9 Portals

My gift to you on this 37th birthday. Thank you for sharing the journey with me! Much love …

Payuurteel by Laura Bruno

The Alchemy Door by Laura Bruno

The Daphne Door (aka Tree of Life) by Laura Bruno

Four of Wands Door by Laura Bruno

King of Cups aka Chiron Door by Laura Bruno

Freya and Frigga Door by Laura Bruno

Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno

The Ace of Pentacles by Laura Bruno

Door Number 9: The Ace of Pentacles

I think this might be my favorite door yet. I completed it last week but am just getting around to posting it on this #9 day (5/19/2010), which also happens to be the 12-year anniversary of my life changing brain injury.

A few things about this door: it does not have a lock. I like this. The Ace of Pentacles is all about Manifestation, so I love the fact that the door doesn’t need to be unlocked; it doesn’t even have a lock to begin with!

Secondly, this began as a clear, glass-paned door. My supply of solid doors dried up, but again, I like this particular door for the Ace of Pentacles, because it brings an element of transparency to manifestation. The bottom quote reads, “Remember my friend, you must go down the road to know, it is as above as so below.” Reflection, transparency, manifestation: I like it!

One other note on the pentacle itself. Rather than paint a plain old coin or a simple star, I went digging around for pentacles. And what did I find?? Something cool for the 9th door in a series of 9 sets of 9 (yes, I’m up to 81 as a destination number). I found more pentacles from Solomon’s Keys. The Ace of Pentacles features the 5th Pentacle of Mercury, a magical talisman designed “to open all doors.” I found this appropriate for portal work. Plus, I just like all the Hebrew.

The door has Runes, Sanskrit and Hebrew in large gold letters down the sides. The Runes spell out, “Behold, I have given. Receive.” The Sanskrit says, “Jai guru deva om” from the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” song. Roughly translated, it means, “I give thanks to the heavenly teacher.”

The Hebrew spells out “Shekinah.” For those of you who don’t know, Shekinah is kind of a mysterious, feminine aspect of God, often associated with the Holy Spirit. I’ve been getting a lot of intuitive insights into Pentecost lately, which is when the Holy Spirit descended onto the disciples and allowed them to perform miracles … and I like the resonance of Pentacle and Pentecost. Plus, the idea of “ordinary” people performing miracles seems directly in line with the meaning of the Ace of Pentacles.

The address “42” comes from, among other things, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which lists 42 as the answer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” I have that phrase written in Runes down the back of the door, along with Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo on the bottom back. This kundalini yoga mantra translates to “I honor the guru within” or “I bow to that creative wisdom that lives within myself.”

This door shows a portal within a portal, as well as a garden, representative of THE Garden … a return to an Eden-like life of beauty, love, creativity and absolute abundace. Wishing that for each of you!!

Ace of Pentacles Portal by Laura Bruno

Detail Ace of Pentacles by Laura Bruno

Down the Road to the Ace of Pentacles by Laura Bruno

Rose and Pentacle on the Ace of Pentacles by Laura Bruno

Fifth Pentacle of Mercury on the Ace of Pentacles by Laura Bruno

I am awaiting the manifestation of more doors, more room and/or that magical Victorian house that keeps haunting my dreams and offering doors I can paint and actually walk through. The attic still has more doors for me to paint, but they are truly funky ones, and this set of 9 feels complete. We … shall see! My birthday’s on Saturday, and I am VERY open to surprises. 🙂

Whacking the Piñata

Yesterday I posted this on Facebook: Laura Bruno has been whacking a cosmic piñata for quite some time now and can feel it about to burst. 🙂

Some people got a real kick out of it, but I wasn’t kidding. I really have intended into being this giant piñata of blessings, and I really do spend a huge amount of time and energy whacking away at it. It’s a pretty pinata, swings all over the place when I hit it, and I like to imagine what’s inside. This analogy led to a discussion with a good friend of mine, who likened my determination to their own sense of beating their head against a wall in several areas of life. I decided to share my emailed response because so many people seem to feel the same way. This was a personal correspondence so it’s a little “earthier” than some of my typical posts, but cleaning it up would have sterilized the message:

Given my medical history, I’m sure you understand why I no longer make it a practice to beat my head against a wall. 🙂 Nor do I recommend it to anyone else. A brain injury will give you change, but it also might kill you, it’s completely unpredictable, and even if it does work, there are SO many easier, faster, and less painful ways!

As I see it, the difference between me whacking my cosmic piñata of blessings all day and night long and you beating your head against the wall is this:

Beating your head against a wall will very quickly make you unconscious and it stems from frustration and not looking around you. Why are you banging your head against the wall when there’s a whole room behind you? Why don’t you look for the door? And if you can’t find a door, just ask me; I paint them!! I will make you a door … and I’m really not kidding. I make doors for myself all the time, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual … I am always painting and walking through portals. Walls are boring, especially the same wall over and over again. But portals … now those actually lead somewhere. … and you don’t even need ME to paint you one. You can find your own; they pop up in the most surprising places if you’re open to finding them.

Whacking my cosmic piñata, even if I whack it just as many times as you beat your head against the wall, is VERY different. First of all, I’m using an energetic “stick,” which is very large and gives me a lot of leverage. I can hit it much harder than I could w/ my head. Second, I am not damaging myself or anyone else with these hits, so I can continue to whack that thing with massive determination until it explodes all over me. I won’t be in a stupor when it happens, and that’s important, b/c there are good things in that piñata and I don’t want to miss any of them. I put them in there and I intend to savor each one of them with every ounce of consciousness I have on any and all levels. They are REALLY good things. 🙂

But most importantly, the energy of the piñata is completely different. Banging your head against the wall says, “I can’t, Ow, it hurts, I can’t, Ow, it hurts, I can’t, Ow, it hurts,” whereas whacking my pinata yells into the universe: “I want it and I want it bad. Give it to me.” It’s a joyful command with an expectation of fulfillment.

I ALWAYS get what I want. I know this. Even the things in life like my head injury got me what I wanted. I had 4 years off work for spiritual growth. I’ve written 3 books, including a novel. I traveled to all these cool places and lived like a bohemian for 8 years. That’s all I ever wanted from graduate school and I got it w/o having to sit through all those dreadful classes and listen to all those academics over sherry hour.

Granted, the migraines, disability, private detectives, court, etc. really sucked, so now I just paint portals and whack piñatas instead of beating my head against a wall. No more brain injuries. I still WANT. I still intend to get, and I know that I will. But having gone “down the road” a few times, I now only take interesting routes. Walls bore me, but doors and piñatas I like.

There Is a Way

The intellect says: “The six directions are limits: there is no way out.”
Love says: “There is a way. I have traveled it thousands of times.”
The intellect saw a market and started to haggle;
Love saw thousands of markets beyond that market.

–Rumi

🙂 Have a good one … I’m off my soapbox before all the “good” folks track me down and try to make me wash my mouth out w/ it. Time to whack the piñata. OMG, that sounds obscene! I like it. 🙂 And I will like it even more when it spews those blessings all over me. I’m telling you, they’re coming.

Door Number 8: Ten of Cups

Door Number 8 began as a tall and impossibly skinny project that proved most challenging to reveal the inner vision that had begun to haunt me. I tried and tried to find a different door that would provide an easier work surface for this particular image, but it appears that the Ten of Cups wanted this door. Having completed it, I can kind of see why. There’s a lot more flow than a two or more paneled door would have allowed.

The bottom quote seems appropriate: “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t realize you left open.” To learn more about the Ten of Cups, please click here. For some reason, the Runes down the front called out to be Schizandra Ginger Parker, and the Chinese on the right is Wu Wei Zi (Schizandra chinensis), both from my novel, Schizandra and the Gates of Mu. That surprised me, but I don’t argue with inspiration. 😉 Enjoy!

Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno (Front)

Detail Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno (Rainbow)

Detail Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno (Children Dancing)

Detail Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno (Stallion)

Back of the Ten of Cups Door by Laura Bruno

Front of Ten of Cups by Laura Bruno

This may or may not be my last door painted in this apartment. I’m honestly not sure! The remaining doors in the attic are either very large, screened, or very odd shapes. The remaining space in my apartment is similarly interesting. We … shall … see…

Many Blessings!