You are the prayer
Inside the Current with Marisa Papen from Double Being
Marisa Papen is one half of DOUBLE BEING, the visionary artist duo she forms with her partner Michael Chichi. Their collaboration unfolds across photography, poetry, ritual film, publication, design and sonic landscapes —each piece an act of devotion to body freedom, relational polarity and interbeing, inviting viewers into a space where projection dissolves and the mirror of self is made visible. Their most recent offering, Flow of Life, is a short film, a ritual ode to menstruation as a sacred current. Set against the elements, the piece dissolves shame and reattunes the viewer to the cyclical intelligence of the womb. In Marisa’s words, it is not just art, but “a red ribbon tying us back to the Earth.” — Today, Marisa shares from her personal now; what it means to live inside emergence, to listen for the song of the Earth, to return to one’s own rhythm and to surrender into quiet reverence.
AURORA – There are seasons when something in us begins to move before we understand where it’s going. A pull, a shedding, a quiet storm beneath the surface. What current is moving through your life right now and how are you letting (or resisting) it reshape you?
Marisa – Being a nomad requires physical and mental flexibility. To remain centered within the push and pull of life, seems to be my lesson. There is always letting go and welcoming in. Yoga has been a critical practice for my wellbeing. Most often I feel moved by multiple currents at once, yet each stream gives a clue of the greater river. I am carried by something that is outside of the logical mind. It’s a call, a time, a perking up into ripe action. There are only a few rifts on earth that are formed through a cracking open, we can see the edge of the Rio Grande from our kitchen window. For some reason, I am drawn to tectonic movement and volcanic soil. On this particular land, we’ve learned about communal resonance. My heart feels strengthened by the connections we’ve made here. To be seen and to stand in my own values, I am returning towards the approaching stillness.
AURORA – Some truths arrive slowly. They bud, wait, then, all at once, they demand to be spoken, even if they’re not yet tame. What feels ripe in your inner world right now and how are you tending or avoiding it?
Marisa – We are currently working on an emergent ritual theatre. After many turbulent years, I needed a pause from stepping forward. I can recognize now that I’ve been ebbing for a while, rinsing my palette, slowing my pace, returning to the rhythm of the feminine cycle. Merging into alignment, I am in love with what I stand for. Trusting myself, I trust the emergent nature of the process. When I finally demanded silence, I heard the song of the earth, I want to hear it more, I want to dance to it, I want to sing with it. The voice and womb are connected in uterus. I know my voice will viscerally remember this when I birth my first child. Being invited to express myself anew in front of an audience feels like a big leap, definitely a birthing also.
AURORA – We are always in relationship with what turns us on. Not just sexually, but soulfully, creatively, energetically. Sometimes it’s quiet, other times it’s dangerous. What’s quietly turning you on right now and how are you letting that energy move (or hide) in your life?
Marisa – My body folds itself into child’s pose, like a chrysalis, I am wrapped in a nordic white blanket. It’s the dark of the night, my right cheekbone presses against the cool crust of the earth, I’m alone and weeping. The dry desert stone absorbs my tears instantly. I feel myself as an infant solaced on mother’s belly. My muscles slowly surrender to melting. Quiet reverence came through strong during my first ayahuasca ceremony on this new moon in Gemini. My attraction to prayer has been increasing in most recent years, however I never knew how to approach the altar, which words to use, how to make these gestures my own truth? Arriving at ‘Quiet Reverence’ felt like a revelation — ‘YOU ARE THE PRAYER’. When an insight strikes your heart, your whole being begins to re-pattern. Ultimately I believe this human journey is about reclaiming our sovereignty within the circle. The choices we make to continuously live inside this arrival are endlessly unique. For me, it is important to regularly engage in conscious celibacy, even (and perhaps especially) within marriage.
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Make sure to watch Flow of Life, the epic 15min short, right here.
“This organically grown body of work started with a seed of pain and led over the course of one lunar year to healing and understanding. The pain invited Marisa to witness and physically feel one of the core wounds of our planet, the suppression and misunderstanding of women and their blood.”
epic