Shelley Galloway

Floral Arts and Photography

Archetypes of Life

Start with the amorphous commencement, the collective unconscious, shared “being.”  Then there is a sense of one, of “I”.  This oneness resonates with reflections of the world around it.  There is the “I”, there is the “thou”, but underlying both there is unifying flow of life.  When we tap into this collective unconscious, we feel a sense of validity, of truth, of belonging.   It is Atman that we sense and it is Atman which we long to experience.   The Shinto concept of Musubi, the interconnecting energy of the universe that speaks to me of this feeling.  Kami spirits inhabiting nature are sparks of this energy which we feel when we encounter them. 

Symbols for me are powerful visual representations of spiritual experiences.  Calligraphy is a language of symbols.  Do these shapes refer back to the vegetative forms primitive people encountered in their worlds?  Do they lead us back to atman and musubi? 

Looking for the spiritual in nature we find it in lines, and shapes and we feel ourselves confronted with our essential union with the world around us.

Curling tendrils reach
Whispers of life beyond me,
Reflecting my soul

Music:  Because of Ghosts, The stars the stars the stars, The Tomorrow we were promised

 

 

 

 

 

Shelley H. Galloway | 2016 ©
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