black, white, lace, metal...just a plant picked in the yard, covered with white gesso and put on the cardboard, like a stamp...

a bit like these exvoto you see under some statues like St Sarah...A prayer offered by women to....

the feminine symbol

and the words in chinese:
WOMAN
LAMP
RICE
SOUL

Yin and yang... I took the same plant, put back gesso on it and stamp the second cardboard...used the same symbols...blood and red...and some lace to soften life.

"Can you give birth and still let go?
Can you nourish others and continue to take care of yourself?
Can you show others the way without losing your own ?
Can you provide safety yet dare to risk the unknown?
Can you calm the fears of children while embracing your own?
Everything you touch changes
You change everything you touch...
The process is creation"


from The Tao for Women

Went to the cinema...

Boxes

by and with Jane Birkin...

...a house somewhere in Brittany, by the sea...a woman among boxes...and life , memories coming back, men she loves, children she had, parents, old friends and acquaintances...dialogues sometimes in English, sometimes in French...
... and I laughed and cried, cried as much as the woman sitting behind me...a beautiful film, really moving and deep...I read somewhere: "you must know Jane Birkin's life well to understand it"...It's not true...I do know part of her biography, but there's much more in the film...
the story of women...relationships between women and daughters...one of the strongest sentence is:
"Ma, am I pretty? Am I what you expected me to be?"
we all wish to ask our mum that question...
we all wish her to answer: "yes"...even if she lies...
but what will our answer be when children ask us...
such terrible question, so difficult...so full of hope and fear...
all our life lies here...
and actresses, such extraordinary women, naked and old and thin and young and so beautiful and such poor bodies...and alhzeimer near, and napkins for old ones...naked bodies wearing scars and spots and wrinkles...but so extraordinary beautiful...so dignified...
Thank you Jane, thank you so much...

Christina of Markyate

Also known as: Saint Theodora, Christina the Recluse

Born with the name of Theodora, her family tried to marry her to a man named Burthred after she resisted a seduction by the chief justice of England. But Christina had already taken a vow of virginity, deciding on a visit to St. Albans to become a nun. Her parents attempted to marry her to a nobleman, Burthred. Christina was pressured into betrothal but resisted consummation of the marriage, even an attempt by her young husband to force her.
She suffered persecution from her family for her stance. She finally escaped and ran away, staying with a nearby anchoress, Alfwen, hiding there for two years. After that, she took refuge with a monk, Roger, at St. Albans, still continuing to hide to escape her family and Burthred. Roger became her spiritual mentor. Finally, Burthred gave up his quest, and released her from her betrothal vows.

When Roger died, four years after Christina arrived there, he left the hut to her. The Archbishop of York took her under protection. She took up a hermit's life at Roger's hut, though not shut up as an anchoress. In 1131 she took formal vows. Geoffrey of Dunstable (d. 1146) founded a community at Markyate for Christina, whom he considered his teacher and friend. More women gathered around her, and in 1145 a house was built to house the larger community.
In the 1150s, a story of her life was published, probably by a chaplain serving her community, including her life story and an account of her visions. The manuscript was found by C.H. Talbot in the British Library and published in 1959. A St Albans Psalter which she used survives. The community survived until Henry VIII dissolved it along with other monasteries in England.

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So many great women I have to discover...