What’s In Your 4th House?

The thoughts that flood my mind when I view the work of my favorite artists could be 99.7% whittled down to “How did they come up with this?” It’s a thought of both fascination and admiration. I look at James Jean and contemplate how he processes pairing color and subject matter. When I look at Monica Ikegwu’s work, I admire her unique style in figurative painting and her ability to capture a person’s essence in her paintings. Cristina Martinez engages childlike wonder and experimentation that encourages self-love when I look at her pieces. I find that these are recurring themes, and this can influence what I hope to convey with my own artwork.

While at times, it can feel repetitive to deliver artwork with similar core themes, What’s In Your Fourth House? reaches back to the most prominent theme of Flowest Swap Meet, being the acceptance of duality and venerating the complexities of life. The good and the bad. The light and the shadow. The internal and external. I’ve elaborated on my internal conflicts and recognized my shadow in both art and writing. As I’ve created What’s In Your 4th House?, I’ve noticed my acknowledgment of the external auras and individuals in my own family that contribute to the fullness of me being a WHOLE person.

What started as honoring the matriarchs in my life seems to be evolving. I don’t know where the concept for this series originated from, but what I can confirm is that this new series of artwork is an amalgamation of intentionally chosen small pieces to honor the broader story of family.

Numbers

I’ve stumbled on something I like to incorporate into my paintings as both a style and a life map. I actualized this new concept in my creation of Union, which saw me incorporating the number synchronicities that appeared to me in the year that I ideated and completed my first self portrait. I believe in synchronicities as messages from God, the angels, and my ancestors. The synchronicities are both affirmations of direction and nudges to realign. Discernment from God is the tool to distinguish which is which at times. In analyzing the significance and patterns of synchronicities, the influence of life path numbers became apparent. Layman’s understanding of a life path number is a core numerology number derived from your birth date, representing your unique character, destiny, and life’s lessons. What I enjoy most about the concept of numerology is that it appears to have both secular and religious value. It exists in a dual Venn diagram of these often competing concepts, and because of this, I believe it to be of compelling value in my life.

I believe numerology to be a tool from God. And when I observe the people closest to me, I see how their individual life path numbers hold true to their life’s mission. I like to view the life path number as the external, the bubble, and the macro level. Many share the same life path number, but theirs might not be a shared journey to accomplish the missions associated with a life path number.

For example:

“The Life Path number 8 personality is one of hard work and hard lessons. People born with this Life Path number get their worth from accomplishing great things -- the bigger the goal, the more satisfying it feels when they achieve it…People with this Life Path direct all their energy into creating a life of success and abundance.

Because they are leaders themselves and are supremely confident in their abilities, they don’t take kindly to being told what to do -- especially if it goes against what they would choose to do. Life Path 8 people, too, can also come across as authoritative and must learn that all relationships are about harmony.

With all the work these Life path people put into reaching their goals and feeling accomplished, they would be wise to pay attention to their health. Stress is the all-too-familiar enemy of those born with the 8 Life Path number, and, if allowed, it will slow down or deter these people on their path to reaching their goals. Making time for meditation, friendship, and enjoyable pursuits helps to bring things back into balance. Health is wealth, so maintaining a healthy lifestyle should be a top priority.

When it comes to relationships, people with an 8 Life Path will put in the same work and dedication that they put into everything else. They do well in long-term situations, but these relationships may look more like business arrangements than passionate love affairs. They know they are self-sufficient, but when they see that they are prosperous enough to also provide for loved ones, to them, that’s proof of success”

All that to say: Many share the a mission (life path number) but how we accomplish that mission is individually owned. Numbers are everywhere, so why wouldn’t God, our angels, and our ancestors use them as tools to communicate with us. But I digress because I’m not here to give a dissertation on numerology.

When looking at my paintings, I encourage you to see the external and identify the life path numbers weaved into the backgrounds. And knowing that a life path number encompasses one’s birth date, I like to incorporate these numbers into the micro by including them in the fabric and designs of the subject’s garment. I don’t like to flat out give someone’s birthday because I believe it to be as personal as a social security number, but understand these are unique perspectives associated to each individual that almost ensures that our journey is exclusive to us as we co-create with God. Part of that co-creation comes into play by including focal elements of nature. The natural world is God’s artwork, and I’m keen to let this work inspire me and guide my practice.

Nature - God’s Artwork

In my practice, I like to have a theme that carries across all artworks of a series. The theme of this specific series comes from what I would attribute to an unlikely yet odd source. In the thick of creating High Vibrations, I was consulted by my then partner that I should paint coral. This was a solid idea, but it wasn’t one that I was ready to start giving attention to, so I stored it away for a later day.

Internal thought: the man is a fellow creative, so I wouldn’t look too much into my use of unlikely and odd. These are good things.

As I created Balance and explored Union, I saw an opportunity to further my studies in my own framework and style. I decided to make something of nature a focal element in my artwork. I stumbled upon this by specifically looking at the flowers I incorporated in the design of Arenal. I was leaving little Easter eggs throughout my work, and the idea I thought I had stumbled upon, I was already implementing. Just like Arenal, I once again enmeshed the natural into the art by deciding to make coral a fashion theme for this new series of work. I used a variety of different corals to incorporate, like staghorn coral, lettuce leaf, bubble coral, and many others. It became a design element in both paintings and digital drawings as well.

Now I want to add that I didn’t just say yes to incorporating coral into my artwork just because the idea was given to me. There has to be a spiritual element for me to move forward with a potential theme, so I looked into the significance of coral. Coral carries signifiers of vitality, fertility, and protection. Coral is a mother. It provides shelter, safety, and medicine to a variety of marine life. And it is revered within that overlapping of both secular and religious ideals, as it was also associated with Christ’s blood and passion. It has cultural significance across many cultures like Chinese culture, where it was worn by emperors to protect and ward off evil. Native Americans believe it to have healing and purification properties. And in Buddhism, coral is considered one of the seven treasures in Buddhism and is used to make offerings to Buddha and decorate statues. Coral is a symbol of the cycle of life. As a motif, coral has no direct correlation to the concept of family, but accounting for the symbolism of coral and all that it represents, it feels familial. And when I study the modalities of divine communication and how God gives us tools and clues for our life’s mission on Earth, I look at the 4th House.

4th House

The 4th house has associations with an individual’s history and roots; Looking into the home, the family, the ancestors, and our deepest emotional well-being. It gives us perspective on our past experiences while also anchoring us in making decisions for our present and future moments. This house is an area of personal development where we inherit emotional responses and familial patterns, but with recognition of these structures in this area of our personality, there is an opportunity to create safe and supportive environments that foster profound change that will carry to our descendants and add to the connections that are created in the 4th house. The correlation between the significance of the 4th house and paintings of the matriarchs in my family manifested organically, and this aspect of astrology just peaked my interest by pure coincidence. I’ve been commending this journey in recognizing my familial ties and honoring them fairly recently and while I’m carrying this mission, I’m creating a more nurturing and harmonious home life. Therefore, the title “What’s in your 4th house” is both a recognition of my own journey and an invitation to observe what’s in yours as well.

As I look more into it, I see that love and admiration is in my 4th house regardless of the challenges that arise. And furthermore, I’m once again immensely grateful for the individuals that God has placed around me. If you’ve ever heard someone say “ God don’t play about me”, this recognition is one of those examples because I’ve been able to be surrounded by individuals who have taught me the value of having integrity and strong morals and holding love as a founding principle in my life. And again, that’s not to say life is without challenges, but I admire the souls that are in my fourth house.

Epilogue

Now this can all seem esoteric for those who have a very limited view of God. And this type of thinking and communion with God is not for everyone. I invite you to examine only where you are putting human limits on the divine being that is God. As I’ve mentioned multiple times before, God gives us many tools to understand not only ourselves but also to have communion and form connection with the divine and our higher selves. God speaks to us all differently, and with the methods I have touched on, I’m finding more ways to find God that exists outside of the Church and religious texts.

If you’ve read to the end of this discourse and you vibe with what I’m putting down…WELCOME! I hope we can further a dialogue in the comments. If you’ve gotten to the end and feel discomfort…WELCOME, and I also look forward to furthering this conversation, but mind yourself because God is still working on me :). Overall, I hope you take the time to go look at my artwork at www.flowestswapmeet.com and espy whatever emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise. I look forward to continuing this co-creation journey with God.