“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”

― Rumi

The well-known, beautiful quote from the 13th century mythical Sufi poet formed a kind of background for the work with the new logo, profile and website of the art weaver and designer Karina Siegmund AKA The Ocean Weaver.

April 12, 2022, it was launched to the outside world. Do you know why we chose that particular date?

AMBASSADORS OF THE SEA

Karina is an artist, designer and spiritual soul with passion for the ocean, and everything that lives in it. She describes her art as ambassadors of the sea. Born and raised in Germany, educated in design and art in the hometown of the Bahauas tradition, the wild paths of life led her to the Stad Peninsula, the westernmost point on our long coastline. Here she combines artistic ambitions with the need to live out her love of the sea. The beautiful landscape offers rugged nature, stormy weather and rapidly changing light, sheep grazing freely, while surfers from all over the world test their strength against violent waves in heavy seas.

Here, in the middle of the silence, Karina breathes in the fresh salty air, and nourishes the soul with what constitutes the essence of her woven textile arts and design crafts.

WHEN SEA AND SKY MEET

April 12, 2022 was not a randomly selected launch date. On this date, the planets Neptune and Jupiter met in a conjunction in the sky, in the sign of Pisces; a water sign, and as the last in the zodiac it marks the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

Neptune, the eighth and outermost planet in the solar system from the sun, is named after the Roman Sea God. While Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is named after the celestial deity from the same Roman mythology.

Neptune, the sea, symbolizes the fluid, the subtle, the sensitive and the spiritual. A supreme creativity and love, our longings, ideals, intuition and idealism.

Jupiter, the sky, stands for expansion, growth, insight and overall understanding. Philosophy, tolerance, opportunity and hope are all characteristics of Jupiter's domain. An encounter between these two planets can be used to expand our consciousness, and free us from what we need to leave in the past to move into new ways of being. The water dissolves, the air gives clarity.

If you are interested in astrology, you probably already know that this was a rare event. Jupiter and Neptune meet every 13 years, but a conjunction in the sign of Pisces you will only experience this once. (Next time is in 2188.) Weather or not you are interested in Astrology you can still choose to look at this as a symbolically important event.

OCEAN LOVE

For us, it certainly was of great symbolic importance to launch Karina's website on this date. Karina's vision is not just to create arts and crafts with inspiration from the sea. Her vision is to awaken our commitment to the ocean so we together can make a difference. Through her presence, production, and international network, she will develop a wide range of art and experiences related to the sea. This is how she wants to awaken more hearts to beat harder for the ocean and all creatures living there.

We are all connected to the mighty ocean. It is where we all originate, and still we depend on the fine-tuned ecosystem that balances all life. And as we all are part of the great ocean, the ocean is also a part of us. What harms the ocean, also harms us. If the ocean should die, so will we. It might be hard to comprehend, but that is the simple fact.

It is said that this powerful encounter between the energies of Neptune and Jupiter can manifest itself on both individual and collective levels. We now know that major changes are needed if we are to save the oceans. Our individual consciousness and individual actions can in total become large collective movements. We must keep the hope that it is possible, and nurture both idealism and the will to change in ourselves.

Rumi's poem was by the way a love poem, and it continues as follows:

You are the drop, and the ocean

you are kindness, you are anger,

you are sweetness, you are poison.

Do not make me more disheartened.

you are the chamber of the sun,

you are the abode of venus,

you are the garden of all hope.

Oh, Beloved, let me enter.

- Rumi

Visit Karina's website here. The pages will gradually be filled with art, inspiration and information about workshops, weave & surf retreats. All are the invitations to awareness, presence and closeness to the sea and nature at Stad.