“So,who is this masked woman?” you may ask, There are many facets of my life. I am a creative, intuitive, compassionate, intelligent, healer with a quirky sense of humor.
I am a writer and a poet. Inspired by Jim Morrison from the group, The Doors, I kept journals on and off from 1990-present, which I still have! It is a dream to write a memoir based on my old journals, and art therapy pieces. From 2004-2011 I wrote for a mental health newsletter called ReachOut. I have read my poetry at cafe Lena and Dorn Space and am part of a poetry group that meets monthly. I belong to an online community of women who started out as an “The Artist’s Way” study group, which has become so much more. SARK and Julia Cameron have been instrumental in my creative practice.
I have been practicing Usui Reiki since 1998. Reiki is an ancient Japanese form of healing that heals the body on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. A session facilitates relaxation, which reduces the effects of stress and allows the space for your body to regain balance and receive healing
Spirituality has always been important to me. With my roots in Catholicism, I dabbled in Buddhism, earth-based religion, New Age, and finally, Unitarian Universalism holds them all together. When I was at a woman’s music retreat called, “Campfest,” I had a spiritual awakening where I found myself on my knees, praying to a Goddess I had never known. This sent me on a quest from Spirituality to madness and back.
I have lived with mental illness for most of my life, in ebb and flow, rearing its ugly head every six years from when I was 14-38. When I was 38, I hit my mental health bottom when I was both mentally and physically ill for a year. My medication went toxic, and I almost died. Rising from the ashes, I started over, seeing my near-death experience as a chance to start again.
There have been bumps and hiccups along the way, but my bad days now are nothing like the good days back then.
Art and Art Therapy are particularly important to me. During my time of my disabling chronic mental illness, I was in intensive Trauma therapy for several years. One of the things that helped me process my feelings was art therapy. Art can touch places that are pre-verbal, untappable by words alone.
I am a facilitator of SoulCollage,® a technique where you make a collage of images from magazines, artwork, patterned paper, or any other media on a 5x8 card. I know, it is a small surface! The small size forces you to make choices as to what the most important message you want to create. There is usually a background and some kind of focal point with an image of a person, animal, place, but each card is your own. There are no words on the cards so that the theme will have no set meaning.
The most important part of making the card is the “reading.” When you are done, you choose a focal point from the card, and complete the sentence, “I am the one who…” as if the card is speaking to you. It can connect you with strengths, characteristics of your personality, honoring a loved one, chakra animals, or shadow parts that you may have rejected. Since it is your personal deck, you are the only one who can read it.
In 2006, at a low point, I ordered a kit called, “SoulCollage® in a Box” from a SoulCollage® facilitator, Anne Marie Bennett, who had just launched the site, “Kaleidosoul.” It came with all supplies for making cards, including an envelope of images, mat board, scissors, and of course, glue sticks. When it came in the mail, it was a surprise, because I did not remember ordering it!
It also came with an online course to get started. I was getting e-mails for a couple of weeks before I got curious. One Sunday, I pulled out my futon, spread out the images, and started glueing, using a prompt about the qualities of each of my parents and myself, and the things I got from them. It was intense and healing. I was able to find compassion for them and appreciate the good qualities I inherited from them.
It touched into a part of myself that I didn’t know existed. Each week for a year, I would open the futon and play with images, each card brought back parts of my personality that had taken off because of trauma, or because I rejected certain feelings. It was a time when I had few friends, so I created a sub-suit for “Friends I would like to have.” Eventually I did find a community.
DO you have any old tapes playing in your head? Do you feel drawn to a certain animal? Is there an Amazon Goddess protecting your heart? Maybe it's time to give them a voice. Come play with images and learn new things.
Email me: lunagrrl74@gmail.com