Merkabah

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Print sizes and editions

• Regular museum archival paper print - 500 x 810mm
  (limited to 95)
• Large museum archival paper print - 712 x 1152mm
  (limited to 95)
• Extra Large museum canvas print - 840 x 1361mm
  (limited to 95)

Your unique limited edition fine art print

1. Sofia Minson creates your exclusive signed print
2. We ship for $25 in NZ and from $50 internationally
3. Your artwork arrives rolled, ready to be framed - do you need help? Request framing guidance

Original painting SOLD, flashe (vinyl paint) on raw linen, 1280 x 1900mm, 2018.

The story of Merkabah

With impressive antlers and bold gaze, this portrait symbolises wildness, beauty and freedom. Being a hunted animal, the stag is also a symbol of prey and vulnerability.  

Red deer were brought to New Zealand by European settlers in the mid 1800's. The fact that he wears Māori designs on his forehead suggests a cultural fusion. A Western import becoming deeply rooted in this land.  Nature is a shifting, eclectic mixture of diverse species.  

Within the ornate designs in gold, there is a sacred geometric shape called a Merkabah. Also known as Metatron's Cube, it looks like a three dimensional Star of David.

Guardians of treasure

There are two manaia, one on either side of the Merkabah. The manaia is an ancient mythical being with a bird's head and a serpent's tail. I've always thought of manaia as having a dragon-like quality, similar to the taniwha. Taniwha are mythical creatures of the waterways and dangerous places of the deep. Here, the two manaia are shadow beings or taniwha. And like all good dragons, they are guarding the golden treasure.

The manaia face inward towards the third eye. To reach insight, you must first go through them. You must voluntarily face chaos and "slay the dragon."

The innocence of the prey animal is integrated with the shadow nature of the predator or dragon-like being. Light and shadow exist within all of us.

Light, spirit and body

Sitting at the third eye are sacred geometric patterns overlaid on top of each other. The six intersecting circles form the Seed of Life pattern. This simple pattern encodes the building blocks of consciousness. The straight-edged Merkabah, when seen in three dimensions, is a Star Tetrahedron. A shape that perfectly contains all platonic solids.

Merkabah is Hebrew for "chariot."  "Mer" means Light. "Ka" means Spirit. "Ba" means Body.  The Merkabah, when activated, is an energy field around the body that can move through dimensions.

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Sofia Minson Paintings | New Zealand Artwork