Magic in vessels

 During this spring of our time as Artists in Residence, our Intentional Creativity® teacher Shiloh and her husband Jonathan decided to offer their transformational APOTHECARY (online) class over the month of April. 

This is my third time in the workshop, which is designed to transform tragedies to remedies through painting journaling, and my second round as one of the online support team. I'll be certified to offer Apothecary for my community, at the conclusion of this round.

Posts on my paintings and process during the First year and here, second year and here

APOTHECARY - Compass and biophotons

This class was inspired by Jonathan's own journey, finding healing from PTSD through creativity, moving from "Distress ... to Discomfort."  They offered APOTHECARY Medicine Painting as an in person workshop in the states and Australia before translating it into an online offering. 

• Shiloh and Jonathan encourage participants to choose just a few old stories which block their lives now, and not dwell on the pain, but move toward the translation to healing.
• The emphasis is on process, rather than finished product (Though that is usually satisfying as well!) 
• Intentional Creativity® is an approach to creating "which yeilds greater access to who we are now, who we are becoming, and what is possible for us in our unfolding future."
• Utilising our inherent creativity offers a wonderful opportunity for clearing old baggage and facilitates lasting change.

Apothecary participants are encouraged to have their own support system, and if working with a therapist, to keep them in the loop! Decades ago, my massage mentor  Jeanne bespoke working through layers like peeling an onion, a few at a time, which is more manageable with both physical and emotional pains. 

Flower allies

This year we used the videos filmed in 2019, supported throughout each week by a team of Guild members who took Apothecary previously, and  interacting during 4 Zoom calls. The paintings this year are so rich, and participants are invited to share insights and breakthroughs in our private online group and on the calls.

Yesterday, my kitty Percy brought a snake inside - 
I scolded him, and took it back outside - and decided it was one of my vessels!  ... During our legendary journey earlier in the year, we made Ally cards as a journaling exercise, and one of the animal totems was snake ... The medicine: "coilng around what is needed, letting go of what is ready to be released." 
(A dragon showed up on my 'Legend' canvas - which I'm in love with!) 

Legend 2020 - Raven's Beauty

Other vessels are a mortar and pestle, and Oracle cards for medicine teachings, and the pine needle basket a vessel for abundance of resources and financials.
The vessels are blocked in, ready for the remedies to bubble and shift...

APOTHECARY vessels

I look forward to adding details and symbols, as the remedies evolve, and seeing my classmates' medicine emerging.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Alchemy and PRISMs

The last month or so our Intentional Creativity community has been busy brewing potions in the Apothecary, trudging "tragedies into remedies" through the alchemical painting process. With IC, we often bring old stories conscious, and then using creativity to shift the old pain into remedies, which we can draw on when someone has a similar experience, but no longer need to carry in our bodies, or even our fields. This. is. huge.

Bezoar

For many of us, there are old stories of being left out, less than, not important. There may be stories of abuse, receiving unwanted attention, making "bad" choices, and collective stories of persecution for having the "wrong" beliefs. Students come to our art circles with stories of "not being creative," often because some authority told them they weren't, decades before!

These old stories go into the pots, ingredients are added, and healing elixirs are distilled, remedies labeled, and lovingly placed on the shelves. Labels are added as we identify these Remedies.

Bezoar in dark blue container

We did some of our process in journals, led by the wonderful Jenafer Joy.  You may recall my Bezoar from my last post, which, pearl-like, forms around an undigestible object (often hair) in the stomach or intestine of an animal. Harry Potter fans will remember this as a universal antidote to any poison! Quite handy to have in the Apothecary! 
My potions are still brewing, I love the bubbles rising from the goblet, old vows which no longer serve have been rewritten...

I took the canvas to our open studio last weekend.... It's repurposed, and I didn't notice 'till I'd been painting awhile that it's wider on the Left (20", only 18" on the Right!) It was home stretched, and meant to hang vertically!  
So, part of the medicine is adding ribbons and ornaments, I've got a hazel branch that will be integrated above the Right side! And the Perfection Queen just needs to stand down! 

Apothecary

Shiloh and Jonathan are currently on an Australian teaching tour, and are offering PRISM in Melbourne. This is a wonderful glimpse into how art dovetails with quantum physics and reality, and changes we make on the canvas can ripple out into our lives and the world. 
This will be offered online, and registration for this year's virtual PRISM training is now open. I took this class in 2016, and look forward to being an online Hearth Tender again, and to see what appears on my canvas. 

What's on your easel? Happy PPF!

PRISM -2016 (In process)

Apothecary containers

 Our Intentional Creativity community is working with a painting process Shiloh and Jonathan are calling Apothecary Medicine Painting. This includes distilling old stories and tragedies, to  transform them into Remedies. 

Jonathan served as a military EMT, parachuting from a helicopter to provide first aid, the traumas he was involved with led to PTSD, which creative processes (he's a chef and poet) helped him transform those old traumas. 

With this process, we each have been spending time pulling our some of the stories, to distill down into antidotes. 
I'm beginning to put my symbols on the vessels, and write the prescriptions.

Vessels in my Apothecary

Our journey began March 31, and in addition to the painting process, identifying traumas, and discovering antidotes, Jenafer Owen has been offering a daily journal prompt. I love her method of writing with watercolor pencils, then adding collage, and activating /transforming the words with water!

Alchemical jars - we wrote, drew jars in Sharpe, and choose images that appealed for five remedies. 

Elements

I adapted this for our Red Thread Circle last night, dividing a sheet of Mixed Media paper into four segments, journaling about an element in each (earth, air, fire and water) and choosing magazine images for each element. 
This was a good warm up for our next class, in a week, my cohort Sepha and I will invite our students to connect with the elements as they paint "Gaia as a Portal"  

Bezoar

Bezoar - Harry Potter fans will recognize this ancient universal poison remedy. An "indigestable" irritant in an animal's stomach or intestine (hair, etc) is transformed into a solid mass, a Bezoar. 
We drew a winding form in our journal, connecting the end with the start of the line; and used watercolor pencil to write about the "irritant" bellow the line. Then choose another color to write the insight, and skills learned from it. Last, use a brush and water to activate the alchemy. 

The next step is to add the Bezoar to one of the medicine containing vessels on our canvas, with the same colors. It looks rather flower-like, doesn't it?

This morning's prompt was to use a 'Random item Generator' to give us several items pertinent to our alchemical journey! Mine were rubber gloves, masking tape, a snow globe, and a plush bear. I've been drawing and painting with my Grands, home on an inservice day. I used blue painting tape, for painting my Atelier, the gloves allow me to "dig in" 

I asked the kids for ideas for the show globe, and when Z-man suggested Santa, I

remembered the Herstory of a Sun Goddess crossing the sky in a chariot pulled by a reindeer. She flies on Winter Solstice, spinning the sun's rays, and dropping Amber (from her tears) and apples! 

I discovered parts of this story when I was painting the Celtic lady, Elen Star-Path. So I brought the Latvian Saule into my globe! My middle granddaughter suggested the word JOY.

Mr grandkids have been enjoying playing with watercolor and Inktense pencils as well, and seeing what happens when they activate then.

What's on your easel or table? 

Happy paint party Friday!