I dreamed I was a butterfly.
As a child, I was fascinated with caterpillars and collected a variety of them in jars and boxes. I observed as they spun their silky cocoons, then slept for days or weeks before emerging as winged butterflies. The image of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon is the central image of my life. It speaks to me of transformation, metamorphosis, imagination, change, flight, emergence, growth, death/rebirth, regeneration and the creative process. It expresses the deepest longing of my soul and underlines the essence of my life path.
Traveling the world.
During early years at university, I worked a variety of odd jobs to live my dream of traveling the world. I was fortunate to widen my horizons and backpacked through many exotic countries. Eventually, I found employment in the airline industry where I worked onboard steel butterflies (airplanes). As an inflight service attendant, I traveled the world for many years, crossing oceans and continents, transporting modern day travelers to their destinations. One day, my flights of fancy halted. A chronic illness (CFIDS) clipped my wings and left me grounded. I was unable to continue with life in the way I had known it.
A lifelong quest.
This began a lifelong quest, a transformative journey of healing and creative exploration into fine arts, holistic healing modalities, philosophy, mythology, archeology, literature, archetypal psychology, deep ecology and world wisdom traditions. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at NSCAD University in Halifax, Canada, became a certified holistic health practitioner and educator, and completed Creativity Coaching Training with Eric Maisel. In addition, my explorations into various fields of study -- expressive arts, dance, contemplative and meditation practices, polyvagal theory perspectives, vocal sound healing, energy healing, ancient history, literature, zen poetry, creative writing, human gut microbiome, neuroscience, Indigenous African healing technologies and other areas of interest -- continue to interweave and shape my life's journey and work in the world.
A life-changing event.
Then, for complicated reasons, some years later I left my healing practice to focus on other areas of my life. This was not a wise decision, as I eventually realized.
Eventually, a second life-altering event, this time involving my digestive health, changed the course of my life. It was a terrifying passage where many nights I awoke having to face my darkest fears. During this period, I sunk into isolation while my body wasted away, relationships dissolved, a job ended, financial stability declined and everything I previously held important, no longer seemed so. It was as if the rug had been pulled out from under me and I found myself flat on my back. In order to live and flourish again, I decided to release everything that wasn't authentic about myself and trust the living creative intelligence (life-force) within for healing, guidance and renewal.
The transformative power of imagination.
Although I continued to see conventional medical practitioners during my illness, I began exploring the transformative potential of imagination. I noticed when I relaxed my worries and fears, images would appear spontaneously in the mind's eye, especially before sleep or upon waking. These living, vital images revealed themselves as metaphorical guidance, which shifted my limited left-brain perspectives into more expansive ones of possibility, patience and trust. As a result, I committed myself to looking and listening attentively to the world of images living within and all around me for guidance, inspiration and awakening new possibilities for my life. This created a sense of hope, encouraging me to walk the transformative path of becoming true to myself, aligned with a more generous, life-enhancing future.
Path of the artist/healer.
When the Covid-19 pandemic arrived on the world stage, I felt compelled to share what I learned during my lengthy health episode. It seemed relevant to the global events unfolding all around me. This led me to create my online business which offers a creative, visionary approach to walking the path of personal transformation. I encourage others to develop intuitive, imaginal intelligence (on equal ground with the rational mind) and sort out what brings meaning and value to life. The alive world living within us and all around us speaks in the language of deep imagination (unlike fantasy) and can provide inspiration, guidance and renewal in almost every aspect of our daily lives if we pay attention. When we neglect this inherent (and inherited) creative intelligence at the heart of our lives, we remain stuck in obsolete ways of thinking and being that eventually undermine our personal lives and the greater community of life. To break free from outmoded ways and grow, we must risk stepping into unknown terrain and begin a deeper conversation with ourselves and this fertile, ground of creative aliveness.
In contemporary culture, there is a growing awareness we are experiencing a crisis of imagination. It seems outdated systems are failing us and the world awaits new paradigms and inspired ways of seeing that are in harmony with earth's larger story. The act of cultivating the intuitive, imaginal sense on equal ground with the rational mind, may very well be the urgent message of our times. The key to moving from the head to the heart, or developing inner vision, requires courage. Courage to push beyond the distractions and outdated assumptions of our current lives and culture. Courage to listen to the voices of aliveness at the heart of the world and give birth to our uniqueness and gifts. Cultivating inner vision is an act of service in some way; this means we bring our unique gifts into the world, in service to the larger story of life. We begin to see we are all interconnected, not just with humans, but with a vast community of life in which we reside. Awakening the imaginal sense can spark a shift in being, from a small ego-centric way of seeing into an expanded eco-centric one, where we see with the eyes of the heart. Seeing with the eyes of the heart means seeing holistically, seeing ourselves as part of a greater community of aliveness. Old perceptions transform from those of isolation and separation into more generous ones of inter-relationship, co-creation, sustainability and belonging. Read Imaginal Voices.
Inspiration and encouragement for your life's journey.
Please join me if you feel called to reawaken the imaginal, intuitive sense and walk the transformative path of bringing your true presence and unique gifts to the world.
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Artist Gallery.
As an artist, my abstract mixed media paintings and drawings explore the animistic dimension of perception and the origins of language. My approach is process driven, rooted in imagination, intuition and memory, revealing echoes and reverberations of a language deeper than words; mark-making, gestures, patterns, textures, symbols, signs, scratches, shapes and lines. You're invited to visit my Artist Website.