St. Michael graces the top of the nicho and is, among other things, the patron saint of sailors, affording protection against peril at sea. The flowers were collected at the Santa Monica beach–offerings left for the sea perhaps, or remnants of a love tryst. But I prefer to think of them, and the seashell, as gifts from the sea. The seashell was collected at Mont St. Michel–St. Michael’s Mount–in France. Mont St. Michel is a truly unique environment with tides that sometimes leave it an island and other times not. Both Mont St. Michel and the beach at Santa Monica are very dear to my heart, one being my home and the other one of my favorite places on the planet.
Nichos are a Latino tradition of creating decorated little spaces to hold and display important keepsakes. They are often devotional in content, incorporating religious iconography and relics.
The title of this piece is also a tribute to the inspirational book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea.
…the mind wakes, comes to life again. Not in a city sense–no–but beach-wise. It begins to drift, to play, to turn over in gentle careless rolls like those lazy waves on the beach. One never knows what chance treasures these easy unconscious rollers may toss up, on the smooth white sand of the conscious mind; what perfectly rounded stone, what rare shell from the ocean floor. Perhaps a channeled whelk, a moonshell, or even an argonaut.
But it must not be sought for…To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach–waiting for a gift from the sea.
pp 16-17
2008
