October 2019 Art Journal Spread, What I'm Preserving

This is the left side of the spread.
Silk leaf in the left jar. A Mexican Loteria card of Bear in the right jar. A real fall leaf attached to the top.

This is the right side of the spread.
Quin Yin image from a napkin found at the Asian Market. Hand made paper web over the right image.
Spider from a die cut pack, Michael's

My October 2019 Art Journal Spread "What I've Preserved"
Tim Holz die-cut Mason Jar. Background: stencils and Marabu Mixed Media acrylic Art Spray.  Crow stamp.

I used the mason jar die-cut over a spray ink background which I gessoed after it dried.
This was done intuitively, interpreted later. I used paper scraps from my art paper drawer
that had already been punched. I usually save all my scraps because they are so good for
spontaneous application. There is a piece of cloth paper (that's another blog post)
underlining the right side of the spread. 

Now the interpretation: I'll start on the left and proceed right. The first jar has an silk leaf
that represents an artifact from the season. One thing I love about October is the beautiful leaves.
The jars on the left side of this spread represent my earthly existence, what's going on in my
day to day and things I need to pay attention to. 

The Bear card has definite significance in my life. In terms of Loteria Interpretation  Actually,
I can't find the site that talks about The Bear specifically, but when I looked in up in the past
it was associated with addictions, most particularly to food. I was shocked when I saw that
interpretation because bear imagery has appeared for me in many contexts as has addictive eating
and spending. I am now mostly in control and losing weight with Weight Watchers but have
struggled with various addictions my whole young adult and adult life. Addiction, for those who
are not familiar with it, is a compulsion to overindulge in a substance or activity that one mistakes
for true connection with one's own soul and an avoidance of emotional pain. It is sort of a wack a
mole sort of situation. When one addictive substance or activity is eliminated or abstained from
another is sure to appear. The only "cure", as far as what's real in my life and experience, is
"Letting Go and Letting God". Doing the emotional work and connecting with one's Higher Power.
Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a 12-step rant. Suffice it say that receiving The Bear was timely.

The right side of the spread turns out to represent my spiritual life. Two mason jars contain an image
of Quan Yin who is sort of the Buddhist equivalent to the Mother Mary. She is a deity of compassion.
I am very connected to the feminine face of God and particularly love Quan Yin. In the left jar her
image is clear and the seal on the jar says "Nothing is worth more than this". On the right jar there is
a spider and a spider web that obscure Quan Yin's image. It has to do, I think, with Native American
and shamanistic activities I have been pursuing in the past and present. The spider also represents
the Great Mother Tunkashila. The Great Weaver. Part of me fears some aspects of Shamanism
and Wicca. These things are part of my soul heritage and need to, for me, be understood and embraced. 

For those of you who wish to interpret your creations (a truly worthwhile endeavor) I recommend
using a mind map to capture your associations to imagery and also journaling.

The spread turned out to mean that I need to preserve and pay attention to specific aspects of my life:
seeking and seeing the beauty in the world, riding herd on my addictive behaviors, honoring the
Great Mother in all her forms, continue to explore my spiritual heritage and expression in this life.