Category: Guardians

Or, when your being turns green…

No. Not that kind of turning green! The paint kind… This is where we were late Thursday night, before the next video adventure planned for Friday.

I was excited! You see, I’d had a huge ah-hah! on Wednesday. Which means you and I need a quick Red Thread circle in this moment! Grab a cuppa please. And a bit of red thread – literal or metaphorical. It all works!

We’ll begin with a quick reflection on the notion of Context. For this purpose, let’s agree that context is all the stuff going on around us while we’re in the midst of doing our version of you do you! (And, yes, you – wise soul – detect the notion of seeing consciously… of Filters in the background.)

You see, I got a bit of new input from my world. Or, rather, I intentionally let a new bit in!

I was wrestling with the ConvertKit elves to send my latest painting demo video to the courageous humans engaged, with me, in the journey known as Oh, I See… Consciously!

And, when I managed to get all the right buttons pushed, I got so excited that I did a new thing. A thing I’d actively – if not entirely consciously – been avoiding.

I watched the video!

Yep… me, the recovering camera-phobe! And, I was thrilled!!! Not thrilled as in expecting an Oscar nomination. Thrilled as in I showed up for something that matters deeply to me. Real. Effective. Empowering. And that, dear heart, is a pretty big prize!

So, Friday, it was time for the next video. My buddy, Natalie, beamed in as chief in charge of moral support, eye contact, and waving of the occasional very helpful sign with cryptic messages like, “Zoom in!”

We got it done! Even the part when a dear neighbor came to the door with these gorgeous flowers!

Then, it was back to my usual world of news and dinner and swearing at more news and a whole lot more painting, despite my grumbling hand. Then it happened. I just couldn’t do any more. Even Madam Secretary wasn’t comforting enough to keep me on the road!

The Muse was on it! I literally heard the words in my head… Princess Diary!!! And, no… this is not a usual strategy for me! Sometimes, though, we get to a point where even not-usual feels worth a try.

And so, with a bit of button pushing help from the Legendary Husband, I watched. And I heard, in the voice of Julie Andrews…

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear!

And, that, dear soul, is a belief I will gladly claim!!!

Then, because sleep was still only an aspiration, I hunted up Princess Diaries 2, which I was surprised to note had been written, in 2004, by Shonda Rhimes, of Grey’s Anatomy fame! And I set down my absolute favorite tiny pouncing/praying paintbrush and watched that, too.

Talk about context in a tiara!!!

The whole story is about choice. And voice. And – in a slightly different way – sovereignty!

Women’s choice and voice and sovereignty!

And, yes, I’d seen it before… somewhere along the line. But I heard it a whole new way in the context of this moment. I heard it with the same ears that heard State Senator Eva Burch (D, AZ) courageously recounting – on MSNBC – her current experience of needing – and receiving – abortion healthcare, now.

And I watched and heard and wept through the filter of my grandmother-heart.

Here’s where I put my brush down…

And, when I picked it up again, on Saturday, I went straight to the roses. My symbolic map of reality. The image of the part of my awareness which “decides” what gets in through my filters and what is left out of my awareness. And I made it, intentionally, clearer and more focal.

It’s way easier to do with the canvas laying flat! And hugely important, however many do-overs it takes for such an image to get created!

Choosing our maps, with consciousness and love, is hope for the future!

What are your hopes? Really! You can leave a comment, below, or email me! suesvoice@gmail.com

ps… for those of you who live, as I do, in a place where this day is known as Palm Sunday, the words in big purple letters, above, might just feel, somehow, even more relevant.

We’re going on an adventure… to a place we’ve never been before.

If you have a red thread, it could be handy. And if you’d turn off all the other chatty-blinky things for just a few minutes, I’d be honored.

First, a bit of context. Let’s start with the fact that it’s been quite a week!

Think finals week in school. Or the week before your biggest, most sacred holiday with all the family coming, and needing pillows. Or the week when the Legendary Husband and I got married on Thursday before I graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary on Sunday.

(Feel free to do the re-frame bit in whatever way works for you!)

This story started generation upon generation before I was born, so we’ll skip along a good bit to some recent media for the Inspired journey I’ve been on for the last week or so. One of the invitations read a lot like this…

A psychiatrist, a gynecologist, an artist, and a chef walk into a cafe…

Really! And they invited a whole bunch of artists and healers and curious humans to join the party.

The calendar elves were no doubt amused by the fact that this particular adventure was happening at the same time a whole lot of other adventures were winding down. The second half of the Red Madonna journey, having to do with Trees of Life and the appearance of a personal prophetess.

Six months of an adventure known as Origins with a whole lot of claiming and creating our places in the universe and the work we feel called to do.

My own new offering, both beta test and very real… called Oh, I See… Consciously. A journey from “If only… to I am!“

All of which manifested in a whole lot of painting going on! In the midst of – you know – life in a challenging body and a challenging time.

So… Monday afternoon. Spattered in paint. Staring at the forest of canvases in varying stages of dripping and drying… even after the ones I just finished moved over to make space! And a felt connection I couldn’t quite put words to.

Then, I did a thing. I reached for my box of Sacred Rebels oracle cards, lurking next to my chair.

I passed the cards through my hands until I felt ready to pause on a particular one. Here’s a glimpse of what found me…

32. FAITH IN THE PROCESS

No matter how powerful we are, how much courage and strength we have, there are times when we can’t quite move ourselves along to the next phase of life or creative exploration. At such times we need some divine intervention – a little help in pulling our trolley along, so to speak. When we are at the edge of our own limits and have no more personal resources, we might be left with only one spiritual power, that of faith. Fortunately that is enough… You are in a situation where you cannot ‘set right’ the course of events all by yourself. This is not an indication that you have done something wrong, nor does this suggest that you are not strong enough. It is a sign that there is something bigger unfolding in your life and your willpower will be supplemented by the power of life itself. Sometimes a bigger plan needs to manifest for the benefit of humanity and the earth…

And the tears flowed down my cheeks. The tears of knowing. Of connection. Of the parts of me coming together in a new way.

My job is to keep being me!!! To keep standing for power for rather than power over. To put my work into the world, now… even when it’s scary!

Then, My Prophetess painting found her face!!! (Well, space for it!) Just in time for #wip Wednesday! Here’s where we are…

And I opened myself to Inspired healing…

I have a new vision of my next steps, living in a body with needs and quirks I’m no longer thinking of as limitations. I am overflowing with new resolve about my work in this world. Now. Even in the midst of the chaos.

ps… thanks to Alana Fairchild’s Sacred Rebel oracle cards. (It’s a FILTER thing!)

pps… the painting at the top is my Inspired #wip. Huge light!!!

When I first began to paint, back in 2017, I did it the way I had done many things before. I watched the demonstrations and listened to the directions and tried to do what Shiloh Sophia McCloud was teaching.

Despite having been told endlessly, as a child, that I was NOT the artistic kid, it went pretty well. Probably because it was about process at least as much as outcome. And I loved the process!

I’ve had at least one painting going ever since. (At this moment there are four projects on my #work-in-progress list!)

And, yes, they tend to all “talk” at once!

Maybe it’s the intensity of this time sensitive moment, but something new is happening. At least new for me.

Instead of trying to decide what I want to put on the canvas, I’ve begun to look for what I see in the canvas and try to draw it out.

And, yes… it feels pretty weird!

It started with the close up of a really big canvas you met recently… the one with a whole lot of purple going on. And my seeing a being – or perhaps a presence – near the bottom.

Then, I sat with it more. The whole thing, in different light. The first being stayed. And a second one appeared. A huge second head.

Please stick with me. No horror stories ahead… I promise!

Then, the background got night-sky blue. And I saw hands. And I painted them! I was thrilled. I love hands and the word for hand which, in ancient Aramaic, also meant power!

And, just in case you’re wondering… she’s not being held up. She’s witnessing all the wonder! Which seems to be a big thing just now!

Then, I took a couple of days off for time with our visiting kids and the Guardian painting and a big addition to my Temple painting, who has a name now… Em-power-ing Venus! (They’re together in the top photo… juggling for space and attention, in the studio!

And, I’m noticing another thing in the midst of all the paint. There’s something magical about seeing what wants to become! About working with the canvas instead of simply on it.

ps… if you squint just a bit at the photo just above, you might notice a face in the big circle which is becoming the moon… and so much more!

pps… got chaos? Want hope? On a mission to BE hope? More comfortable in an individual setting than a group space??? There is room in my world for 3 new 1:1 clients! All the Medicine Basket Coaching (which basically means access to all the stuff I know!) could be your next right step! Check this out and let me know if you’d like to talk! suesvoice@gmail.com

This is a glimpse into the beginning of one of my favorite paintings. I know. It’s not real exciting in this phase. Hang with me, though… there’s a story!

According to the elves who stash the photos, it was taken November 29, 2020.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed into her future. The 3rd US President ever tried for impeachment was acquitted. Biden had just won the Presidential election, though opposition efforts to challenge the result were rampant.

It felt like a really good time for a Legend painting. The kind about the future we – the artists – hope to grow into.

We began, she and I, with a lot of coding. Mostly the dots surrounded by parentheses which represent, in my own personal symbolic language, the old story which ends with an astounding, scripturally inspired claim that, The chains which bound me are broken and I am free, already.

And another familiar one for me… a determined hand raised in blessing! And an insistent sunflower growing bigger and brighter around her eye.

(I get the right/left thing confused but, for me, it’s her visionary eye. And I felt like we were both squinting and straining to see hope!)

You know what was coming… January 6. A violent insurrection, attempting to overturn the election, in the US Capitol. MSNBC and paint! Dots beyond number. Peace. Justice. Sanity. Hope…. Until we arrived here.

And later, in February of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The land where sunflowers are symbols of hope. There was room on the edges of the canvas for more dots and so I painted more. The fingerprint kind… no longer trying to steer, but to follow, instead.

And, just in case you’re feeling the chaos, too, there’s this… which is what happened on that canvas before the image began to appear.

Tonight, I’m painting more. A different canvas. Wisteria vines. The Muse insisted!

Different views of sunflowers. Many, many, many dots. And more to come.

As long as it takes. As long as I have breath.

I have 2 grand-teens trying very hard to grow up in this world. They are teaching me every moment.

Out of chaos… hope!

ps… got chaos? Want hope? On a mission to BE hope? More comfortable in an individual setting than a group space??? There is room in my world for 3 new 1:1 clients! All the Medicine Basket Coaching could be your next right step! Check this out and let me know if you’d like to talk! suesvoice@gmail.com

pps… the wise owl above the sunflower is formed from pages of my book… Grandmothers Are In Charge Of Hope! Just click the link to get your copy, now!

ppps… huge thanks to Taylor for brilliant help painting!!!