MY NATURE
A Tree of Life Created by the Sea
With roots, trunk & canopy of leaves.
My North Star Mythology:
From the Fingers of Sedna
Taking 11,400 years to cycle with the Sun, the coldest, most distant trans-Neptunian object in our solar system was named Sedna to honor the Inuit Goddess who is thought to live at the bottom of the frigid Arctic Ocean.
Betrayed by her husband and her father, who cut off all her fingers to save his own life when his boat capsized, Sedna sinks to the bottom of the sea. From her finger stumps, Sedna creates a bounty of sea creatures to provide the Inuit with food. And so, Sedna became the immortal sea goddess they celebrate each year.
This goddess archetype symbolizes creation from betrayal & dissection. Sedna affirms that if we delve into the darkest, coldest, loneliest place we fear most, we will return enriched, as we are worthy of love & respect and have every right to expect that others treat us well despite our shortcomings.
A Classical Ballerina & Pianist
I performed on The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. & The Auditorium in Chicago with The Zurich Ballet under the artistic direction of Rudolf Nureyev. I trained on full merit scholarship at The American Ballet Theatre School in NYC.
In college at Smith, I studied architecture, historic preservation, urban planning, music theory & piano performance.
A Photographer
At 10, my father showed me how he developed negatives in his dark room. I opened a studio in 2010 but used the Digital SLR Canon EOS 7D and photographed one subject, Vivi my Golden Retriever, for 365 consecutive days.
Licensed Internationally
In 2011, I published a book. and Getty Images, Avanti Press, and a small press in the U.K. licensed a number of my photographs.
Vivi's Ballerina Dream
In the series, I wear the historical pointe shoes that Gelsey Kirkland wore in her 1976 American Ballet Theatre performance of "La Sylphide" at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, New York. I visited Ms. Kirkland in her dressing room after her performance, and she gifted me her pointe shoes when I asked her.
Her gift keeps on giving. Dancers Love Dogs has assisted over 25,000 homeless dogs in Cape Town, Durban & Johannesburg since 2012.
My series, “Vivi's Ballerina Dream" became the campaign posters for Dancers Love Dogs, a not-for-profit organization in South Africa.
A Dance Photographer
I also photographed dancers whom I coached. One of my students joined the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in New York and another joined the Kirov Ballet Academy in D.C.
Other Aspirations
Using A.I. techniques, in 2024 I produced Venus Geist Portraits virtually derived from selfies. I also practiced calligraphy, painting & model building (summer Interning at Robert A.M. Stern Architects & Skidmore Owings & Merrill in NYC). I worked from 2005-2010 as a senior executive assistant at Booz Allen Hamilton. I have delved into Jungian archetypal psychology & dream analysis. My long term favorite interests are astrology & bioacoustics.
Throughout the 1990's, I traveled to archaeological sites across the countries of Old Europe including Malta, Sardinia & the Greek islands such as Santorini & Crete, which inspired me to study Hellenistic Astrology. When I returned to the States in 2000, I found Evolutionary Astrology. By 2012, I met my mentor, Zsuzsanna Griga, a Transcendental Karmic Astrologer from Budapest. Now, I have added Vedic techniques and some Fixed Stars. Below is my natal chart showing the two configurations: the Trawler & the Yod.
Thank you very much for visiting. if you have any questions or wish to share anything, I welcome hearing from you.
Vanessa Tiegs
Smith College Class of '89
Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude
Masters of Women's Spirituality, 2001
Creator of Menstrala, the art movement reframing an old taboo
I invented an intuitive navigation tool for astrology lovers: a clock that tells phasal time by putting natives & time-stamped subjects into a chosen cyclical context.
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© Copyright 2000-2025 Vanessa Tiegs. All rights reserved.
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