In Conversation with Rashmi
Rashmi was brought into my awareness through my search for images of the Sacred Feminine from the Tantric traditions. Through my contact with her I discovered a Being that is deeply awakened to her Feminine Nature…….She truly embodies the Goddess and yet at the same time has manifested the dedication and humility of a devotee…this rare gift is transmitted through her exquisite art and in the profound wisdom and beauty of her words.
Rashmi lives in Atlanta – Georgia – USA.
Prem: Your art is breathtaking, deeply profound and healing. Can you share with us the path that led to bring forth such inspired work.
Rashmi: My path has been one of choosing moments of Love and Courage over loss and death. It is a path that is whole and alive through making choices based on Truth and Love.
I have realised that Time and Form are an expression of duality in this dimension and as we move to other frequencies of awareness, the past and future dissolve into the “Now”. Each moment is the Present-Presence, the ever-alive flowing creative energy. I call it moments of “Pathless Path” and “Formless Form”.
The Infinite Grace, Abundant Blessings and the innumerable synchronicities that have unfolded through this Present-Presence has formed this story. I share this story with this knowing and in gratitude to each being who has assisted me in becoming the Being that holds this energy of Love and Light as a service to the Self and Creation.
I was born in the mystical land of India and lived there most of my life until I moved to the United States in 2010. I am a born mystic, shy and sensitive and blessed with the gift of clairvoyance. Visual language was my way of expression from an early age, and books and colors were my childhood companions.
My earliest memories as a child, are of spending a lot of time in our family temple. The Divine Presence, the chants and the presence of the Sages and Seers unknowingly initiated me to the Divine within.
At the age of 12 I had a moment where I had to choose between life and death – standing on the banks of a holy river. I chose Life and at that point did not realise that I was standing on the steps of a Shakti (Divine Feminine) temple on the banks of that river. This was my first initiation into Her Grace.
Between the ages of 12 and 30 I have been through life altering experiences of abandonment and betrayal. At the age of 18 I was searching for answers and was led to an Enlightened Masters Sanctuary where I spent many months in meditation and chanting. This Sadhana (Practice) led me to the most profound moment of my life – the appearance of my Guru (Spiritual Master and Guide).
He appeared in my dream and called me to His ashram and embraced me with unconditional love and nurturing. He awakened me to the Oneness within and without in the form of unconditional Love. This was my initiation into the energies of Sacred Union. I awakened to this Sacred Principle within and started reprogramming the trauma of my previous years and was gently guided to the Love of My Life – my husband Rishi who I came to recognise as my Twin Essence.
A few months into my marriage, my body collapsed due to the earlier years of trauma and abuse. This awakened me to the realization that each cell of my body needed healing and loving guidance in order to function and move into Ease (from dis-ease). This search for wholeness came in the form of a move to the United States.
In the United States my healing took a quantum leap and revelations unfolded in the form of guides, books, healers and painting. I started a deep process of healing through my gifts of Clairvoyance and Claircognizance .
Four profound meetings assisted me in this process:
*First was a meeting with an intuitive and clairvoyant energy healer and guide who re-awakened me to my clairvoyant healing abilities and my Sacred Connections with the Goddesses.
*Second was getting an audience with an Enlightened embodiment of the Divine Mother, who transmitted Shaktipat (which opened the Goddess portal within) awakening to my inner Shakti.
*Third was a meeting with a guide and Wayshower who awakened me to the physical embodiment of my Creative Healing energies and Twin Soul Consciousness – Shiva-Shakti (Divine Feminine in Union with Divine Masculine)
*Fourth was a meeting with the visionary artist Shiloh Sophia in 2013. I picked up my paintbrush after a gap of 25 years. My inner Shakti started flowing out in the form of colors and images onto the canvas. These portals of Love and Light healed my body-mind-spirit continuum with each color and stroke awakening me to the energy of dynamic creation present within my womb of Sacred Union of Shiva and Shakti within.
These four encounters brought many revelations along with the outpouring of many gifts and talents and I gave form to my healing through my painting and writing. The wisdom and art that alchemizes through me are in service to the Creative Energy of the One Consciousness – The Sacred Union of Shiva and Shakti.
Prem: What insights can your work give us as to the true nature of reality?
Rashmi: My work is an insight into the Sacred Mystical Womb of the Universe present as Creative-Healing Energies within my own Body-Mind-Spirit. These paintings are an expression of bringing alive this creative energy of Love and Light within me onto a canvas and alchemizes it into a Sacred Portal of healing that transforms and heals the energetic dissonances within and without our realm of consciousness.
“I am Within You”
Prem: You embody a deep, rich and expansive spirituality. Describe the most important aspects of this deeply embodied living Truth.
Rashmi: The deep expansive Presence that my soul radiates is a possibility that has awakened through a constant aware “Witnessing” of the Play of Consciousness through waves of Love-Hate, Courage-Fear, Abundance-Abandonment, Faith-Betrayal within and without me.
This possibility awakened in me through years of sadhana (spiritual practices with complete awareness) which in turn have become embodied as Creative-Healing practices in the physical. Most important has been the integration and embodiment of both the spiritual and creative healing practices as a way of life manifesting as Light – Love – Presence.
Aditi
Prem: Can you give us an insight into Love as you perceive it to be?
Rashmi: One of the first few words that I heard from my Guru is that “Love is not an emotion, it is your very Existence”. His Presence radiated and transmitted this Love and awakened me to “Love” as a state of Being. The more I sat in stillness and observed the movement of breath through my own dissonances of love and fear within, the more aware I became of this very Presence within me. These moments of stillness and space between each breath gave me glimpses of Love as this deep Formless-Timeless energy that exists within each cell of my physical form.
I realised that Love is a Wordless-Formless-Timeless Presence of Being. This essence is present within each one of us waiting to be rebirthed “breathed”, awakened and embodied.
Prem: You describe your art as creating Sacred Portals of Healing – how does this occur both for you as the artist and for those that gaze at your art.
Rashmi: My Art Portals are transmissions of the myriad forms of the Universal Healing Energy present in the creative womb of Shiva-Shakti. These creations are energetic signatures of the deep mystical realms of Universal Consciousness. This Consciousness is a union of the Dynamic Creative energy of Shakti (The Divine Feminine) and the Grounding Stillness of Shiva (The Divine Masculine). The paintings are a visual mystical evocation of this Divine Union every present within the inner realms of our consciousness as the Universal Creative Healing Energy.
An intuitive sacred meditative process births these creations. The images, colors and messages that emerge create a visual story that is a deeply empowering piece of Sacred Healing Art. This empowering creation in turns awakens and heals people and spaces by creating Visual Pathways of Energetic Alchemy within and without.
Prem: As a Visionary Artist you have the ability to access multidimensional realities. How does the multidimensional wisdom you tap into help you/us navigate the density and influence your perception of the third dimensional dualistic world?
Rashmi: This work has awakened me to the possibility that each dimension of consciousness is but a holographic projection of a reality within my own inner realm of consciousness. In each moment I have the choice of choosing between the forms and energies of Love or Fear. The clarity of this choice becomes more manifest and visible with complete awareness of the body-mind-spirit continuum.
The most profound realization I have had through this access is that the One Sacred Thread of Healing that connects all the dimensional realities is Love. There is no “other”. It is “me” choosing “Me” in the Oneness of the duality that exists in this physical realm.
The access to these visons unfolds as images and symbols in my paintings and connects all the healing energetic aspects into One Sacred Healing Possibility.
Adya Shakti – Primordial Shakti
Prem: You studied with visionary artist Shiloh Sophia…….describe the part Intentional Creativity has played in your personal healing process.
Rashmi: Let me share a little synchronicity that led me to study with Shiloh Sophia McCloud. By early 2013 my Soul was restless and was longing for something unseen and unknown in that moment. By now I was sketching feminine faces intuitively. A couple of months into this, an online course on poetry and painting with Shiloh Sophia pops up on my facebook timeline and I sign up just by seeing the feminine image on the flyer. This class was on May 31st 2013 and 25 years had passed since I picked up my paintbrush. I fell in love with the process. Her guidance was filled with Love and Sacredness. It was a moment of deep awakening within. The 18 months that I studied with Shiloh had a profound influence in healing my body-mind-spirit continuum. The Intentional Creativity process awakened me to transmitting my energetic dissonances onto the physical canvas through words, colors, images and symbol, thereby alchemizing a quantum healing process. Each stroke and image assisted in healing the energetic dissonance present within and without me.
Prem: For so many of us Art is for Artists……..those that are talented …what steps can the uninitiated artist take in order to bring forth healing in their lives through art.
Rashmi: It took me almost three decades to completely awaken to my skills of healing and art. I did not know that I could create these amazing Sacred Healing Portals. Choosing my truth through Life’s happenings and experiences, listening to my intuition and doing my spiritual practices in Love and Patience has opened me up to this artform. All the paintings on my website have taken form in the past (present) 36 months.
Creation is present within each one of us. We are born as a ray of the Divine with the Gift of Creation. A few moments of awareness by observing our breath and centering into that stillness will guide us to our gift in this Creation. Each one of us is unique and our healing process is unique to us. A guide can awaken us to that gift present within, but the actual healing starts with the recognition and practice of that innate blessing.
Cosmic in the Subtle Macrocosm
“This Quilt is woven in exquisite beauty, in delicate gossamer subtlety” Kabir
The visual language of painting and storytelling are present within each one of us. we share our Presence through colors, form and words unique to us. A simple practice of putting this together in a form that resonates with us may open up a whole new world of healing possibilities.
Prem: Describe the Sacred Process whereby your beautiful images materialise on your canvas
Rashmi: Each time I stand in front of a blank canvas – Shiva, Shakti – awakens within, enticing and drawing me into magical realms of consciousness. This begins the mystical journey of bringing Her energetically alive in the physical realm. The paintbrush becomes the Sacred Wand, Colors the Healing and Me – The Shakti. I play with Her as she awakens and heals with each stroke, image, color and word, transforming the canvas into a sacred healing portal.
The images, colors and messages that emerge in this deep inquiry create a visual story. Sometimes it emerges as a healing revelation to the inquiry. At times I just wake up with a dream or a vision of the colors and images. From here I am guided to energetically choose the canvas – I mostly work on sizes starting from 36″ x 36″ as the energy that comes in needs that space to be held.
Prem: Can you speak a little about the Symbols and Archetypes, Power animals and Goddesses that emerge in your paintings.
Rashmi: Each portal on the canvas transmits a personal healing and a universal healing, that keeps unfolding in layers. The (God)desses represent the Womb of Creation and the healing energies that each one of them bring in with their appearance. The Power animal is another vibration of this same energy. Together they form a portal of healing in balancing and harmonizing the polarities of the masculine and feminine energies within and without.
Each being who views the painting gets their own messages of healing and empowerment. Each line, each dot, color, symbol and image has a unique healing message. I would love if each of you reading this would engage with the portal and get your unique healing messages.
Lalita Tripura Sundari
The Charming Beauty of the Three Worlds
“She who sits on the throne of Lions”
“She who glitters like a thousand rising suns”
“She who makes the whole Universe immerse in her Red colour like the Rising sun” Lalitasahasrananam
This portal birthed as a Talismanic healing image for me. It is a Sacred Container for the inquiries:
Who am I?
What Shakti does my Presence radiate?
What is the Mystery of my Spirit?
What energies do I need to awaken to walk my Soul Path?
I started this portal on the Summer Solstice of 2014 and completed it through the Lion’s Gate Portal of that year.
Lalita Tripura Sundari is a form of the Divine Feminine who is an embodiment of the “apparently opposite” yet complementary cosmic creative energies of Power and Sacred Union. In the realms of the Creative Consciousness, She is the Divine Beauty who permeates the physical, subtle and causal bodies and awakens each cell of the body to Sacred Union within and without.
The Lion is a consciousness that embodies this Spirit of Power and Sacred Union. It represents the alchemizing power of gold and the Solar Energy present within our Solar Plexus.
When I started this painting, I did not know that White Lions were living in the present and they were known as “Messengers of God”. I was guided to books, images and videos of white lions. I had three lions in Spirit form in my consciousness giving me the Love, nurturing and guidance to completely embody this Healing Energetic Signature of my Soul. The one in this portal told me that he is a seed carrier for the “White Lions of Timbavati”. He appeared as a healing for the White Lions that are being killed in the name of trophy hunting in South Africa.
Kamalatmika
“I sing praises of Kamala,
Whose essence is Supreme Consciousness
And whose body is formed of Golden Light.” Sri Mahalaksmi Hridayam
Kamalatmika means the “One whose Soul-Heart blossoms like a lotus. “ The Lotus is a symbol of gentle and loving unfoldment/awakening of consciousness. Though its roots are in slushy mud and grows in marshlands, it blossoms into a beautiful flower, just like the unfolding and embodiment of the Soul completely into the physical body. She is this abundant-generous unfolding of our Divine Union within and without. She represents the complete integration of the Body-Mind-Spirit-Self Union in the physical. She is in complete engagement with the world radiating vibrations of Love, Wisdom and Abundance, yet completely centered in the sacredness of Her I Am Presence/Union.
Kamalatmika is a visual sacred portal of my exploration of the complete embodiment of the abundance-principle in the physical. She embodies the Soul resonance of the orange-pink-gold ray of consciousness. This ray radiates the highest frequencies of abundance, generosity, healing, love and wisdom of the Divine Feminine Principle. The elephant is an Enlightened embodiment of these energies of the Divine Feminine Principle.
This portal holds healing energies for the emergence of the new grid of this Divine Feminine Principle in Union with the Divine Masculine Principle in the physical at this time of new beginnings, as the human consciousness integrates the new frequencies of this Sacred Union within and without.
Kamakhya – A Celebration of Love
” Thus for the welfare of the worlds abides in all Her Glory…Kamakhya
The Shakti of Shiva – the very Embodiment of Graciousness…” Saudaryalahiri
Kamakhya is the healing form of the Divine Feminine who appeared on this Sacred Portal through my Higher Self as I meditated on bringing in healing vibrations within and without the Womb of Creation. The under-layers of this painting has images of the ovaries and the uterus with healing intentions and prayers. This painting is dedicated to All who create and nurture life within and without on this planet. May She heal and bless this ever-alive Sacred Womb of Creative Consciousness.
The Jaguar is a consciousness that embodies the creative energies of the moon, which is a reflection of the Sacral Chakra and the creative energies of the Feminine Womb. A Sacred Spirit that can be called upon for healing of the womb.
Prem: Can you tell us about he Inner Shaktika Soul portraits that you offer
Rashmi: (The following is an excerpt from a detailed explanation of the way Rashmi works—-for more information I will post a link to the section of her website where you can further explore her deep and beautiful work.) As a clairvoyant and visionary artist I connect to the true essence of your Higher Self and assist you in co-creating and transforming your Energetic Soul Signature into a visual that holds the frequencies of your abundant creative-healing abilities.
Through the energy work, your Higher Self shares a series of messages/colors/images/symbols with me that create a visual creative-healing story, a color song, a soul poem from which your Inner Soul Portrait is created. Each portrait has a unique, intricate and special story to tell. It is an energetic portal that connects and awakens you to your Soul’s Inner Sacred Union. It is a deeply empowering piece of artistic and insightful energetic signature of your Soul.
Prem: Can you tell us a little about the one-on one healing sessions and workshops that you offer…. (Again I quote an excerpt of Rashmi’s response to this question and ask you to go to the Resources section at the bottom of this profile to read more about her unique way of working with you individually and in a workshop setting)
Rashmi: Healing literally means to make whole. To move into this vibration of wholeness we need to let go of our pre-programming and conditioning and take a leap of faith in courage to transform our story to a frequency of a whole blossomed being. As a clairvoyant healer and artist I connect to the truth of your Soul and Inner Shakti through energy work and art. I assist you in shifting your energy blocks and moving the energy that needs to be moved to the present time. This process awakens you to the possibilities of your Inner Healer and supports you to create and design a space of healing and creativity within and without.
Prem: Some last words……..What books are on your bedside table?
Rashmi: Autobiography of a Yogi; Saundaryalahiri; Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master; Old Path White Clouds; Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine; The Ten Wisdom Goddesses;
Prem: Inspirational Quote……….
Rashmi: From the Waves of Beauty – written and composed by the 8th Century Indian mystic Adi Shankaracharya.
“Thou art the Mind, Thou art Aakaasha, Thou art Fire, Thou art Water and Earth too;
When thou hast transformed Thyself in this way into the form of the Universe, there is nothing beyond not included Thee,
It is to transform Thyself into the Universe that thou assumes this form of Bliss-Consciousness as Shiva -Shakti”
Prem: Your hope for the future….
Rashmi: Each Soul awakening to the healing possibility of being “Present in the “present” moment”
Live the Love
Resources:
Website: http://www.shaktikalaya.com/
Inner Shaktika Soul portraits: http://www.shaktikalaya.com/soulportraits/
One on One Healing: http://www.shaktikalaya.com/healing/
Workshops: http://www.shaktikalaya.com/workshops/