I’ve been doing a series of paintings as a form of shamanic soul retrieval. As I paint, I meditate on the images that come to mind, which I take to depict a part of me. I’m then taken on a journey, via inner imagery and creative visualization, to the astral realm where I connect with the individual messengers and power totems that will be included in each piece. This one I call Moon Gal with Raven and Moonstone. Raven activates the energy of magic and links it to our will and intention. The raven shows us how to go into the dark of our inner self and bring out the light of our true self, resolving inner conflicts which have long been buried. Moon Gal has an extra long neck representing giraffe energy. Giraffes see from the higher perspective and are able to reach things most can’t. They like to stick their neck out and they remain high above the fray. The neck is the bridge between the worlds, so I often elongate it, signifying being on that journey. Continue reading
Author Archives: Andrea
What’s the lesson behind my moved trash bin?
Last night someone moved my garbage can to the end of the block. Odd to think someone was right outside and I didn’t know it. It’s deja vu all over again! I always set the bins out on the street the night before. My odd hours have me often working overnights and my office overlooks the street. When it’s cool outside I have the window open. I had it closed last night as I worked in the office from midnight til 6:00am, so I didn’t hear anyone rolling my bin to the end of the block. That would have made a lot of noise. It’s odder to think someone would put it in their vehicle and drive it to the end of the block and toss it on the ground. People do crazy things! Continue reading
He: “When did that happen?”
She: “Don’t you read my blog?”
He: Exasperated sigh…
How I begin my day makes a big difference as to what kind of day I’ll have
August 2014 The super moon rising over the treeline
I sat for an hour this morning outside at the fire pit in the clearing in my woods, watching the full moon move across the sky. A super moon looks so huge because it coincides with the time in the moon’s orbit when it’s closest to Earth. We’ve had three this year and September 9 will be the next. Talk about taking a full moon bath! Here’s –> How to Take A Healing Full Moon Bath. How I begin my day makes a big difference as to what kind of day I’ll have. Sometimes, like today, I want to wake up and paint right away but instead have to be 8-10 hours at the desk doing final layout for the September magazine. I can either pout and grumble and feel like I once again don’t get to do what I want to do when I want to do it. That’s nice pouty self talk to cheer me into my day! Or I can instead think — more correctly — let me whip out a few hours’ work so I can get to painting afterward, and then carry on my merry day.
Continue reading
Need a recharge? Bask in a Moon Beam!
The Magical Healing Shower came to me years ago as I stood exhausted at the end of a very long and challenging day. I stepped into the shower and asked that the water remove the stress of the day. I was immediately transported into very healing session. I do the same during full moon as I bask in the moon beam. Here’s the process: Continue reading
I like being able to digitally correct my painting faux pas
I didn’t notice until after I’d begun painting this one that her eyes were so close together. I snapped a photo and took it into Photoshop and moved the eyes farther apart. That probably made her more esthetically pleasing to some, but there was a reason for her eyes the way I did them. Our eyes are our windows, providing our perspective of the physical world. I’ve painted them close together and a bit skewed so she can examine closely and see from all sides. Now I’m off to meditate to find the symbols to include in her palms.
RELATED: Doing a series of paintings as a form of shamanic soul retrieval
Update from the art studio
The new art studio is coming together
My former dining room is now the art studio
There’s the painting on canvas and there’s the Photoshopped digital version
I begin painting from out of body, astral flight sketches
Painting is a daily meditation for me
Painting as a method of altering consciousness
Doing a series of paintings as a form of shamanic soul retrieval
I wrote earlier in My spiritual lesson from the Brighthouse repairman that being without internet and phone after the lightning flash led me to contemplate what a lost signal meant on my path to personal growth. I’d been feeling a little off signal and like I was ready for a reboot. Now that I’m back in the art studio after years away, I’m feeling re-motivated and back in the slot. I know one reason is that art is a form of meditation for me, and more meditation and self reflection is always good for me. In shamanic fashion, I’ve been working on a series of paintings for the purpose of soul retrieval, showing the spirit version of the various fragmented parts of myself, each bringing back a healed part.
My spiritual lesson from the Brighthouse repairman. I am the only one who can amplify my life, I do that by choice of focus
I get rebooted in yesterday’s lightning flash
Yesterday I arrived home just as it began to pour rain and I was happy for a garage to drive into. As I looked into the back yard, a sudden flash of lightning and thunder startled me. The lightning was so bright that it whited out the entire backyard. That let me know it hit close. I found my internet, cable and land line phone lines were down. Brighthouse arrived 36 hours later and he first wanted to find the amplifier that sent a signal to his equipment, which should be, he said, a cable connection that is plugged into an electrical outlet. We looked at every outlet in the house and couldn’t find one. Then at the cable box outside he found a splitter looking thing that he says is typically attached to an amplifier, and that it had gone bad. It looked, he said, as though a technician prior to him didn’t have the correct device on his truck when he came out and replaced it using this one, then the tech didn’t alert the office that it needed to be swapped out. It was coincidence that it went bad right after the lightning strike and that was the cause of my internet, cable and phone going down. Continue reading
What’s the difference between work and vacation if I’m on the computer all day? No matter where my body is, my experience is formed in my mind according to my focus.
It’s been a busy few days. This is supposed to be my rest and recupe week after getting the magazine to press, but I’ve mostly worked each day. “What’s the difference,” a friend asked, “between a work day and a vacation day if you’re still at home on the computer all day?” Good question. The answer is: no matter where my body is, no matter what the appearance, my experience is formed in my mind according to my focus. No matter where my eyes are looking, it is my inner eye that sees. It is my mind that takes me on the journey and the mental journey becomes my experience.
I was able to paint only sporadically this week, but I took breaks to watch some tutorial videos. Although I don’t paint in a photorealistic style, watching tutorials is the same as me attending a class or workshop and I always learn something. Continue reading
Armand Della Volpe: It’s not love until the love drugs wear off
Armand Della Volpe speaks with experience as a consciously evolving male. He posted on Facebook “Over and over I hear of women whose hearts get broken when they rush into relationships based upon what the men tell them. WARNING: Whatever a man says to a woman he is sexually attracted to during the “intoxication stage” is being driven by hormones and is not to be trusted. I’m not saying that men are consciously lying, I’m just saying that most men are clueless about what they really feel when they are inebriated on love drugs. I know this may burst the romantic fairy tale bubble but how can it hurt to wait 18-36 months before making any big commitments while you get to know each other and allow the love drugs to wear off. I know this sounds sexist but my experience shows that this unconscious lying happens more from men than women relative to physical attraction. I don’t think most men consciously lead women on in order to satisfy their needs. I know amazing men who are lightworkers and are committed to conscious living. However, they are so desperate to be in love, they make rash decisions and say unfounded things while inebriated with brain chemistry. This is lying for sure with dramatic consequences and horrible karma but I do believe it’s mostly unconscious.”
“If you are jumping into romantic love before truly getting to know your partner, it is most likely an act of desperation and desperate actions usually produce desperate consequences.“…yogi armandananda Continue reading