Category: Filters!

#Magic!Art JourneyFilters!GrandmothersMedicine Basket

I really, really wish the tech-elves would quit changing things!!!

Posted on by sue boardman

Yep… you probably have to squint quite a bit to make this out, so I’ll help. It’s under layers from my most recent #Apothecary painting, a couple moths ago. Truthfully, it isn’t done yet, as in it isn’t complete, but also it isn’t done teaching me.

Here are three of the VERY intentional words you probably can’t quite read in there, crossword puzzle style:

Courage. Hope. Determination.

And, yes, I’ve mentioned them before.

When I fired up my laptop tonight, this wasn’t exactly what I had in my mind but apparently the elves have been secretly “making things better” again, and it took me about 3 tries to get this post to start happening. (I want elves that follow directions!)

In any event, I am still learning… anyway! When the paintings whisper in my sleep, they are insistent!

So, my #Threshold painting work in progress has announced her name, insisted on background revisions, and whispered some of her favorite star glyphs for me to include. The really cool thing is that, as all that magic was happening, she also solved the structural challenge with my tweens & teens book in progress!!!

Frankly, she kinda blew my mind! (And she prefers to wait until she’s finished to make another appearance!)

Then, I did a new thing. Yesterday, I had a Zoom meeting with a dear friend who now lives in Egypt. It was so good to catch up! And, she did a mini-numerology reading for me! (Yet another thing we didn’t cover in nursing school or seminary!!!)

Here’s the thing that really grabbed me:

My core challenge – at least at this point in time – is a tendency to feel responsible for EVERYTHING and hand-cuffed by perfectionism…

Wow, does that hit home! And, I suspect I’m going to want to explore more.

For this moment, though, it’s cacao ceremony time. And getting ready for observing the solstice time. (Really!) You see, I spent lots of time watching Georgia run-off election returns last night and I’ve decided to be open to all the help I can get!

My #Threshold painting is totally onboard!!!

ps… my Wisdom Cards are ready to meet you! Just put 2 decks in your basket and get 20% off, automatically. They go really well with cacao and perhaps a smidge of ceremony!!! (Also, sign up for the Winged Ey Wisdom mailing list and get an extra 10% off your order!)

#Magic!ContemplationsFilters!Medicine BasketOffering

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!”

#Magic!Filters!GrandmothersMedicine Basket

All the “me’s” have bizzy brain!

Posted on by sue boardman

I’m guessing you might, too! News… much of it of the lunatic persuasion.

Metro DC going through massive chaos and dragging way too much of the world along.

In my own calmer and considerably more intentional way, things are also shifting. Part of it is the normal course of endings and new beginnings. A year’s worth of community and work completing even as the next artful adventure takes form. (Stay tuned!!!)

Yet more painting adventures beginning, as well.

The Book-in-Progress is taking over my world and I’m thrilled! The individual stories pretty much existed from the beginning. The structure – the flow – the voices – are appearing magically in my dreams and, in the context of this world, my Grammy Heart is overjoyed.

All of that newness leads – at least for me – to new awareness of things which aren’t yet optimal. And, as so often happens in our world, that involves moving things. You know… being body comfy while having easy access to books, tools, light, etc.

I think our magic friend, Glinda, must have invited the Feng Shui books to join in and – wow! – did that help!

Here’s an example… as much as it made sense and I tried to make it work, the whole nesting thing just wasn’t going to work in the studio. So, the most adaptable chair is back in the room now known as Sacred Skills & Knowledge, so that I have a better chance of being able to create deep and be something which loosely resembles comfortable. And, yes… that will mean moving books!

The paintings, of course, all want to be new places, too. Inspiration. Energy supportive colors. Even a sleep supervisor dedicated to healing and abundance! She’s the one up top… a mythical shape-shifting Selkie in charge of useful things like intuition and unblocking trapped potential!

There’s another painting going on in my world, too. #Threshold. If I believed in being behind, I would be. Instead, I’m going with being exactly where I’m supposed to be to be, hearing what I need to hear! My big ah-hah, so far, is to discover… instead of expecting! As we used to say back when, that’ll preach!

For this moment… an invitation!

If you’re a real human reading this, instead of some AI mystery being, and you have dreams about putting your magic to work in the world, let’s talk! 45 min. My gift. We’ll name a next right step for your path and explore what it could look like to work together… you, me, and Glinda! Hurry, though! It’s about to get book-busy around here and I only have space for two brave folks like you. Just click here and the calendar folks will set you up!

ps… now would also be a great time to check out all the magic at WingedEye Wisdom! Just put 2 sets of my really cool wisdom cards in your basket and save 20% on them!!! Great gifts. Fun for travel. Best of all, a doorway into wonder and wisdom! (And you don’t even need a secret code!) Oh! Browse around while you’re there… everything from art prints to kids’ books, many items on sale!

ContemplationsFilters!GrandmothersMedicine Basket

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…

#Magic!ContemplationsFilters!GrandmothersMedicine Basket

Creation Continues!

Posted on by sue boardman

I’ll bet I’m not the only one who’s noticed that the world feels bat-crap crazy! In fact, I’ll go so far as to be pretty certain that you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t feeling it, too. And, just between us, I’m not enjoying it!

I can’t help in all the ways I’d like to. Marching on No Kings Day is not a practical option just now. Neither is demanding leaders who actually care and think, though supporting the ones who do helps. Food bank contributions. Also, prayers. The kind where everybody has a choice to matter! And the constant connection reminder of the Red Thread on my wrist.

Here’s a thing I noticed, today. Learning – intentionally – helps! Making space for useful newness.

Earlier, I was watching a video discussion that talked about the on-going nature of Creation. Not just the violets and dandelions blooming out front, or the wonder of making it clear to three spears of asparagus.

Instead, claiming that we – as created ones – are still in progress!!!

I’m not sure I even have words for how much that helps! I did hunt up some words, though, that are helping me share it, wandering in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

This is why the good has come into your midst. It acts together with the elements of your nature so as to reunite it with its roots.

(p. 7, 20-22)

I am receiving that assurance with huge thanks. You, of course, are hearing through your filters, and I’d love to know what arises for you!

For this moment, my canvas is calling again. Creation of a different sort. Two owls beginning to appear amidst the cypress trees. And, blessedly, bringing hope. Hope for wisdom. Even now.

ps… want some company on the road? Let’s talk! You and me and an amazing new take on a favorite tool! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up. 45 min. My gift. Your adventure!