Door Number 16: “UR~Not All Who Wander Are Lost”

This week marked the completion of Divine Doorway and Portal Painting Number 16, entitled, “UR ~ Not All Who Wander Are Lost.”

UR: Not All Who Wander Are Lost (by Laura Bruno)

This painting is dedicated to healing journeys of all sorts and features the UR Rune as an archway into a magical tree-scape. UR invokes healing of the root causes of any dis-ease or situation. Closely tied to the Mother aspect of a Mother-Father Divinity, UR also stirs ancient memories of a much deeper connection to Earth. The repeated sequence of Runes within the portal reminds us that infinite degrees of healing exist, so long as we continue on the journey.

Close-up of the UR portal

I bought this canvas with an idea of putting it above our stairwell, and I already had the idea of using UR as a healing archway inside a tree. Imagine my surprise when I got the blank canvas home and realized that our stairwell itself forms an UR Rune! You can see it here, hovering above Door Number 4 at the base of the steps:

UR Stairwell

I originally planned to dedicate this painting to anyone recovering from Lyme Disease, since I know so many people whose lives have been touched by this disease. Even more than most illnesses, Lyme Disease responds to vibrational shifts, so I thought a heavily coded Rune portal would help. As I continued painting, though, I began to include intentions for healing the root causes of all dis-ease in our world, with extra emphasis on: the so-oft misdiagnosed manifestations of Lyme disease; Shame caused by abuse and the destructive propaganda of Original Sin instead of Natural Goodness; the genetic modification of humans; and the cancerous effects of Shadow Government on human rights and the health of our planet.

When I began to intend healing from such entrenched illnesses, the painting took an interesting detour. I finished the three phases of the Moon and coding Runes for reception into the hills (as trees) and sky (as stars), emphasizing the waxing and waning of the healing process, which continues even when we can’t see exactly where it’s going:

Crescent Moon on UR (by Laura Bruno)

UR (Full and Waning Moon) close-up

The triskele (three-armed-spiral) echoes the three phases of the Moon and further draws upon female healing energy. At this point, another obscure trinity symbol started stalking me: something known as a trifos. I kept seeing it in my mind’s eye, and then came across it in two different books, including Brian Froud’s and Ari Berk’s “The Runes of Elfland.” It looks a bit like a triple spiral, but the spirals are three feet surrounding a face. This little guy would not take no for an answer, and the story from “The Runes of Elfland” could be read as a dire warning to those who would enslave humanity, either financially or through genetically modified diseases and toxic chemicals that prevent thriving. One could think of the trifos energy from this tale as a kind of “cosmic-karmic treatment” to destroy the destroyer, remove the parasite, dissolve the cancer. Since this trifos would not leave me alone, I meticulously painting him into the portal, just below the main tree.

As soon as I added him, the entire picture changed. Instead of feeling a Tahoe-like woods and crisp mountain, starry night energy, whenever I looked at the painting, my eyes went directly to the trifos. He completely monopolized the painting, and I tried everything to return him to his proper perspective. I even tried blacking out his face and filling it with Runes that spilled out to the rest of the green. I browned out some of his red legs and feet. No matter what I did, this trifos energy completely pervaded the painting. It reminded me of how people sometimes get so caught up in fighting illness that they forget to imagine health. Aggressive treatment distracts from the healing journey itself by obscuring the overall beauty and dominating the bigger picture.

In pondering the story (on pages 44-47 of The Runes of Elfland), I decided I really didn’t want to invoke that energy after all. I just wanted the results to occur from behind the scenes — like the Mystery of healing itself. I received a clear message of the importance of continuing to focus on beauty and the bigger picture; to let the “how of healing” take care of itself. As I painted over the trifos, whose behind the scenes energy continues to do its work, I felt an immediate sense of relief. I kept hearing Tolkien’s line “Not all who wander are lost” and decided to paint it beneath the tree:

Only after adding that quote and experiencing several other Tolkien synchronicities from the same poem did I realize how that line describes the healing process — whether individual, societal or global. There comes a time during the healing process in which we must decide whether to focus on cursing and attacking the old, diseased, and broken … or honoring the medicine by inviting it to bring back health, wholeness and beauty. The moment the cure or solution overwhelms the healing itself, then we have wandered off path. But this detour can become an important part of the journey, too. I speak to so many clients who catch glimmers of complete healing but then return their focus to destroying whatever they view as obstacles to wellness. That process of seeking out any and all treatments often exposes them to experiences and parts of themselves that they would never have (re)discovered in any other way. Although healing takes longer with such detours, this type of healing reaches deeper into the soul and infuses all of life. Indeed, “Not all who wander are lost.”

With heartfelt blessings to everyone on the healing journey: may we find ourselves and each other. And thrive.

UR: Not All Who Wander Are Lost (by Laura Bruno)