Working on my soon-to-be-offered workshop.
I’m practicing shining a light into the shadows.
Mandala as Container – Overall Theme
August 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Star Shine © 2016 Bo Mackison
Last in the series of 5 mandalas I created after naming “creative path” as my intention. Each morning for five days I paired a mandala with a Desert Wisdom Card, and then reflected on a question. I followed this with a free write keeping the intention “creative path” in mind.
5: THE SUM. THE ENERGY. THE OVERALL THEME.
MANDALA: STAR SHINE
DESERT CARD: TRANSITION
Explore and bring awareness to the energy of the night.
In the night, in the dark, the cosmos born, swirling energy, awakening.
Infinite possibility, infinite opportunity to create, this emerges from the dark times of the soul, from the energy of chaos.
Creation does not begin in light. Creation begins in the dark, emerges from darkness, from nothingness, from the void.
The grandest of transitions — from chaos, the cosmos is born. From darkness, comes energy.
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This writing practice is a part of my #contemplativecreativesjourney.
Mandala as Container – Gift and Guidance
August 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Fun and Games © 2016 Bo Mackison
Fourth in a series of 5 mandalas I created while holding “creative path” as my intention. I paired a mandala with a Desert Wisdom Card for five consecutive mornings. I followed this with a freewrite while holding that intention.
Relationship – A Desert Wisdom Card ©2014 Bo Mackison
4: WHAT WILL SHOW UP AS GIFT OR GUIDANCE?
MANDALA: FUN & GAMES
DESERT CARD: RELATIONSHIP
Come in, play and explore, and the answer will reveal itself when I least expect it. Or, perhaps, the answer is IN the play.
What is the relationship between play and creativity? It is all in the process, the juicy part is in the process, follow the process, allow, allow, allow.
In the process of play and exploration I will find the juicy parts, the creative fire, fully alive and living fully in the present.
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Coming in the next post, Day 5. The Overall Theme?
The Mandala as Container – The Future
August 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Snake Dance © 2016 Bo Mackison
Third in a series of five mandalas I created after naming “creative path” as my intention. I then paired a mandala with a Desert Wisdom Card each morning for five days and then reflected on a question. I followed this with a freewrite keeping the intention “creative path” in mind.
Illumination – A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison
3: THE FUTURE. THE NEXT STEP?
MANDALA: SNAKE DANCE
DESERT CARD: ILLUMINATION
This past May as I was preparing to pack and return to the Midwest, I found a snake shed in the rocks steps from my front door. And in the past few months, snake has frequently appeared in many places.
Snake is change, transition, transformation.
Snake dances, her rattle sounds. Be aware. She shows her shadow side, her underbelly, a place of vulnerability. Be open. Paired with the desert card illumination. Shine light into the darkness.
She speaks: do not mess with me. Show disrespect and I will strike; show respect, treat me with kindness and I will companion you. I am strong medicine. I have been with you since you found my shed in Arizona. I am the symbol of transformation, outgrowing the old and shedding it. Now I am bright and gleaming in my new skin.
New skin. Is it too soft, is it vulnerable? Yes. And still, do I show up with underbelly exposed, my shadowy side illuminated in the desert sun? Yes. Vulnerable and exposed…and yet? Here I am. I keep showing up. I am present, I am transition, I am transformation. And see what I do? I stay close to the ground, often out of the spotlight.
AND I chose the illumination card in tandem with snake dance. I am wise and I show up. I have great power and yet I do not strike without provocation, and then only in self-protection.
How will I show up? Slip into the light and still stay grounded. Hold on to the power to self protect and to change. Such powerful medicine, this “no” medicine. Such creative force, a living force that courses through, never-ending.
so many life death rebirth challenges and you have faced the all, you have experienced rebirth on so many levels, the four levels of wholeness – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
Release the identity which binds, constricts, limits growth. And dance. dance. dance.
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Coming in the next post, Day 4. What is the Gift or the Guidance?
Mandala as Container – The Past
August 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Emperor Flow © 2016 Bo Mackison
Second in a series of 5 mandalas created after naming “creative path” as my intention. Each morning for five days I paired a mandala with a Desert Wisdom Card and then reflected on a question. I followed this with a freewrite keeping the intention “creative path” in mind.
Challenge – A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison
2: THE PAST. WHAT NEEDS TO BE RELEASED?
MANDALA: EMPEROR FLOW
DESERT CARD: CHALLENGE
Masculine energy. Power and control.
What needs to be released? The attempt to control in the midst of challenges. Let go, release the need to control, go with the flow.
There is power in intuition, in the allowing AND there is fear in the flow, in the release. The challenge is, and has been, to allow the flow and the ebb, the stagnation and the flood.
Fear? Allow the fear to flow, to move through, allow the fear to be acknowledged. In its acknowledgement is the allowance for its release?
Set aside the rules and regulations and tight control. Listen to intuition and invite sensuality. Embrace creative energy instead of dominance and rigidity. Accept support and nurturing.
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Coming in the next post, Day 3. The Future and The Next Step
