The Mandala as Container – The Future

August 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
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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

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?

 

Filed Under: Contemplative Creatives Journey, Writing Practices Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mandala as Container – The Past

August 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
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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.

Tumbleweed in Barbed Wire Fence

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

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Mandala as Container – The Present

August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Nesting © 2016 Bo Mackison

Nesting © 2016 Bo Mackison

I went on a solo writing retreat at the Christine Center in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for a few days. While there, I spent much time not writing, but instead creating personal art. I worked in the studio in conversation with other women led by Gabriel Uhlein OFM, artist and workshop facilitator. I’d intended to use my time in the mandala studio as a break from writing. Instead, allowing for and following the creative call, I spent many hours each day creating mandalas.

Following Gabriel’s suggestion, I spent studio time before beginning, naming an intention. And the intention that showed up? “Creative Path”

I did a series of 5 mandalas allowing for “whatever” to come forth. When I returned home, I paired the mandalas with Desert Wisdom Cards, then reflected on a different question for five consecutive days. I followed this with a freewrite keeping the intention “creative path” in mind.

Hope. A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

Hope. A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

1:  THE PRESENT. WHERE I AM NOW?

MANDALA: NESTING

DESERT WISDOM CARD: HOPE

Three eggs – physical, mental, spiritual.

Incubation. Waiting for birth, waiting to emerge, the wait. Snake protects, she guards in this time of transition.

Transition, threshold of staying safe in the nest, safe in the dark and protected, safe and hidden, and waiting, there is waiting. Now, it is time, the breaking open, come into the light, those first steps, that first vision.

Call upon protection, call upon the strength that is within. Hold onto hope. Yes this is a time of breaking open, a breaking, it feels too open, too out in the brightness. How can I see in this too bright place? My inclination is to hide, but instead I can unfurl a bit at a time. There is no need to break apart while breaking open. Open just a bit. Hold on. There is movement and strength in the tenderest of openings.

Transformation is damn scary work. Hold on. Ease in. Be brave.

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Coming in the next post, Day 2. The Past and What Needs to Be Released

Filed Under: Contemplative Creatives Journey, Creativity, Writing Practices Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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