The Flaming Heart

Erika, who many of you know as Bio Art Gal is this month's host at  Art Journal Journey.  Her theme is When It's Hot.  When I think of hot,

I thought of the Flaming Heart, sometimes called the Sacred Heart. 

I love the shape because it's a heart, and had no idea how much symbolism and Catholic religion it encompassed. 

The question I asked myself was why is the Sacred Heart always shown as if it’s on fire? 

From what I read, it dates back to the old testament in the bible.   However, there are also the rays of light that apparently represent Christ being the "light of the world.”

Then there's the Crown of Thorns.  Apparently, after the resurrection, the crown of thorns becomes a crown of victory.

Because I make it a habit to NOT discuss religion on my blog, I will leave it to each of you to determine how much more you want to learn about the Sacred or Flaming Heart. There's information out there, much of it religious, if you enter the keywords Sacred or Flaming Heart in an internet search.

For me, it was simply a way to depict heat.

For this page, I began with a sheet of my handmade paper that I colored using a red handmade shimmering mist.  I got it so wet, it tore when I tried to flatten and dry it on my craft table.  I already had the heart printed on photo paper, so when I fussy cut it, I had enough of the excess photo paper to write the words using a Sharpie pen.

Thank you beyond belief for joining me today, and I hope to see you at Art Journal Journey.