Shamanic Images and Creating a Container of Safety and Love

   I said I would begin to share some of my Shamanic drawings. Last blog you met my very powerful Medicine Woman Friend. This one is my Shaman/Magician/Clown friend. He brings with him a lot of magic.
    I was thinking about how I differentiate between my "Alien Friends" who have appeared in previous blogs and my "Shamanic Friends" who suddenly are demanding my attention. There is no rational answer. It is just a gut feeling. When I draw these images, I seldom begin a drawing with any intention of what I want to draw. I simply tune in to what colours, what lines and shapes, what combinations may want to happen and out come these wonderful beings. Once the drawing is done, then I just know if it is Alien, Shamanic, Spirit Guide or sometimes it is simply a reflection of part of me. Each has a distinctly different feeling to me.

This drawing to the immediate right is a beloved Shaman and Spirit Guide who has been with me since 1999. His name is Yaconi. He came to me while I was living in Mexico although this drawing or depiction of him didn't come out until May 21, 2007. I remember that date very specifically because it came to me the day before I received some shattering news. He knew I needed his presence. This was the first drawing I did that came from lines and angles. The symmetry I see in it amazes me even now because this one emerged during the time that I was legally blind. I could hardly see the lines I was drawing or the colours I was using and yet, somehow,  through it all, he emerged! After this drawing, I actually began craving geometric shapes and forms.  At that point I sent someone out to buy me a geometry set and as you can see from previous drawings, geometric shapes seem to be my Art Form now. Prior to that all of my drawings were much more flowing and round and free form. Now I love to see what comes out when I start playing with angles and lines. Drawing this way has a more solid and grounded feel to it. It feels to me like the energy is being contained in a very powerful way, as opposed to just hanging out there in an undefined way, somewhere in space.

There is a strikingly similar feel in the vocal work I am doing now. I used to do more free form vocalizing and sounding -- just allowing the sound to flow. That can be wonderful and freeing, just like drawing freely without boundaries. But there is something about creating a "container" that, for me, brings the energies (be they vocal or artistic) together in a much more powerful and grounded way. In my Artwork, the container is the geometric form itself. Everything is contained within a framework of lines and angles. In my vocal work, the technique, Speech Level Singing, is the container or the framework for the voice. The constant repetition of scales and vowels creates a solid and safe pathway for the voice to travel through. One constant focus in this vocal technique is on strengthening the vocal chords and using them in ways that are healthy and safe.  Simply sounding and vocalizing freely, while it could feel wonderful and exciting in the moment, and could at times, take me into expanded levels of consciousness, it could also, at times, leave my throat feeling scratchy the next day. And sometimes my jaw would feel even tighter and more clenched the day after I had been "way out there" with my voice. I think  my psyche just wasn't ready to move so quickly into that level of feeling "way out there". So I could end up feeling quite ungrounded and sometimes I would react by feeling more closed down afterwards and by feeling my voice retreat somewhere deep inside of me.

I find it really important, in my own personal journey, to move step by step. Whenever I just "leap in" to something  (as I have tended to do in the past), especially something that is consciousness expanding, I tend to just as rapidly "leap" back out, often in a more closed down state.

Just as any houseplant needs a good, solid container filled with nourishing soil in order to thrive and bloom, I believe it is equally important for us to create a solid container for our own journey and spiritual awakening (and "vocal awakening" in my case!).

Many of us come from a culture that values instant gratification. I've never seen the way of instant gratification work on the spiritual journey. We can't just "move into the light" and expect to stay there without first embracing our "so called" darkness or woundedness and creating a container of safety and love for our physical and emotional selves. We can't just "push" our voices out there to sing and sound if the surrounding nerves and muscles are not ready to handle that. The voice needs a solid container to move through. Even my Artwork now does not want to be just "hanging in space", dispersing its energy. It wants the container of lines and angles to support and contain it.  

This blog was going to be more about my Shamanic experiences, but this idea of "creating a safe and loving container" for whatever we are learning or experiencing seemed to be more urgent at this point. I'd love to hear any responses or thoughts about this idea.

I wish you all many blessings for your current journey and challenges. May your container be filled with love and acceptance and lots of joy!

Barbara