I am facing one of what could be the most impactful decisions of my life.
I am not at liberty to share it now, but will be within the coming moons of time. Why do I bring it up then? Well, I had a breakdown/breakthrough ala Cosmic Cowgirls this morning in my Red Thread Café time with Jonathan. First a little background on this potent framework.
Since 2008ish a few years after we founded Cosmic Cowgirls, I have been teaching a version of class called LEGEND. The premise behind LEGEND is consistent with Cosmic Cowgirls philosophy – Transform Your Life Into a Legend. Here are a few of the essential elements of this teaching
LEGEND PHILOSOPHY as taught in Cosmic Cowgirls
1. We have a choice to either just let life happen to us or to happen to life
2. We get to co-curate the transformation of our personal story into a legend
3. When we choose to ‘view’ our life circumstances through the framework of being legendary – we get different results than if we aren’t
4. Being a mystic badass who chooses her own archetype instead of the one she has ended up being, is a rite of passage we can self initiate
5. There is an interior self that without invitation can become a tyrant (critic) if that self is not given an opportunity to be self expressed (muse)
6. To become more fully who we are and have a good time being us, we can examine the limiting beliefs, reset default settings and activate our inner rebel. (This is just to get started)
7. We all have access to this way of being as shared in the above ideas. We get to this exciting access through Intentional Creativity: namely, painting, writing, thinking, inquiry and action
This is most often fully expressed through an exploration of our archetype that gives us information and access that we didn’t have before – that forever changes how we experience ourselves and our lives. The change can be so fully ‘all systems wide’ that once we have this experience, it may be hard to imagine who we were before. It is as if we have always been this self we find ourselves being now. So completely obvious it is, and preferable to the truncated self. The one we previously used to make life choices and didn’t even know we didn’t have access to our full faculties.
The first time it happened for me I could remember the self before but it was as if I was deflated, and now was fully inflated lol. Flat, to full color. For me the first time was through a spiritual awakening – and then I have dedicated a large portion of my genius time towards a way to duplicate this awakening for others, on command. Hence. LEGEND – The Cosmic Cowgirls Course. (Also the pre-requisite for the Color of Woman Intentional Creativity Teacher Training).
We have become fragmented over time and the legendary framework is a shift in worldview that opens us to a wider fuller wilder version of ourselves. However, this story includes as essential, all the woes and wonders we had to experience on the way – every troll under the bridge, every boogyman and broken heart is an essential part of the new self. What would a mythos be without the foes and trials and the falling asleep after eating the apple? Times of sleeping are part of this awakening. Any heroine worth their effluvia uses the darker material for making magic with! Without it she wouldn’t have a legend. Wouldn’t be able to set herself free from her cage. Wouldn’t become the keeper of her own keys.
So being able to include the hard stuff as essential is revolutionary, not new by any means, but it becomes useful in a way we cannot ‘think’ ourselves into. We can’t just say – I include everything. We have to EXPERIENCE including everything as essential to our identity. A desire to include it is one of the signs of being healed enough. We no longer need to make ourselves or the past wrong or be victims, we use it for rich messy meaty compost. Using the dark stuff for the compost in creativity is something that Sue Sellars taught my mother, Caron McCloud, and she passed it on to me and I pass it on, to you.
So how does this relate to my big decision? Well I realized I have been relating for the past two weeks to the decision from a more limited worldview. Basically I got some really life altering information that will shape the future. Well since almost that moment, I have been under the weather and the world seems like it is going to hell in a handbasket like my grandma Eden said it would. So since my energy level hasn’t been what I am used to I have been thinking about this as if from under a cloud. There are times for that, because discernment and prudence are always called for in big decisions that altar your life for good. That said…
Today the cloud lifted up just enough for me to see that if I was making a choice from my day to day fragile mind heart place I would choose something totally different. WHOOAAA HOLD YOUR HORSES MAMA! So I put on my Legendary goggles and for the first time saw the decision from the perspective of my Legendary Self. GAZOWA Jackpot!!! DING DING! All cherries. White horses breaking out of barns, doves. It helped that I was listening in full body mode to Beethovens 9th at the time.
Truth? I was shocked. I laughed at myself. I know this stuff since I practice it and teach it like my life blood in Intentional Creativity. Yet I hadn’t thought to put it in the blender of Legendary thinking. Duh.
What outcome would be different for my decision making if:
If I was relating to myself as if I mattered beyond measure…
If I was relating to myself from the perspective that I COULD have a legacy that lasts…
If I was treating myself as PURELY essential to the weave and the great unfolding….
Then I would get a different answer. SO would you. Try it, if you dare!
This doesn’t mean thinking of myself as immortal. Rather, it means thinking of myself as if I might go on and on, or as if I might pass momentarily. What matters in both cases? That’s the ticket.
Now here’s the thing. That doesn’t mean I need to be a rockstar all the time. That would be exhausting. BUT THE OUTCOMES OF LIFE CHOICES made from deciding that you matter ARE DIFFERENT. That’s the whole point of this Red Thread Letter.
I once asked my mom, how she became so uncommon. If I recall, it was during an interview with Jena and Mary and mom, she said, “I decided early on that I mattered.” Indeed. I am in love with my brilliant mama. I give thanks that she taught me to pursue creativity at all costs, and that the outcome of that pursuit has led to the life I live now and the ridiculously awesome sauce-ness we call Intentional Creativity. It’s not just a way of making art. It is also, a lifestyle choice that makes what you are come to life.
If this calls to you – you know what to do. Stop hemming and hawing and giddy up on over to LEGEND. It will be dangerous to your current worldview. Your horses may also break out of barns. You may wake up from the sleep you have been in, by witches instead of princes. You may invite the troll under the bridge for a whiskey. The handless maiden may suddenly become a painter.
YOUR OWN MYTHOS IS YOURS TO WEAVE and if you don’t do it someone else will be happy to define your life for you.
I do Legend twice a year just to stay fit in my legendary department. This one is called Oracle and Ally and you will get to paint your own animal/imaginary creature into the painting!
Many blessings to you dear heart, thank you for taking the time to listen.
With a tip from my cowgirl hat which sprinkles stardust all over the place,
We’re bad ass mystics. Wild artists. Rogue poets. Priestess gone wrong.
Guides to the unknown. Keepers of the gate. Members of a girl gang. Revolutionaries for lost causes. Unreasonable lovers of this life.
We are the Storytellers. The Legend Makers. We are The Cosmic Cowgirls.
Message from Jenafer Joy – Co-leader for LEGEND along with Stella Mac
Jenafer Joy here. I don’t know about you, but I’m awful thankful to be setting out for a New Year reset! And around Cosmic Cowgirls the best way to do that is to do some serious myth remaking, don’t you think?
Shiloh will be taking us into dangerous territory. And this time our Legendary lens is “Oracle & Ally.” What does your oracle want to reveal to you? What are the the deliciously quirky “pieces” of you that are calling to live large? What does your animal ally represent or teach? What are the messages from within whispering? The stories are hidden within you….waiting….
We have been crafting Legendary Lives with groups for over ten years now and ya’ll know that this process is ‘life altering’ a ‘reframe of old stories’ a ‘wake up call’ and an ‘invitation to take up more space’. Legend is our signature course and we offer it every year just for the pure pleasure and for the honest to goodness reboot. In this LEGEND Oracle & Ally you will connect with a deeper sense of intuition and knowing, guided by the most powerful experience of who you are that is currently available.
We at Cosmic Cowgirls are inviting you on a quest. We’ll be using the magical tools of intuitive painting, writing, and visionary imagination to access a FRESH archetype for 2018. Archetypes get so outdated when we don’t refresh and reboot. Boooorrinnggg! Let’s peel back the layers, drop the old skins and see who lives in here.
What else have you got to do that is this important? I mean it. Really? What’s THIS important? Oh, supposedly so many things that have very little do with your own alignment and pleasure. If you are like so many of us, we keep living our lives NOT being who we are, we keep creating relationships that do NOT create flow, inspiration, truth, pleasure, power and alignment. WHY oh WHY can’t we be authentic? So caught up in looking good for so long our hidden self has forgotten what we really look like.
Give her a chance to surprise you…will you dare? Our classes come with a warning label. Truly. Things WILL NOT be the same after you have an Oracle face (twice as big as your own head) staring you down and asking ‘WTF girlfriend’? Our focus for Legend is on YOU as your own oracle and your ally. I don’t know about you but that just sounds too cool for school. Who cares if you don’t know how to paint. We will ask you be brave, to paint left handed, blind folded while listening to the Rolling Stones and dancing. The more rogue the better. I mean it. This isn’t about skill. If it was you could control the process, and you know what, it is time to leave something to the mystery. This trying to dominate everything isn’t working out so good! And you will get in touch with your animal totem ally who journeys with you. So no skill needed. It aint about talent baby – but raw daring and a willingness. What will your Oracle and Ally reveal to you about your life now? Your legacy?
MORE DETAILS
1. Offering: This online painting and writing class will be delivered over 8 weeks starting January 11. Videos will be time released. There will be live circle calls that will also be available as a recording. Community engagement and support will occur in a Private Facebook Group. There will be Color of Woman Teachers to support you with your painting process for the full 8 weeks.
2. Delivery: Painting Videos will be filmed by Shiloh Sophia + Guided Story process and writing exercises will be delivered from Stella Mac.
3. Materials: You will receive a full materials list – but the quick version is a BIG canvas, acrylic paint, brushes, spray bottle, a journal for notes and sketching.
4. Time Commitment based on content: Four hours a week will be enough for most people to complete the process during the eight week class. But you can work at your own pace – the videos are available for the entire year!
Summoning the Guides – 2017 Shiloh Sophia (sold)
