Monday, December 19, 2011

The Donkey's Dream


Barbara Berger talks about writing The Donkey's Dream, the story of a donkey who wakes from unusual burdens to find he has carried Mary to the stable where Jesus was born:


"The idea for The Donkey’s Dream came to me in visual images one day, during a meditation. Each image was carried on a small gray donkey’s back, and later I recognized them as symbols of the great archtypal Mother. Though they were all in use before Christianity, these beautiful symbols were given to Mary by the Church. The idea of a donkey carrying the sacred feminine in the form of these images, just as he carried Mary to Bethlehem, seemed a true inspiration to me. It was a gift, dropping gently into my lap.
Doing the art for this book gave me a chance to paint my love not only for the Christmas story itself, and the feminine symbols in this vision of the story, but for stained glass windows, illuminated books, and the art of great painters like Fra Angelico, whose work had deeply moved me when I studied art in Italy. I did not try to copy any works in particular, only to suffuse my book with the flavor."


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