Leaping Heart Lydian

Leaping Heart Lydian, 7 x 5",  mixed media

I've been thinking about the heart chakra lately. It seems like a strengthening of heart would be good for our collective souls. The heart chakra is the 4th energy center of the body and the Lydian mode is the 4th mode. In the key of C, it begins on F. It has an interesting sequence with three whole steps before the first half-step. That surprising "leap" between the 3rd and 4th pitch seems to me a little like falling in love. This can be falling in love with anything: a new pursuit, a new home, a person or a new attitude and approach to life. You are going along and all of a sudden, your life is new. You have changed and perhaps that change is not your doing. Perhaps you wonder, 'Is this real?' The Lydian mode answers positively, as it finishes off like the maternal and nurturing Ionian mode.
   The metamorphosis takes place through the feverish solar plexus. We wrestle with our demons and shadows (sometimes this is a forced battle beyond our control) and our heart is renewed. This 4th energy center situates us between heaven and earth; between our conscious and unconscious. We find ourselves making decisions in a different way, from the heart rather than from the ego. The symbols of the heart chakra represent these ideas. The masculine triangle, points up to air and the feminine triangle points down to earth (the two create a 6 pointed star). Arnold Bittlinger, author of Archetypal Chakras speaks of simultaneous repose and movement as well as the connection of above and below. This connection is symbolized by the antelope which can leap high and far into the air, but must maintain a grounding with the earth. There is a wholeness with the combination of heaven and earth, conscious and unconscious. We have transversed becoming into being. I love that the symbol of this wholeness is the apple. The heart energy center absorbs the color green, between yellow and blue on spectrum. The color emitted by the heart chakra is rose.
     The attributes of the heart chakra are compassion, healing and centering. Let us hope for more heart in our world.
   

Lydian Lark, 7 x 5", watercolor/Neocolor II