AWB Blog Special Blog Items ASTROArts Blog Izabela Oldak - AstroArtist of the Month (Blog 2 of 3)
- Published: Monday, February 23 2015 13:54
Neptune's mist, 40x80cm, acrylic on canvas, 2014
In September last year, I participated in an outdoor painting workshop in Świętokrzyskie Mountains. The most famous top was called the Bald Mountain and it was known as the place of Slavic cult and afterwards the witch Sabbaths. Until now among the trees there is about 2 km long ring built of rocks, which served as a cult shaft, or as the legend says it is a reminiscence of Gontyna (a Slavic temple). In the beginning of XI century the monks built a monastery inside the ring, and after many reconstruction the church is still there, attracting many pilgrimages.
I was fascinated with the stories and legends from this region, especially the ones regarding the rituals made in the middle of the forest, on the top of this magical mountain. What amazed me even more were the most incredible mists which could stay around the top for few days. This made me to understand from where all these stories about witches and devils came from. Every little shadow or a light saw in that mist could already feed our imagination and either attract or create a fear.
In many cultures over the world and its myths the mist and the fog are elements bound to the meaning of mystery- the unknown, as well as the confusion, loss or wander. Both of them are created by water droplets, differing only in their overall locations and density. They are attached to the element of Water and Air, and they also symbolise negative effect of Neptune planet upon us.
Bald Mountain, Åysa Góra,120x 80cm, acrylic on canvas, 2014
During my stay in that place I painted two painting depicting the mountain. On one I painted the cross- an emblem of catholic religion which took over Slavic believes embodied in the other painting in the symbol of swastika. To this one I also added many clouds and fog, because to me Slavic mythology so as their believes seems very mysterious until now.
Bald Mountain, Åysa Góra,120x 80cm, acrylic on canvas, 2014
After those experiences I started to pay more attention to that particular phenomenon. This winter gave me many opportunities to observe the fog. The most unique experience I had was when during one afternoon I was walking with my dog on the fields totally covered with snow. The fog was really thick and soon it started to snow. I had an impression to go into nothingness, into the white. I can't explain the feeling but to me it was very transcendental moment. The biggest surprise was when I discovered the trees and little forest which I did not recognize. It turned out that I am in totally other place than I was going to.
Into the mist, 60x90cm, acrylic on canvas, 2015
At that time I was reading books written by Carlos Castaneda. Therefore this adventure was not just normal feeling of being lost in the mist, but totally realistic impression that I was truly transported by the fog to another place. In his books it is an important tool for an adept of magic. The fog has not only the abilities to move but also a potential to transit between the worlds and materialise energetic bodies. Castaneda was a student of Don Juan, a very powerful Nagual from Yaqui tribe. One of his first tasks was to lose his identity which is building pride, enlarging ego and for that using too much of energy. Don Juan advised him to lose importance, by creating a fog around him and his life. So that nobody will know for sure who he is or what he does. Not even himself.
This is what he told him:
"Nothing can be taken for granted, until nothing is any longer for sure, or real. (..) We only have two alternatives; we either take everything for sure and real, or we don't. If we follow the first, we end up bored to death with ourselves and with the world. If we follow the second and erase personal history, we create a fog around us, a very exciting and mysterious state in which nobody knows where the rabbit will pop out, not even ourselves. When nothing is for sure we remain alert, perennially on our toes. It is more exciting not to know which bush the rabbit is hiding behind than to behave as though we know everything."
Carlos Castaneda - Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, 1972
Lake, 40x80cm, acrylic on canvas, 2015.JPG
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