Since 2001, Bob and I have been creating art with a focus on
the archetypes of the feminine. We
create painted story montages that dramatize particular archetypes that
commonly influence our lives. Two examples of these archetypes are the
“Warrior” and the “Butterfly. We will discuss these and other archetypes in
future blogs. We will be encouraging you to use humor and imagination to create
stories capable of shifting your perceptions and increasing your options for
change especially when encountering
crossroads in your life.
I have just finished a wonderful course with Evolutionary
Teacher, Jean Houston, Awakening To Your Higher Purpose. Many years ago I took
my first course with Dr. Houston and found that her multi-sensory exercises and
use of archetypal stories helped me redefine my major life experiences and to reach greater
understanding and self-acceptance. I integrated a lot of her principles into my
work as a dance therapist, and as a mind-body therapist.
A major crossroads for me occurred when I met Bob, my best
friend, husband and co-creator of our art and Blog. Bob had always led his
life as an imaginative person and regularly created stories in his mind since
he was a small child. His major work as a therapist was to develop an
effective, metaphoric psychodrama approach to create change in individual’s
lives. Participants in his groups acted out fictional stories that he would
suggest and that were metaphorically parallel to their actual life situation. Desired change would occur for participants without encountering the usual defenses and
denials. He also discovered a great deal about himself through writing a
humorous novel and began using fictional story writing with clients to bring
about positive change.
Once we were together and living on the north coast, we
decided to apply both of our past experiences in a new way. We were actually at
another crossroads that we created and now had choices to make. We wanted to
determine what direction we would go and we wanted to experience something new.
We could continue the same roles we had been doing before and build a private
practice as psychotherapists or we could use our creativity in an entirely new
way. While we realized the power of
story to assist in changing one’s life, we had never applied this concept
to the visual arts. Bob had a desire to see if we could create psycho-dramatic
scenes that would resonant with the viewer and possibly lead to variations in the
story art being viewed.
We decided to play “as if” we could become visual artists.
We wanted to see if we could create art that would encourage interest and story
in the mind of the viewer.
We decided to shift our roles from therapist to artists but
incorporated some of what we had learned as therapists into our archetypal
story art. We already realized the power
of story to assist in changing one’s life. Bob’s past experiences as a
writer and therapist and my recent studies with Jean Houston reaffirmed to me, once again, the
power of story. I read many accounts by Dr. Houston's students of how their
lives had changed and how rewriting their life story as a myth gave them a new,
in-depth look at possibilities for their higher purpose. I certainly can attest to the power of this
creative process. Many of us were already doing creative things in our lives
but were open to exploring ways of sharing more with others to expand the joy
on the planet. So here we are, using this blog and our collective work to share
our creativity and experiences with you in a new way for us and to
encourage you to share yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment