CASIMIRA

CASIMIRA
HERstory through ART
With words and images, I am telling my story.

Through art, I am remembering HERstory...

I've been blogging daily since 2007.

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Updated Daily: January 2007 - February 2020

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Monday, April 25

king of pain


the snake dressed in orchid petals
with a parasol to protect from rain
she set off to find the king of pain

he would recognize her by her crown
he would baptize her and make her his queen
Queen of the Snakes...

excerpt from a short story published in 2007

Sunday, April 24

bigger than oneself

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
- Joseph Campbell

Saturday, April 23

if a tall welcoming tree could smile


His face appeared to have been carved from ancient stone. His voice was a faint whisper. The Native American Medicine Man passed on these commandments:

Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect.

Remain close to the Great Spirit.

Show great respect for your fellow beings.

Work together for the benefit of all mankind.

Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.

Do what you know to be right.

Look after the well being of mind and body.

Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.

Be truthful and honest at all times.

Take full responsibility for your actions.

a true story originally published in 2007

Friday, April 22

mother earth

"Forget not that the EARTH delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." - Kahlil Gibran

Thursday, April 21

blessings

"Earth Mother teach me of my kin,

Of Hawk, and Dove and flower,

Of blinding sunlight, shady knoll,

Desert wind and morning showers.

Teach me every language of

The creatures that sing to me,

That I may count the cadence of

Infinite lessons in harmony.

Teach me how to honor

The Sacred Spaces of all,

Gently melding with the whole,

Answering the whippoorwill’s call.

Steamy tropics to glacial ice,

To thundering ocean tides,

In every grain of desert sands,

Your beauty forever abides.

Oh, Mother of every kingdom,

Let me claim my family’s love,

From the whales of deepest oceans,

To the Winged-ones, high above.

Expand my limited vision

Until I can truly know

The missions of my Relations

And the blessings they bestow."

-Jamie Sams © 1994

Wednesday, April 20

a clear message

"Be patient.  Respond to every call that excites your spirit.  Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back toward disease and death." - RUMI

Tuesday, April 19

in truth the soul

"Oh soul, you worry too much. You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your golden wings. Of anything less, why do you worry? You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.” - RUMI

Monday, April 18

believe

do you believe in prayer? do you believe in miracles? do you believe in love? not just romantic love, not just physical chemistry, but unconditional love?

do you believe in forgiveness?

do you believe?

I'll believe for you today...

Sunday, April 17

madre luna

mother moon guides, in all her fullness...

madre luna, madre mia...

Saturday, April 16

machista infidelities

La princesa guajira querĂ­a venganza.

El indio malcriado la habĂ­a traicionado con otra – otra quien no merecĂ­a nombre.


excerpt from fictional short story about machista infidelities, originally published in 2007

Friday, April 15

betrayal

el perdĂłn y la memoria, amantes que se traiciĂłnan...

forgiveness and memory, lovers who betray each other...

- excerpt from a series of writings from 2008 and 2009

Thursday, April 14

are you in touch with Her?

Venus: a planet, a goddess, an energy close to the sun and bright as the moon...daughter of heaven and sea, love and sensuality...

Are you in touch with your inner Venus?

Wednesday, April 13

let light shine

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Marianne Williamson (b. 1952)

I woke up with this quote in my thoughts, from my dreams perhaps...

Tuesday, April 12

from my journals


lleva olas del mar en sus caderas, lleva luz de luna en sus sonrisas

Monday, April 11

what do you see? what do you feel?

mixed media by my 2-year-old

"I have a feeling that in art the need to understand and the need to communicate are one."
- Hedda Sterne (1910-2011)

Sunday, April 10

toddler art

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Saturday, April 9

gratitude, miracles & celebration


"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

today, let us celebrate every single moment

today, let us be grateful for every single miracle


PHOTOGRAPH: from a series taken at the nursing home in Rivas during dance lessons organized through Future of Nicaragua Foundation's cultural programs

Friday, April 8

rain dance

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”
- Roger Miller (1936-1992)

...join me in a little dance under raindrops...

Thursday, April 7

dreaming

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.  Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." - Gloria Steinem

Wednesday, April 6

secret of living

"Make each day a magnificent adventure.  Accept the challenges that come your way.  Seize each opportunity that you find, without concern for what others might say.  Experience each day with open arms, savoring both victory and strife, welcoming the good and bad together, for only then will you know the joy of life." - Anonymous

found amongst old letters this morning

Tuesday, April 5

dream

...living in a luxurious chateau in France....André Breton came to visit and we discussed my art, my writing...


Words make love with one another.
- André Breton (1896-1966)

excerpt from a dream

Monday, April 4

casimira: irreplaceable

"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."
- Coco Chanel (1883 - 1971)

Sunday, April 3

casimira: love & beauty

"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." - RUMI

Saturday, April 2

casimira: Marilyn Monroe


"I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it." - Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962)

Friday, April 1

yes

I want to know if you will risk looking like a FOOL for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive... - Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Thursday, March 31

casimira: guided, moment by moment


Who are the wise women in your life? When do you seek their counsel? The wise women speak to me through dreams and symbols. There are no coincidences...I am being guided, moment by moment.
"In the ancient way of being, the earth not only creates, feels, and protects life, but like a mother, whispers through natural signs and images the secret knowledge of how body, mind, emotions and spirit work upon each other in an intricate, invisible weaving."
- Johanna Lambert from "Wise Women of the Dreamtime"

Wednesday, March 30

casimira: Isis

"I am Isis, mistress of the whole land...I am she who separated the heaven from the earth. I have instructed mankind in the mysteries...I have ordered the course of the sun and the moon. I am queen of the rivers and winds and sea...I have made justice more powerful than silver and gold. I have caused truth to be considered beautiful. I am she who is called the Goddess of women..."
- excerpt from the Inscription on The Temple of Isis at Sais

Tuesday, March 29

blossom

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

Monday, March 28

casimira: Georgia O'Keeffe

"To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage."
- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 – 1986)

Sunday, March 27

casimira: Amelia Earhart

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace, the soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things."
- Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)

Saturday, March 26


in loving memory of Capi Renoir
March 16, 1946 - March 25, 2011

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are, knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle in your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to SING, DANCE, PRAISE and LOVE. It is there for each and every one of us."

excerpt from Capi's last email message to me

Friday, March 25

casimira: Capi Renoir

"Merci mon ange..." - Capi Renoir (1946-2011)

Thursday, March 24

casimira: Elizabeth Taylor

"True glamour comes from within...it radiates from the soul."
- Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Wednesday, March 23

casimira: Elizabeth Taylor

"I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them."
-Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Tuesday, March 22

casimira: Emily Greene Balch

"Let us be patient with one another, and even patient with ourselves. We have a long, long way to go. So let us hasten along the road, the road of human tenderness and generosity. Groping, we may find one another's hands in the dark." - Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961)

Monday, March 21

casimira: Isadora Duncan

"The dancer of the future will be one whose body and soul have grown so harmoniously together that the natural language of that soul will have become the movement of the body. The dancer will not belong to a nation but to all humanity. She will dance not in the form of a nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette but in the form of a woman in its greatest and purest expression. She will realize the mission of woman's body and the holiness of all its parts. She will dance the changing life of nature, showing how each part is transformed into the other. From all parts of her body shall shine radiant intelligence, bringing to the world the message of the thoughts and aspirations of thousands of women. She shall dance the freedom of women ..."
- Isadora Duncan (1877 – 1927)

Sunday, March 20

casimira: Katherine Mansfield

"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth." - Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

Saturday, March 19

casimira: Audré Lorde

"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
- Audré Lorde (1934-1992)

Friday, March 18

casimira: Audrey Hepburn

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”
- Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993)

Thursday, March 17

casimira: Cleopatra

"Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought."
- Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (approximately 69 – 30 BC)

Wednesday, March 16

casimira: Makeda, Queen of Sheba

"Wisdom is sweeter than honey,brings more joy than wine, illumines more than the sun, is more precious than jewels. She causes the ears to hear and the heart to comprehend. I love her like a mother, and she embraces me as her own child. I will follow her footprints and she will not cast me away."
- Makeda, Queen of Sheba (ca. 960/1000 B.C.)

Tuesday, March 15

casimira: Martha Graham

"There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost."
- Martha Graham (1894-1991)

Monday, March 14

casimira: Zora Neale Hurston

"I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads."
- Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960)

Sunday, March 13

casimira: Lady Murasaki

"It may be difficult when someone you are especially fond of, someone beautiful and charming, has been guilty of an indiscretion, but magnanimity produces wonders."
- Lady Murasaki Shikibu (approximately 973 – 1025)

Saturday, March 12

casimira: AnaĂŻs Nin

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- AnaĂŻs Nin (1903-1977)

Friday, March 11

casimira: Josephine Baker

"I believe in prayer..."
- Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Thursday, March 10

casimira: Anne Frank


"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
- Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Wednesday, March 9

casimira: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

"Every moment one lives is different from the other. The good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love, and happiness are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called life."
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994)

Tuesday, March 8

casimira: Frida Kahlo

"What secret are you looking for?  Life will soon reveal it to you."
- Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

celebrating the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, grateful for all of the courageous, extraordinary women who have paved the way

Monday, March 7

casimira: Eleanor Roosevelt

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962)