The Universal Labyrinth of Life
Yesterday was my official last day at the studio. I had already cleared out everything except for The Enchanted Forest window lamp. When its new owner came with a friend of hers to collect it and for me to explain what each pane was and how to 'do' it (three of the four panes are interactive), her face (and her friend's face) lit up like a lamp itself. She really loved it.
She also got a little booklet explaining the symbolism of each pane, an envelope with some information explaining labyrinths (made to look like a tree - a portion can be seen in this link) and a ten minute DVD of a video story giving some background to the 'Forest' and explaining the 'mystery' of something I had asked her to do while I was making the lamp (it was interactive even before it came into full being). I'm glad she trusted me. Some people find it strange to do things that they don't understand.
It felt significant that that lamp was the last thing to go. The entire interactive process of the lamp takes the individual through a journey into him or herself and out again, just like a labyrinth. Each one of us is an Enchanted Forest with undiscovered flowers waiting deep within to bloom.
The experience of yesterday (the lamp and the departure) just had too many layers of meaning to go into right here, but suffice it to say, it was the right day to leave. In retrospect, it feels as though my time in the studio (whether I was in it or not) was a time of going deep into a labyrinth ... and yesterday was the day I came back out. More than being a physical experience the studio was also on a spirit level.
One of the girls in the office asked me how I felt to be leaving: "Sad? Bitter sweet?" she asked. I said "No. Happy. Movement."
Not that I hadn't liked my studio (in fact it had felt like a little home in its own way), but it just felt right to be leaving. Handing back the keys felt freeing and my keychain suprises me with its lightness every time I hold it now.
To top it all off, that afternoon the post lady brought me a registered letter telling me to collect a package at TTPost in Tunapuna. It was a speechless-ifying birthday gift from my friend J. A wonderful bright red round and soft-like-a-cloud labyrinth pillow with an eleven circuit finger labyrinth on it!
She also got a little booklet explaining the symbolism of each pane, an envelope with some information explaining labyrinths (made to look like a tree - a portion can be seen in this link) and a ten minute DVD of a video story giving some background to the 'Forest' and explaining the 'mystery' of something I had asked her to do while I was making the lamp (it was interactive even before it came into full being). I'm glad she trusted me. Some people find it strange to do things that they don't understand.
It felt significant that that lamp was the last thing to go. The entire interactive process of the lamp takes the individual through a journey into him or herself and out again, just like a labyrinth. Each one of us is an Enchanted Forest with undiscovered flowers waiting deep within to bloom.
The experience of yesterday (the lamp and the departure) just had too many layers of meaning to go into right here, but suffice it to say, it was the right day to leave. In retrospect, it feels as though my time in the studio (whether I was in it or not) was a time of going deep into a labyrinth ... and yesterday was the day I came back out. More than being a physical experience the studio was also on a spirit level.
One of the girls in the office asked me how I felt to be leaving: "Sad? Bitter sweet?" she asked. I said "No. Happy. Movement."
Not that I hadn't liked my studio (in fact it had felt like a little home in its own way), but it just felt right to be leaving. Handing back the keys felt freeing and my keychain suprises me with its lightness every time I hold it now.
To top it all off, that afternoon the post lady brought me a registered letter telling me to collect a package at TTPost in Tunapuna. It was a speechless-ifying birthday gift from my friend J. A wonderful bright red round and soft-like-a-cloud labyrinth pillow with an eleven circuit finger labyrinth on it!
Labels: window lamps
posted by Elspeth at Wednesday, November 29, 2006
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