Masks

I’ve always been fascinated with masks. For a time, about fifteen years ago, I wanted to make plaster masks and decorate them to sell…Mountain Woman, Bird Girl, Panther Woman, etc. I thought of doing local fairs to market them.
A while ago, when a local woman was offering mask-making workshops, I knew the mask I would make.
It would be a death mask. I could see it in my mind. It would not be full faced, but curving half way from one eye and cheek to the other. I would paint the stars and moon on it, asking them to guide my spirit feet to where I needed to go next after my spirit had left the body.
There would be a desert scene of endless dry sand to support me in shedding those things of the earthly life I had lived. One green-blue wave would hover above one eye to remind me of the vast oceans of matter and space and how those waters had represented the Great Mother to me.
The contrasts of black and white paint would remind me that I was leaving behind the balance of opposites, the dualities of human life.
Lastly, on my forehead, I would paint a star so my people would find me and recognize me, and help me on my way.
So far, this death mask lives in my imagination, yet one day I plan to create it and keep it ready. I’d like to be cremated with it.

Jyoti