As you've probably figured out by now, I'm more than a crazy horror fan who likes to blog. I do many creative things other than writing projects. I like to craft too. But usually, I craft very personal, spiritually significant things for myself. Rarely have I shown people my treasures. I figure I should change this. I love the things I create, and Maya is special.
Maya was created to help me deal with some of my own personal demons. She is the embodiment of one aspect of my shadow self. I am of a belief (and I'm not alone in this) that we all have Shadow selves, darker parts of our spirits that we may or may not like. Sometimes our shadows are monsters to us, the most vile and hideous parts of us. Sometimes, they are the parts of us that are the most sensitive or tender. Sometimes they are beautiful creatures we deny because we cannot believe we could ever be so beautiful. A shadow is a complicated creature, but as long as it is something you fear or deny it will always remain in shadow.
I found an old porcelain doll and re-created my shadow self on it. It was a fun project. I painted her up, re-dressed her and voila! I had my own huggable version of my inner darkness. Isn't she cute? And she is really good to cuddle.
Our shadows are with us to teach us things. We cannot be whole without them. I found a creative and fun way to try to accept my own. I thought it would be neat to share with you folks. Hope you enjoy my very own version of a Living Dead Doll. *wink*
Maya is fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteVery cool !
ReplyDeleteI love her, in face you've inspired me, I think it's time i made a shadow doll for my self <3
ReplyDeleteThats one spooky doll, almost as scary as the poltergeist clown doll.
ReplyDeleteMaya looks so awesome! I would film a movie with her in it, thanks for sharing her!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you decided to share her with us. What a cool concept. My own shadow self keeps coming to the surface a little too often for my tastes, so I'll have to figure out where I'm going to put the little bastard.
ReplyDeleteLearning to accept your Shadow, and maybe with time even love it, is a hard thing to do. As I've said before, kudos for doing this. From what I can tell, the Shadow is the very substance of Horror. It's when those Shadows come creeping out, denied too long, to take down our Bright selves. The werewolf's animal nature, the vampire's lust, the zombie's lethargy, the mad scientist's amoral creativity, the alien's otherness, and the murderer's rage or disconnection; all of these are parts of humanity's Shadow, and when unexamined and repressed, the Shadow becomes the Shade which rises from the the depths of our subconscious. Wearing the horrific masks we've given them they will drag us down into the depths screaming.
ReplyDelete@ Marvin: The key to dealing with the Shadow is to deal with it, not repress it further. There are lots of good books that deal with it in a positive way that I can't think of it right at the moment.
@IH: I can name a few books, since it's part of my daily spiritual practice:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.twilightpath.com/ home of the author of the book The Twilight Path. There are sections on Shadow work in her book.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Magick-Compendium-Exploring-Spirituality/dp/073871318X Yes the writer of this book has a "gothier than thou" name, but he's actually a pretty cool guy and a good writer. I think he likes to poke fun at himself and goth culture which makes me love him more. If you can't laugh at yourself you are missing the point of life.
Those are good starter books for people who wish to walk the darker pagan spiritual paths. I tend towards those, but I try to not be pretentious about it. Pretentious people piss me off.
I think I loved Maya when you showed her to me in Ottawa. But then, our monsters tend to get along rather well.
ReplyDeleteAww I'm so glad you guys love her! <3
ReplyDeleteReally well done, looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt would be awesome to see a little girl walking around and carrying that as her dolly....
ReplyDelete