Self Taught Leo Artist Spotlight on Robin Rizzi

Leo New Moon August 9, 2010 8:08 pm pdt

Spotlight on Robin Rizzi Aliso Viejo, California Etsy Shop: http://www.rrizzart.etsy.com

I am a self-taught artist/artisan working mostly in mixed media jewelry and collage. Although I have only recently considered myself a professional artist, art has always been a significant part of my life. True to the sign of Leo, I am an independent spirit and confident with who I am. I believe this is why so many of my early artistic endeavors involved making altered clothes and other types of wearable art for myself, as well as personal art for my home. Perhaps the Leonine qualities of ambition and pride led me to eventually share my work with the world although I prefer to think the impetus for creating art for others had more to do with my innate generosity and a warm sharing spirit, typical of Leos.

My artwork is clearly reflective of the Leo spirit: most of my pieces are bright and richly colored, and heavily embellished. Some may see my work as gaudy but I revel in its extravagance! There can never be too much color or too much glitter and sparkle! I am a firm believer in the concept that ideas and feelings worth expressing should be delivered with drama and flair. I believe it was Emil Zola who said, "I am an artist. I live my life out loud." This is my mantra. As artists we are forced to examine and reveal our feelings; we cannot be shy about that and stay true to ourselves. This generosity of spirit, so typical of Leos, is also evident in the inspirational nature of much of my work. Many of my collage pieces are in the form of a cross, but I view them more as an expression of hope and spirituality, rather than representations of a specific faith. I like my work to provide positive energy to the viewer, to encourage others to expand their hearts and minds; thus, many pieces simply dictate "Dream" or "Inspire".

I find it uncanny how my work is influenced by my astrological sign and the more I think about it, the more I believe that I may in fact be a zodiacal late-bloomer. The more my work has evolved (I will be 51 this month), the more evident my Leo qualities have become and now that I am running my own business and selling my work, I get to be my own boss and tap into that delicious independent, controlling streak. I have no idea where my art will take me, but wherever it is, I will go roaring all the way!

Elena's Dream Dilemma

ELENA'S DREAM:

Recently I had a dream that there was something in my right forearm. Suddenly there was a small opening and I dug in to pull it out and it was a metal..necklace?

I could only remove it so far but it was....not really painful but disturbing, like I was pulling something out of somewhere too deep.

Then suddenly it was as if I had left my body (I have not astrally projected, not that i don't believe others can, just not my forte, as of yet or to my knowledge) and was sitting down beside myself on the floor. It was as if my spirit self had left my physical body to try to remove the string of metal (necklace?) from my arm because I couldn't do it myself while in the body...hard to describe.

I remember things being of muted colors....almost sepia, and black and white tones. I was not aware of any space around me ie. the room or a light or a door or anything, just myself fixed on the realization that there was something in my arm.

MORE ABOUT ELENA:

I've been working on getting back to center this year on many levels. I am an empath and sensitive to spirits and energies but because of several phases of life I feel disconnected from that ability among others. I have spent ten months now focusing on recreating the fire of art and finding my path back to my gifts and I am very close but still missing the mark.

MY RESPONSE:

I decided to do a psychic reading for Elena to find out what I could about her dream and what it might mean.

I randomly chose a card from my Lefty Oracle deck so that later Elena would have some imagery to work with on her own (I do not look at the card to do my reading, but instead hold my hand over the card to sense it's energy) and it was called "Gonna Fly."

I also chose a gemstone called Green Calcite to work with for Elena's reading. I also suggest that Elena work with this stone later on. I am calling this exercise a stone infusion and it is designed to help Elena release all the tension I feel around her heart area.

A STONE INFUSION HEALING EXERCISE:
Hold the Green calcite up to your heart area or work instead with the color green.
Breathe deeply into this color or into the energy of this stone.
Breath in and release three times while feeling the energy of the stone surround and permeate your being.

AN AFFIRMATION:
(to say aloud or to yourself)

I am Love.
I am Divine.
I am ______________ (state your name.)

From this place of clarity know that it is only you who can remove the metal 'bones.' You have no need of them.
Breathe in strength and Mother Earth, feel her power, it is energy from the ground itself.
Breathe out love and feel your heart working, removing all traces of the metal artwork that is not yours.
Replace that space/that opening with you, instead.

Who are you?
Bless yourself three times and give me three words that describe you.

I name you:
Peace,
Power,
and Infinite Beauty,
and I return your wings to you so that you may fly by night.

Blessings.

It was only now that I chose to look at the Oracle card that I had pulled for Elena and it was entirely appropriate - she is "Gonna Fly!"