Master Violet Ray #11

Master Violet Ray #11

I used to go to country auctions.
Back in the day
before it was considered best
“not” to let me have a number
because I tended to get carried away
and outbid my own self.

Such was true on the night that
the auctioneer brought up
two black cardboard boxes
covered in a vintage faux leather
with brass clasps
and a secret inside.

“Two for the one…and a mystery to me”
bellowed the auctioneer.
Lids opened with a flourish
to reveal one vivid red
and one sensuous purple
silk lined interior.

Delicate glass tubes
in shapes of orbs
and rakes
and forked tongued serpents
were neatly tucked
into silken folded nests.

I semi-surreptitiously scanned the bidding audience for competitors.
Most everyone had turned their heads down to examine the contents
of the cardboard boxes under their folding chairs
which were filling up with their own ideas of
treasure.

So
I bid.

And bid again.

And again.

And got them.

Home in my old studio
I offered up a prayer
to my never met electrician of a grandfather Leonard
that the raggedy assed wires would not kill me
when I plugged them in.

Slowly a purple
yes Violet neon glow
emanated from within the glass tube
which I had inserted in the bakelite housing.

With more bravado than I have today
I brought the orb close to my arm and
ZAP !

I felt the power.

Spring forward twenty years.

I am now a woman of
her almost mid-fifties.
Sure of heart but not so sure of knees
and after a few months of physical therapy
I have been given the gift
of a portable tens unit.

It’s a small
exorbitantly overpriced
modern day
equivalent of the
Master Violet Ray #11

And it has changed my life.

I have come to know
that every painting
prop and idea
has it’s own place and time.

So it became clear that it was now time
to resurrect those old boxes
and see what mischief and ancient healing…
they could create.