The Fine Balancing Art of Yin and Yang

Tried and Tested — A Tale of Two Countries

In the past 2 years I have experienced the delights of visiting Thailand and being bowled over by their inherent sense of beauty and creativity to their humble way of life and their desire to please.  I have also recently been to Egypt and have encountered, firsthand, the very friendly yet domineering patriarchal way of their culture.

“The ancients envisioned their world in two halves – masculine and feminine. Their gods and goddesses worked to keep a balance of power. Yin and Yang. When male and female were balanced, there was harmony in the world. When they were unbalanced there was chaos. ” ~ Dan Brown

Both cultures are clearly trying very hard to make their way in life off the tourism trade and I felt like a walking ‘dollar’ sign (if they knew I dealt primarily in Rands — South African currency — they probably wouldn’t have bothered!).

I do, however, understand this and hold no judgment for them, in that respect — we all need to make a living.  The difference however was that the Thai people came across as being very gentle, artistic and what I would like to call matriarchal people.  The Egyptians left me with an impression of being aggressive, zealous and patriarchal.

Balancing the Yin and Yang

I only figured out, some time after both of these excursions, that they each reflected the opposite side of the scale.

I saw massive potential in both cultures and met and made wonderful friends both in Thailand and in Egypt.   I have to say that the youth of Egypt certainly show the most signs of growth and thinking out-of-the-box.  My encounters with the more belligerent Egyptians were definitely steeped in ’old energy’ thinking and customs.  This is something I am obviously not used to, so it affected me quite deeply.

However, both these cultures lack something.  They are missing the balance of both left hemisphere (linear, structural, orderly, etc.) and right hemisphere (passionate, artistic, expressive, etc.) thinking, the marriage of divine masculine and divine feminine — the coming together of the yin and yang.

When either one of these attributes is out of alignment or missing, there is unbalance.

“Most men are very attached to the idea of being male, and usually experience a lot of fear and insecurity around the idea of being a man. Most women are very identified with their gender, and also experience a tremendous amount of fear and insecurity.”  ~ Andrew Cohen

Creativity versus Order

In the case of the Thai people, they were extremely creative and inventive yet they were incredibly submissive and this leaves them open for exploitation.

With the Egyptians, they had a system of order and controlled interaction that would not budge.  It was either their way or the highway.  With the obvious lack of female energy (as it is tradition for their women to be at home and not in the workplace), you had a definite sense of escalated anger over small things.  They could go from 0 – 10 in a matter of seconds.  As friendly as they were at times, they also lost their cool very quickly.  This is because there was too much masculine energy and no feminine presence to temper the storm of emotions that arise.

You need both masculine and feminine energies to complete a fully charged and functional system.  This brings me to dimensions.

Harmonic Dimensions

We live in a world that is deemed as 3D, however, it is very compartmentalized.  This is a true reflection of the statistical mindset of the world at present.  What we need is to incorporate the uneven trait of creativity and sensitivity to balance out this equation. It is okay to have organization and order as long as you also have an even balance of creative expression.  The world is coming into this balance as more and more people are seeking to express their imaginative flare.  When we reach a tipping point, you will see how fast love and happiness are spread on a global scale.

Can you see how this dimension theory brings in the concept of left brain order and right brain inventiveness? When humanity realizes that all we need to do is to direct ourselves creatively amidst the structure, we will have stepped into the new paradigm — a New Earth.

In Closing, Let’s All Say a Prayer

In closing, I would like to ask that you all say a little prayer for that brave young Pakistani lady, Malala Yousafzai, to make a full recovery.

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” ~ Joseph Campbell

She is a symbol of great courage and hope for so many.  May the seed she plants for women’s rights today blossom into the tree that represents balance and equality in her society.

Originally written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Purpose Fairy.

Other articles you may enjoy:

Finding God and a Reason for Being Here

Live Like You Mean It — Live With Conviction!

Are You Playing Russian Roulette With Your Karma?

‘Love and Light’ — What Does it Mean?

What Does Thanks-Giving Mean to You?

The Pyramid Code: A Documentary Exploring Ancient Sacred Sites

This is a fantastic documentary about Ancient Egypt — beyond what we are told by National Geographic programs and Dr Zahi Hawass (who seems to be behind everything we see about Egyptology, the much-guarded information that we are allowed to, selectively, be privy of seeing and hearing).

Just remember:  Even if your opinions differ, it is still healthy to see this from a different perspective.

Please click on the link below to take you to the documentary:

The Pyramid Code:Documentary Exploring Ancient Sacred Sites.

10 Bands, 10 Paintings…Let the Rock Art Begin!

Coming Out of a Black Hole and Having Revelations

Yeah, the global energy of late has been intense.  Making us all bunker down for some quiet time, and if not, forcing you to cease and desist.

Have you been lacking inspiration, creativity or get up and go?  Well, I have.

Hatshepsut TempleThese last few weeks since I returned from Egypt have been damn right frustrating.  I’ve lost my pluck, mojo and anything else you want to call it.

I’ve picked up the paintbrushes and seem to be trying to repeat old patterns in creativity that just don’t work for me anymore.

“It could be realism, abstract, impressionism, crapism or bullshitism…who knows?  We’ll just have to wait and see.”

But this weekend I had a revelation…

Who The Hell Am I?

Yes, that old humdinger.  What can I truly offer the world that is unique and not only that,  stay completely in alignment with who I am?

Not easy and a question I am not alone in having to come up with an answer to — this seems to be the common thread or million dollar question among most people this year, if not this lifetime!

I Am…

I sat down to have some quiet time to reflect and saw a storyboard of everything I have done since I left school.  I know that I am intrinsically an artist, musician and a writer and I have tried to merge the 3 in this website but something still hasn’t clicked into place. In a nutshell, it went like this:The Bends

Above (Photo of our band The Bends taken in 2001)

Cherie playing BassThe Younger Years — Left school and played bass in 2 rock bands.  Last band (The Bends — you guessed it, we were all Radiohead fans…yeah yeah) recorded 2 albums and got some radio play.  After the music scene cooled off and my weariness set in I up and left for the UK.  Photo (right) — in Paris Studio recording our 2nd album.

Travel Bug — In the UK I started painting again.  Got back home, 3 years later, and started painting full-time.

Crossing Abbey Road London

Above — In the UK, at the famous ‘Abbey Road’ crossing, London

Profile PictureDivine Revelations and Ants in my Pants — Started feeling ‘pushed’ to write my book ‘Divine You’ in 2010 and did so, focusing all my energy and attention into getting it published and promoting and blogging, etc.

Footnote — Here I am, having come full circle with all 3 of my major interests but I feel like I need to break free from the confines of every single one of them.  I need to fuse them into a trinity of talents that will truly showcase the uniqueness of my being.

New Realizations:

I am a rock chick, a philosopher, a creative, a free spirit, a wanderer, a listener, an adventurer, a seeker, a trailblazer…so what am I trailblazing?

” I am more than the ceiling limit I have built over my head.”

I feel like at the moment I am trying to conform to the standards of any other self-empowerment writer (who just happens to paint and compose on the side).  No, this is not working for me.  I am more than the ceiling limit I have built over my head.

Major Refurbishing

I am going to be blowing through the ceiling.

My first adventure, that incorporates all 3 of my pursuits, will be to do a series of 10 paintings to my favourite bands or musicians from the dawn of my time here on Earth.

Musical Mural A little background:  I love to turn on the stereo in the morning and blast out my favourite music much to my husbands annoyance.  It just happens to usually be quite loud and obnoxious music for this time of the morning.  However the upside is that this ensures that the car gets washed, or that the lawn is mown (husband seeking refuge outside of the domain).

“I want to be activated into action first thing in the morning — and this plus a cup of coffee seems to do the trick.”

There is nothing like a bit of Airbag by Radiohead to get the blood flowing after a long nights sleep or head-banging your way to the bathroom to get cleaned up to Hysteria by Muse.  Who can’t be put into a good mood when you are listening to Queen’s I Want to Break Free?  Or even better, David Bowie belting out ‘Drive in Saturday’?

Yes, I know, I am a bit odd.  This is probably not the best morning music soiree (I am told this is strictly night-time music) but I simply can’t wait for night-time to arrive, I want to be activated into action first thing in the morning — and this plus a cup of coffee seems to do the trick.

So Where is This Heading?  Get On With It, Girl!

Okay, okay…I love rock.  Yes, oh yes.  So I have selected 10 bands to do 10 painting to.  I want to see what comes out whilst listening to their music.  I hope this experiment will be a visual feast and have no preconceived ideas of how any of it will turn out.  All I can guarantee is that I am going to have fun in the process and do whatever comes to me in the moment that I set aside to paint.

It could be realism, abstract, impressionism, crapism or bullshitism…who knows?  We’ll just have to wait and see.

I will be blogging (obviously) about each artwork and the process (so watch out for Tuesdays art blog).  And will reveal the top 10 bands/musicians that have been the greatest influence in my life in next Tuesdays blog.

So in the words of the famous Monty Python…”and now for something completely different”.  Bring it on!

READ THE GRAND BAND REVEAL HERE

Note to self:  Need to add new word invented in this blog to Wikipedia — ‘crapism’.  Needs no definition either, self-explanatory. Bullshitism seems to be a valid word because my spell check didn’t pick it up.

Share Your Insights:

What are you struggling with?

Do you have yourself all sussed out or are you still in flux about who you really are?

Do you think it is important to align yourself with your core essence or do you think that is just a bunch of crap?

Come Journey Through Picturesque Egypt With Me

I can’t quite put into words what my recent trip to Egypt meant to me, so I decided to lay it out visually instead.

Seeing that today is my ‘art blog’ — I have selected some of my ‘prize’ shots to hopefully tantalize and awaken the curiosity in your travel taste buds…

Experience Beyond the Realms of Comprehension

Although it was a bittersweet culture shock and I found it particularly patriarchal, with hardly a glimpse of a native woman to be seen for most of the trip — I also had some  magnificent spiritual moments that literally brought tears to my eyes.

The Ancient Egyptian sites and temples are truly a spiritual, visual and an awe-inspiring experience that I would recommend to anybody (bearing in mind that you can survive the 47°c heat waves and persistent peddlers — see my blog What You Need to Know About Desperation and Manifestation).

Ancient Egypt transports you back to a time that is unfathomable in its technology, knowledge and precision and opens up a mystery beyond linear time and thinking.

100% Organic Due to Technical Difficulties

So without further ado, here are the photographs — I also have to add that these are ‘organic’ photo’s, they have not been tampered with, as in doctored, lightened or brightened…all au natural due to the fact that I haven’t loaded Photoshop onto my laptop yet…lol:

There are just so many photo’s to share, I have therefore decided to do this in 2 parts.

Please tune in next week Tuesday — Luxor and Burghada (on the Red Sea) are going to be on the cards…you don’t want to miss out on Kom Ombo temple and Karnak, they are truly a sight!

I also have something a little ‘surreal’ to show you but you’ll have to wait and see (or ‘follow this blog’ in the sidebar if you seriously don’t want to miss out on this titilising paradox).

Thanks for stopping by…

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SITE TODAY AND RECEIVE A BUNDLE OF INSPIRATIONAL BOOKS AND WALLPAPERS — 100% FREE

For more reading material on my ‘Ancient Egyptian Theories’:What Ancient Egyptians Can Teach Us About DNA and Cloning

What Ancient Egyptians Can Teach Us About Balance of the Sexes

And just throwing this one in for good measure:

4 Things Travel Can Teach Us About Avoidance

What You Need to Know About Desperation and Manifestation

Travels and Learnings

I always find that my travels around the world are not only inspirational but I also learn so much more about cultural dynamics.

My trip to Egypt was no different.

I had a wonderful adventure and fulfilled a life-long dream to visit Egypt’s many ancient wonders (which I will be sure to blog about in the weeks to come) but I have decided to start the ‘Egypt Blog’s’ off with one of the less positive aspects of my trip.

The Tourist Trap

The most unfortunate of my experiences was the down-right invasive nature of the Egyptian peddlers and vendors at the ancient sites.  For those of you who have been to Egypt, you most certainly will know what I am talking about.  For those who haven’t visited this spectacular country, let me explain:

The government allows these hawkers entrance to all the major sites — they charge a kind of rent for these vendors to access the tourists.  The only trouble is they have absolutely no sense of personal space, what the word ‘no’ means, a sense of when to quit, etiquette or customer relations and don’t get me started on invasiveness!

You cannot take in the splendour of these ancient awe-inspiring monuments because you are being chased by these desperate peddlers.  They seem to see  you as dollar signs and won’t take no for an answer.  Even if you agree to purchase something off them, they try to sell you more than what you need and it is hard to get your change out of them.

Keep Your Head Down and Your Nose Clean

Our tour guide advised us to keep our heads down, don’t make eye contact, say nothing — do not engage in conversation on pain of death.  This is easier said than done, especially if you are South African.  We find it very rude not to greet or make eye-contact, never mind ignore someone if they ask you a question.

But the words of our guide were indeed words of pure wisdom.  If you even look one of these men in the eye they can follow you for miles, pushing clothes and scarves on you and sometimes even throwing them over your shoulder and demanding payment.  They become very aggressive very quickly too when things don’t go their way.

Surely the tourism board should have picked up on this by now?  I watched a Michael Palin documentary the other night, that was filmed in the 90’s where they were taking the Mickey out of these sellers for doing exactly the same thing.  Some things never change.

But enough about me venting this unfortunate tourist pet-hate, this blog has got a point.

Desperation Leads to Repulsion

After many hours of deliberating this, I realised that their desperate attempts at making money were actually repelling their own trade.

Our whole group as a whole said that if it weren’t for their pushy and annoying way of trading, that they would actually buy their wares.  So, why don’t they get this?

Well, it all boils down to the universal law of attraction and repulsion.  When you are desperate for something, your very desperation pushes what you want further away from you.

I have the utmost compassion for these traders as I know that their ‘rent’ is high and they need to make money to support themselves and their families but what they are doing is counterproductive.

But let’s take ourselves out of Egypt and apply this to any persons situation.

Lack vs Flow

The more desperately you want something the more your frequency will be that of lack.  So, your emotional body is emitting not that which you desire (let’s say money, in this case) even though that is what you may think you are primarily affirming, it is not.  Your lack will be what you are sending out into the cosmos and, you guessed it, that is what will be magnetically attracted back to you.  You will be drawing in more of your lack frequency.

So, how do you stop feeling lack when you want something?

Surrender to Divine Flow.  When you surrender to your circumstance and trust that all will be well, you no longer are fighting against the current — you are allowing yourself to be gently carried by the stream of Divine Flow.  This does not mean that you do nothing to realise a goal, do what you can and let the universe take care of the rest.

The least resistance will allow you into the slipstream of flow whereas desperation will see you struggling against the current.

What are you struggling with? 

Is there anything you are having a hard time trying to fathom or understand about your circumstance? 

Can you see how your emotional vibration is more potent than just your thought stream?

4 Things Travel Can Teach Us About Avoidance

Talk About Denial!

After last weeks blog,”Mirror, mirror on the wall — who’s in the most denial of us all?”, I am literally going to be in de-nial — or rather ‘de Nile’ — this time next week.

It’s my first trip to Egypt and I am both excited and extremely anxious.  My husband keeps reporting the daily news from Cairo, which adds to my nervous disposition towards the tension and build-up to the new presidential elections in Egypt this month.  However, I keep on reminding myself that I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl.

By the way, the picture above was taken by my grandfather, Harry Roe, during World War 2 (he was stationed in Egypt) — quite remarkable, isn’t it?  There’s another picture further down, taken from the banks of the Nile.

Back to the article.

The Last Minute

So, this trip was booked spontaneously about a month ago and I thought I had a lot more time to sort things out than I actually do.

Now that it comes to the crunch, I have actually been putting a lot of stuff off.  Of course, I have been doing all the nice things like buying new sandals and planning my trip to the salon for some heavy-duty waxing but when it comes to the more pressing details, well, those are on my ‘to do’ list in my head.

Realizations and Deadlines

Without having to drag you through the nuts and bolts of my checklist, I am going to get straight to the point of this blog and go for the jugular — the things we don’t want to face but inevitably have to.

Besides having to purchase sunscreen and alert the neighbours of my departure, what have I been putting off?

  • Drawing up a will — yeah, I know, a tad bit dramatic?  Certainly, but also necessary.  I don’t have a will in place and if, God forsake, my husband and I should not return, we will have left our family in a bit of a pickle with regards to who gets what.  We don’t have children or debt (thankfully) but we do have pets, which I would like to see well looked after, etc.
  • Financial Planning — Yup, that old humdinger — and let’s face it, who wants to think about that?  We are both self-employed and a 10 day vacation also means a 10 day unpaid vacation.  So we need a game plan to see us through this month and to re-enter a new month when we get back.
  • Care-Givers — With pets (and for many of you who can’t travel with your children) this step of the process is sometimes the hardest.  Having to leave your dear ones in the care of others and planning for their needs while you are away.  I, thankfully, have a good friend who house and pet-sits for me but it is still one of those things that you only face or start to think about closer to the time and pray that all goes well.
  • Documents — I’m not even going to go into this one because it’s red-tape boring!  You know the type, visa’s, passports, itineraries, blah blah…

Can you see why I have been experiencing a tiny little bit of denial?  Most of these things aren’t easy to face or think about.  Not that I advocate dwelling on anything that doesn’t make you feel good but, inevitably, some of these things do need to have a strategy or plan in place for your peace of mind.

Putting Things In Place

Like the thought of leaving your pets, I wish I could explain to them that I will be back but, alas, you can’t.  The last time I went on holiday, my cat sulked at us for days!

Or the thought of who you are going to leave things to in  your will.  The truth is that if you don’t, your loved ones will be left to sort this out and surely you don’t want to instigate squabbling on your behalf.

Setting your finances straight really is a drag but, again, you will have peace of mind whilst you are away — isn’t it worth it in the long run?  Work a little harder now to have time to put  your feet up later.

And, lastly, documents — just do it.  No use griping about it.  Accept what is and you’ll find it is finalized before you know it.

Right, now that I have got that off my chest, I will leave you in peace to enjoy the rest of your Thursday…just remember, tie up those loose ends so you can get on with the joy of living!

Motivating Update:  I set aside my weekend to start ‘wrapping’ these things up.  You won’t believe how quick it was to tie up all these loose ends!  It literally took me a couple of hours and I had most of it done.

I’m now starting to feel the anxiety slip away and a sense of excitement taking its place!

Question Time

What is it that you put off until the last-minute when you go away?

What, in general, are you putting off now that you know will make an improvement on your life if you did it?

What is stopping you from setting your affairs in order?

Come on, be honest.

UPDATE:  I am back from Egypt, you can see my blogs here:

Come Journey Through Picturesque Egypt With Me

Bizarre Contrasts: McDonalds and Karnak Temple, Egypt!

What You Need to Know About Desperation and Manifestation

 

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Painting the Windows of the Soul — Eyes

Look into my Eyes

There is nothing more captivating than looking into the eyes of a living creature.  So much can be said without words when you look into someone or somethings eyes.

They are said to be the windows of the soul and for good reason — eyes are so expressive.  And it is every artists desire to captivate the onlooker, with a pair of fixating eyes.

“Sometimes I could swear I see the eyes ‘flicker’ or move.  He says I definitely ensnared a bit of his soul in there.”

Look at the Mona Lisa — her eyes follow you around the room.  What a fantastic genius Leonardo was!

Below, you will find a painting of my husband — this one really creeps both of us out a bit.  It is hanging in our bedroom and it is so much like Mike that we both feel it has a certain ‘Dorian Gray’ feel to it.  Sometimes I could swear I see the eyes ‘flicker’ or move.  He says I definitely ensnared a bit of his soul in there.

The Egyptians and Kohl

The ancient Egyptians used to burn Frankincense and make kohl from the ash using water.  They would then paint it around their eyes,  supposedly because they wanted to carry the protection of the Gods with them — most likely a tribute to the God Horus.  Very interesting to ‘frame’ your eyes.  They seemed to think it was an important feature, enough to highlight it anyway.

Back to the Art…

Here are some of my paintings that have the ‘captivating eyes’ theme:

Thanks for looking!

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