Another Shamanic Weekend, All Things Goddess--and Artist Shepard Fairey

This weekend I'm participating in another workshop on shamanism. This will be the 4th of 7 workshops, all based on the chakras. We're now at the heart chakra, which apparently has some goddess connections. Don't ask me to explain--I'm sure I'll understand once it's over! In preparation, we've been asked to identify 13 goddesses in our own lives, women who have taught us important lessons. We've also been asked to use the moon as a focus in our meditations.

So I've been rummaging around online, collecting goddess images that appeal to me, when I came across the image above. Titled "Peace Goddess," it was created by Shepard Fairey, perhaps now best known for his iconic "Hope" poster of Barack Obama. He also created the "Defend Equality/Love Unites" image for gay marriage seen in my sidebar to the right.

In thinking about goddesses, his image stand out to me from what you typically see in Western culture--some airy, fairy (no pun intended) semi-naked woman cavorting with critters in some idealized Celtic forest. That's all fine and well, but I like that Fairey's "Peace Goddess" looks directly at you, conveying wisdom, strength and resolve. And we don't need to see her naughty bits to know she's special, regal and worthy of adoration. Ironically, she doesn't look all that peaceful, does she?

And then I got totally distracted. I actually know very little about Fairey, but depending on who ask, he's either a sell-out or a genius, a plagiarist or the next Warhol. He started out as a street graffiti artist who now has his own clothing line and major exhibits of his work. And just to "keep it real," perhaps, he still gets arrested for "tagging."

Well, good for him. But there's something about his images that speak to me. Some say his work too closely mimics the artistic styles of Nazi and Soviet propaganda (making it off limits?). Which is interesting to me, since I wrote a paper years ago on how such art was used by these regimes to help spread their political messages.

But back to goddesses! Thanks, Shepard, for providing me with a modern goddess that I don't have to be embarrassed to admire.