Essay #1

Capricorn and Evolution
Astrological commentary by Dave Jaquish

Capricorn is an ancient astrological symbol signifying a type of mastery each soul must achieve before it can pass through the last gate (the final gate of the Gods and Goddesses) leading to ascension, to the abode of spirit itself.

For those still on the road to mastery of physical creation, Capricorn can be understood as symbolic of a certain quality of energy and wisdom inherent in the human spirit, awaiting full expression and release. It invites consideration of several profound metaphysical questions with important practical consequences. It symbolizes the lessons of necessity born of conscience.

For those who can sense that our personal lives, our personal worlds are typically a kind of ego-created empire.....Capricorn asks us to consider the following: do we cling out of fear to the structures we build and the power we desire to the exclusion of a nobler voice within? It further asks: what role does personal integrity and personal honor play in one’s life; and through their expression in the individual, in the life of the larger social organisms of family, community and nation?

Capricorn symbolizes a part of our consciousness that simply knows that no one is truly free unless their lives are defined by integrity. And that the larger world itself attains a greater measure of freedom as a result of the radiation of this spiritual force from each of its inhabitants.

There’s wisdom in loving and accepting ourselves the way we are.

There is also wisdom in realizing there is a place in our journey for self-improvement and unfoldment of potentials heretofore untapped.

Capricorn symbolizes this capacity to refine daily our character and behavior, and release the seeds of heroic accomplishment dormant within.

This is Evolution, this is growth, and our soul insists on the necessity.

We’re all capable of achieving excellence. Of devoting ourselves to a worthy cause. Of climbing a challenging mountain. Of composing a symphony or painting our version of Raphael’s masterpiece. But to do it we have to find within ourselves the will and strength to persevere. That’s our Capricorn energy.

It manifests as our capacities for organization, self-discipline and hard work so we may achieve something lasting, ennobling and recognized for its quality or value to the larger world.

Capricorn is also symbolic of the human need for solitude – which at its core includes the realization that the positive qualities inherent in our character make us worthy of self-respect. And if we are authentic and true to our values, a kind of self-approval takes root, that’s more meaningful than any received from the fickle crowds that inevitably surround us.

How do we handle the inevitable reversals and impediments of life? By summoning our Capricorn energy. When this energy is activated, our actions and behaviors reflect our intentions. And when we don’t “feel” like meeting a responsibility or goal we set for ourselves, we meet it anyway. Through patience and discipline, perhaps through sheer will power. Sometimes the only approval that matters is “self-approval”. During times of challenge or trial, we call upon our Capricorn energy to see us through.

Ultimately, Capricorn is about the magic of behaving in a way that honors yourself and others, and makes you feel legitimately proud of what you do and what you say.

Surprisingly, in the end, the mature expression of Capricorn energy releases a hidden, somewhat mischievous quality from within itself, which fuses with the wise and honorable. Thus giving birth to the Wizard and Crone, the Elders of each generation, the wisest among us that guide humanity through the various halls of creation to its inevitable enlightened destiny – perfection of the soul itself.

Essay #2

Ritual Objects and Fine Art: Spiritual iconography of Tibet, Nepal and Greece and the contemporary art they inspired.

The Spiritual lexicon of Rhonda Schaller

The ritual objects in this exhibition are spiritual tools, they come from a variety of countries and share certain common elements: a sense of purpose, they are useful, and contain a sacred meaning. The Tsakli (meditation initiation cards), the Tamata (votive miracles), the Kapala (animal skulls) are used in meditation rituals today in their countries of origin in daily life or ceremony. There is a psychological and theological basis and thread between them, to organize the invisible processes of the universe in such a way as to help maintain and manage physical existence.

Articulating the invisible processes of the universe in shape and color, is at the heart of the subject matter in these new abstract oil paintings by Rhonda Schaller. The basic tenets of evolutionary astrology that bind the ritual objects and fine art together in this show, so eloquently put forth in Dave Jaquish’s catalogue essay on Capricorn and Evolution, create an organizational principal that is at work here. Through the lessons of necessity that are born of conscience, our will to persevere and see things through help us navigate the material plane with an end point and a compass; a sense of meaning is gained through diligent practice. Which like a beacon of light, illuminates life’s rugged terrain with purpose. Mirrored in the layers of paint on the canvas, this rugged terrain offers hope and solace to the tired and weary, and the determination to keep going. For this we need an iron will, and we need inspiring beauty. We need art.

This show serves to highlight the inherent Capricorn elements in her recent work, Solitude, Evolving soul, and The Lords of Winter illustrate the intrinsic connectedness the work has to the poetry of spiritual means and meaning, exemplified in the ancient teachings of astrology and metaphysics, as well as the poetics of visualization. Schaller has traveled extensively over the last 25 years throughout Asia and Greece, and we find the influences of the sacred sites in her ellipses and spherical shapes in Chaos & Ether and Beads and feel the whispers of passing ghosts in Orange Altar, and her newest painting Kapala. She is an artist for whom process holds an enhanced spiritual and visual meaning, a painter thought of as both a painter and a healer.

The textures of her canvases are deep and varied. Schaller writes “my work develops slowly and through layered accumulation of color and intent; my tools are my consciousness, my hands, my palette knife, and my fingertips”. Although there is a methodology and a sustained aesthetic, each painting represents a meditation for her, a journey into an unforeseen landscape and destination. She works for months on many canvases, usually working on three at a time. When she arrives at a finished piece, she says it is always a surprise, there are elements of both controlled intent and channeled chaos in the making of a painting, and a tremendous sense of calm in the completion. The seeds of heroic accomplishment have been sown. The artist may pass through the final gate.