Mother of the World

Mother of the World. From “Banners of the East” series. 1924

Tempera on canvas. 117 x 89 cm. N.Roerich International Centre-Museum, Moscow
Матерь Мира. Из серии «Знамёна Востока»

I loved this picture when I first saw it - in fact, I like a lot of Roerich's art, but this one really speaks to me. I wonder if she could be The Queen Mother of the West, that mysterious goddess from the Himalaya area of our planet. Roerich and his wife, Helena, spent a lot of time in that area. Both of them were very involved with the esoteric Theosophical movement of the 1920s, with Helena translating Madame Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine into Russian. Eventually, they founded the Agni Yoga Society - wiki has an entry about it here.

The Roerich Museum in NYC houses much of his work; their website also has much of his work online. I'd love to get into the City one day and see the works in person - the effect of seeing the original work is much more intense than viewing a reproduction of it.

I found this poem online and thought it "went" with the picture. The author has some very nice poetry - you can visit her site by clicking on her name, below the poem.

Softly Breathing
Softly open
Truth of mind
I sit in my presence
A joy to find

Softly breathing
The gap is lined
With love flowing outward
To all living kind.

~Cheryl Hamilton McDonough