Grist for the mill

Today our Intentional Creativity® community had a call with Shiloh, EXPLORE, she shared the  graphic wheel, and at the end, gave us a DARE to rearrange something in our homes to create more room for creativity/ art making! 

The graphic is a good reminder for how we interact, share, and tend ourselves and our community. 

Process - both graphic and personal, isn't always neat and tidy! We often say, "When tears (or snot) flow, add them to the canvas!"

A story Shiloh often tells: when her mom was suffering from medication that made her feel crazy, Sue reminded Caron that she worked hard for the experiences, and it was all grist for her creativity! Not to discard any of it, but to let it inform her creativity (often poetry). 

This is a good reminder for all of us - when things come up for you, and they will! - acknowledge them! 

• Invite witness - and witness yourself! 
• Self care isn't selfish!
• Take it to the canvas or journal, use image and writing to distill an antidote for the poison - the creative process is a wonderful alchemical tool! 
• We often mark an unavoidable tragedy line on the canvas to acknowledge something that happened, that we didn't have control over, or say in - and it becomes part of the layers. 
• And pay attention when insights come - record them in your journal, create a Compass Card
• Sit with it, go on a walk, change scenes and come back later

Some of us are embarking on the Soulbird (painting) journey, or Motherboard Coach training, others are finishing Color of Woman or the Read Thread Guide ... Many are just beginning to paint and create with the community, others are frequent fliers! 

There's now a universal calendar of classes and calls on the Musea website, which will make offerings easier to track! I appreciate the calendar page in my MeetUp groups, especially now with our bimonthly virtual offerings. (Our next session is a virtual Soul Spa, next Thursday, September 10!) 

It's easy to see the shiny objects of a new class or training - deep breath - you don't have to do it all!! 

You are enough! 

There's a place for each of us in the circle, and we daddy hold our piece of the thread! 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

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!