MERI IRINDIRA NIKULA

Co-creating with nature has been calling me in various forms lately. From gardening to improvising with a human friend, blending in with the soil, the leaves, the moss. We are also working on a whole Art Biennial focused on water. Interestingly, a project where WIND was the main element came also back to me through my news feed recently! Elements galore!!

Six years ago in The Netherlands we worked on a project with kites as instruments, using the element of air for creating sound in various ways. My dear friend and collaborator Frouke Wiarda had invited several artists to design kites as well as composers and musicians to make music with them. I participated in two pieces: one very physical one where I played a kite string, using it even as a weird kind of a microphone. Another with a composer Dyane Donck who composed a piece of music, I Talk To The Wind, from my vocal sounds (pre-recorded and live) and the sound of a kite.  

My voice and expression is untamed, as usual..! Using sounds that come from deep within, primordial sounds, moving between the sophisticated and the unknown, the beautiful and the sometimes uncomfortable. It is becoming more and more clear this is part of my work here. 

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There I was, at Luleå Airport in North of Sweden, with a huge box containing my sculptural costume created by Essi Korva. That costume I was to bring with me to Berlin for an exhibition with Galleri Syster. It didn't work out. Even after agreeing on the details of the transport by phone, they simply refused to take the box and the costume on board... So, what to do? Call a sister! 

​Hanna Kanto, another artist friend joining the exhibition was already in Berlin. I would need her help in creating another sculptural costume in 1,5 days. She said YES and a whole new character was born: a comic baroque figure, Marie Antoinette's double-ganger (shortly before the revolution) for a new performance piece WHIPPED (s)CREAM.

WHIPPED (S)CREAM
​​Meri Nikula (performance & voice),
​Hanna Kanto (costume & paintings on the background)

Beloved friends!

​It is a fertile time for birthing your dreams. The Light and the Dark are balanced. The masculine and the feminine are joining forces.

We have been swimming in the Piscean realms, the formless, feminine mystery, the origins of all life. With the Equinox, the Aries Sun is coming in with it's masculine power to ignite the growth of all those seeds you have dreamed during your journeying inward.

A friend recently asked if I was pregnant. Not in the sense of having a baby in my belly, but I AM rebirthing myself again! I am thrilled to introduce you to my new creation where you can access my offerings in a more direct way. Please welcome Irindira Vocal Arts, my new space for sharing Healing Vocal Arts. I would love to be of service to you on your path to greater authenticity! 

I am in the process of strengthening the foundations of my sacred space, both within my home as my castle and my body as my temple, to be better available and capable for the healing and the transformational art I feel called to create. I encourage you to step into your next level of self care and self love in your life to release your full capacity in service for healing this planet!

For the first time I am also offering LIVE one on one sessions if you want to connect with me directly. These session are Conscious Connection Calls where you will get clarity around your chosen subject and a stronger connection with your essence. Find out if something resonates with you on my new homepage for  Healing Vocal Arts: https://www.irindiravocalarts.com/

Happy Wednesday!
Happy Chinese Year of the Dog!
Happy New Day in general, my dear. 

​It is a new beginning, every day you are alive.

I had the pleasure to start this year's performing in the stunning LOFOTEN ISLANDS in Northern Norway, invited by Ny Musikk Nordland. It was a concert I will never forget!  I was singing together with a natural echo: TALKING NYMPHS, evoking the nature spirits on this special location. The energy was very strong there. 

It is hard to record the echo though, so unfortunately I have no proper video to post here... but I have something else, new and exciting to share with you! 

MY FIRST FACEFOOK LIVE:
https://www.facebook.com/meri.nikula.54/videos/10155032403222063/

​This is another new beginning for me, to start sharing in this direct and unedited way, so that I can reach you all, around the globe! I am planning on LIVE sharing on both my private page as well as my professional page, Irindira Vocal Arts, so if you want to follow me there, here is the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/merindira/

This midwinter darkness has been cradling me in it's murkier waters. There is a heaviness of old patterns being brought into the surface. It seems to me that now that I have my safe haven, here in my 'new' home, it is now safe to have a deeper look into some aspects of self I have rather left unnoticed.  

It is curious, when truly going after your dreams and starting to realise them, something can still catch your heart in shadow. Part of that 'something' is exactly that: simply a call to be there, embracing that darker side. The vulnerable, the unfinished, the out-of-tune parts of ourselves. There are moments when we really just need to be still and listen to the murmurs of those unheard parts. To be present. To forget the busy roadmap we have created for ourselves and surrender to the mystery of listening. 

I asked my guides for some insights and a blessing for these times, for this new year we have entered. A melancholic melody started appearing. I took the microphone and recorded it and the rest of the blessing. Always without editing. This one embracing all the misaligned and out-of-tune parts of ourselves, either falling way or integrating into our greater whole:

We have entered an interesting year. Making magic real by seriously COMMITTING to staying true to your purpose and doing the work necessary for your gifts to be shared. It is a year of contradictions: the earthly world might get more and more 'real' with us and yet, at the same time, we have a greater opportunity to create a New World from a completely new perspective. You have to believe it to be able to create it. You have to start creating and you will see it come true. 

In my own life, this looks a lot like the picture above: purposefully CREATING the spaces, the physical settings for tuning in, listening, channeling, making myself available for the creativity to flow through. We need some structure to have the inner space for the dream world to come alive. 

By making things more concrete and grounded makes it easier to also open up for greater flows of energy and creativity. ​

During the holidays, my hyacinth mama was growing off center, bending all the way on the table, away from her little one. I supported her back up and she leaned towards her little one. In the hyacinth I saw myself and the need for structure and support. I had not been taking enough time for self-care. With my little one, we are growing together. She is reflecting back to me, every day, whether my life is in balance or if I am moving out of alignment. ​

In 2018 I am committing to create more music, Vocal Mosaics, to record and share this Global World Music with you. These are actual songs, without words and only with my voice, but different from the Vocal Blessings in the sense that they are composed and layered track by track. 

Read the whole message HERE

Wishing you an inspiring and empowering New Year 2018!
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From my fearless truth to yours, 

​Meri Irindira

For me, these darkest days of the year have called me to do as much of ‘nothing’ as possible. To just let all the experiences of the past year sink in, wash through, integrate and dissolve. Letting go of what needs to be released and appreciating what has been inspiring and magical.  Life changing.

​There has been a certain heaviness in the energy field during the past couple of weeks. After a whole year of transformations, taking action, making an effort to live a fulfilling life, dreaming and taking steps to make those dreams real, many feel… completely exhausted.

And it sure has been quite the year!! For me, from the very first day, 1.1.2017 when I first saw my new house which called me in, to make a move. Following my intuition, I have been riding the crazy waves of change without looking back. Taking that big leap and letting my wings open, trusting the winds would come and carry me. And they have!

​The more I live my dreams true, I also realise how important it is to have inspiring, loving, living connections with other people. Without such amazing people in my life, none of these things would be possible. It is all happening because of YOU!! Because we are connected. Because we circulate the magic, because we create those uplifting winds of ‘good luck’ that carry us forward.

​My year has been full of amazement and adventure and yet, I have also had my share of pain, insecurity and loneliness. Sometimes we get so enchanted, as we look at someone else’s life from outside, that we are convinced they have it 'all figured out', that they are always having an amazing time, that they are ‘beyond’ such feelings as anxiousness or fear. In my experience, we all have the whole spectrum of human emotions alive within us. What gets highlighted might change from person to person, significantly even, but we ALL have those emotions to some extend.

NEW MOON VOCAL ACTIVATION:

​On the last New Moon of 2017 we started to create the shifts for the coming year 2018. Listen to this Vocal Blessing and let it flow through you with the energy of pure beginnings, transcending anything that needs to be resolved, dissolved or let go of for the new to take wing. 

​SOLSTICE MESSAGE:
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​If you want to go a little deeper, you can read the channeled message I was given on the Winter Solstice. The message carries into the new year: 

''And from this humble, loving space within, new realities can be created. New realities where the vulnerability of the human heart, of human life, is acknowledged, understood and celebrated. '' 

Read the whole message HERE

Sweet, gentle BLESSINGS to your life at these transformative times during Yule, Solstice and more. 

In what ever way you might celebrate, I wish you peace of heart and the radiance of your soul's wisdom. 

​
Warm winter hugs,

Meri

The whole month of November has been full of travels and new encounters, new performances, new ideas and new paths opening up. It has been so rewarding yet I am super happy and relieved that these last days of this month I will get to be home at last! The snow is bountiful up here in the North and the frost is creating such gorgeous world of pure whiteness.  

I want to share a taste of this bliss with you. You are welcome to listen in and take a moment to bask in the sweetly flowing essence of Lakshmi!  

http://www.merinikula.com/lakshmi.html

Through the link above you can access the 'secret' page on my website for the Goddess Invocation of Lakshmi and her words of loving wisdom as well, channeled through Meri IRINDIRA. 

Blessings to you and sweet tenderness into the last days of this year as we enter December!

Much love, 

​Meri

Here is a short clip from the concert, my original song called 'The Opening' which I created before my daughter was born, before I even knew I would ever become a mother. Afterwards, through this song, I felt like her energy was coming in, preparing me to receive and welcome her. The future generations... the world is a much more complex place than when I was born, those 40 years ago. It is certain that the lives of our children will be dramatically different still, from what we are able to foresee. Returning to simplicity in the complex world, whenever possible, is for me an act of self love and love for the planet. Using technology is and will be a part of it, but never to forget that we live as a part of a much larger organism, that humans depend on Mama Gaia, Planet Earth, as our home, companion and provider of all we truly need to live.  

We were so blessed at Viiankiaapa, as it turned out to be the perfect evening for an outdoors concert in the wilderness. The wind was still, with just a few degrees below zero, no snowing (or raining) during the concert and those nearly clear skies to let the Full Moon truly shine on us. I closed my eyes, singing from my soul, inviting the clarity and the power of the Full Moon to immerse with my whole being. May we all feel connected with Mama Gaia and the Universe, as we are so intrinsically connect. 

Blessed be, in the Light of the Moon!

At the time of decay, characteristic for late autumn, I have been journeying with the fierce goddess KALI. She is often frightening at the first sight, but she is always there to catch you. Kali embraces you in your wild power, through deep dark pathways, holding the ultimate truth in her wisdom. Nothing is 'too much' for Kali. Never 'too deep', nothing 'too crazy', nothing 'too challenging' for her. As we see the transformation continuing in worrying or scary ways in our world, we are walking with Kali. To liberate we must reveal. To be free with must break loose. 

I am breaking free of limitations. Like Kali, without excuses, she connects directly with her TRUTH beyond any other authority. The world needs our truth now. I journey through time lines, cultures, traditions. With respect, curiosity and willingness to create something new. Dancing with the tradition, in a new context, with a new perspective, I offer what comes through me. ​I had an intense, creative week working on an exhibition, Kven Connection, at Varanger Museum in the remote coastal city of Vadsø in the Arctic Norway. In the 1800's Finnish migrants came to settle there, as they were plagued by severe hunger. When they reached the wild and abundant Arctic Ocean they could fish throughout the year in addition to their farming and raising cattle. They became one of the National Minorities in Norway, who most people know very little about.

For the exhibition I created 'New Traditional Kven Music', a song composed around loose words that start creating a meaning when put together. 'Tulthiin, Nähthiin, Jääthiin' (We came, we saw, we stayed) became a part of my sound installation for Kven connection:

I also experienced such forming of a new tradition of re-mixing cultural elements, with my daughter recently. Where we live now, there are lots of rowans. I remembered creating necklaces from the rowan berries as a child. We have 3 of these blessed trees on our yard (the new house we moved into this spring!) and our bird friends have been feasting for weeks already. Someone in our village had cut down rowan branches and I collected some for me and my girl. As we were beading the berries, I realised we were actually creating a mala instead of a necklace. A rosary. Symbolic for my creative work with music, weaving in traditions, creating something 'old' with a slightly new perspective, combining cultures and their wisdom. 

These mala beads were dedicated to  Kali Ma  as red and black are her colours. And as all the leaves are gone already from the trees, the bare dark branches of the rowans keep highlighting the red berries, pulsating their vibrancy through the darkness that is getting deeper every day. Until the dawn of the new cycles comes. 

VIBRANT rhythms of creation in the darkness for you all. Dance with the mystery and something new might be revealed to you.

With Love, 

Meri


P.S. If you want to bring the power of Kali Ma into your life and are you curious of her medicine and wisdom, I have created a (secret) invocation for you. You are welcome to read and listen her voice and words channeled through me over HERE.