Category: Contemplations

#Magic!Art JourneyContemplationsGuardiansRed Madonna

My Name is Sue & I am a Perfectionist!

Posted on by sue boardman

Well, not about everything… just about more things than I can manage these days! And, I’ve made a big decision… I’ve decided that the whole perfectionism thing doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Instead, I can choose!

Yep… when and where are my perfectionist tendencies actually helpful? And when might they (gasp!) be holding me back???

Here’s a mini- glimpse of the #wip painting, above. In case you missed this bit of news, Madam #Threshold announced recently that she is me! A self-portrait of sorts. We’re still working, she and I, and I keep noticing the “yeah, but” vibes!

Progress! Yeah, but… her eyebrows and lashes don’t match. (And, they don’t!) Here’s something else that’s true, though…

She’s going to have a whole lot of hair hanging in her face, soon. So I’m intentionally choosing to be okay with the mismatched eyebrows because they won’t show and nobody who gets it would care, anyway! This choice, by the way, gives my cranky right thumb, wrist, and shoulder lots more painting time for things that will show! More writing/typing time! Even more very soothing cacao cup holding time!

And, no… that’s not the way I first learned it!

In many ways, I grew up in Leave It to Beaver land! Suburbs. Stay at home mom. Dog buddies. Good teachers – except third grade! And the message I absorbed was that my being as close as possible to perfect helped Mom feel like she was doing it right.

There was also some very un-Leave It to Beaver stuff but we didn’t talk about that!

By the time my own son came along, Leave It to Beaver was pretty much out of the picture. Literally and figuratively! Those were really hard years and there were many days when I felt like we weren’t going to make it. But, we did!

I kept learning. Greek and Hebrew pretty much cured me of thinking academic perfection was possible, but the old shoulds and oughts remained.

One of the best things I’ve learned in the land of Intentional Creativity® is that layers are helpful! In fact, instead of just covering up mistakes, they make the eventual outcome feel deeper and richer! How totally cool is that???

For this moment, I am choosing to let my inner Perfectionist show up to vote, understanding that we can’t control outcomes, but we can make sure we get heard. (Well, mostly sure!) She also gets to absolutely forbid toxic crud in the garden. We are team pollinators, all the way! And, yes, I checked to be sure that got spelled right, which reminds me that my voice counts more around here than the auto-grammar police, even when I miss one now and then.

And, I’d love to hear what examples are bubbling in you as you read along! You can leave a comment, below. Or email me… suesvoice@gmail.com

We have had the magic all along! We just need to claim it and set it free!!! One way to do that is to check out our upcoming journey with #Red Madonna! I am so honored and thrilled to be among this amazing team of open-hearted, paint-spattered women asking huge questions!

New? Curious??? First, we have a free way to dip your toes in –  Come Home to the Waters: A Mini-Retreat to Connect With the Living Waters of Your Life. This adventure is offered by the Red Madonna team for each of us to touch into our sacred flow and experience a taste of our year-long Red Madonna 2026. It’s happening Friday July 3, 2026. Enroll in Come Home to the Waters Now!

Then, the deep dive! Just click the link to read all about Red Madonna Sisterhood: Womb of Living Waters… a 13 Moon Painting & Initiation Journey into the Primordial Waters of the Divine Feminine. REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!!  https://musea.org/red-madonna-womb-of-living-waters

ps… it is, indeed, entirely possible to do both!!! In fact, we’d be delighted!!!

pps… It’s me, Glinda. Sue wanted me to tell you that she got two new stories for our upcoming book done today. Stay tuned!!!

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Honor Your Process!

Posted on by sue boardman

Really!!! That was the exact message I received from the elves/universe at 4:44 am. I know that it was 4:44 am because my phone said so when I reached for it to type those word into the message gizmo.

There are a couple things I need to share about that. I like the number 444! The Angel number 444! Depending on one’s beliefs, it might carry different meanings. For me it symbolizes divine protection, stability, and reassurance.

If you’re guessing that this is among my more recent learnings, you are totally correct. We did not cover angel numbers in nursing school or seminary. Fortunately, we did cover always keep learning!

Back in the old days, when I was first serving as a pastor, there used to be a stack of index cards on the table next to the bed. And a pen. That was how I kept track of the messages which appeared in my sleep before cell phones. Notes for Wednesday’s bulletin. Especially an official title for whatever sermon was hatching. (I was the church secretary, too, back then!) On Saturday nights, volunteer key words for the sermon. Things that weren’t ready until they were. Usually 5 words. Then, back to dream-land and time for the connections between those words to become clear. (It worked!)

Here are the rest of the words from early this morning…

Solstice. Rainbow Hair. Cousin Angela (Juneteenth). Mother Nature – CC wall – purple & green.

In case you’re curious, they didn’t appear all at once. More like each thought making space for the next.

And, yes… this whole thing really is about honoring our processes, even now. Especially now!!!

How might you do that???

Really! How might you claim intentionally honoring your process? I’d love to hear!!! (You can leave me a comment, below!)

I even have a possibility for you to consider! A possibility awash with hope and sisterhood and newness! You see, it’s time for the journey known as Red Madonna to begin again! (Well, almost time!)

I spent most of Saturday communing with NASA moon phases, working on our calendar for Red Madonna 2026.

Ready for a deep dive? Just click the link to read all about Red Madonna Sisterhood: Womb of Living Waters… a 13 Moon Painting & Initiation Journey into the Primordial Waters of the Divine Feminine. REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!! https://musea.org/red-madonna-womb-of-living-waters

We even have a free way to dip your toes in – Come Home to the Waters: A Mini-Retreat to Connect With the Living Waters of Your Life. This adventure is offered by the Red Madonna team for each of us to touch into our sacred flow and experience a taste of our year-long Red Madonna 2026. It’s happening Friday July 3, 2026. Enroll in Come Home to the Waters Now!

Red Madonna has been part my of honoring my Sacred Journey since 2018. It’s gentle and welcoming and diverse. It opens new doors into my understanding and practice. I’m honored to be part of this team and so hope you’ll consider joining us. The world needs more of us on this path!!!

ps… the painting, above, is indeed my Red Madonna 2025 work, Mother Nature. She says she’s finished. We’ll see!

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Old Adventure… New Perspective!

Posted on by sue boardman

If you’re just joining us, welcome!!! Fix yourself a cuppa and pull up a comfy seat. We’re going on a journey… long ago, for me, and right now, I suspect, for most of us!

The journey in question involved a 40-foot sailboat, a rapidly building hurricane, and the Bermuda Triangle. Really! My Presbytery Young Adult buddy and I were doing the midnight watch… actually sailing the boat through the storm with no navigational equipment but a compass and the stern lights of our buddy boat.

Terrifying, for real! And I was a young single mom at the time, with a 6-year old waiting at home for me.

The question of the moment was Which Direction???

I realized, as I was dreaming along last night, that Which Direction??? is also my question in the context of this moment! Perhaps yours, as well…

As is often the case, paint had a lot to do with my musing!

On Friday, we Intentional Creativity® types began the 10 month adventure known as Stardust Initiation. Frankly, I have no clear idea of where we’re going. What I do know, from lots of past experience, is that things will get different inside me. Well, they’ve already begun, with a big batch of input from the news.

The question, in my dreams, boiled down to this:

Am I sailing toward myself or away from the chaos of this moment???

I’m going with toward myself. I just don’t have the strength or energy to try both directions at once!!!

I’m sailing toward living my Promise. Honoring my body and my path and those who walked it before me. And, yes, it feels like a huge #Threshold!

The work-in-progress we began with is a huge hint about the chaos!

What’s happening now is making meaning out of the chaos! You should know that there are many layers of paint going on here. Somebody keeps changing her mind!!! I’m listening to her voice, though… stay tuned!

ps… I’d gladly listen to YOUR voice, too, if you could use a bit of focus and strategy on your path! 45 min. My gift. We’ll name your vision, claim your next right thing, and muse together about how we might work together on making it real. Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook us up. Then, gather your dream, a cuppa, something to write on & with, and a piece of Red Thread, if it’s handy. As Josh Lyman, my old buddy from The West Wing, reminded a wandering friend one day, “I’ve been down here before and I know the way out!”

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The paintings are getting more insistent!

Posted on by sue boardman

Today is primary run-off voting day at our house… aka Good Trouble day! Last night, in my dreams, the artwork decided to help, along with the voices of the two actual Grandmothers I grew up with.

The first thing you need to know is that I come from long lines of Republicans, pretty much as far back as there have been political parties in America. Let’s just say I grew up with huge doses of the way we’ve always done it…

Things got really interesting when the paintings got involved. #Archetypes and #Legends and even a deeply personal Magic book cover, all trying to help. Finally, the image you see above cleared her throat rather assertively, and raised her hand to speak. I literally felt my heart beat faster. This was exactly the answer I needed!

Not the answer for which boxes to check on the ballot, but deep, deep claiming of why.

Her official name is #Taliswoman. A representation of core identity in symbols on canvas! MY core identity!

Since you’re reading along, I’d love to have you join in! Take a deep breath, please, and see what comes to mind when you muse about a symbol of the deepest, most real YOU! Just one, for now. No judging. Just noticing and wondering…. (And, yes, you can change your mind as we go along!)

Let’s begin with the Universe, way up top… Sun and Moon. El and Asherah. Masculine and Feminine. A tiger star glyph for courage. A unicorn, said to call up the true teaching of Yeshua. And, if you squint, a dove for peace, of course.

The crow, for wisdom, was huge fun to paint and she’s a very handy reminder on days like this! Generations, with family symbols everywhere. Roses. Blue grapes. An ancient Red Book.

And one you might not have noticed. The rainbow triangle quilt pieces on her stole. Liberated wild geese quilt blocks are Celtic symbols for the Holy Spirit.

What else do you notice? I’m guessing the Red Thread feels familiar. An ancient connection among all of us who choose to be included. And, yes, this is where my book-cover-in-progress friend, Glinda, found her magic wand in the gold circle which calls to mind the ancient wisdom of As Above, so Below.

Many things to ponder! And reasons to vote like the world our Littles are inheriting depends on it!

That, dear heart, is the place my dream Grammies and I are connected, still and always, even if I am voting blue!

ps… searching for a way to live your core identity in the world??? Let’s talk! 45 min. My gift. You bring a cuppa, something to write on & with, and a bit of Red Thread if it’s handy. We’ll name your next right step and talk about ways we might work together. Just click here and the calendar elves will hook us up. And, yes… Glinda will bring her magic wand!

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A new volunteer for the book!

Posted on by sue boardman

His name is Luther. He came to us on MLK weekend about 8 years or so ago. A Newfoundland rescue from a despicable, intentionally cruel puppy mill. Terrified. Hungry. Not at all sure love existed… but hopeful.

I love him, still. And, yes… he’s still helping, years after he crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Early this morning, he appeared in my dreams, offering comfort. Reminding me of the power of courage and love over evil. He even offered to tell his story in the book that’s finding form around here these days. In his own voice. Hope, if you will, for some of our Littles living in the midst of the chaos, now.

He also made me promise not to tell everything before the book is ready!

That’s Luther on your left, with his “blind dog” collar, curled up with his chosen sister, Phoebe. I have some two-handed journaling to do. Dominant hand, my questions. Non-dominant hand, his musings. Tissues will no doubt be involved!

Here’s the thing, though… somehow he knew, even before I did, that what we learned together in those years holds a way to make our way through these days. And our Litttles need to hear that hope! (Even the ones headed for college!!!)

For this moment… another reminder of holding hope:

May we have ears to hear!

ps… I have ears to hear the magic you feel calling you! And a medicine basket full of ways to help you get there! Want to chat? 45 min. My gift. Just click here and the calendar elves will find you a time! You’ll want a cuppa, some Red Thread if it’s handy, and something for notes. Glinda can’t wait to meet you!

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The walls have taken to singing!

Posted on by sue boardman

Today, in many traditions, is Pentecost Sunday. It’s also a planning nightmare when it happens to occur on Memorial Day weekend! Just between us, I’m kind of okay with having a different role these days! Kind of more free to set aside the Lectionary’s notion of what story goes with which day and open myself to inspiration which, in many ways, was kind of the original point!

Clearly, my song leader friend agrees! This is what I heard…

Deep and wide… Deep and wide… There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide…

Deep and wide… Deep and wide… There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide…

Now seems to me like a really good time for that!

According to my late seminary professor, Dr. Walter Brueggemann, Pentecost can be seen as a revolutionary rupture of the status quo in which the outpouring of the Holy Spirit dismantles hegemonic power structures, shatters psychic numbness, and actively subverts the homogenizing, empire-building impulses of the world.

Walter goes on to contrast Pentecost with the Tower of Babel which represents a human society driven by fear and a desire for hegemonic power, seeking to impose a single homogeneous culture. By miraculously allowing the gospel to be heard in native languages, the Spirit affirms God’s will for radical diversity, ethnic pluralism, and localized variation… not a soothing comfort, but a disruptive “wind” that upends society’s comfortable routines and privileged arrangements… and makes way for new, just, and inclusive communal realities… in which every single person has both a voice and a purpose.

My painting friend and I offer these whisperings in full knowing that your tradition may be different. Your teachers may have shared different wisdom. And, if you hang around here, you’d probably stand beside me in claiming equality and radical hospitality, in this world, now. Deep and wide!

For now, I join the the prayer from Ephesians that we, whatever our traditions, might grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of the Son of Creators. That’s what all those dots are for… healing wounded hearts!

And one last thought from an episode of The West Wing… It’s season 7, episode 8. Presidential candidate, Matt Santos, is speaking in a predominantly black church, just after one of their teenagers was killed by an hispanic police officer. He begins with a quote from Dr. King:

If we could find compassion… if we could express compassion – if we could pretend compassion… it would heal us.

As the congregation begins to hear… to respond… Santos goes on:

We are tired. Tired of understanding. Of waiting. Of trying to figure out why our children are not safe and why our efforts to make them safe seem to fail. We’re tired. But we must know that we have made some progress… and slowly… too slowly, things will change.

This is the message of my heart for this day…

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A Sue sort of day…

Posted on by sue boardman

It began, as so many days do these days, with dreaming my book-in-progress. And, it’s more than a bit possible that a whole lot of election results last night contributed to making my dreams more intense!

As is usually the case there was, in my opinion, good news and bad news. Or, as someone once said, “We don’t know if it’s good news or bad news. It’s all just news.” (It’s possible that I learned that watching The West Wing!)

I’m going to assume that you’ve done whatever you need to do with news in your world and not slog around in that more, in this moment, except to say that there are huge connections, for me, between the news and the need for this book!

The cuppa cacao beside my chair helps. I’m not an expert yet, especially on the ritual part, but it tastes delicious, feels comforting and, if it’s also good for my body, that’s a triple win!

One of the very cool things about writing – rather like preaching! – is that before I can explain things to someone else, I need to dig deep and figure out what those same things mean in me. And, since I’m writing for tweens and teens, I need to do all that in Fiercely Compassionate Grammy Voice!

I’m about 5000 words in at the moment, and it’s growing, as the old song goes, deep and wide!

I’ve added a new piece of Red Thread to my wrist, especially for this book adventure. I chose sparkly yarn because it reminds me of Glinda, my partner in magical wisdom.

Here’s the part which feels most crazy to me…

MS NOW is telling me, as I write, that the USA is starting a legal battle with Cuba that has to do with honoring the loss of Americans. With not forgetting innocents who lost their lives. Ironically, they’re doing this in Miami “because it’s close to Cuba.” It’s also quite close to Epstein Island, which somehow didn’t come up!!!

When are those same talking head politicians going to be concerned about the victims of those horrific crimes???

Frankly, dear heart, this is more ludicrous irony than I can manage right now. It’s prayer dot time. And, after my pulse slows down, back to the book. Back to my call and my promise to Just Tell The Story!

ps… the photo at the top insisted on being with us, today, for many reasons…

pps… if you’re still reading, I’m so delighted to share this! There are, literally, actual owls dancing in the air above my garden and, wow, did I feel the need for that! In addition to the legendary connection to wisdom, here’s a bit more of what I found when I pressed a few buttons… Their presence encourages us to look beyond the surface and trust our inner voices. Owls represent the end of an old phase and the beginning of a new one, guiding us through personal growth and spiritual evolution. In many traditions they are considered keepers of sacred knowledge and messengers from the spiritual world.

SO BE WE!!!