I have struggled with creating a meaningful Spirit Doll for 2020. I wanted her/him to bring hope and healing to these turbulent times, as well as joy and magic.
Finally, I present, ‘Iris of the Rainbows’, the first in a series of Art/Spirit Dolls created especially for 2020.
‘Blue skies and rain are the realm of Iris, The Rainbow Faerie. She dwells at the meeting of air (the element of the mind) and water (the element of emotion). She sits, rainbow-hued wings outspread, suspended in midair, partially wrapped in her deep-sky draperies and crowned with Iris blossoms. The fiery faery archers tip their arrows in her potent handful of iridescent light, firing their arrows, they send polychromatic rays into the storm, bringing light to dismal skies and darkened hearts.
Beneath the Rainbow Faerie, the amphibious creatures of a wet earth crouch. The faery frog maiden peers out from her shelter at the storm wracked world, while the sun is dimly seen above Iris’s head. Sturdy pot-bellied gnomes, their toes rooted in the earth, all-most especially, Iris herself- are fully absorbed in the task of reclaiming the bright sky from the dark storm.
In her hand, the light of heaven’s bow looks a fragile thing, yet it is the light of hope, the promise of healing and joy to come, and that is one of the most powerful things there is.
Iris tells us that light is breaking through our present darkness, and that hope is a powerful factor in speeding up this process. She does not promise us that the storm is over, nor does she say that it will never storm again, but she does say that there is brightness and beauty here. She also tells us that there is something to be gained by this passage through the storm. And, the sooner we learn what it is, the sooner the storm will end.
As always, a passage through the storm is a time of potential growth, a time to allow the dead wood of our past to be blown away to make room for the green shoots of new growth. It is useful to ask ourselves at this point, what we still need to release, and to look after protecting and nurturing the seeds we have planted.
Iris reminds us, in these difficult times, to remember our aspirations, to consider who it is we are trying to become, and to hold those images surrounded by her prismatic light in our minds as we pass through this time of darkness. All times of hardship offer us the challenge to grow, or to diminish. The choice is ours...but, Iris is ready to lighten our path if we accept her offering into our hearts. No storm, no darkness lasts forever.’
*(some descriptions of this spirit doll from Brian Froud’s The Faeries Oracle’
* Iris of the Rainbows is, of course, for sale in our Etsy store. Www.rhinestonegypsy.etsy.com (Creative credit also goes to my artist partner, Kristin Gannon, who helps make each and every doll.)
