Flag Oracle #22 - The invisible strings in a rocky education
and an opportunity to see me and my art in person
Hello friends,
Curiosity is a big driver in my life, but it’s often turned inward. If I look closer—at myself, at my work, at another—what more can I see? Choosing where to look closely is perhaps the biggest dilemma of modern life. Confronted with so many distractions, we can forget to look beyond the surface—how did something get to be the way it is? How can more deeply engaging with a place or a thing change our point of view?
I know for certain that I miss most of what goes on in the forest simply because I have not studied ecology, botany, or wildlife biology. I can, however, look at what I see and consider its effects on my inner world, which is the essence of the Flag Oracle. Let’s look at the cards.
On this day in Cataract Canyon, the angle of the sun revealed a surprising number of spiderwebs not normally visible in the forest canopy. These invisible strings are an important part of the forest ecosystem—managing insects, protecting trees, and feeding birds.
Invisible strings surround us all the time, such as the string of events that led to you reading this email right now. Sometimes we can see the strings, sometimes we cannot.
In domestic environments, the invisible strings of cobwebs must be managed. Are there cobwebs in your life that need to be cleared out? Strings of connection or belief you’re hanging onto for no good reason?
This card is an invitation to examine the web you find yourself in. Is it joyful, generative, and good for the forest? Or is this web a domestic nuisance, indicating it’s time to clear the cobwebs? As you look at the threads of connection, what’s obvious to strengthen, or to pull out? Ask for greater awareness to see connections that you hadn’t before. Look until you feel a sense of rightness, when you can proceed with No Questions.
Despite the expansive view, the rocky ground underneath the Growing Up flag at the City View site is no place for a picnic. Here, I paid homage to my teachers, professors, and instructors who devoted themselves to opening the minds of others.
Formal education is often a much easier place to learn than the life school you may find yourself in now. The Growing Up flag reminds us that in life school, we learn in unexpected ways, from unexpected people, from unexpected events. Our formal education merges with our informal education to make us the people we will become.
In the Night position following the Invisible Strings card, Rocky Education invites you to appreciate the educational elements holding your life together. Are there Invisible Strings (things you learned or unfounded assumptions) that worked for a certain period of time that no longer hold true? Maybe it’s time to invite yourself to release these metaphorical cobwebs.
Alternatively, there may be Invisible Strings in the form of difficult lessons that can bring you to a new phase. Sometimes going through a rough patch provokes awareness, learning, and new ideas that make the next phase brighter. One day you may discover that you couldn’t have gotten where you did without that Rocky Education.
A physical example
My curiosity took over last weekend after investigating the Flag Oracle printing project and considering how I’d like to package the cards and the booklet. “What if I made bags out of the flag fabric?” I asked myself. Upon calculating how much fabric I would need for 50 bags, I thought, “What if I made flags first, exhibited them somewhere, and then turned them into bags?” So I decided to do a flag-to-bag experiment
The thread is gray (not quite Invisible Strings), and the two hours it took to make the flags and turn them into a bag proved to me that the idea (with a flag this detailed, anyway) is not scalable (my Rocky Education), but it did provoke some other ideas. And getting in front of the sewing machine put me in a good mood for two days.
May you let your curiosity get the best of you this week!
Love, Lee Ann
P.S. One 18” x 24” print of the six photographs below was chosen for the “California Mind” juried exhibition by the Marin Society of Artists. I’m delighted to have my work appear with 30 other local artists.
You’re invited to see which photo was chosen and meet me at the opening on June 14 from 5-8 pm at 1515 3rd Street San Rafael, CA. It’s part of the San Rafael 2nd Friday Art Walk, so make an evening of it! I’ll have the Flag Oracle in its magic bag with me.
P.P.S. Let me know if you have any ideas on outdoor locations to exhibit a series of small flags or long narrow banners!
Evolving into a variety of flags and a winning piece for the San Rafael Art Walk are new, enticing webs of creativity. Congrats!