Welcome to the art/life trail. For the past three weeks we’ve been contemplating Being horse, opening space to be connected to our personal horsepower.

Personal horsepower is the natural ability to be instinctive and free. If we observe horse in the wild she will stand long and long gazing and grazing. She may lie down when sensing safety, rolling and kicking her feet to touch the sky. A change in atmosphere and ears turn, ground is pawed. Stamp!! Feet now fly across the prairie… a free and liberated spirit.

Nothing wrong with kicking up our heels, really important, yet first we do ourselves a favor to look at the calming effect of fall/winter. One of the most challenging instincts to follow at this time of the Natural Year is the inclination to be still. Yoga is a way in…and Savasana the Death Pose is a beautiful practice to engage…

Savasana is where people are most likely to experience the meaning of yoga, which is their conscious unity with Infinity… You lie there and look dead, but as you relax and sink into the feeling of the very alive energy that is being you, it literally feels like you come to life again.

Erich Schiffman

 

When we practice for a mere 15 minutes per day we find that time itself begins to slow. And when we see the effects of this small change it might inspire us to add an additional 15 minutes of quiet at the opposite end of the day. A morning quiet and and an evening quiet creates a power that in turns lets us dig deep and find true treasure.

This moon/month our element is water. Again…we imagine being still.

Still Water

We need to be careful that still water doesn’t become stagnant. We have the chance to observe our stillness and then rise up and move forward to stay in the flow. We can imagine that there is a still point pond deep within our cave. We can sit there and feel into the stillness. When we rise we may notice that there is a quiet stream that flows from the western edge of the pond…starting as a trickle dancing over pebbles and small stones. Placing ourselves into this sheltered cave near still water and meandering along the soft flow of moving water we can reflect.

Here’s what occurred to me as I lay quietly in my womb cave this past week…

• Waking naturally, no jarring sounds, connects me to my breathing

• Lying quietly in Savasana helps me to create clarity for my day

• Identifying the patterns that pull me backward helps turn my attention to lean forward

• A noon walk, even for half an hour, organically supports the structure of my ideas and vision

• Working through the afternoon on my next creative step expands my capacity and passion

• Honestly reflecting on where I feel well fed nurtures my consciousness

• Lighting a tea candle on the mantle at dusk allows me to relax

• Keeping my eye on my North Star with gratitude keeps me calm

• Being willing to rest in the dream of possibility draws me deeper into renewal and healing

This moon/month aligns those of us moving inward with a gentle power. Sitting quietly for your few minutes creates a flow that helps break up the dam of sluggish inertia.

 

You could make a secret treasure map of how your true power emerges. You could  follow the clues and the queues and uncover treasure.

There’s a paradoxical quality to this 4 weeks …the death part and the rebirth part together create an active entrance into the quieting time of the year.

There’s a logical and consistent quality that flows toward you from HERE…the opportunity to notice how you move and how you sit still.

Ask:

Am I spontaneous?

Can I go with the natural flow of my Inner Horse Power?

During this time of going deeper we can welcome and remember that there is no better approach to being free and effective than learning to build the structures that support and empower us.

My teachers often remind that:

“You can’t become yourself by yourself.”

We are Wise Women, Heroines and Saging Crones…in the making. None of us is a ‘done deal’. Not one of us has it ‘all figured out’. We have a collective Horse Power and we are gathering all around the globe.

We have gifts, talents, ideas and inspiration to share and we are willing to make a commitment to enter the Underworld of the Unknown…for 15 minutes minimum each day… we rest and then we rise and sniff the air, paw the ground, read the signs and signals sensing the spring.

Spirit House, Drozda, Acrylic/board, 30 x 45″ 

LET’S DIALOGUE WITH: THE FEMININE

Throughout our fall and winter months, I’ll share symbolic elemental connections with what healthy Feminine energy looks like, feels like and intuitively allows.

Allowing and allowance space are very Feminine

I choose to work with the Feminine in a way that allows healing for all and in a way that does no harm. We act as detectives and we are not in denial. We are fully aware that there are many examples of distorted misaligned feminine energies surrounding us at all times.

Our planet is suffering from the effects of the severe endangerment that has manifest from life out of balance. This imbalance occurs within both the Masculine and the Feminine energy fields.

On the trail we are creating a space for those of us who are moved to stand for rather than against. Together we travel through the scared spaces. We practice remembering that scared turns to sacred as we shift the way we ‘c’.

All over the globe more and more women and men are taking a stance for balance and for the Feminine that is strongly infused with goodness, beauty and wholeness.

I note these associations as I find them (whether in the body of a man or a woman) and I invite you to uncover golden nuggets with your pick and brush. Excavate your ability to find the hidden wealth/well being through the months ahead:

• The healthy Feminine keeps the hearth/earth: she holds sacred the gold of home/the treasure of relationship

• Feminine wellness moves and soothes the soul/air: she can breathe into space/wish upon a distant star

• The balanced Feminine ignites the spirit/inner fire: stands for passion being enraged and outraged; gathers us together around the hearth to share the stories that heals the tribe

• The nurturing Feminine goes with the flow/water: she sustains, grows, carries, provides nutrients and floods her banks washing away toxins. She starts as a trickle becoming a steam, moving into a river and finding the sea.

“When the animals went ashore to take up life on land, they carried part of the sea in their bodies, a heritage which they passed on to their children and which even today links each land animal with its origins in the ancient sea.”

Rachel Carson

Ocean Twilight, Drozda, 2016

The Feminine is a restorative force. The energy of the Feminine can be found throughout nature and permeates All That Is.

Ask:  

How well and how often do I communicate with this pervading influence?

Find the way that is most intuitive and natural for you. You may find that by placing your attention on your core/central that the Ancestors will carry you inward toward balance.

Reminder: The Ancestors reside in the Center of each of us and within the center of the Natural Year. They are Grandfather Sun, Father Sky, Grandmother Moon and Mother Earth. The elements make us all: earth, air, fire, water.

The Ancestors and the elements, Creativity Salon, Drozda, 2012

As we travel through this half of the Natural Year together, I invite you to share your discoveries in the comments zone so that together we can expand our Feminine “allowing” boundaries.

See you next week on the trail as we explore the instinct to ‘allow’ expanding the beauty, wonder and goodness of the art/life.

And don’t neglect your right and the honor to cast your vote!!