Category: Red Madonna

#Magic!Art JourneyContemplationsRed Madonna

Words for this moment, from a special guest…

Posted on by sue boardman

Today it is my great joy to share these deeply magical and poetic words from my sister, teacher, and friend, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, with YOU! Fix yourself a cuppa and settle in…

Do you know Her?
The One who carries creation?

The One from whom we arose?
The One that nursed us alive?

Her Milky Way feeds us sweet milk

Do you know Her?

The Protector of Animals

The Protector of Children
The Protecter of Trees

Her Milky Way feeds us sweet milk 


She is Our Lady of Creation

The Great Ma of all Great Mamas

The Great Mystery of the sky, the land,

the primordial watery womb of all creation 

Her Milky Way feeds us sweet milk


Will you lift your face to drink?

Will you lift your mind to love?

Will you let Her in?

She is standing at the door of your heart

The Divine Feminine isn ‘t returning –

She never went anywhere

It is us who are returning.

-Shiloh Sophia

 

Click here for all the info… Join us for Red Madonna – Womb of Living Waters 

 We open with a professionally filmed Live Stream from MUSEA in Sonoma with Curate Shiloh Sophia and Havi Mandell. Here is a message from Shiloh to each of us…

Dear One…

In 2011, I found myself on my knees. You could say I was in prayer, but it fel more like despair on the hardwood floor. The lowest I have ever been in my life. I prayed to the Blessed Mother – show me what to do – how do I get out of this place I am in?

I heard a clear instruction – to gather women around Her. To tell Her story. To paint Her. Who she is – lives differently in all of us. Since then thousands of women have painted Her – she who appears in your heart. 

The Red Madonna sisterhood was born from my tears. Women from all spiritual traditions gathered to answer the call and we have not stopped gathering since then. Red Madonna is the longest standing membership circle in the community. Because – we need it.

A creative spiritual path rooted in the practice of painting, prayer, poetry and community. This is sanctuary and sisterhood. 

What happens when a Jewish Shaman, a Reluctant Priestess, a Mystical Christian Reverend, a Queer Storyteller, a Elemental Ceremonialist and a Magdalenian put their hearts and hands together? Red Madonna.

Who we are is different each cycle we gather – and it will be different again because of you. We will be painting the womb of primordial waters, the Sacred Feminine through your eyes. If you are seeking solace and circle – you found it. 

Perhaps it is your time to join us for this 13 moon path. I look forward to Havi, who has been with us since day 1 – travelling to the ranch to paint with me for the live opening weekend. We will begin with a blessing of the waters. Everything is instantly recorded so you don’t have to join in real time – but the energy is real time. I hope to see you in this sacred circle. This is the only consistent circle of painting for our community until 2027. Hop on in – we have been calling you in – perhaps you have been calling us too!


Shiloh Sophia 

This next bit is me… Sue. It is my huge joy to be preparing for my seventh journey in the land of Red Madonna and my deep honor to be part of the team. I honestly can’t think of a place I’d rather be, in the midst of this moment! Come wade in the waters of the courage and community to go on!

My watery friends and I are so hoping you’ll say yes!!!

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How do you feel about surprises?

Posted on by sue boardman

As the theory goes, some of us love them. Others… not so much! I’m kind of a one foot on each side of the stream kind of person. I really like the good kind. The safe, happy, exciting kind. The sad, scary, painful kind… not so much!

The surprise we’re going to talk about today is one of the good kind. Paint is part of the reason for that!

It was flower class in progress. I got all set up to start the new adventure. You know, blank canvas and all. Then, I watched the first video and started to hear another voice. My #wip known as #I Am Legend/#Threshold insisted on playing, too!

The glimpse you see, above, happened after a long night of tossing and turning. You may know the type… It’s SUPPOSED to be flowers! That’s not what I dreamed! But, you like flowers and you’re not really good at them, yet, so work harder!

You get the drift…

And, I did start painting, again, on an old, scrap canvas. Lots of buff colored paint. (Don’t ask me what all the lumpy stuff was from. I don’t remember!) Time to dry/dream. That was about the time that the paint started whispering.

Roses and lilies, of course.

Chakra colors!

Dots!!!

And, that was about the time I gave up any notion of being in charge and just joined in for the fun. And it is fun… in a mysterious sort of way.

The mini practice canvas which you glimpsed, above, was perched across from me as I took a break for lunch, when I saw the face! The teal-ish sort of paint near the bottom, and toward the left. Take a breath, please, and look deep. Eyes. Nose. Lips. Gazing downward.

At first they felt sad. Then I realized that I was being invited to pray!

Let’s just say that tea and tissues were involved.

INVITED to pray!!! Right in my studio. Deep in my heart. And that feels like a huge ah-hah at this moment in this world.

For this next moment… a nap is likely.

ps… when I woke up, and looked at the practice canvas again, I saw something new. It’s a #Filters thing… and feels like an even bigger blessing!

pps… there’s still a bit of time to check out our new year of #Red Madonna! It’s a water-y kind of thing, too… with huge space for wonder! (And for you being you!!!) Just click here for all the info…

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A different kind of family reunion…

Posted on by sue boardman

Dear Blog Relative,

We lived in Wheaton, IL for a bit, when I was in 4th and 5th grades. Lots of my dad’s family had deep roots there, and they were big fans of reunions. What I remember most was pie. Also Baptist churches and school playgrounds. And about a zillion cousins!

Today, I spent time at family reunions, too. Different than the ones I grew up with! Today, July 22, is known by many folks as the feast day of Mary Magdalene. (And, no… most of those folks aren’t Baptists! Or Presbyterians, either, for that matter!)

I have another “reunion” meeting coming up shortly so I’ll keep this quick.

Question: What do Mermaids and Mary Magdalene have in common???

Answer: Magic!

Now, this is where things get tricky because there are lots of people with lots of widely differing notions of all those “M” words. And the one thing I know for sure is that we all have to sort issues this big out for ourselves! Images have been very helpful to this word person along the way!

The one we began with was a huge door for me. I painted her during the Red Madonna journey @ 2019. Officially, she is Our Lady of Fierce Compassion. She was one of 5 paintings we did that year and I was really new at all the art stuff. While I was working on her, there was a huge crisis going on at the US/Mexican border. Well, a huge crisis for people who care about people! My Lady materialized sheltering Mexican children, separated from their families, within her embrace of compassion.

About 3 years later, I – in the midst of learning more new things – realized that she is The Magdalene!

You’ve probably met my friend, Destiny Joan, along the way… the Mermaid part of the family!

Then, there’s my current #wip! Officially, #Threshold. The official title, according to my dreams is “I Am Legend” and she says she’s me! (That’s more to sort than we have time for just now… and, as you might be reading this story for the 2nd or 3rd time, recently, you can assume that I, too, am still sorting all this!)

This is, indeed, where we are in this moment and it feels like huge progress even though it doesn’t much look like it, yet. She and I are so hoping you’ll stay tuned. (We are also making big progress on the tweens and teens book-in-progress!)

My next reunion, for this day, begins in about 20 minutes. More stories. More cousins. More magic!

ps… if you’re ready for some magic, too, check this invitation out! And, hurry!!!

#Magic!Art JourneyContemplationsRed Madonna

It’s WONDER-FULL Wednesday and YOU’RE here!!!

Posted on by sue boardman

If you have a magic wand handy, pick it up, please. If not, just imagine one. We’re having an adventure! First, though, let me introduce you to my friend, Havi Brysk Mandell…

Havi is an Intentional Creativity® Sister. She’s a wander-er in wonder. A teacher who loves to learn. A leader of this community. And a writer of magical invitations, like the one I’m about to share with you, in her voice! (A cuppa would be in order, too!)

First, some magic words…

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” – Loren Eiseley

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” – Lao Tzu

“Water is the driver of nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci”

“Always be like water. Float in the times of pain or dance like waves along the wind which touches its surface.” – Santosh Kalwar 

Meditating On Living Waters

It has been a bit over a week since those of us, in the Red Madonna community, held our Come Home to the Waters retreat. I know that a number of you reading this now may have had the experience of watching the replay – receiving messages, healing release, and creating a beautiful painting. Each painting that I have seen has felt like a beautiful healing balm and affirmation of the gifts of Water in our lives and as a precious teacher for ways we can be more like water.

I am finding myself experiencing my movement through all the moments of life as more of a lyrical dance of encounter and return, ebb and flow, of receiving and being touched by the presence of another as part of my unfolding, flowing life journey. I listen for the flow of harmony and disharmony and I am noticing flowing songs around me, some of which I never noticed before. That includes noticing the song of my tears as I witness stories of pain all around me and inviting that song to move me into a new consciousness, a new bubbling spring calling me to listen and follow….not denying the pain and grief, but to expand, as waters do, into a flow that holds both grief and joy, despair and wonder. 

What are the messages you have received from water?

 I wonder if you are willing to receive one of the precious messages of water: that water always returns and replenishes from its source, from abundant flow, rather than parched effort. 

Water doesn’t apologize for remaining connected to its source. A spring doesn’t feel guilty for filling itself before it becomes a river. A river doesn’t nourish the land by trying harder. It nourishes because it never stops receiving.

I think that one of the deepest illusions of our time is that nourishment is something we’ll get to after we’ve done enough, after we’ve helped enough people, after we’ve answered enough emails, after we’ve carried enough responsibility. But life doesn’t work that way. 

The source is not a reward for our effort. The source is where our effort begins, what births and flows it. 

This is why we created Womb of the Living Waters.

It isn’t simply about painting. It isn’t simply about water. It isn’t even just about the Divine Feminine.

It is an invitation to return to the source from which your creativity, your compassion, your wisdom, and your love naturally arise.

It is a place to rediscover the current beneath the striving, because the world doesn’t only need our effort. It needs our aliveness. It needs people whose work arises from connection rather than depletion. People whose creativity flows from wonder instead of pressure. People who remember that beauty is not an escape from reality but one of the ways reality heals itself. 

If you’ve recognized that you’ve been faithfully pouring yourself into the world while feeling less connected to the spring within… Perhaps this is your invitation, not because you need another thing to do, but because you deserve a place to be nourished, to remember, to receive, to let the waters within you begin to move again.

If that speaks to something true in you, if the waters within are stirring and the waters without calling  I’d love to welcome you into this journey. I know what becomes possible when we stop living as if we are separate from the source that has been loving us all along.

Let’s become rivers again, not by trying harder, but by remembering the spring.

And let’s feel the pulse of the red thread that connects us come alive with the nourishing heart medicine that is the Sisterhood of Red Madonna. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to actively and creatively tend to the heartflow of connection, to creation, and to the Sacred Feminine in a loving, supportive community? 

I invite you to consider deepening your journey with us and to join us for a year of immersion in the Cosmic Womb and Living Waters of Creation. HERE is the invitation to Red Madonna 2026. May your heart flow wild and free. May you feel the nourishing, healing blessings of the sacred waters. May you, in your own way, help heal the waters within and around us and be like the precious waters.If you have any questions about Red Madonna, please contact Havi, Red Madonna Director at havi.mandell@musea.org 

With So Much Love and Gratitude, ~Havi, Sue, Olivia, Katie, and Hobby- the Red Madonna Team

ps… I – Sue – have been part of the Red Madonna journey since 2018. It feeds my soul. It keeps me on the road, even now. And it gives me a safe place to gather with women asking big questions in this moment. If you’re even just a smidge curious, click the magic HERE button to learn more. We’d be thrilled to have you with us!

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When a statue goes rogue!

Posted on by sue boardman

She’s one of my favorites. A reproduction of a mother and child statue who followed me home one day, ages ago. After a good bit more learning, I’d guess an intentional Madonna with child. Likely with Italian influence. Very comforting. Usually!

On Saturday, she ventured into the realm of dangerous! I’d gone to get a book off the shelf and the little plastic leveling gizmo under one side of her base had apparently slipped out of place, because she fell off the bench and squarely onto two of my toes!

Owwwwwwwww!!!

Can’t tell yet if either of them are broken. Purple. Skin missing. You know… And what I know is that the plan for broken toes, unless they have exposed bones, is mostly waiting for them to heal.

Think my statue friends will need a new place of honor!

I meant to be painting just now, but feet elevated is wiser, so… writing. This. The next bit of my book, which is making huge progress. And, in just a few minutes, a bowl of soup. The homemade kind. Comfort is absolutely in order!

Here’s the fun part…

I’m doing the foot-up thing surrounded by paintings. Glinda, for the upcoming book cover. Lily Rose, who has a cover of her own in the works. Matilda and Aslan, supervising in their warrior archetype way, from up near the ceiling. And, my current #wip who made it in here before the toe mishap, so that she could tell me what comes next.

It’s kind of odd, painting inner me, when the outer painting looks totally different than I ever have! The cool thing is that she has a lot to teach. A lot of awareness doors to nudge open. Here’s a peek…

Her heart appeared Friday night. A friend inquired about the green color, asking, “Jealous???” Blessedly, no. That’s green, as in heart chakra and Compassion! And, yes, I was thrilled when she insisted!

For now, though, we wait. I’m guessing prayer dot hair. More detail work on her hands. Whatever it takes, actually, to do as I have promised and, “Just tell the story!”

If we’re being real, I never imagined, when Walter Brueggemann was thundering those directions from the front of the classroom, that I’d have to work as hard to stay on the road as this world is requiring, in this moment. And I’m more and more grateful for all that I have learned and am learning, still.

What I do know is this… those of us who try to walk the Way of Love have no time for silence! Blessedly, there are many ways for us to be heard…

What is one of YOUR ways???

Really! Glinda and I would love to hear! Just leave a comment, below, or email me if you’d rather. suesvoice@gmail.com

ps… there is more magic about to begin, and YOU are invited to join us for one of the most transformative journeys I’ve ever experienced… It’s time for Red Madonna to begin again. The newest iteration of a precious Intentional Creativity® adventure! This will be my 8th year and I’m so ready for the deep dive in this moment! Welcoming community. Learning. Creating. Growing. Even now!!! 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  If there is an answer to “What the world needs now” it’s likely to be pretty close to this adventure!

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Blogs and Books and Bears, oh my!

Posted on by sue boardman

If you feel like there’s an awful lot going on in the world just now, I’d agree. Emphatically! So would my dream friends! And I’m so grateful for the “team” that literally helps me sort things and make choices.

Once upon a time, several years ago, I was sitting in a Zoom meeting with some new friends. One of our leaders was an Indigenous woman named Maria. The first thing she said to me was, “You’re Bear Clan!” And a whole new world of perception and legend and story opened within me!

There wasn’t time in that moment, but research was definitely in order. (It’s what I do!) Here’s a bit of what I learned…

Bear Spirit Animals carry energy of physical strength, emotional grounding, and courage to stand up against adversity. Those who relate to Bears as guides often have the energy of protectors and medicine people. And Bears remind us that we need rest!

No wonder they are chatting me up in this moment!

You see, I’m in the midst of a very active creative cycle and am dedicated to staying on that road, even in the midst of all the chaos in the world. I’m starting, today, with some intentional modeling!

I turned off the news. (Gulp!)

I made space in my schedule for a conversation with a guy who knows more than I do about some of the weird neuro stuff going on in my world.

And, I have a new flavor of cacao to experience, probably just after that conversation.

In the meantime, painting. I Am Legend told me about her face!

Mostly, though, I’m consciously partnering with my friends in the photo to remind me, as often as I need to hear it, of who I am and why it matters. (Daphne’s t-shirt helps, too!)

And, I’m inviting you to join me, in your own way!

Turn off what’s not helping. Make some conscious space for something that matters, even if it’s “just” a few minutes of Joan Baez and a cuppa.

Let your fingers do some wandering and explore Spirit Animals, intentionally, if you’re curious. (It’s a #Filters thing!)

BE your work-in-progress on this Wednesday!

ps… Ready for 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 If there is an answer to “What the world needs now” it’s likely to be pretty close to this adventure!

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This is me… being very, very brave!

Posted on by sue boardman

Brave, as in showing up in my un-polished, imperfect, not at all finished state. In public! (Well, sort of in public. If you’re reading this it’s likely we’ve known each other for a bit.)

Let’s start with my #work-in-progress Wednesday offering. The one who has christened herself #I Am Legend and announced that she is me!

I suspect one of the things she and I have in common is a tendency toward vivid dreams and flashes of new inspiration! Even the kind that involve – you know – changes!!!

We also love inviting people on new adventures! People just like you!!! People who aren’t sure they have time. Or who aren’t convinced they’re artistic. Even people who’ve never painted anything but walls with rollers!!!

Here’s the thing… I spent some time today in a planning meeting for our upcoming adventures in the land called Red Madonna. It’s an ancient land – well, ancient as on-line paint offerings go! We’ve been planning for a while now, and it feels really timely and empowering. I’d even go so far – after about 7 years of experience journeying in this land – as to say healing!

I’m so hoping you’ll fix yourself a cuppa and just imagine in to the details that follow. And, there are choices!!! A mini-retreat on Friday, July 3. (Yep… this week!!!) Community. Conversation. Some watercolor play. And the chance to lay down some of what might be holding you back! (And it’s our gift to you!) 

***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, all the info on our year-long journey. We begin as August begins, so you’ll have time to get ready. Community. Creativity. Healing perspectives.

***Ready for 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

I’ve spent a whole lot of years helping people find hope and healing. Nurse. Pastoral Counselor. Hypnotherapy. NLP. Teacher. Coach. I’ve got a Medicine Basket full of spiffy tools. And THIS is where I go to curl up, breathe deep, and let myself heal. Really!

All you need to do is label that kind of tingly, fluttery thing you’re feeling as excitement and click the links!

We’ll be thrilled to have you with us!

ps… here’s my #Mother Nature painting from our just completed Red Madonna adventure, just in case she’s more encouraging than the one above!!! (She’s already claimed her place in an up-coming book!) And I’m supposed to tell you that there will be water as we go along, too!