For Jonathan my love and for my friends, Shannon Thompson, Michelle Dench, Elizabeth Gibbons, Sepha Nisbet and any one who is on the move..
Painting : In the Space Between Us
Will you get a cup of tea and join me for the Red Thread Cafe?
Upcoming Intentional Creativity Journey’s
NEW Experiences to join us that are VERY exciting! I know I haven’t been doing many streams this year where you could join me so I am delighted to bring forward these collaborative gatherings online and in person. The online ones are available to watch later too.
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Thank you all for your anniversary wishes, we went to the beach and had a wonderful time walking, talking, eating, planning, dreaming…
Dear One,
I am surrounded by a lot of people who don’t feel at home here on earth and / or in their body. Mostly I do, which might be one of the reasons people feel called to the work I share. Not that I am so ‘grounded’, but rather that I am clear this earth is my home. Yet still it is difficult at times feeling lost in space lol. I teach about being home in your body, a lot. I think most of my work is about that more than painting even.
Four of my closest constant friends and allies are moving or have moved out of California. Women I have worked with day in and day out on revolution and education. Most of us didn’t know that was on the table really, even a few months ago. We almost moved out of CA ourselves (we are staying). Feeling forlorn about so much change in our world, and our country. Rolling with the waves…and the fires last year.
When I read the news yesterday about our country and Russia I was stunned. Many of us were, no matter what you think about it. That combined with the children being separated from their parents and so much more is causing the field to be a bit wobbly. For me, planning and the education we offer through the Intentional Creativity community is how I stay grounded. Home is my sacred work, and my body of work. KNOWING that I am on my path goes a long way toward keeping me focused and yes, as grounded as I can.
The other day I happened to click on a link that was FOX news. I have never been to that site before. Just seeing it and what they focus on was so traumatic, I sat stunned. I wondered how to get myself back to center. There is a lot of meditating and praying and deep breathing going on. Then last night I painted. This painting is curious as it was painted originally as a transition painting for my friend’s mom who was passing. I knew I wanted to transform the death rebirth energy into something new, but what? Then these two showed up and Jonathan loved it. I found it went well with the poem Cosmic Pilgrim, so there you have it.
For us, since the October fires, we have been in upheaval, even though we didn’t lose our home. Phoenix energy is still here, though I long for waves and oceans….
Do you have stories of home stirring within? You can share here.
I am also feeling so grateful to be teaching this Summer with three brilliant women – friends, teachers, colleagues.
Lavender Grace, a dear friend since childhood that is an incredible drummer, singer and ritualist for Bella Mama and Muse Days. Let’s bring the sound to the healing experience…this day of Healing is focused in just that, prayer and healing with the feminine. BELLA MAMA
Desda Zuckerman, a newer friend who knows just about as much as anyone on the planet about sacred anatomy – and we geek out over so many aspects of where our work intersects. This is her first online class and I am honored to bring Intentional Creativity into the conversation and see what arises. We can have more impact than we know and having education about it DOES change our access. ILLUMINATE
One of my closets friends and teachers, and coaches! Amy Ahlers, the Wake-Up Call Coach, and I sat together for a day long retreat to talk about how we can serve the women we love, and what we came up with is stunning – BOLD, which explores your body of work and how to bring it to life.
Further, to join us, this is your last chance to register for the MADONNA Italy retreat, registration now closes August 1.
So, as a fellow Cosmic Pilgrim, I am ready to share my gifts with you this Summer and Fall. I know you know how powerful Intentional Creativity can be in navigating such winds of change.
Thank you to all who were part of the show!
We had a wonderful closing to the Alchemist’s Brush show online – that was an incredible experience. We still are open to in person visitors who make appointments to see the work – like these two cuties, Astarte and Serphina who went home with these paintings! You can still see the show here or come for an in person gathering. I keep thinking of having a closing show but haven’t got that planned yet. My work will be moving to San Francisco for a show after this, more on that soon.
Sending love to each of you. Finding home is part of what I am doing to stay in my body. We are all Cosmic Pilgrims aren’t we?
Someone recently asked me how to have Red Thread Cafe, so I gave them a quickie :
As far as cafe, there must be a beverage. You can do it in person or on FaceTime. We light candles or put something beautiful on a table. Bring paper and pen and any devices you might need to look things up. Agree on how long you have time for.
From there, both parties bring ideas/books/videos they are wild about or studying – then you share about it – then it is time to take turns or it just evolves from there. IT is about DEEP DIALOGUE.
About the things we cherish and light us up but don’t usually talk about in meetings. The thing is, it segway’s into powerful business stuff ALMOST all the time. We also work a lot with our MUSE.
Savoring the presence of the other and being IN LOVE with their being. Fall in love with life.
And as for me, I often photograph the art of the moment….
A quote from Dr. Dan Siegel on the self and mind – I thought was relevant to the Cosmic Pilgrim.
“While many scientists state something to the effect that “the mind is what the brain does,” I myself, trained as a scientist, as well as a clinician and educator, find this an incomplete stance. In The Developing Mind I make the scientifically presented case that the mind is not simply brain activity. The mind, beyond subjective experience and beyond conscious and non-conscious information processing, can be seen as a self-organizing, emergent process of a complex system. And that system is both within us and between us and others.
A complex system is characterized by these three features: it is non-linear (small inputs lead to large and unpredictable results), it is open (influenced by things from outside of “itself”), and it is chaos-capable (meaning it can function in erratic, unpredictable ways at times). Sound familiar in your life? If our own lives meet these three criteria, then we ourselves are complex systems.
Now, the math of complexity theory reveals that all complex systems have emergent properties, processes that arise from the flow of the system’s elements across time. So math—a form of science revealing aspects of reality—suggests that one of those emergent properties is self-organization. This is where a process arises from the elements of the system and then turns back and regulates that from which it arose. That’s called recursivity, how there is a positive feedback loop reinforcing itself over time.
The reason to go into all this conceptual discussion here is simply this: I believe (and cannot find any science to disprove) that an important aspect of the mind can be defined as an embodied and relational, emergent self-organizing process that regulates the flow of energy and information both within us and between and among us.
In short, the mind is an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information.”
Thank you all for your anniversary wishes, we went to the beach and had a wonderful time walking, talking, eating, planning, dreaming…
