This week I’ve taken care of business — my jewelry business,
as I am hoping to wind it down and close shop this year.
(If my readers fall in love, note the 40% off using the code “SPECIAL”. Shameless plug.)
I want to make marks and work in our business and write…
This week I also repaired Mitchell’s necklaces, and created a new mala for myself.

Two weeks ago I drew my old mala, with the broken bee wing, below.
When I made that mala I chose rose quartz to open my heart to compassion, hematite for spiritual grounding, and clear quartz and turquoise to round out the directions.

This week’s BI journal was hardly touched BUT,
I had to take the time to draw my new mala, below.
Mitchell bought me the brilliant red hand-blown African whitehearts
for our anniversary, which means they are special to me.
As my old mala was near to breaking, I took it apart and used a few of the beads.

A mala is a counter for keeping track of prayers.
I grew up with a mother who said the rosary daily, often in the car when driving,
which was why her crystal rosary stayed in the car.

As a zennie I never needed a mala, but when accepted Chagdud Rinpoche as my root teacher, and despite my resistance to his processes (we negotiated my practice), I finally succumbed to doing the Guru Rinpoche prayers as a result of his saying I lacked faith.

“Whaaaa?  FAITH?  I don’t think so.”
But I was having a spiritual crisis of sorts, and so, I went along with this very non-zen ritual.  And oh, I learned a lot!  As I was counting in the one-thousand mantra range, I found myself saying, “Hail Mary, full of Grace….”  I wept.
I remembered loving Guadalupe so,
so much as a child, lighting candles
in her small shrine at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, and praying to her
for comfort and guidance.
This was before I met the awful bigot
and hateful priest who drove me out, straight into Buddhas waiting arms.
I through the baby out with the bath water, and turned my back on G-O-D. Buddhism is a better fit, extremely
clear, and in the beginning I had no
need to discuss G-O-D, as it was all
about mindfulness and mediation.
When one bowed to Buddha we were bowing to the Buddha nature within,
and the path was one anyone can step on and achieve. It was a long time before I could even say the G-O-D word again.
But there I was, that summer day, weeping with the child who loved
the virgin mother. I placed the crystal statue (right) on my altar, and soon
began painting lovely goddesses
from cultures around the world.

I have a Tibetan-Zen Buddhist practice now,
with the occasional dip into my religion of birth,
and a shared practice in the Vedic traditions with Mitchell.

My new mala has special meaning for me, and is different because I am different, having grown spiritually from the time I made my first mala.
I yearn for patience, not compassion, because I see impatience as my worst trait.
Yes, I still work on anger and compassion and wisdom and and and…
But as an elder I need fire to warm me, and the red beads do that.
They are a pleasure to touch, and the turtle is about patience, and my love for our earth and its living things, of which I am terribly concerned.
It would be sad for the human race to be wiped out.
It would be a travesty for us to take sea creatures and winged creatures
and woolly warm blooded creatures and desert creatures
and tree creatures and all manner of living beings out too.

My new mala and prayers will be for human beings to come to their senses….

And then there is my favorite movie, with Sarandon at her best:
Bull Durham “I gave Jesus a chance…”

All these images are sketched in the Bright Ideas journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.

 ©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back  to dkatiepowellart.