to pace out my prayers and heal my heart; Agni the light of the soul in Hinduism; an image of xylem through a microscopic showing the cross at the heart of all vegetation; the dove and my wish that it may still fly; the dandelion head references our final healing ceremony we did together in which a dandelion head was blown to represent birth and death; and the feather with ‘I am a feather on the breath of God’ is a quote from Hildegard.
The red lines come from another painting of mine which grew out of the exercise we did which involved tying a knots in string as a representation of the events and things that have shaped us through our life. It became a painting I called ‘Bloodlines’. And behind all these spheres and orbs, words and wishes, is the vast inky starlit cosmos.
Beneath the woman’s feet are the elements: tree roots earthing her, and water, and the gold is the atmosphere of air, the red of fire. The words are my vow. The figure in the boat has travelled through my art for over twenty years and represents, life, death, remembering and forgetting.
Above her in the halo is her mystic lament. She speaks of the messages of care and love and stewardship handed down through generations, yet still largely ignored. She pleads with us to remember we have the power within each of us to create the world we wish for. That we have the power to bring love and light back into the world, and for us to Be the Love we may be yearning for now.
I am glad she will represent me in the closing days of this training. I am sad I cannot be there, but also I see the beauty in the weaving of these connections across time and space.
A limited edition set of fine art prints are available from this painting here.