Sit With Her

Shande'nea Star Path - Legend 

Muses each have their own energy and timing, their own interests, inquiries and inspiration. Shiloh Sophia, the founder of our Intentional Creativity® community, has provided a wonderful format for inviting our  Muses to flourish, and encourage us to shine in our own special ways!

Since painting my first Muse Gabriella in 2014, I've danced between painting, journaling, creating cards and codxes and being in conversation with my paintings. 

You might wish to bring out your Legendary Lady, and Muse, plus your notes about them, and the intention you wrote on the canvases, and call council.
Pour a cup of tea and sit with your journal and your ladies. 

Put on some music, perhaps what you painted to, before, or something you currently love.

• What messages and insights do your ladies carry for you?
• Do they have suggestions for how to proceed?
• Which of your other ladies carry messages for you and your quest?
• What is your next step?

If you are in process on a painting, do this same exercise with her, as you consider where to dive in. Ask her! Sometimes I do a light glaze, then sit back and journal while it drips.

Rosa Mystica - Legend 2020

This may be a good time to clean up your painting supplies, and reset your altar. Get out a new candle, and maybe some flowers to welcome your muse! Is it time to create a new journal, or Oracle cards? Sweep the floor, open the curtains, it's time! 

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

New Moon altar

 One of the simple practices we often use in our Intentional Creativity® community is setting up an altar. Home altars have been used since ancient times throughout the world, be people from many traditions. 

An altar can be as simple or intricate as you wish, often set in a lovely cloth, holding momentos of loved people, pets, items from the natural world - rocks, a bowl of water, a candle, some smudge or incense ... I have little altars on surfaces all around my home!

Today marks the first New Moon of 2021, with the sun and moon both in Capricorn. New Moon can be a good time for setting intentions and celebrating new beginnings, and a lovely time to create or reset your altar. 

A couple of years ago Shiloh Sophia shared a process of gathering and blessing water, drawn from a service at her church. From Dr Maseru Emoto's work on water, we know that water responds to intention and spoken words, and can be patterned.

Altar with Magïc brushes and Holy Water

My blessed water from that session included well water, Bulgarian Rose Oil, Hathor oil blend, and Our Lady of the Cosmos flower essence bouquet (formulated for Red Madonna 2015). I placed it in a cut glass, stoppered bottle, which I'd used for Holy Water from a Buddhist lama in the mid 90s. 

I often "charge" water by placing it in a bowl in the moonlight, sometimes with crystals in it. We can add some of this blessed water to our paint water, and to a spray bottle. 

The altar cloth is a placemat from France, and holds my Magïc paint brushes, crystals and coral, a carved red turtle (Kenya), reindeer antler, a goddess of fossilized horn and silver, Hathor oil, rose  beads (around the angel), the flower essence bouquet, smudge sticks, a Red Jar candle, and chocolate!

Altar for Mystic Legend

Some of my altars are set on cloths, others directly on a shelf. There are crystals, breathers, shells, Oracle cards, a candle or olive oil lamp, flowers, holy water, smudge sticks, figurines ... Some are little arrangements on window sills - blue bottlers, a little bowl, shlls, beads, feathers, bells ...

Denise Linn has written a lovely book on Altars and Shrines. While Zsuzsanna Budapest wrote a one on bringing altars and the Goddess into your workspace 

Do you have a home altar? .

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Legend - Rosa Mystica

Mystic Legend 2020-2021 

Painted through Winter Solstice, and the Grand Conjunction - Jupiter and Saturn conjunct at 0° Aquarius, as the sun enters Capricorn! Painted during the US elections, and the recent counting of the electoral college ballots. 

During Christmas 2020, "the one where we were quarantined," during time as Distant Learning aide for my 3rd grader Grands - who were in preschool when I painted my first Legend! 

I joined the Color of Woman class last January, as they painted Legend - Oracle and Ally. Filmed several years ago, that was Shiloh's most recent Legend, before MYSTIC, fall 2020. 

I've been compiling my lexicon of the Inclusions and Symbols.

Rosa Mystica

I am from the depths of the earth

And beyond the stars

From the grand Conjunction

Cyclical cycles converge

In our times.

I am from the ancestors

From the goddess

From passion and poetry

And the depths of deep silence.

I stand with the trees

The ancestors

The ancient ones.

I am from the Temples

Singing the songs of the Universe.

I call the children home

And send them on adventures, on quests.

I eat stars at midnight, 

To shine with their light and ignite others.

I am in you, and you in me, 

There are no strangers here.

We come from the stars

Living in the stars, 

Go back to the stardust

Turn the world around!  

  *******

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Blessings in 2021

Flower Essence Cards

This fall I've been enjoying learning about, and beginning to do Neurographica. This way of creating helps "Balance the mind, inspire creativity, and explore different approaches to problem solving." 

"From the first rounding of intersections and angles, there is a sense of recreating wholeness, of softening the edges of harsh thoughts; of merging with our greater intentions and better knowing. Of being whole and letting go of fear, of opening to unlimited possibilities."

The basics:

• Think of your intention or a concern
• Draw random lines (not an even zigzag!) 
• Or begin by tracking astound your hand or a leaf
• Round the intersections -calms the neurons, reduces tension
• Circles bring harmony 
• Observe how your body feels as you draw, as those intersections soften.
• Color - 3 or more colours, color in at least three segments with one color 

Through November I drew and colored a number gratitude cards, and some centered around handprints or leaves.

Neuro-Noodle Labyrinth

After seeing a friends Neurographic Christmas cards, I was inspired to some as well - In the 70s and 80s, I often drew our cards, and sets of paper dolls. A couple of those were printed in doll magazines. 

California Poppy - true gold in your heart

I've been creating essence bouquets for my grandkids, and began drawing essence cards - I did a few cards decades ago when I began creating my first essences and combining them into bouquets 💐 The first were larger (poppy and fuscia)

Fuscia - soul warmth

Using 5.5x8.5" mixed media paper, I began creating smaller cards - the #Neurolines interconnect if I draw before separating them ❤ 

I begin with the circle for the flower cameo, then add the neurolines (on larger cards there's room for circles) I haven't colored any yet, and may print these! 

Essence cards

• Forsythia – announce presence, golden trumpet, Gabriella
• Hyssop – takes the strain off DNA, purify, release guilt 
• Rosemary – liquid ambrosia, strengthen immune system, enhances memory
• Violet – trust warmth of others, express own warmth, comfort in groups

• Aster - illumination, sacred play, create time and space for creativity 
• Borage  – optimism, seed of Hope · opens heart, comfort and courage, joy, illuminates your unique path  
• Nettle (Sister Spinster) - align with personal truth, speak up in prickly situations, don't panic! 
• Yarrow - strong, healthy boundaries, compassionate awareness, seals energy leaks, wholeness         

Drawing these cards is a sweet way to connect with the energy signatures. Do you have a favourite you'd like as a card? Let me know in the comments! 

Happy Paint Party Friday!  

Visual Planning

Last spring, Shiloh and her biz coach Amy Ahlers offered Dancing Entrepreneur for both Color of Woman students and the general community. We created the folded Vision Plan books (one of the CoW assignments) plus a set of 16 cards to support moving forward with our plans. 

We connected with others in the class (a weekend workshop or 5 week class) and used the momentum of the class to bring ideas into action or products. I developed my virtual Red Thread Circles, and collaborations with other students and IC teachers.

Some of the posts that caught my eye were of Karen Dawn's Visual Planning system, and I joined her Beta Test group on crafting similar systems of our own! I love Karen's creative approach to planning! (Her blog includes some of these teachings!) 

Vision Plan Board

Mine is on a foam board from a vision board class I offered, and has two of the Dancing Entrepreneur action cards, a little vision board we created with Karen, and - pockets. My clothesline is a ribbon, and I just taped the ends to the back of the board using painter's tape! You can use nails to tack the lines directly on a wall - so many options!

Karen uses this 'clothesline' system for organizing ideas visually. She found that when her notes were tucked away in journals and files, they weren't as accessible, and often dropped off her radar. (So me!) You can clip cards directly to the line, or Viola! - make pockets to hold sets of cards with those ideas! (Who doesn't want to make pockets, lol!) 

Larger file folder size pockets can be tacked up, with in depth writings/images. You can clip labels to the front of the pockets, to keep organize. I also like making little vision plans in Zines - these could easily tuck into small pockets! 

Planning pockets

As I dream into new offerings, and projects on my plate, I'm using this system to keep organize my ideas and action steps.

Mystic Canyon

At the beginning of the month, over 200 women in our Intentional Creativity connected and began painting our Legendary woman, MYSTIC. 

For many, this was the first step in the journey to become certified as teachers of the method, for others, a graduation present to themselves, and others yet, from beginners to Guild members, a chance to celebrate and paint with the community. And this year, our Maestra Shiloh is offering graduates the opportunity to to become certified to offer Legend ourselves. I'm both excited and nervous at the thought of crafting my own version.

Underpainting

This is my second time painting a legendary lady this year, as I was on support and painted along during the January offering.  The process of journaling and painting prompts and videos is much the same, this fall's week long virtual process included lots of calls and opportunities to connect! And many of us are still *listening* and painting.

Grounding page

I created Neurographic grounding pages in both my art journal and Smashbook, inspired by this sweet video from Gideon's Light. I was introduced to Neurographica by my friend Karen Dawn, and enjoy it as a daily doodle practice! I've done some as gratitude cards, and introduced it to my Red Thread Creatives group last week.

You can read more about Neurographica in my RT Circles blog post.

Beginning to emerge

I'm painting on a wood panel, which was prepared during Color of Woman 2015, and I'd used for a demo painting. I reclaimed it by lightly sanding, then glazed it to begin anew.  My focus is around walking a Beauty Way, and sharing more from my own inspiration. 

During our week of the Vivid gathering, several musicians joined in, and Shiloh used Juniper Mainelis' beautiful songs as background for some of her painting videos! While I created flower essence "bouquets" for my Color of Woman paintings, a song came through for each of Juniper's!! I am playing my native American flute and using my drum to reconnect.

My Soul Fire painting has a song, Fire Keeper's Lay, which predates the image.

Mayan jaguar totem

During one of our journies to the Mystic Canyon, star jaguar appeared as an animal guide, and I remembered a little Mayan jaguar totem/ fetish I'd been gifted 30 years ago! It was on one of my altars, and I brought it in near her right temple on the canvas. My personal panther kin, Percy, helps paint, and likes to cuddle between sessions.

Rosa Mystica sketch

After adding neurolines to this journal sketch, I brought some to the canvas as well.

Neuro lines

We're only at step 5 - with at least 7 to go (and oodles of journaling)  ... Looking forward to what's next! 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Gratitude and Vivid

This week our creativity community is engaged in a week of journaling, painting, and lots of opportunities to connect, led by different constellations of SiStars, in a gathering called VIVID.

Cup of Creativi-tea

I'm distant learning aide for my Grands, so I've been participating sporadically, and poking along with the painting ("there's no behind!") We began Sunday creating new Cosmic Smashbooks with the Creatrix Catt Geller! 

The day culminated with the graduation ceremony for the Color of Woman Class of 2020 - what a year for it!!  I am so proud off this amazing group of women who persevered and completed the quest, and those who took extensions and will be continuing on Muse Time! I am a behind the scenes support for these gals, as they move at their own rate, bringing them hummingbird medicine.

I've also been creating Neurographic doodles, and an engaged in a Gratitude practice. Developed by a Russian psychologist, Pavel Piskerev. I am reminded of our Metacognative drawings, and interested to see how the two will interface.

Neuro noodles

Gratitude practice, Day 1

• This week of Vivid
• Spending time with my Grands
• The return of a couple of bodywork clients

Gratitude #1 + Joy Rebels

Yesterday we had a session with one of my CoW classmates, Katherine Whiteman and her daughter Katie (18) who graduated the next year, and is our youngest EC teacher! They led a wonderful session in finding joy - Joy Rebels!

Day 2

I am grateful for

•  my basically good childhood (50s-60s)with a stay at home, well educated, curious mom
•  a good, hard working, involved dad
•  Lots of time in nature, camping, riding the neighbors' horses, just playing! 

Gratitude 

I look forward to getting back to my painting panel, and meet my MYSTIC legendary lady.

Happy Paint Party Friday!