Archangel for Sister Jean (Michael)

h 30'' x w 11''

pastel, charcoal, graphite, coloured pencil, acrylic on paper

available

Michael

1. the Blackening

I remember my life is wind

a place for struggle

a way through

snow coming down like ash

warnings, omens

messes, mistakes

Until my bones lie in the walls

death is in trouble now.

2. the Whitening

Daybreak

a different darkness

the impossiblity of knowing a whole truth

a folded sky and eight seasons

do not revert back to the nature of sorrow

3. the Reddening

to live as if all life were sacred

to live as if all life were loved

to live as if words meant something

to live as if life were a promise

to watch for beauty

feather, wing

eight million gods and a path of smoke

(Note: In alchemy, three steps alter lead into gold. In the blackening, the lead separates into the essential elements from which it was formed. It now no longer is present as lead. In the whitening, the metal that now exists is cleansed and completely purified af all other matter. In the final step, the reddening, the pure metal is mixed with a red powder formed from the philosophers stone. The mixing of these two elements, the purified metal and the powder, forms perfect pure gold. . . . .or so they say.)