Throat Chakra Call

February, 1996
Acrylics on Paper
16” x 24”

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This is the 6 of Earth in Lane's Greenwitch Tarot:

How to receive guidance for next steps or a full on leap? Oracles talking in obscure riddles may feel frustrating in the moment. Insight comes by laying ourselves open, perhaps literally in the grass or what may feel like a pit of fire. Birds of Air Magic – here Eagle andRaven – can be direct messengers as are trees, stones, and the river or ocean. Painting this was part of the process during a transition when I was unsure  where to focus  after leaving teaching. It wasn’t one clarion moment but in time I began to gestate what became Cartm Recycling Center.

Pay attentionto the omens. What shows up when you are thinking about someone or something? Especially if it is out of season or out of character. What other messengers do you rely on? If you don’t know then ground and put out the intention that guidance will come, and then see who or what appears.

Written Fall, 2006:

Right Livelihood – conflicting calls.

I always think of this as the call to really take on starting Cartm Recycling* (taking over the Dump) for that is the road I took. I chose to continue to be active in the community sustainability organizing that has always been strong in me.

However, in the coming together of the Out of the Ashes Show (2004) and my outing as a painter and a witch, I began to see it more as a call about the figure in the middle of the whirlpool – and the call to the more subtle work of being an artist, a healer and doing ritual. 1995 definitely began the decade when I found the courage and learned how to mix the different callings. I had to invent how to be a “Greenwitch” in the middle of inventing Cartm and what was to come after.

At some point in there I noticed that there were two birds in the painting which made it seem more like the conflicting calls of Cartm and being an artist and a conjurer. Just as many colors seem to suit me, baffling the clothing color specialists, so do many roles. It’s always such a dance – a balancing act. In fact I alwaysmy business card to say "Various Hats." The challenge is to make it all work – and play!

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* Sadly Cartm Recycling no longer exists at the dump but the trash art and store aspects have been reincarnated in a storefront in Wheeler as Heart of Cartm. The Dump aka Manzanita Transfer Station is now run by Tillamook County and is doing a great job of being a Dump and a Recycling Center.‍