Tslagi ( Dance of Life ) Painting

Tslagi, the Medicine Dance of Life, is an ancient and sacred Cherokee movement of meditation for balance, alignment, and prayer. The essence of this movement is to honor, share, and integrate the spiritual gifts and qualities of the Four Directions as well as Father Sky and Mother Earth. The dance begins facing East, the direction of the far-seeing eagle (intuition, psychic abilities, and the patterns within people) making a large, wide circular motion as if making a circle of protection around the Earth. Motion stops with palms down, releasing that blessing into the earth. The dancer steps back with the left foot and left arm (as if a bird's wing), followed by the right foot and right arm. Reaching down in front with both hands gathers Mother Earth's energy, pulls it straight up, through the body, and reaches toward the sky giving away the Earth's Energy to Father Sky. The dancer then gathers the Creative Sky energy and pulls it down through the body and, with palms down, gives it away to the Earth. The movement is repeated on the left side. Palms up offering the Earth's Energy to Father Sky, palms down offering Father Sky's Energy to Mother Earth. Once the body is balanced, the feminine left side and the masculine right side are each ready to lead. The dancer gathers the energy of the East, the light of the morning sun, and the far-seeing eagle and pulls it through their heart as if drawing the string of a bow while rotating toward the West. The right-hand reaches into the West (the place of introspection, dreams, reflection on life, and the day you have just lived). Pulling the Western energy through the body and again giving it away to the Earth. Next, the dancer faces the South and repeats the basic movements. The South is the place of trust and the innocence of childhood. The color is green, that of new life in plants. Again the dancer gathers Earth's energy, draws it straight up through the body, and gives it to Sky. Balancing Earth and Sky energy within oneself through the process of gathering and giving away. Earth is gathered and given away to the Sky. The sky is gathered and give away to Earth. Next, the dancer gathers the South's innocent trust. Rotating toward the right side pulls an imagined bow. The bowstring becomes an arrow as the body rotates into the North. The motion is the giving away of the South's energy to the North and gathering the North's energy (wisdom, power, crystallization of knowledge like snow) and pulling it back through the heart to give away the energy to Earth. The dancer faces West, color black (the place of the setting sun), and repeats the basic motions. Gathering Earth's energy and giving it to Sky then gathering the Sky's energy and pulling it down to the Earth. Each side (the male and female) leads until the dancer faces North and repeats the movements, gathering North's energy and giving it away to the South. The practice of Tslagi balances one within one's self and aligns the male and the female. Tslagi restores harmony with the environment and with all people from every direction. Tslagi is one painting in a series of four. Four works exploring the four pillars of humanity that the artist believes are necessary yet neglected in modern society. In Tslagi, Michele Utley Voigt offers the Dance of Life.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:48 W x 60 H x 2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.