For any of you on the fence about taking Spring Lodge, I want to tell you a little bit about the community and how supportive it is in the video below. It is a beautiful, sustainable women's community which provides us with a space to share our hearts and the gifts that have resided in our soulselves since before we were born. We're entering the powerful season of Eagle, which allows us to start fresh with Spring and begin all things anew.
This season of Lodge transitions softly from Winter's period of restoration and calls upon us to carry the aspects of self-care forward, as the Earth warms up and beckons us forth into the "doing" and "planting" seasons.
Do you have a dream you'd like to create some support around? Are you in a transition that requires new tools? Eagle implores us to step off of the ledge as empty vessels and soar.
This is beginning to feel like dropping into a party that's being held at my own house-how silly does that feel?! Think of it like I'm passing through on a Grand Adventure to somewhere from which I will soon return...(that Grand Adventure being the opening week of SouLodge and homehunting in Ojai this week).
Find me at The World's Biggest Summit, sharing a tutorial on Prayer Ties. Grab a ticket if you haven't already! There are now 31 days of archives to peruse with gold at every turn.
Find me at Christine Mason Miller's blog, sharing Sixty Seconds on core values. Twenty artists, including myself are thrilled to announce the arrival of Christine's book, Desire to Inspire, which we all are honored to contribute to. If you're in the Los Angeles Area in December, please come to the official launch at the Ambrose Hotel in Santa Monica on December 15th. Email me for more details- I'd love to meet you there!
This was made when Christine and I were in Big Sur in January. I love the beautiful art she created from our time spent. Music is Andvari by Sigur Ros and poetry belongs to Hafiz.
I've made another video, this time while daytripping at my favorite beach here in California, Rincon Point. It's a local's beach where the surf is good and tide pools abundant with sea life for the kids to poke around in and discover the magic of tide pools.
I'm demonstrating how easy it is to set out into nature with the tiniest of sacred tools, in order to give thanks to the directions, the Ocean and the sacred planet for all that they give and inspire in us. When we go for outings, my kids often like to bring home treasures. It is fitting to leave behind a blessing. My children participated in thanksgiving offscreen today, because they were having too much fun playing to be part of mama's production. The wee pouch didn't take much preparation to fill, nor did it take up too much room among the baskets and bags to schlep down to the sand. Some rites can be brief and compact, while being very effective.
I don't have a photo of my pouch handy, but I wanted to share one with you. This one, called Palomino, was made by Karen Prado. There are all kinds of pouches, bags and beautiful ways to carry the sacred medicine, some of which are more American Indian in appearance and tradition, and some which have obvious Celtic details, and plenty more others still beyond that. Receiving one as a gift or making one with your own hands makes it extra special.
I packed the pouch with:
lavender buds
a rose quartz bear fetish
pieces of blue kyanite
If you hang in until the end of this short vlog, you will see a panicked me bolting off to save my children from a runaway horse, who dumped it's rider and took off down the shoreline toward the area where they were playing with a friend of mine and her baby. Brandon and I laughed MIGHTILY, because it's like watching a Funniest Home Video. Thank goodness no one was hurt! Interesting that even a spooked and stampeding horse can use selective judgment in a crisis, eh?
My first thought was to trim the video just after I said final thanks, but Coyote insisted I leave it in for laugh therapy.
Bless the Ocean & Earth, Japan, frightened horses, and each of us on this global ride. After the events of the week, perhaps a hearty laugh will be a good release for all.
Here's another informal backyard vlog on using sacred medicine tools. This time I take you on a quick tour through stuffing my pouch to get ready for an overnight trip. Can you tell I'm in a bit of a hurry to get packed and on the road? I still haven't sorted out how to set up the camera for the best view and so I'll try to work the kinks out there before I make the next one.
I also share a bit of the drum for a teaser of what the trance beat is like when one takes a traditional shamanic journey, as promised. The drum sounds a bit flat on the video, but it actually has a nice deep resonance. If you feel called to find a drum for yourself, be sure to play lots of them. There will be a sound and size that feels just perfect for you.
To learn more about shamanic journeywork, try Michael Harner's Way of the Shaman or Sandra Ingerman's Soul Retrieval. Both detail the purpose of taking shamanic journeys, as well as how they are conducted in a sacred manner. If you'll be attending Call of the Wild, my mixed-media workshop at Squam Art Workshops in September, you'll get a little taste of what the journey is like for yourself.
To learn more about animal totems and begin the path toward integrating the wild creatures into your spirit practice, check out Ted Andrews' Animal Speak or Animal Wise. There are a lot of great card decks that explore animal symbolism, as well, and a quick search at Amazon or your local metaphysical shop will produce colorful options for divining animal wisdom. If you have a great resource for animals, please share it in the comments. Sometimes I find old books at the library on a particular species and that gives a nice depth. We can learn so much from creatures just by observing them, as many of you already do.
I don't think you could see the beautiful purple earrings I'm wearing, but I'm wild about them. They were crafted by Celisa Nalls of MySoulCanDance and when I opened the package, I could feel joy leaping out at me. The adornments we wear, or talismans we're drawn to help tap us into our intuitive nature, too. The creations we make with our hands vibrate with the energy that we bring to the worktable, and that creates a ripple of light that never ends. It's such a blessing to have access to so many gifted and inspirited artisans.
The sacred Lakota corn was given to me by Lauren Luquin of Visionwise. One of the best things about meeting others on this path is that we get to share tools and honor one another with gifts to add to the ever-expanding toolkit for healing ourselves and the Earth.
On my travels to the coast this weekend, I might leave behind any one of the items in my pouch as an offering to the earth. It is traditional practice to leave tobacco as an offering or a tiny crystal, such as the amethyst one I tucked in there. The lavender buds or the corn would also be a nice way to thank the Earth and Spirit for the gifts and healing they bring.
Please consider the comments section a forum for questions and sharing of stories. We all benefit from hearing others sing with their authentic voices.
Thank you for honoring the medicine and howling up this beautiful Wolf Moon we're seeing!
I present to thee, sweet goddesses, an informal video introducing a few sacred tools that I use in my practice, including the medicine bundles which are making their ways out into the world. It's a simple demonstration of smudging and a few words about the intuitive process. Enjoy!
Self-consciousness is not allowed here at the Jack White School of Vlogging for Coyotes, despite my urge to critique. However, did you catch a quick glimpse of the very cute, cosmic batik-printed, perfect, dread wrap I was donning? I hear tell that Julie Bartel is making some new ones, so perhaps I'll have a link to her shop soon.
Back to sacred business!
In this video, you saw:
White Sage and Cedar Bundles made by Sarah Jane Owen, of PowWowLodge
Sacred Balance. Mixed-media on 1/2" maple plywood, 22" x 22".
This painting has just been completed and will be listed tonight in my etsy shop, along with one other. It has been a very interesting experience, as usual. What I find most fascinating about this whole spirited process of creation is that in a sense, I do what I feel soul directed to do. Then I sit with the image and try to see what it wants to convey, and recall moments while I was creating it. Then I go on a little mission to see what I can find out about the things that want to be seen the most, in this case the Mexican Wolves, the structure, the way the figures appear in relation to each other. What are they teaching me? Or sometimes it comes to show me that they are documenting something- a motif which I am currently living, but which is universal.
When the message jumps out, as it always does, and I intuitively know that I've heard it correctly, I feel so excited. I usually shout, "Of course!" or "Yes!" and if someone is around at the time, they may look at me like I'm off my nut, which I'm happy to be in that moment.
Just as I was dreamily sorting out the last of the visual elements, I made a little video in which I explain a little bit about my artmaking process. Since I'm teaching a mixed-media painting class at SAW in September, I thought it would be helpful to share a little bit of my voice and process with you. I liked making it, though laugh with me in the beginning when I realize there is a hideous pink earplug lying in the shot and quickly remove it. :)
Do you schedule in time to account for mistakes in your work, learning new software, curve balls? I don't! This week's Lesson Learned the Hard Way is to remember that self-imposed deadlines often have to extend when things don't go as planned. I'll be exploring this more. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your story!
Clearly, I'm getting more comfortable with this if I'm broadcasting live from my bathroom.
Here I am again, making a late-night attempt to honor my promise to myself by creating these little vlogs. While my main issue is about feeling comfortable, I'm also trying to practice non-self-judgement- which is nearly impossible. This means I have 28 more opportunities to get over it!
Thanks, peeps! It is mighty sporty of you to tune in for these. Perhaps you might share what comes up for you or how you deal with this sort of discomfort?
Scary, but not too scary. Just weird. And cool! Thank you for hanging in there with me as I worked through my preliminary fears. I think I can do thirty of these without dying. I'm pretty sure.
