(This is an article I wrote for "The Black Cat Press" on the 26th of July 2015)

"The Source of Creativity?"
   Published by Guest Contributor on July 26, 2015

Almost as mysterious as life itself is identifying the source of creativity.  Is there a source?  Or is creativity similar to light and the air we breathe in that it is omnipresent, each of us focusing our intent to receive the specific creative vibration that will suit the moment – much like the tuner knob on a radio?

All of my life I have been a doer, a builder, a creative individual.  I have danced.  I have designed everything from fashion to furnishings.  I have written many types of projects.  I have done all of these creative expressions without having given much thought to the process.  Then, in July 2009, I finally faced my “some day” mantra.  I had said I was doing everything else first so that some day I could paint.  Some day is NOT a day of the week.

I have painted in the past….before July 2009.  When I was 15 years old I decided I wanted to be an artist.  My parents bought me a basic oil painting set with basic colors and basic brushes.  I had no idea what I was doing or even how to paint with oil paints.  If you were to see my first oil painting you would see that the paint was troweled on and instead of brushing details in, I carved and moved the paints around with the ends of the brushes.  It is all VERY primitive.  I have no idea where the idea for my subject came from or why I painted the young boy wearing a blue suit and cap.  What I do remember is that I absolutely wanted there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I was painting a street scene in Paris, France, so I painted a crude representation of the Eiffel Tower in the background.

"The Parisian Boy"

I did have two semesters of oil painting in college and one semester of the chemistry of oils.  I was fortunate to have had both classes taught by someone with some sense of notoriety among American artists – Alexander Hogue.  He had been brought out of retirement to teach for a few years.  He was more concerned that our paintings would last 500 years rather than teach us any techniques.  It was yet one more disappointing educational experience in my life.

Fast forward to Los Angeles in the summer of 2000.  I visited a Spiritualist church a few times with some friends.  After a few Sundays of attending, a visiting Spiritualist minister from London, England met with me after the service.  She informed me that every Sunday I had been there she had seen the same young man standing behind me, dressed in yachting attire, but from the 1900’s.  She went on to tell me that there were two other men she always saw standing close by.  She described all three and they were the same ones 8 different Spiritualists and Sensitives have seen around me throughout my life….including one very famous Spiritualist/Psychic (Clifford Bias) who counseled FDR and his wife, Eleanor, during his years as president, at the White House.

The Spiritualist minister further informed me that the individual dressed in the yachting attire was from a past life in pre-World War I Paris and that friends from that lifetime who were artists wanted to “paint again through me as their channel.”  She told me that the friend in the yachting attire was the primary artist wanting to paint and that I should wear the color purple to be more in harmony with his energies.  She also said, “There will be more, in addition to him.”

I never have to think about what I am going to paint.  I have already been given a very long list of subjects.  I rarely know ahead of time how I am going to paint my next painting.  I am shown and told during the process.  I always know when a painting is finished.  I feel it and am told, “It’s finished….don’t do anything further.”  By nature I am empathetic and I do sense different energies wherever I go.  I have been painting long enough to feel three distinct energies when I paint.  There is one for painting the Impressionist and Fauvist paintings.

 http://theblackcatpress.com/2015/07/the-source-of-creativity/

(Today this article that discusses my painting, "Our Lady of Guadalupe", was published.  Very nicely written! )


The true Feminine Divine

On rare occasions, I come across an artist who sparks a magnetic, mystic curiosity within my soul. My first-sight impression reminded me of the early paintings of “El Greco,” known for the intense spirituality of his own famous pieces of art.  The moment I laid eyes on “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” I knew this painting contained immeasurable amounts of soul information.

I felt instantly the allure of its ancient history, multidimensional quality and varieties of ancient symbols.  So I did a bit of necessary digging and what I discovered was incredibly share-worthy.

There behind the spectacular image of the feminine divine was nothing less than a mystical artist, David Von Braun, whose own spiritual awakening divinely led him down a path to creating works of “healing” art. David is well known for painting with astonishing colored details of vivid imagination, reliving through his brush the ancient stories and relics of his own previous lives. As a young child, he was given access to an incredible, divine recollection  of his past lives.

This sought-after information about the origins of the “Feminine Divine” opened my eyes to early “Goddess Isis” roots.  Paris was the center of one of the largest centers for Isis in the ancient world.  Notre Dame Cathedral is built on the ruins of a large temple to Goddess Isis.  One of the many names for Isis (The Goddess of 1,000 Names) was “Queen of Heaven.”  Another name was “Our Lady.”  As Christianity began to take form, the Goddess in her feminine form was disguised within the male form and referred to as “God.”  Her cherished image was adopted as” the beloved Virgin Mary.”  The “Feminine Divine” was now honored as “the mother of the son of God.”

Originally,  her brilliant blue star-speckled cloak was a symbol of the mysterious star patterns that had appeared upon the cloak of “Juan Diego.”  Beneath her delicate, flowing gown, she is supported only by a luminous crescent moon, which is one of the oldest depictions of Isis.  The delicate crescent moon simply symbolized “feminine.”  It has no light-shedding capability of its own; it is merely reflected by the radiance of the sun above her.  The solar disc with doves dancing like a halo to the “Feminine Divine” remains an ancient symbol of peace for the goddess Isis.  It is not the first relic of ancient history that gave me knowledge of early Aztec beginnings. However, this was my first encounter with the historical beginnings of an image familiar to most as “Our Lady.”

As I indulged myself further in his collection of works, I saw that each contained hidden spiritual messages that were merely awaiting true divination.  Within the mesmerizing beauty of each of David Von Braun’s paintings is an ancient lesson waiting to be revealed to each one blessed with eyes to see.  Ancient symbols from numerology to Feng Shui emerge from within the tones and undertones of each “healing” component throughout his otherworldly collections.

It has been profoundly enriching to have discovered not only artwork that speaks of eons of Aztec history, but also the wonderment of a captivating spiritual artist whose journey has begun to unfold. 

www.dvbpaintings.com/collections.html


http://ipinionsyndicate.com/the-true-feminine-divine/

2 May 2013

This "realization" all came to me beginning yesterday morning during meditation and was probably "encouraged" by the fact that I awoke
around two o'clock Tuesday morning and watched an owl "zipping" past the house and around the street in front of the house where I'm staying......then "shot" down the street toward the south and disappeared.
 
31 March 2012:  at 1100 hours, Universal time (used to be
called Greenwich Mean Time) the following heavenly bodies were at 11 degrees of the Sun:  the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Chiron, Saturn and Pluto.  This was a
significant and very rare alignment and very "activating" of the energies.  The
number Eleven is a "Master" number.
 
1 April 2012:  When I got back where I'm staying from using WiFi I realized I had left my thumb drive on the desk - which has an enormous amount of valuable information on it - especially since my own computer is in storage and the thumb drive is my only access to many of the jpegs of my art.  

After feeding Kit-E Kit-E I rushed back to the house and retrieved the thumb
drive.  While walking back, almost to the house where I am staying I happened to look up to the skies in front of me and suddenly there was a Shooting Star. 
It's direction was toward the Southeast, which for me denotes Money, Success and Wealth.
 
2 April 2012:  While walking back to the house where I'm staying, along one of the paths for golf carts on the golf course the houses are built around, I just happened to look down and there was a large feather lying on the ground.  Something in my head said, "Owl feather" but I had no idea that it was.  I had been hearing an owl around the neighborhood for a few weeks at various times of the day.  I had seen it's silhouette once at dusk as it flew from tree to tree.  Even though it isn't every day I come upon a large feather on the ground, for some reason I just walked past it.  Then an "inner urging" almost forced me to walk back and pick it up.  I dusted it off and walked toward the house.
 
When I walked in the house where I'm staying the person I'm staying with and some friends of hers immediately said "That's an owl feather."  I wondered what "medicine" it possessed and what its message might mean.
 
For the next few weeks I thought about the feather and checked it for its energies with my pendulum and the energy around it was very strong.  I also had the inner "knowing" that it was somehow related to my Spirit Guide, Lone Feather, who was the first Guide I was ever aware of even when I didn't really know what they are.  Every reading I've had by a Spiritualist or Psychic since I was in high school has included information about my main three spirit guides with the first one being "Lone Feather."  Even the late Clifford Bias, when I went for a reading with him in New York City (who was Spiritual Adviser to FDR and his wife Eleanor when they were in the White House) immediately was aware of Lone Feather.  (This information is on my website.......hence, "The Power of Three.")
 
During my morning meditation period I've begun keeping the owl feather as a book mark for my Aramaic version of "The Zohar"......something else that emits incredible energy.  I was impressed to do research today about the owl feather and see what I could learn.  Here it is:
 
1.  The feather I found is a tail feather of a Great Horned Owl.
 
2.  Native Americans viewed the owl as a Protector against harm and their feathers were ritually worn to ward off evil spirits.
 
3.  Ancient Athenians used the owl as an emblem of Wisdom.  To ancient Greeks the owl was a symbol of Athena, who is Goddess of Foresight and Knowledge.
 
4.  The owl is a creature of the night - symbolic of inner-knowing, psychic ability and intuition.
 
5.  If an owl has visited you, an incredible gift has been bestowed.  Keep in mind that animals are only called to those who share the same energy.  You hold within you some of the same symbolic attributes the owl represents.
 
6.  The owl is a Messenger from the Spirit World.
 
Oh, and since I channel my paintings and all the details in them I never thought about what the feathers are I painted tied in the hair of
my Shaman in my painting, "Anasazi Shaman."  They're tail feathers of the Great
White Owl.
 

The number 4 represents the establishment of a firm foundation.  it is very important in the Numerology of the Bible as well as with Free Masons and the Rosacrucians.

My friend Jo planted the last of the four crystals at Findhorn in Scotland, today.  Now let the "manifestng

This morning, in Plum Village, Bordeaux, France, my friend Jo Angelina “planted” the third of the signed (dvb) triangular shaped natural crystals.  It is a Rutilated clear quartz crystal (Rutile are tiny gold threads running through the clear quartz).

She planted it at the feet of a statue of Buddha in the gardens.  I have included pictures of the exact location of the “planted” crystal, a picture of locations at the Retreat and a picture of one of the “most” enlightened inhabitants of Plum Village.

The fourth and final crystal will soon be "planted" in Findhorn, Scotland.

My friend Jo Angelina is "planting" triangular shaped crystals I have signed my signature on with gold paint, at various locations around the world.  Each of the four crystals to be planted has been kept in a red Feng Shui envelope, denoting "Prosperity."

Here is the e-mail message I received today along with three of the photographs she sent commemorating the event:
"Hi David, Suzanne and I went to ALBI (about an hour and half ride from Toulouse) for the day and I decided that Toulouse LautrecMuseum would be the right spot.  It's up to the Universe now, as always!  Hugs , Jo"

My friend Jo is "planting" signed, triangular shaped crystals for me during her travels over the next few months.  Due to a mix-up she was unable to "plant" the clear quartz that was to go to Machu Picchu.  So, Enrique Velasco, whose family owns the tour company for Machu Picchu volunteered one of their guides to plant the crystal for Jo.  www.colturperu.com ;This morning I received these two photographs of the "planting" - Before and After.  Within the next few months Jo is going to "plant" a signed, triangular shaped pink quartz and a rutilated clear quatz in France and a signed Hematite at Findhorn in the U.K.