Category: Spirituality

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Creativity Spirituality

NAEA Town Hall – Leading with Creativity

leading

Town Hall

The National Art Education Association Town Hall is a monthly panel discussion where educators come together to discuss a topic. Our topic was Leading with Creativity. NAEA and Crayola teamed up for the 75th anniversary of NAEA. They developed Creativity Week in January, and invited 75 teachers from around the world to be Creativity Ambassadors, I was one of the 75. James Wells, Crayola’s Education Manager, was leading the discussion and invited me to participate in the conversation.

Leading

Creativity Panelists

Panelist bios are available here.

  • James Wells, Education Manager, Crayola
  • Lauren E. Burrow, Associate Professor of Education Studies, Stephen F. Austin State University
  • Raine Dawn Valentine, Art Educator, Ridgely Middle School; Adjunct Instructor, Notre Dame of Maryland University
  • Mari Atkinson, Instructor, Shack Art Center; Student Teacher Supervisor, Western Washington University

Here is the recording of the discussion! My part starts at 42:00 <3

Leading with Creativity

When I got the email about the town hall and the topic of discussion I was really excited! Even more so when I received our questions and saw what I was being asked to share. Talking about how creativity is spirituality, is one of the things I am most passionate about. I love leading my live with this mindset. I had so much to say during the town hall but only had a short amount of time! So I decided to write about everything I wanted to say.

Creativity is the use of our imagination, original ideas. Creativity is Spirituality, which is the quality of being concerned with the human spirit… which is the seat of our emotions and character. Our emotions are a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood or relationships with others.

Leading with Spirituality

Art making is inherently spiritual. Art is the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination. To express is to convey a thought or feeling and make them know. We express ourselves through relationships with others, nature and the divine… connecting through sharing, reflecting and celebrating.

Creating is the means by which I form my identity and self. Through self reflection, self awareness and self actualization, I create and live. My art practice is a way of seeing, understanding and conveying what I see, feel and hope for.

I do this through my choice of ritual. Through maintaining a life if intention. Choosing my daily ritual for the highest good, then celebrating the rewards the commitment and intention will bring. Actions Rewards Truth. A.R.T.

In the teachings of the Annishinabe creativity plays a huge part in the role of original man. Waynaboozhoo was lowered to the earth and give the responsibility to name all the things. He was building relationships with all things, and learning how to see himself through different perspectives. He learned to create a canoe from the beaver, and learned to swim from the fish. He also learned about the beauty in creation and destruction, and about life and death. Through his observations with the world, and his ability to creatively live, Waynaboozhoo survived and learned many things.

He lived life creatively, to recognize every moment as a moment to reflect and form our identities which are ever changing and forming. It is our job to live creatively, and find ways as humans to keep creating a life we desire. Creativity looks like exploring, experimenting, questioning, expressing and reflecting. Laughter, learning, and love. Where we remember we are all connected. That our places in this life are just a valuable and necessary as the next.

When we start to live creatively we stop from living out of fear. I start turning the fear energy into trust and knowing. We start to allow ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, and to open up and share. When we share with each other we remember how connected we are.

LIVE CREATIVELY. REMEMBER WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.

Categories
Astrological Insights Art Spirituality

Birth Chart Astrology Painting

I have been painting birth chart’s for people for the past two years and it has been such an honor and privilege! When people connect with their painting so deeply, it is such a beautiful feeling. Knowing that my art allows others to connect with who they are at a deep level, is the greatest reward.

Here are the paintings I have created so far!

astrology
painting

The Process

So to being the process I use the birth date, time and place of the individual to generate an astrology reading of their time of birth. This is known as the birth chart or natal chart.

Then I read the aspects of the chart which includes the planets, houses, and constellations. Generating an over all view of the energy of the person. From here I begin the intuitive painting process.

Painting

Intuitive painting is a process in which I get into a mindful state of being, and allow the paint and tools to lay the ground work for the energy I am focusing on. When I read a persons energy through astrology I often receive visuals that I incorporate into the work. The constellations and the symbols of the zodiac signs are also included into the work.

Birth Chart paintings are $250.
*they will increase to $300 in 2023.

Order Today,

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Spirituality Intuitive Henna

Midsummer Holistic Expo

Midsummer Fun

The Midsummer Holistic Expo was July 10th and 11th, 2021. The weekend of the Cancer full moon, a time of creativity and compassion. Divine feminine energy, nurturing and creating!

Jeanne from Therapeutic Thymes Magazine hosted this expo at the Lancaster Farm & Home Center. She did an amazing job setting up vendors and speakers for this awesome weekend!

This weekend was so magickal, and affirming in so many ways. I have been doing Intuitive Henna for about 6 years now, and every time I do a reading for the design I am in AWE of the universe.

Intuitive Henna is the creation of a design, based off of each individuals unique energy. I spend time meditating with the persons energy to create the design, which is a sigil for their unique energy vibration in that moment.

midsummer holistic expo
Midsummer Holistic Expo
Midsummer

The readings were amazing, everyone was spot on. Doing henna is such a joy for me, and I can no do it without the other people. It’s an interaction between two energies that bring the designs to life.

Aside from the amazing designs, I also met and connected with so many amazing people. I am so excited for the connections and what the future holds.

Here are a few amazing vendors from the Midsummer expo:

Deb Davis-Koval was my neighbor at the event. She sells teas made from Chicory root. The different herbs she adds for each tea blend came from dreams she had, tapping into her intuition to create a healthy and delicious tea! I was so excited to give her a reading.

Nutri-Chic teas are a delicious blend of ground chicory root with various teas, and beneficial herbs and spices. Chicory root, the main ingredient in Nutri-Chic, has amazing health benefits to support your body and healthy lifestyle!

Nutri-Chic is owned by Deb Davis-Koval

Eagle Skyfire was the keynote speaker. I had the honor of doing a henna reading for her.

Eagle Skyfire is a powerful Shaman, Seer and Tradition Keeper honed by legacy and experience to become a sought after teacher, reader, spiritual leader, and speaker on native traditions and spirituality.  In addition, she now is a published author with her first book, Journeying Between the Worlds: Walking with the Sacred Spirits through Native American Teachings and Practices, published by Llewellyn.

I also sold a few canvas prints of my digitized original paintings! You can purchase your own here!

Thank you everyone for your love and support.

If you are looking for a Henna reading, please contact me to schedule your session today!

Categories
Astrological Insights Divine I Am Spirituality

Summer Solstice 2021

Summer Solstice

This years Summer Solstice was a powerful one, being that we are coming out of such transforming energy… into a new way of living.

Summer Solstice Ceremony

We began the weekend with a clearing ceremony, potluck and bonfire drum circle! In the ceremony we spent time with the altar, setting our intentions for what we wanted to draw in to our lives for the remainder of the year.

We also acknowledged and let go of that which no longer served our divine self. Jumping the fire is an old tradition for celebrating the fire of the sun!

Sunday morning started with a cacao ceremony lead by Josh Maurer. The ceremony really opened my heart which prepared me to receive beautiful energy from the sound meditation he took us on. Josh’s passion for ceremony and sound are evident in his reverence and grace.

After sound, we ate brunch and went into discussion about the use of art as a tool which manifests that which you desire; which generates energy into a state you wish to embody. We each worked on creating sigils that embodied the energy of that which we desire.

The weekend was a perfect celebration of life!

Blue View Farm

I wanted to give a special shout out to Jen at Blue View Farm, who donated beautiful arrangements for our amazing celebration. Her flowers were the perfect touch to our summer energy.

Blue View Farm offers monthly bouquet memberships, $10 daily bouquets, arrangements for special events and more!

Migwetch to everyone who attended, I am grateful for your presence.

Categories
Art Education Spirituality

CSAE 2021 Chair-Elect

CSAE stands for the Caucus on the Spiritual in Art Education, and is a group of individuals that come together to support the connection between spirituality and art.

The Caucus on the Spiritual in Art Education (CSAE) seeks to:
• Study the relationships between the spiritual, the visual arts and art education in ways that advance pedagogy, research, scholarship, museum and artistic practices related to the spiritual in art education at all levels of practice and in diverse teaching and learning contexts.
• Embrace the study of inclusive and diverse content, images and ideas related to the spiritual within contemporary and historical multicultural art and visual culture and a holistic art education paradigm.
• Develop and nurture a community of art education professionals committed to advancing the understanding and application of the spiritual in diverse art education contexts.

CSAE Chairs

I was recently voted as Chair Elect for CSAE, which means I will serve as Chair from 2022-2024. I will follow an group of amazing leaders.

Peter London was a Co-Founder for the caucus back in 2008.

CSAE

Peter London is an artist, master teacher, art therapist, international lecturer, and author of many texts on art, spirit, and nature, including No More Secondhand Art and Drawing Closer to Nature. He has offered his holistic approach to teaching art to thousands of students of all ages, from “art phobics” to professional artists in museums, colleges, art centers, and centers for holistic studies. He is Chancellor Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association. 

His book No More Secondhand Art was an inspiration for me when I transformed my project based classroom into a studio based classroom. I was introduced to the book when I attended a Summer Teacher Institute at MICA back in 2009. We were asked to create a tree that symbolized our life and our journey. It was a powerful exercise in visualizing parts of self.

Peters work with art and spirituality has been inspiring to me, and I am so honored to be building off of what he helped to start!

I have had to pleasure to meet and work with three other former chairs, Patricia Rain Gianneschi, Nancy Brady and Sheri Klein. I am so grateful for such a wonderful team of people to work with on bringing more light to the spiritual in art education!

Categories
Divine I Am Earth Spirituality

Earth Love 2021

Earth Love is gathering created by Nicole Sharkey, of Nicole Naturally, to celebrate the love vibrations of the earth. Everything is energy and vibration! Through the foods we eat, the sounds we hear, and the sights we see…. our bodies and minds can become healthier and feel more uplifted.

The Earth Love weekend was built to deeply connect us to our senses; to clearly remind us of the beauty all around, and to open us up to the unique beauty inside. This is the 3rd annual event.

This weekend was a wonderful experience. Grounding to mother earth, and tuning into the divine through sound and art at Amethyst Retreat Center.

It all started on Friday night with Sarah Fiore with The Big Sky Quartet, previously known as Indian Summer Jars. The sound of her voice and the lyrics to her songs feel like beautiful earth. <3

Earth Love Festival
Earth Love

Sarah Fiore is the founder and songwriter for Central PA’s original folk/roots quartet Big Sky (previously known as Indian Summer Jars). With songs that evoke the mystery and deep joy for life, she aims to inspire people to remember their dreams and follow their hearts in walking their own life’s paths. Big Sky has many great accomplishments, including their recognition and award by Central Pennsylvania’s Music Hall of Fame as ‘Best Trio’ 2020. The band has become well known for their beautiful three-part harmonies and the energy they create together on stage. Sarah’s solo work invites you to an intimate view of these long standing folk blues anthems and stories. Her new album, ‘Back to the Heart’ was recently released.

Earth Love Vibrations

We started the days activities on Saturday with a vocal toning circle lead by Lana Ryder. Lana has been sharing the healing power of sound, voice and music for 50 years.

We used our individual and group vocal sounds to create a portal to journey within, to connect with earth and with one another through simple toning sounds used by shamans, indigenous healers and sound medicine practitioners throughout antiquity. Now more than ever we need to use our voices for transmuting negative energy into healing, peace and love. We chanted, hummed and sang our own songs together. The cicadas added another level of vibration to our song as well!

After the toning circle, we shared a delicious lunch before I presented on sacred geometry. My talk felt so good, it was fantastic how it all fit with what Lana had mentioned about sound and creation. How our voices are one of a kind and the world needs us to use them! We are meant to create in this world and when we do not create … the world is missing out.

Everyone helped create our flower of life community mural, while they worked on their own mandalas to focus their energy on the desire they wish fulfilled.

After artmaking John Protopapas played the sitar, taking us into a journey through music.

Immersed in the study of yoga and Indian music for over 35 years, John will share and offering of classical Indian music on the Sitar. This music takes you to a deep contemplative space beyond words and ideas. In most ancient traditions, music is approached as a sacred path, leading the listeners and musicians to deeper states of being and nourishing our hearts and minds.

Nicole created an amazing event, with a delicious menu of music and food! Breakfast on Saturday was crafted yogurt, a spring fruit selection, hearty home made granola. Lunch featured the finest spring vegetables in a healing broth accented by locally made baguette and home made dessert. Breakfast on Sunday was delicious sour dough bread, local eggs, veggies and a lil something sweet.

Amethyst Retreat Center

This land is such a beautiful and magickal sacred space. So grateful for its presence in my life. <3 Thank you everyone who made this weekend so magickal!

An inspiring environment dedicated to discovering innovative and meaningful ways of living, learning and healing.

They are dedicated to offering information, experiences, and programs that inspire innovative approaches to wellness and living in ways that are nourishing and sustainable.

Amethyst offers wellness retreats, educational workshops, classes, nature programs and camps for children, gatherings for women, for men, for the public and weddings for 100 guests or less. Their weekend gatherings typically feature music, art, movement, hands-on workshops, incredibly good food, time in nature, and optional camping.

Categories
Spirituality Divine I Am Education Existence

Music as Medicine

Music as Medicine

The Singing the Bones class with Lydia Violet, and Leah Song from Rising Appalachia, was a deep dive into the history, stories, songs, and cosmology that came before me…. that made me who I am.

Music as Medicine

They guided us in exploring the cultural inheritance of one of our ancestries through researching myths, folktales, archetypes, musical instrumentation, and song. By the end of the 6 week course, I had a deeper understanding of the cosmologies/myths/stories held within my cultural lineage. I saw so many connections to my Annishinabe heritage and my Scottish Celtic heritage. I was also able to redefine what having a relationship with my ancestors means for me. 

Music as Medicine

The Music As Medicine Project (MAM) was created by Lydia Violet Harutoonian, M.A, lifetime musician and dedicated student of Joanna Macy’s. While pursuing her Masters in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Lydia entered an in-depth study of some of the history and perspectives that have generated our current planetary crisis. For the past 9 years she has studied closely with deep ecology elder and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, learning how we can metabolize our pain and care for the world into profound resilience and energy for action. She is also an accomplished musician who is deeply inspired by folk, blues, and protest music traditions. 

We are a collection of all the actions, thoughts, and experiences of those who came before us.

I decided to research my fathers heritage, Scottish Irish German, as I have been very much involved with digging deeply into my mothers heritage, Ojibwe. I have always felt like the magic in me comes from my native heritage. Though I have learned a lot through researching Scottish Irish and German heritages… the Celtic people were very magickal.

Uncovering more information about the cosmology of the Celtic people, I found so many similarities to Ojibwe teachings. From drums, rattles, turtles, and ceremonies. It was a huge realization again, that we are all connected and everything comes from within.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the class, it was so amazing hearing everyone’s journey and being inspired by everything that was uncovered.

“People do meditation to find psychic alignment. That’s why people do psychotherapy and analysis. That’s why people analyze their dreams and make art. That is why some contemplate tarot cards, cast I Ching, dance, drum, make theater, pry out a poem, and fire up their prayers. That’s why we do all the things we do. It is the work of gatherings all the bones together. Then we must sit at the fire and think about which song we will use to sing over the bones, which creation hymn, which re-creation hymn. And the truths we tell will make the song…

…The old woman sings over the bones, and as she sings, the bones flesh out. We too ‘become’ as we pour soul over the bones we have found. As we pour our yearning and our heartbreaks over the bones of what used to be when we were young, of what we used to know in the centuries past, and over the quickening we sense in the future, we stand on all fours, four-square. As we pour soul, we are revivified. We are no longer a thin solution, a dissolving frail thing. No. We are in the ‘becoming’ stage of transformation.”

– Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves

Categories
Divine I Am Existence Spirituality

Hierarchy: Sacred Ruler

Hierarchy

I recently read an article on how Maslow got it wrong when he developed his hierarchy of needs. Learning that Maslow spent time with the Blackfoot tribe was a new discovery for me.

Hierarchy of Needs
Hierarchy of Needs vs. Siksika Perspective

The Blackfoot belief is not a triangle. It is a tipi where they believe tipis reach to the sky.

Self-actualization is at the base of the tipi, not at the top, and is the foundation on which community actualization is built. The highest form that a Blackfoot can attain is called “cultural perpetuity.”

Hierarchy

The world Hierarchy means: SACRED RULER. The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’. This idea of a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

The word sacred means connected with God (or the gods)… it comes from the root word for consecrate, which is dedicated or devoted. So hierarchy truly means a system devoted to God that organizes an arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness.

What if we envisioned a hierarchy of our individual needs as as sacred way to connect with the divine! That is how the indigenous cultures saw it.

The Siksika tribe perceived existence in fluid way. They viewed time as cyclical and saw how each aspect of life was related… aiming to restore balance through their actions.

The idea of community actualization being based off of the fact that we are already born with everything, already divinely ourselves… is so powerful. It speaks to the idea of how important a creative, explorative, supportive and imaginative community actually is to self awareness!

In order to flow in the cycle of duality it is important to see that we must return to self awareness in order to remember the importance of self actualization. This can be done through cultural awareness. Once we have that cultural awareness, we can then start to have more self actualization, which will perpetuate our basic needs and safety, and cultural actualization. So it was important for Maslow to get it wrong in order for us to be clear on the entirety of the topic.

The way indigenous spiritual leaders took care of their tribe makes so much sense for the survival of their people. To create a safe space for the tribe members to be be their best selves. This relates so much to the Celtic tradition of the king marrying the land! The king married the land which showed his loyalty and allegiance to the land that supports his people and his life.

Another thing about this article that is interesting is the idea of wealth and how it was not about accumulating property and possessions. Sometimes I think people forget that money is simply a physical representation of their own current.

Money is not the root of all evil but rather the flow of the current of self actualization. If we stop connecting the idea of wealth to money, and allow money to be a manifestation of the wealth of our own energy… then we open ourselves up to receiving that which is divinely ours.

The word WEALTH comes from the root word for WELL or HEALTH. It has nothing to do with the idea possessions or money, though our current definition is simply that…. an abundance of valuable possessions or money.

What if we saw our will and our health as our most valuable possessions? When we hold that perspective we receive the flow of “money” as a physical manifestation of that awareness.

We are sacred rulers of our own design, our own life. We have the ability to create a hierarchy that resonates with who we truly are. Perhaps its time for a new hierarchy to be envisioned. <3

Categories
Most Popular Art Art Class Divine I Am Education Existence Spirituality

Fierce Courage

Fierce Courage

Another thoughtful creative challenge… the word mood comes from the old English root word for MIND, or

Fierce courage…

perhaps when we get in a mood it is to remind us to have fierce courage.

Mood… mind… I see this one as realizing that everything comes from within. Our mood is set by our mind… Mindset. How we choose to see the world. How we choose to respond. Do we let our mind control us or are we actively being the awareness outside of the mind.

Having a growth mindset is one of the best ways to maintain awareness of self, and take all challenges as learning opportunities. This keeps our moods in check and allows us to have that fierce courage to step into our authentic selves!

<3

Categories
Art Art Class Divine I Am Education Existence Most Popular Spirituality

Illustration

A recent creative challenge word for my students was Illustration. After looking into the root of the word, I was fascinated that it comes from the world for illumination! Spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.

As I thought more about the context of this word and its meaning, which is … a picture illustrating a book, newspaper, etc. An example serving to clarify or prove something. The action or fact of illustrating something, either pictorially or by exemplification.

An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video games and films.

We are enlightened because we see.
When there is light, there is illumination.
When there is illumination there illustration.
When there is illustration there is enlightenment.
Art is the key to the divine.
To be enlightened, one must see this
<3