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Artmaking as Spiritual Practice: Like many of you, I have had my share of spiritual and psychic experiences. From an early age I was aware of an intangible loving force that moved through all of life. Through my teen years and well into my college years, my interest in mysticism and metaphysics deepened, becoming more integrated into my daily life. I expressed my secret fascination and involvement in the spiritual through the artwork I created. There came a time in my life about two years ago when (to use a metaphor from the Tarot) lightning struck the tower. While going through a huge box of books, all of which were related to spirituality, metaphysics, and healing, I had a moment of vivid clarity. I am supposed to do spiritual work! I was made to do this work! How had I missed that fact?! I could finally see what was right underneath my nose the whole time. With any new insight can come a whole new stream of questions. I sought answers by taking various workshops in spiritual practices. I gathered as much information and experience as possible, but there was something missing: these practices did not include artmaking. For me, art was always a powerful, and transformational spiritual process, and some of my most exceptional healing and psychic experiences happened while making art. But I didn’t see how I could fit what happens in my art making into the world of healing. I just figured they would be two separate parts of my life. “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” We have all read or heard that saying on our path through life. I found the training I sought in a series of classes based in a contemporary form of shamanism, an ancient form of spiritual healing practiced for at least 20,000 years in virtually every culture of the world. In the classes, we practice the classic shamanic meditation called “journeying.” Through the journey, we obtain advice, healing, wisdom, and guidance from spirit guides who dwell in the three worlds of shamanic cosmology, the Middleworld, Lowerworld and Upperworld. Journeying can be done for yourself or for others. A shaman has her/his totem animal spirit guides, along with other guides that can take the shape of angels, ascended masters, nature spirits, Gods, Goddesses, and mythological beings. There are several ways to journey. Some of the classic journey methods are through movement, dance, and lying down while listening to the steady beat of the shaman’s drum. A journey is always done with a clear intention and for the highest good of all concerned. At the start of the class, we journeyed to find the spirit helpers who would serve as our guides for our work in the class. Our intention was to find the guides who would assist us in making art to communicate with spirit and heal the soul. That night, we decided to use movement as a method of entering a trance state to receive messages, feelings, and images about the guides who would be helping us for the class. Spider came through very clearly for me in the form of an image. She showed herself to me briefly, and I trusted what I saw, although I did not receive any other impressions or feelings on that initial journey. I have learned to have a deep trust in spirit and my own intuition and feelings, knowing that everyone journeys and receives guidance from spirit in their own way, and that spirit guides will often reveal themselves over a number of journeys. A few classes later, when we went outside during a break, we found that a spider had spun a huge, beautiful web for us. It was placed so that we could neither miss it nor disturb it. We watched as Spider finish the web, mesmerized by her elegance and humbled by her presence. Later that week, Spider came to me in visions and dreams three times. Our assignment for the next class was to create a piece by, about, or with a specific spirit guide. Two days before the assignment was due, I awoke with a clear image of Spider in my third eye. I grabbed pen and paper and knew she had something to tell me. Here is a quote from her message: “To create is to harness the whole of the sun while feeling the depth of the moon. It is action and intuition. When I create, my work sings to the heavens and changes the vibrations of the earth. The process of creating is a communion with spirit. It is how we in our small way can respond to the glorious creations we encounter every day.” It’s not surprising that Spider drew us to her web. The heart of this training is the belief that a healthy community is one which accepts and nurtures the talents of all its members, and in which each individual fully contributes his or her talents. Real community happens when the web of “all the relations” works together: the individual, human society, spirit realm and nature. The community is whole when the threads that link us are breathing and alive, like Spider’s web. Colleen Keough is an Interdisciplinary Artist & Healer living in Chicago. She can be reached through her website, www.triplegoddess.net. For additional information on the school and its courses, see www.creativecommunityinstitute.org. |
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