Valerie McCarney – Four Images

The Light I Need to Share

Pencil on paper, Spring/Summer, 2011

I am in my childhood home with my first friend. (We are still friends.) We are about 10-12 years old and my home looks just like it did at that time. We walk around that house, then go outside and walk to her house around the corner. (We are now our current ages.) We just look at everything as if we were placed in the past, no one is out but the places are all as they were when the neighbors we knew lived there. We walk to the corner and notice the sky is grey, it looks like it is going to rain. We stand and look down the block and remember other friends who lived there. Although we were not talking, we knew each of us was remembering. Then we notice a big storm coming, the sky is getting really nasty looking, big grey clouds. The wind picks up; we run to her house. We go in and my current cats and dog are there. I let them in as the rain comes. I close the door and look around her house. It is just as I remember it as a child. I start to dust and clean up. Then I go to the door and open it to watch the storm. It is a really bad thunderstorm with huge bolts of lightening. I notice the lightening bolts are messages. I am watching but it is written in hieroglyphics and I do not know how to read it. Interesting that the light messages come big but cannot be deciphered!
 
My intention was to find the authentic light I need to share.
 
I just got up and did a quick pencil sketch to capture what I saw.

"I AM THE HEALING SHAMAN FOR A KING"

Pencil, colored pencil, pen, Spring/Summer 2011

I am in a cave. I am young and I am the healing shaman for the 12' king of ancient cave dwellers. The king reminds me of Kevin Kline. He comes to me because his son is coming home in a ship and he worries he will be lost at sea. He comes to me for my help. I paint a picture of a sea, then close my eyes and go into a meditation. As I do, the painting comes to life, like an ancient TV. We see the ship heading in. The seas are rough. It looks like he is going to hit rocks, so I move the ship away from the rocks and into calmer waters. The king is watching this happen as I meditate. When all is well, I open my eyes. He is very happy and he comes and kisses me. I am very attracted to him but my role is not as a courtesan. I see a young woman come by and the king follows her. She leads him out on the cliff side to make love. I rest after this experience when all of a sudden I hear screams. The enemy had seen him out there and shot a fiery arrow and killed him. My guard was down due to the energy used up in saving his son and I was not able to help him. I saw his body blow back into the cave. It was like a piece of burnt charcoal, but looking like he did alive. I went over to touch him and it disintegrated into ashes with my touch. I gathered them and put them into a piece of pottery. I was the one who would take them someplace to spread them. I am walking outside to do so when I see a little boy following me. I turn to look at him. He looks like Stymie from the little Rascals. I notice I spilled some of the ashes and now they look like wet coffee grounds. I wake up.

"The words are falling from my feet"

Pencil and pastel, Spring/Summer 2011

I am sitting on a marble bench in a beautiful park in an area with a circular group of marble busts of Einstein, Madame Curie , Louis Pasteur and a 1940's movie star. I sit in front of them, looking at them, when all of a sudden, they start to tell me all the secrets of the universe. I think, Oh no, I have no pen and paper will I remember this??? I am panicking trying to remember all of this. I wake up and grab my journal and run to the bathroom to write and as I am running I see all the words I wanted to remember falling out of my feet and bouncing on the floor.

The Village of Aragono

Black marker on paper, Spring/summer 2011

I am on vacation on an island, I think in the South Pacific. The village is called Aragono, or something like that. It's a lush green island with small cottages on it. You have to come in on a seaplane, which is very exciting. I can feel the air hit my face as we land on the water. We have no luggage, only back packs. We just jump into the water and get to shore. I notice each tree has a mask carved on it. I find out later it is because a serpent lives around the island and swims in these waters.
 
The masks protect them from the serpent coming on shore. I see the serpent and it seems harmless but I trust their judgment. I was glad it did not appear as we were landing and in the water. I go to the beach every day but always stay behind the masks. I feel safe behind the mask. An old woman comes up on the beach, walking in the water. I yell to her to be careful and stay behind the masks. She says to me, "There is no courage with out fear."

Copyright 2011: All work contained herein is protected by copyright. Neither words nor images may be used, copied, transmitted or reproduced in whole or in part in any form nor may they or any part thereof be stored in a retrieval system of any nature without written permission of the artist.