My Personal Pantheon

This project has been very satistfying. It took some working-out in my journal before I made the art dolls.

My aim: To create a group of art doll deities to represent virtues and qualities I want to embrace in my life.

I knew there would be at least seven “humanoid shapes” of polymer clay, each labeled with a word, and when I came across the wooden cigar box liner with its ten compartments, I decided that would be as good a reason as any for settling on ten virtues.

First I generated my own list of virtues to audition for the group. Then I went on a little internet excursion to Wikipedia to look up “virtues”. That introduced some new ideas from different cultures and helped me settle on the final words to use for each deity.

LOVE & COMPASSION: The mother of all virtues is unconditional love.

WISDOM: Wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge have always been highly valued in my family and I read or listen to audio books every day. I also do a lot of journaling and blogging, which both help me consolidate my life lessons.

INTEGRITY: Honesty and behaving honorably - these are very important to me. I cannot abide being lied to. I abhor it in myself when I stoop to tell a fib.

VITALITY: This deity reminds me to eat healthy, live healthy, be healthy. When I am fit and well I have vitality and can achieve all I desire.

ABUNDANCE: I struggled to find the right word to encapsulate “generosity”, “resourcefulness” and “gratitude for all I have”. I think if I maintain a sense of abundance in my life, all these things fall naturally into place.

MINDFULNESS: The Buddhist concept of bringing one’s mind back to the present moment. I go through periods of extreme “mind chatter”. My thoughts drift back to unpleasant conversations, or I have angry or judgemental thoughts. My perceptions are not always true, of course! This “right thinking” could be the virtue I most need to cultivate.

SURRENDER: Some might call this “faith”. I like the idea of letting go, surrendering to a higher, nobler power. This is also a way to engender peace in one’s life.

SERVICE: How do I serve others? What do I give, and how do I give it, and who benefits?

HUMILITY: The constant battle with my ego. An aura reader once told me my life lesson is about developing humility. I don’t doubt it. Life isn’t always about being right, or making someone else wrong. So why do I keep forgetting that?

JOY: We all want to be happy, baby. We all want to feel good.

This post relates to Art Dolls number 18-28, My Personal Pantheon , March 08, by Stacey Apeitos.)