SACRED GEOMETRY
In 2019, three female shamans travelled from South Korean to my home in the Cascade Mountains. The head shaman, Kim Junghee, is a mansin, a master of one thousand spirits. She led a traditional Naerim Gut, a ceremony to initiate me as a shaman.
In 2019, three female shamans travelled from South Korean to my home in the Cascade Mountains. The head shaman, Kim Junghee, is a mansin, a master of one thousand spirits. She led a traditional Naerim Gut, a ceremony to initiate me as a shaman.
All photographs by Rich Levitt.
After initiation, I began to experience plants differently. Before, I could feel the energy fields of trees. This aura feels kind of like a pleasant, welcoming pressure as I walk towards them. After the Naerim Gut, I could see/feel energy fields around plants and flowers. In a sketchbook, I tried to visually represent what this radiant, emanating energy felt like.
After initiation, I began to experience plants differently. Before, I could feel the energy fields of trees. This aura feels kind of like a pleasant, welcoming pressure as I walk towards them. After the Naerim Gut, I could see/feel energy fields around plants and flowers. In a sketchbook, I tried to visually represent what this radiant, emanating energy felt like.
Yet, I wasn't satisfied with the representation. As I made drawings and paintings of the garden, at Botanica gardens in Wichita and in my garden at home, I asked myself repeatedly: "How do I represent the magical power of the garden? Of plants and flowers? How do I integrate my elemental shamanic being into physical artworks that can be shared with my audience? How do I construct a window where you can glimpse this world?"
In January, 2024, I was editing a chapter on the art audience as shamanic community, for a forthcoming anthology entitled Science, The Sacred, and the Arts, Cambridge Scholars, UK. Suddenly, many points of inspiration connected and took form. I began playing and experimenting with details of garden paintings and created the following images. The radiating design well presents the energy I experience in nature.
In January, 2024, I was editing a chapter on the art audience as shamanic community, for a forthcoming anthology entitled Science, The Sacred, and the Arts, Cambridge Scholars, UK. Suddenly, many points of inspiration connected and took form. I began playing and experimenting with details of garden paintings and created the following images. The radiating design well presents the energy I experience in nature.
1. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). That which is Emergent.
2. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). The Radiant Lotus.
3. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). The Mother. We are Born of The Earth.
4. Denita Benyshek (2024). Kuan Yin in The Garden.
5. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). Portal to the Night Garden.
6. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). The Wondrous Here Now.
7. Denita Benyshek (January 20, 2024). The Circle of Love.
8. Denita Benyshek (January 25, 2024), From the Center.
9. Denita Benyshek (January 25, 2024). From The Earth to The Sky.
10. Denita Benyshek (January 25, 2024). The Night Hawk.
11. Denita Benyshek (January 26, 2024). The Path Between Yesterday and Tomorrow.
12. Denita Benyshek (February 3, 2024). The Path Between Worlds.
13. Denita Benyshek (February 4, 2024), Welcome Child.
14. Denita Benyshek (February 4, 2024), When I Heard the Stars Sing.
15. Denita Benyshek (February 5, 2024), Visitant.
16. Denita Benyshek (February 5, 2024), Danae.
17. Denita Benyshek (February 5, 2024), The Walled Garden.
18. Denita Benyshek (February 6, 2024), I was of Two Minds like a Tree in which there are Two Blackbirds.
19. Denita Benyshek (February 7, 2024), Giordino Segreto (Secret Garden).
20. Denita Benyshek (February 20, 2024), In Persephone's Mirror.
21. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), The Prophetess.
22. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), Four Songs of the Star Farmers.
23. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), Zeus in the Eye of the Storm, I.
24. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), Maria Goeppert Gazing at Clouds (Fission).
25. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), Entrance: Multiplicity.
27. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024), The Lake is The Gate, to The Sky.
28. Denita Benyshek (February 22, 2024). Yes or No? Stay or Go?
29. Denita Benyshek (February 26, 2024), In the Tradition of the Poet, Enheduanna.
30. Denita Benyshek (February 28, 2024), The Target for the Arrow of Time: Still and Unchanging Moons.
31. Denita Benyshek (March 1, 2024), Night Music.
32. Denita Benyshek (March 1, 2024). The Four Directions, Turning and Still.
33. Denita Benyshek (March 3, 2024), Commingled Imaginations.
34. Denita Benyshek (March 3, 2024), What Our Teachers Know.
35. Denita Benyshek (March 3, 2024), In the Center of the Map (L'Origine du Monde).
36. Denita Benyshek (March 3, 2024), Discovering the Center of the Universe.
37. Denita Benyshek (March 3, 2024).
In a Lake, in the
Sky, Sunset
when a God Appeared.
In a Lake, in the
Sky, Sunset
when a God Appeared.
38. Denita Benyshek (March 5, 2024), Venus above the Western Horizon.
39. Denita Benyshek (March 5, 2024), Poppies near our Waterfall.
40. Denita Benyshek (March 7, 2024), Living in the Realm of Potential.
41. Denita Benyshek (March 7, 2024), The Queen and her Attendants.
42. Denita Benyshek (March 7, 2024), Our Secret Oasis.
43. Denita Benyshek (March 15, 2024), Reverberations.
44. Denita Benyshek (March 16, 2024), Rain Willow I.
45. Denita Benyshek (March 16, 2024), Rain Willow II.
46. Denita Benyshek (March 16, 2024), In a Meadow, Watching Clouds.
47. Denita Benyshek (March 16, 2024), Rose Garden in the Mountains.
48. Denita Benyshek (March 16, 2024), Whispering and Listening.
48. Denita Benyshek (March 17, 2024), Approaching a Region of the SpaceTime.
49. Denita Benyshek (March 17, 2024), Palindrome.
50. Denita Benyshek (March 17, 2024), Signal.
51. Denita Benyshek (March 18, 2024), I Lay Down Golden in Time, and Woke Up Vanishing.
The title is a line from Joni Mitchell's lyrics for "Sweet Bird."
The title is a line from Joni Mitchell's lyrics for "Sweet Bird."
52. Denita Benyshek (March 19, 2024), Convergence.
53. Denita Benyshek (March 19, 2024), For my Neighbors, Brenda and Ted.
54. Denita Benyshek (March 19, 2024), Night Fountains.
55. Denita Benyshek (March 19, 2024), Planetary Egg.
56. Denita Benyshek (March 18, 2024), Rain in the Forest.
57. Denita Benyshek (March 25, 2024). The Eye of the Storm.
Oil pastel on black cotton rag paper, 22.25 x 26.75"
Oil pastel on black cotton rag paper, 22.25 x 26.75"
58. Denita Benyshek (March 19, 2024), A Delicate Mystery Revealed.
59. Denita Benyshek (March 11, 2024), Continental Divide (Arizona Quartet).
60. Denita Benyshek (March 12, 2024), Observing the Intersection of Light.