Red Thread Letter #917
Painting as Ceremony
Dear One,
So metacognition is one of my happy words. It is generally thought of as “thinking about thinking” as well as awareness and understanding of one’s own thought process. When we paint in ceremony, metacognition is the key element because we are in a space of conscious observation. I can’t even TELL you the distinction it makes to watch your own process by choice – you have to actually experience it.
All three ingredients are included in the domain of imagination. So as you read on, consider that your imagination may be very excited to hear this!
Metacognition without intention doesn’t quite get you to ceremony either. Without intention, you are self-observing but don’t have a focus on how to really work with what you are observing. Intention allows for there to be a pointed focus through which you are observing yourself.
While it is fun to just hang out with you because you are just cool like that – if you add an objective to it, the results are amplified. And yes, I am after results because I am after PRESENCE. Coming into being. Awareness and access and joy. Those are the results I get to – through CHOOSING how I engage. You might choose an intention to heal an old story or open to love or discover a new path. By choosing a focus you can then observe your internal experience WHILE observing what is happening in the painting itself. The painting is the artifact of your inner world expressing itself in the physical world.
Yet how does this all add up to ceremony? Choosing to make a painting process a ceremony means you will be metacognitive, you will be intentional and you will Design a journey. A journey, in our work, has a beginning, a middle, a bridge, and a completion. So curiously enough, adding structure in space and time, brackets the experience of ceremony. Ceremony isn’t continuous – it’s intense so it requires respect and timing and great care. The three ingredients we work with to create ceremony at Musea are Metacognition, Intention, and Design. Each one is just as important as the other one and they all work together for our good. Of course, a ceremonial desire must also be present – you have to want to and be willing to go along for the ride. Following the experience we reflect on the artifact itself, what happened, what it means, and if we need to be witnessed. Whether someone decides to bring what they discovered to their life is another matter altogether. A lot is gained in the experience and the faculty of imagination is expanded in powerful ways that can impact the rest of your life.
The experience is also very somatic – so while what I have described sounds a bit intellectual it is also very physical. And if you are being guided, then you don’t have to worry about the structures because the guide will hold those pieces for you. At MUSEA we do like to ‘show our hand’ and share with you the ideas and research behind what we are teaching. Further, what we are teaching YOU to teach for those who choose to join us for Certifications.
Two nights ago I dreamed that ceremony was the key to healing we have been missing. I know a lot of people engage in ceremony but many do not – especially on their own behalf. There seems to almost be an allergy to it – it makes people squirmy – they think they have to sit still and be good and follow orders. Well, there is some of that but self-ceremony in your own studio or in our studio together isn’t like that. We are flinging paint and moving our booty to music and in collaboration with other people.
You might not know this but I am a reluctant priestess. I have finally returned to my yes, and it turns out, Ceremony is my Great Work in the world. I am scared. I want to and I don’t. But I am showing up anyway. Here we go.
Blessings to you right where you are.
