fiona henderson

 collections + words

collection ELEVEN

CARDIOID PETALS (one more than the one before)*

3 6 9 (energy / frequency / vibration)**

* Sūtra 1: ekādhikena pūrveṇa : Vedic Mathematics

** ‘If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the Universe.’ & ’If you want to find the secrets of the universe think in terms of Energy, Frequency and Vibration.’ Nikola Tesla

‘Thirty years ago, we could have saved the planet.’ (Aug 5, 2018)*

An introduction:

The idea behind this artwork came about after reading the August 5, 2018, New York Times Magazine article by Nathaniel Rich: “Losing Earth: The decade we almost stopped climate change. A tragedy in two acts.” — An exposé of corporate greed and political power strategies to deny and suppress the truth and concerns of global warming whilst deliberately and diligently promoting the complexities of the problem.
The ominous carbon-black cover was shocking, and the reporting was searing and devastating.

Through my interest / fascination in connecting and uniting science (quantum physics) & spirituality (particularly Yoga and Indic philosophies) — I initially, after reading the article, connected 3 forms of energy: Fossil fuels (Nº 6 Petal), and the yogic concepts of OM (Nº 1 Petal) and Kuṇḍalinī (Nº 3 Petal).
The project, however, soon became so much more involved as other ideas intuitively appeared and were developed, especially after looking into the works and findings of Nikola Tesla (1856- 1943) and his understanding of the ‘measured’ alongside the power and energy of the unmeasured — the intuitive. 
Tesla was a spiritual man, scientist and father (or guru) of our modern energy systems. His vision of Energy / Frequency / Vibration and a transformation of energy went beyond our material world and is very much in line with the understanding of 'energy' in Yoga and Indic philosophies.

The artwork, made from recycled materials, was intuitively designed and created on the floor of my studio during the sweltering summer of 2022 in Miami Beach (75 days of temperatures at or above 90°F / 32+°C).
The boundless colour appeared in the heat, representing hope in contrast to the New York Times Magazine cover.

The measured and intuitive — together with an insistence on transforming our energy towards positive, peaceful global connections — is what this project is about, and it just so happened that the work produced a Sun Mandala, a flower: What is the role of a flower?**
Most importantly, the artwork questions what we see as our ‘status and wealth’ in life (buttons).*** We connect the dots (the messages of the 3s) to make sense of what is all around us in the world so we can incorporate the changes we need to make to take us in the direction we now need to go.
And sometimes, that requires ‘looking where the light is not’ to create the desperately needed changes so that all eventually can be illuminated.

* Rich, Nathaniel. “Losing Earth: The decade we almost stopped climate change. A tragedy in two acts.” New York Times Magazine, 5 August 2018, 72.

** Jiddu Krishnamurti

*** The first garment buttons (circa. 2000 BCE) were used as decorative embellishments to the attire and signified the wealth and status of the wearer. 

The Seed Of Life (Mandala Nº 6) — The Flower Of Life*: The Role Of A Flower: Nº 6 Daisy (Energy / Frequency / Vibration: 3 6 9)

The central spiral pistil represents the universe and is the seed or dot (bindu) which creates the Mandala (circle). The ‘60s' daisy appears and reveals that everything is interconnected, interrelated or interwoven: The measured (mathematical and science) and intuitive (spiritual and nature) intersect harmoniously to create unity.

The flower petals are an abundance of colour: Cascading cardioids one more than the one before.**
Each petal has its pistil that maps our ‘status & wealth' (buttons) in disclosing the messages of the dotted 3s.
The Magic of the Nº 3 (Mastery and Creation / Energy) helps us ‘connect all the dots’ on our circular journey — a trip of love and peace where we understand the union of everything and we ‘come together’ and, one and one and one is three.***
1+1+1 (measurements + relationships + causality) = 3

We then proceed with what you're leading me to.****
Just as the blooming of a flower gradually reveals its beauty, as we proceed on our trip, the messages and meaning of the 3s in the 6 (Balance and Harmony / Frequency) petals are understood and bring Harmony, Wisdom and Understanding:
There is an elevated, improved change in our 'status' as we discover our true 'wealth' is in our physical & mental health when we truly connect to nature and each other and finally find contentment.
The 6 petals lead us to find the altruistic path of compassion and our true beauty and nature: Our true humanity.

9 (The Number of Completion / Vibration): When the circle is rendered (3 x 6) = 18, (1+ 8) = 9, the Universal Sun Mandala (source of life and light) is complete: There is no end or beginning, and the final message is understood — cyclic transformation.
Change is the law of life, a universal law, a law of nature, and we need to MAKE our CHANGES to see transformation happen and experience the ‘higher’ (Energy / Frequency / Vibration) 3 6 9 take place.
We can then take refuge in the changeless***** of our true nature and the ‘consciousness continuation' which brings peace and unity in the human and cosmic realms.

* Sacred Geometry
** Sūtra 1: ekādhikena pūrveṇa: Vedic Mathematics
*** (1969): John Lennon & Paul McCartney: Come Together
**** (1957): Cy Coleman & Carolyn Leigh: Witchcraft
***** Hatha Yoga Pradipika

The Pistil: The Female Vortex (Spiral) Of The Flower — The Womb Of The Universe

The pistil is the centre of the flower, the life force of the flower and the female vortex, which ensures the cyclic process of nature.
The micro centre of the pistil is ‘the bindu’ (dot), the centre of The Seed Of Life (the Universal Sun Mandala). The bindu is free of dimension and represents the light of life, cosmic energy and the beginning of the creation of the Universe.
Thus, the 'womb of the universe' is contained in the pistil of The Flower Of Life.

From the bindu comes the left-handed spiral, which uses 87 (6) buttons of ‘mother of pearl’ (nacre); a material that symbolically nurtures and heightens intuition. The spiral of buttons uses ‘the golden thread’ — the truth that binds humanity with all in the cosmos.

The open sun spiral — represents ‘our’ spiritual awakening and growth through our understanding of the continuous process of nature (cycles) and our deep connection and union with nature that is abundant with Energy Frequency Vibration at the highest level.
Indigenous people, children and animals have this understanding of nature.

The spiral gives us a portal to life beyond life (eternity) where we aim to evolve on the wheel of saṃsāra as our cyclic existence reveals things not immediately seen or understood from the life before — Cardioid PETALS : one more than the one before.*

* Sūtra 1: ekādhikena pūrveṇa: Vedic Mathematics

Nº 1 Petal: ૐ/ Ōṃ / Auṃ — The Sound Mantra Of Creation (The Essence Of Consciousness)

The OM symbol, although not technically a 3, is, however, made up of 3 phonetic sounds (A+U+M), which represent the 3 stages of cosmic creation: (MATTER — LIFE — MIND).*
The final sound of AUM is a nasal ‘after sound’ represented by the Anusvāra — the point or dot (bindu) of the OM symbol.** This indicates the point of cosmic energy where the unity of the 3 stages takes place.
 ‘Auṃ! — this syllable is this whole world’. ***

In our human physical realm, the chanting or repetition of OM is used as a meditation tool to connect to a higher Energy Frequency Vibration. Such a practice gives us an understanding of the subtlety and circularity of energy — which can never be created or destroyed but transformed through frequency and vibration (the 3 guṇas).

Meditation shows us that the mind rules the body, but the breath rules the mind:
MATTER ( the body — the senses)
LIFE (the breath— the prāṇa)
MIND (the brain —  the thoughts)
With regular meditation, we ascend upwards to the subtler Energy Frequency Vibration (prāṇa) higher than our senses, higher than our thoughts, reaching the ājnā chakra (the seat of the mind — a higher consciousness) where we can experience stillness, intuition, spiritual insight, peace and infinity.****

OM is the primordial Shakti bīja (seed) mantra, the highest mantra, and the root mantra; as we chant OM, we connect to the cosmic world (infinity) by transcending the following 3 spaces:
I (the Self) — Individual (inner space) — ‘spiritual guidance’
We (the Community) — Our (physical space)  — ‘peace’
All (the Cosmos) — Everyone (outer space) — ‘unity'

The individual finds ‘spiritual guidance' in the chanting of OM; the Energy Frequency Vibration sound of chanting OM resonates through the body and is 'understood' by the heart, leading us to find our ‘peace’ where everyone can then experience ‘unity’ in the I / We / All.
And so, a field of space (our interconnectedness) is reached, the essence of consciousness — the sound mantra of creation: OM.

The OM frequency - 7.83 Hz - is also the natural heartbeat rhythm of Mother Earth (the ‘Schumann Resonance’), and the number of completion (7 + 8 + 3 = 18 (9).
The circle/cycle is complete.

* Rig Veda
** Hatha Yoga Pradipika
*** The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad
**** Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Nº 2 Petal: 3° Of Separation — Global Connection

Relationships and connections:

Writers, mathematicians, scientists, psychologists and sociologists of the Twentieth Century looked at and explored the mathematical, statistical and analytical relationships between our social network connections. They looked at how many social connections it took for everyone in the world to be connected (our degree of separation).*
Our human interconnectedness was assigned the number 6: All people were 6 social connections away from each other, and therefore, a global connection was 6 degrees of separation.

At the end of the Twentieth Century, due to the ubiquitous use of the World Wide Web and the subsequent development of social media networks, there was an exponential increase in our human inter-connectedness.
Our degree of separation is now becoming very close to 3 degrees.**

What direction will (measurements + relationships + causality) take us, and can humanity constructively use this super-powerful connectivity to lift us to a higher Energy Frequency Vibration.

* Guglielmo Marconi, electrical engineer (1909); Frigyes Karinthy, author (1929); Stanley Milgram, social psychologist (1967); and John Guare, playwright (1990).

** Bakhshandeh Reza, Mehdi Samadi, Zohreh Azimifar & Jonathan Schaeffer. Degrees of Separation in Social Networks. Proceedings, The Fourth International Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SoCS-2011), Vol. 2, No.1, 15 July 2011

Nº 3 Petal: 3½ Circles (Coils) Entwined Around The Sushumna Nadi — Kuṇḍalinī (The Essence Of Awareness)

The message behind this petal is the power of our individual Energy Frequency Vibration as it pertains to our existence as spiritual beings, and in turn, bringing about our own ‘liberation’ and moving towards global consciousness and unity.

Intense spiritual practice (sadhana) changes our energy field, wavelength and frequency, and our energy vibration becomes higher (more subtle).
As this happens, a deep purification of the physical (gross) body, astral (subtle) body and causal (karmic) body takes place:
The prāṇa (the subtle ‘vital’ energy) of our astral body (sukshma sarir) is moved throughout the body by 72000 nadis (subtle energy channels/meridians); these all pass through the 3 most ‘vital’ nadis that originate at the base of the spine and travel upward: The ida nadi (left), the pingala nadi (right) and the central sushumna nadi which travels along the spinal canal.
The ida (feminine, intuitive) and pingala (masculine, logical) represent the duality in our existence.

With intense sadhana and subsequent purification, changes happen.
The prāṇa is suspended in the ida and pingala nadis, and duality ceases. The ‘seed’ latent energy (our total potential energy) — kuṇḍalinī  — awakens and uncoils at the base of the spine, and the prāṇa moves only in and through the central ‘empty’ space in the main nadi; the sushumna.
This ‘redirecting’ of the energy flow is the ‘natural state’ — the state of non-duality.

The prāṇa and mind are absorbed, and the kuṇḍalinī begins to rise and pass through each of the subtle centres in the sushumna nadi — the 6 Lotuses or chakras (wheel of energy) of the astral body.
The yoga practitioner directs the kuṇḍalinī, and at each chakra, enters into higher states of consciousness (knowledge and bliss). The energy can fluctuate and move fluidly up and down depending on the practices and the concentration of the mind (meditation methods), or it can ascend to the highest chakra, the chief of all chakras — the sahasrara; the lower 6 chakras are connected intimately to this chakra.

When the kuṇḍalinī reaches the sahasrara chakra, the union (yoga) between the Shakti female energy (cosmic potency) and the Siva male energy (cosmic consciousness) takes place, and the highest level of prāṇa, the kuṇḍalinī (the essence of awareness)— Energy Frequency Vibration — is bestowed upon the human being (still bound by the body, but now without ego).

When this happens, the practitioner enters the highest plane of reality and pure consciousness — the superconscious state of samādhi (mental concentration / meditative consciousness).

Samādhi brings spiritual liberation through nirvāṇa (a state of enlightenment where suffering ceases) and moksha (a state of knowledge, peace and bliss where we become free from saṃsāra — the cycle of birth, death and rebirth).
The cycle ends, our circle (number of cycles) is complete, and we are free from the bondage of time, space and causation.

Knowledge received from: Yoga Teacher Training Course (TTC, 1994) & Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Course (ATTC, 1995), with references from Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Practical Guide for Students of Yoga.

Nº 4 Petal: 3½ Per Cent Of Any Population Which Follows A Non-Violent Strategy Can Change Society — People Power (Satyagraha and Ahimsa)

Frederick Douglass (1818- 1895)
Mahatma Gandhi (1869- 1948)
Nelson Mandela (1918- 2013)
Martin Luther King Jr (1929- 1968)
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- 2022) and
HH Dalai Lama XIV (b. 1935)

These 6 men of colour — by attaining and holding a 'higher mind’ Energy Frequency Vibration — promoted peaceful change using a mass of the population (People Power) with the power of truth (Satyagraha: Truth force, Soul force) and the power of non-violence in thought, word and deed (Ahimsa).

Also, not forgetting Howard Thurman (1899- 1981) — who met with Gandhi in 1935/36 and then helped to deliver his message of ‘non-violence’ to the American civil rights leaders and movement in the mid-1950s.

These peacemakers and leaders formed a lineage: Leaders of higher thought, values, morals and ethics. They were leaders who understood the power of 'coming together': Aligned in a movement where sentient beings are equal, and the value and wonder of life are to be sincerely recognised.

Of the list of men above:
— Two were assassinated.
— Another was subject to assassination attempts and threats.
— A fourth was imprisoned for 27 years for opposing apartheid policies.
— The fifth - a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and activist - was forced into exile for opposing the Vietnam War and refusing to take sides.
— And the sixth - the Tibetan Buddhist monk and leader - was forced into exile when the Chinese invaded his country in 1950; he remains in exile to this day.

Peacemakers do not make money or crave power; they heal, inspire, connect people, reveal the truth, and bring peace, unity and positive change.

The research work of two women scholars (Erica Chenoweth & Maria J. Stephan)* looked at nineteen worldwide examples of Satyagraha / Ahimsa and showed that it takes 3½ per cent of the population to follow such a truthful and non-violent resistance / strategy / philosophy to change society.
Energy Frequency Vibration — People Have The Power.**

* Chenoweth, Erica, and Maria J. Stephan. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Columbia University Press, 2011.

** (1988): Patti Smith & Fred “Sonic” Smith: People Have The Power.

Nº 5 Petal: 3 DAYS of PEACE & MUSIC — Woodstock / 1969

In a time of war (the Vietnam War), the Woodstock festival of 1969 was a special 3 days that understood the inspirational power — Energy Frequency Vibration — of music and dance to promote and care for peace, love and harmony.

The inspiration for this petal came from the iconic Woodstock festival poster — designed and created by graphic designer Arnold Skolnick in 3 days. The bold coloured, hand-crafted poster, which listed the performing bands in a ‘non-hierarchical’ alphabetical order using the same size font, captured the vibe and values of the Hippie Movement of that time.
Its non-complex, perfectly balanced graphics have stood the test of time, as have the music and artists of the festival.

Living in harmony with nature and one another, and the positive force of the Hippie Movement continues to be an inspiration towards a more authentic, respectful and inclusive society where the I / We / All can ‘come together’… if we want it.
And once again:

WAR IS OVER!
IF YOU WANT IT

Love and Peace from John & Yoko*

WAR IS OVER WITH GLOBAL COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS & UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY: There is no PRO or ANTI with this, only Satyagraha and Ahimsa. When stripped of all our identities, we are all sentient beings — human beings that want only to be.  
’Just being’ and finding our true humanity whilst promoting world peace, love and harmony.

* © 1970 / 2002: John Lennon & Yoko Ono.
Yoko Ono (b.1933, Tokyo, Japan): multimedia artist / singer / songwriter / peace activist
John Winston Ono Lennon (1940-1980, Liverpool, England): singer / songwriter / musician / peace activist.

Both artists experienced World War II as children. They both use / used their art disciplines to actively change, lead and influence the world towards LOVE and PEACE.

Nº 6 Petal: 3°C Global Warming — The Charney Report / 1979

Although it was known the 'Earth had been warming since 1880' it was the 1979 report by Jule Charney: “Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment” which documented everything about the full connection between ocean, sun, sea, air and fossil fuels. The Charney Report came ‘to have the authority of settled fact’ and created a 'formal consensus’ on global warming and the climate crisis, which we are discussing today.*

Earth is now at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, and by the end of the century, scientists predict that we will be at 3 degrees Celsius of global warming — unsustainable for a healthy planet and our human connection to it.

We still have a small window of time where we can act and change to save our planet and all the sentient beings that live on it — saving all from catastrophe and chaos.
But what will it take for us to make this change?

Sadly, for most of us to change, we need not only to be pushed against the wall, but the situation needs to approach desperate and dangerous levels before the change happens. Why do we need to be made so uncomfortable until the point of suffering to promote a change; is it because real change requires difficult adjustment to 'our' energy, which requires more attention, time and patience?

When we understand that Energy Frequency Vibration is constantly in a state of transformation,** we see that change effortlessly happens by transforming ‘our' energy (our way of thinking, doing, and being).
We learn to adapt, adjust and accommodate to the changes painlessly, and in accepting the changes we need to make, we end up conserving ‘our’ energy: Nº 3 (Mastery and Creation / Energy).

Of all the petals, this petal is the most structured, showing four clear directions, indicating that the changes need to come from the global community — all four directions NSEW — bringing Nº 6 (Balance and Harmony / Frequency).
If these global changes happen, we will have a chance at grasping the last small window of opportunity to change things for our planet and ourselves: I / We / All — Nº 9 (The Number of Completion / Vibration).

This Nº 6 Petal circles us back to the message of The Seed Of Life (Mandala Nº 6) — The Flower Of Life: cyclic transformation. Mandalas are visual reminders of the order of the cosmos. By making our own ‘higher’ (Energy / Frequency / Vibration) 3 6 9 transformations, we can achieve the changeless where the complete, ‘consciousness continuation’ will be understood — that we all belong to the Earth and are all connected to the Cosmos.
And,
I = 3 / WE = 6 / ALL = 9.

* Rich, Nathaniel. “Losing Earth: The decade we almost stopped climate change. A tragedy in two acts.” New York Times Magazine, 5 August 2018, 72.

** ‘The cloud… will never die… Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is in transformation.’
(Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- 2022) Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist)

‘Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.’
(Albert Einstein (1879- 1955) German theoretical physicist)

‘Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.’  
(Antoine Lavoisier (1743- 1794) French chemist)

‘This vast universe is a wheel, the wheel of Brahman. Upon it are all creatures that are subject to birth, death, and rebirth. Round and round it turns and never stops.’
(Svetasvatara Upanishad 1.6-8 (5th to 4th century BCE)).