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The Artist Way by Julia Cameron Transformed My Life

Years ago I was writing my first book, “Divination & Joy, Intuitive Tools for an Inspired Life,” but I was having a difficult time finishing. My girlfriend who had facilitated the course at her work said, “Let’s start an Artist Way group.” I had the book on my bookshelf, but I hadn’t opened it in a five years. Together we began the twelve week process found in the book, Morning Pages, Weekly Artist Dates, and exercises at the end of the chapter. In the tenth week of the class, I finished the book and we ate a carrot cake from Gayle’s Bakery to celebrate.

During that time I was a single mom with pre-teens and then teenagers, running a high tech marketing company and the sole support of my family. The Artist Way not only helped me with my writing, but with my life.

When Julia Cameron created the course and later the book, she made a decision to give it to the world. For the price of her book, people could heal their artistic souls and create community of like-minded artists. Her book has reached diverse audiences around the world, and not only helped heal artists, but others suffering from physical problems. The Artist Way just had its 25th anniversary in print and has sold 4 million copies.

Julia Cameron has been an excellent mentor to me through her books. And at “Creative Reboot” just last month I enjoyed a workshop with her and finally met her. She had us all engaged in the process immediately. Once more, I discovered I wanted to focus on my painting.

I have now taught theArtist Way for fifteen years, and presently just started a new group. Each time I finish a course with students, I have the pleasure of seeing people’s lives expand, and some students pursue professional art programs and jobs. I, too, am given a gift–a new form of art–poetry, painting, books, and new ideas for my own creative life.

So run to your bookstore, buy a copy of theArtist Way, and begin the process. You will be amazed at the transformation in your life.

Just this year I’ve been working with Red Wheel/Weiser who is going to publish “The Book of Pendulum Healing” January 2019 – a dream come true to finally launch my work out into the wider world. Yes, the Artist Way will help all your creative dreams come true.

Just Back From “Creative Reboot” in Santa Fe

Last Meeting at “Creative Reboot!” Julia Cameron is second from the right.

For me the “Creative Reboot” Conference in Santa Fe was just the big boost I needed for my writing, art, and creative life I needed. I’ve been teaching Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way” plus some of her other books for over fifteen years now. Julia was going to teach and I could finally thank her for all that she has done for me over the years.

Sometimes I haven’t wanted to meet my mentors that I’ve met through books. Books can be so personal as people do tell their secrets and stories as Julia has done over the years. But finally I was sitting in her class. I was privilege to be a staff volunteer, so I let me know if she needed anything I was available.

I participated in the class exercises, and found out I wanted to PAINT again. And I would love a painting studio, but really what is necessary is that I pull out my Golden Paints and put brush to canvas.

At the end of the conference I ran up to the stage to give Julia a last hug. Again, thank you Julia Cameron for sharing so much with us!

I met two hundred people at the “Creative Reboot” Conference that like me follow the “Artist Way,” write daily morning pages, go on weekly “Artist Dates,” and have had their lives transformed. I came home to my two Artist Way groups to share all that I had learned. And this weekend for the first time in a long time I painted! It felt so good to put brush to canvas.

The Book of Pendulum Healing Coming in January 2019

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been working, exploring, and writing. Red Wheel/Weiser wonderfully decided to publish my latest book, which will be coming out in the Fall, 2018. We’re through the preliminary editing stages, checking out book cover samples, and soon we will have the final copy in hand.

Though I had self-published before, I hadn’t worked with a publisher before. I’ve been feeling so grateful to Red Wheel/Weiser. They’ve been wonderful to work with especially Judika Illes, my editor, and now the production and public relations staff. They’ve made the process fairly fluid, despite distance and time difference.

Thank you to all my clients and friends who encouraged me along the way, and especially to teachers, readers, friends, students, and sisters.It’s a team effort.

Later, I will be posting more about “The Book of Pendulum Healing.” I hope you too will find the magic and power within the to help you heal and thrive.

Women’s March on Washington

Women’s March on DC – Steph and I!

So healing being there! Amazing women, amazing children, and men, too in pink hats. Asea of people – now being counted – 500,000 and millions ofpeoplearound the world. I felt the anger, sadness, and an outpouringlove. The march gave me this strong feeling that we are so much more than we know, and that love, good will, and honesty in the end will prevail. I know it’s going to be a long journey, and my intention is to walk in love and light. Is there any other way?

Marching is Healing. Come Join Us “Women’s March” Jan 21. In DC or Your Home Town!

When I first heard about the Women’s March on Washington I wanted to participate. After Election Day I was in grief – veering from sadness to anger to depression. I kept hearing about the Women’s March, but felt it was too expensive for me to go. They are holding a march in Santa Cruz where I live, and in the Bay Area, but I wanted to be in the middle of a group of powerful, diverse women in Washington D.C.

Magically I found that we could take a bus from New York to D.C. and attend. I have a great friend in New York, Steph, and she said she wanted to attend too. It took less than two hours to arrange. It felt like the angels were urging me on. Inexpensive airfare, decent price for the buses, housing help from Steph and help from GoFundMe. Yes, friends, old and new, men and women, donated to make it all possible. Truly a miracle for me.

I feel it’s imperativeto announce loudly tothe new administrationthat we women are standing together to protect healthcare and social security programs for all. As Hillary said, “Women’s rights are human rights.”

So off to New York and Washington D.C. I go. Holding all people in my heart.

We shall overcome this illegitimate presidency.

Healing Rain

Soft rain today. This is the San Lorenzo River outside my Tannery Arts Loft. It usually looks like a stream, but today it’s alive and swift. After the four year drought, it feels unusual to have a winter season. We are re-learning how to use umbrellas. Most of Santa Cruzans are out of their flip flops. It’s wet and green, and the mallards on the river are confused. How did the river get so full? Wishing you a wonderful January, 2017.

Soul Purpose and Healing

“The soul of us is never confused about why it is here. It only asks us to wake up and see the breadcrumb clues it has been leaving all along.” “•Jacob Nordby

—

I’ve always been attracted to the word, “soul” ““ connoting the essence, the  deepest, the holiest in us, in others. You might be faced with the rude fact, perhaps after your own birthday, health challenge, or the death of a loved one, that time on earth isn’t infinite, that it is in fact, limited. We never know  how much time we truly have to live.

I have had the privilege of helping people find their soul purpose in my Artist Way and Prosperity Classes, and also through in personal psychic healings and readings. It’s so exciting to see the light come on,  an aha experience. And then in time see people move toward their dreams. Suddenly, they have more passion and energy for life.

When life is shouting, wake up ““ it does all the time at me ““ it’s time to focus on what’s essential, and let the rest go. It’s essential and healing!  But what is crucial? How do we know? Some questions you might ask yourself:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here on earth?
• What am I learning?
• What am I naturally good at?
• What are my talents, my skills?
• What do I love?
• What gives me passion?
• What is my unique purpose?

You can also ask your angels, your Higher Power. And before you go to sleep, ask for a dream about your unique purpose. See what your high self and guides bring you. Write it down. Do it every night for a week. You will have fun and be amazed at your own creative subconscious mind and how help is available.

I feel I have been moving in the direction of my life’s purpose for years, for decades ““ picking up pieces here and there, finding out who I am, what gives me purpose, what makes happy and passionate. More tomorrow…

What is your soul’s purpose? 

She Calls

A Poem Dedicated to Madyson Middleton and Laura Jordan of Santa Cruz, California

She calls, provides me with a simple life,

a life on the San Lorenzo River,

overlooking pink eucalyptus and pine.

She urges ­– become a painter, a writer,

live in an intentional arts community.

Some mornings, coffee in hand,

cat on my lap, I marvel.

I am suppose to paint, write,

I am suppose to contemplate,

drink it in, the flash of

of the iridescent blue jay,

against the forest green.

Called, yes, thirty-three years ago,

a sudden awakening, a rebirth.

I was led to the Unity Prayer Room,

Lee Summit, Missouri,

praying with people from

the U.S, the world.

I learned,

“Be still and know I am God.

Be still and know I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.”

My vocation included sitting for a

half-hour in the dead of night, winter,

in the dimly lit chapel

where prayer had been

continuous for ninety years.

I did my best, I didn’t understand,

how I’d arrived there,

but, I was deeply honored;

my own wounds healing.

It’s as if I’m on an invisible path,

sometimes lit, sometimes not,

headed north, slowly, following a map of

valleys and mountains without designation,

but with stars and moon revealed.

And just last summer

a little girl, Maddy, eight,

a neighbor on the first floor,

was murdered by another

neighbor, fifteen, a sick boy

who just wanted to know what

it felt like to kill someone.

On this holy ground,

Tibetian monks performed

an exorcism – with loud clanging

bells, gongs, and drums.

They chanted for a good hour,

red and gold robes in dim light

in our community room,

releasing, cleansing, and purifying.

If only it was that easy.

I and others, children too,

lit candles and prayed for days.

I was called to offer

a light of a painting,

red and gold, “Golden Spirit,”

to Laura, Maddy’s brave mother.

Now I know why,

in all this light and darkness too,

why ­–

I paint, pray, and write.

The Roller Coaster of Life

When the angels say, “All is swell,” I know that life is going to be rocky, a roller coaster of a day. IfI remember, I ground myself and meditate before I hit the door.

I have always been a sensitive person. In fact, its my job as a psychic healer and reader to pick up signals of all sorts. So when the angels say its going to be up and down and up and down and really, some of it is a bit scary day, I try to remember to breathe. I think can I handle this? Oh my gosh, lets just hang on. I do listen.

The trick, when riding the roller coaster of life, is to hold on and let go simultaneously.

It’s life with a capital L. It’s why we came here to the planet, to experience, grow, and learn. And we have lots to learn. For me, it’s arepetitiveprocess until I truly understand what I am doing and what I need to learn. Seriously, sometimes it takes me months, and yes for some lessons – years. That’s why I believe in counseling, coaching, twelve-step work, psychic readings and healings.

How do you hang on and let go simultaneously? It’s a gymnastic trick! You hold on to the thought, that you are a child of the universe, connected to the great all; and simultaneously a human being, an experiment in the mind of God with all the human foibles, free will, creativity, with the soul or spark of the creator within your light being. Yes, it’s a little complicated to be us.

So, knowing who you are, you let go, breathe, relax, and surrender to that divine part within yourself and within the Universe. When you surrender, you relax. It means that you know you are not God. You know that there is a higher force and you let her/him guide the journey. Guide, not control. You still have free will and you are 100% loved.

You cannot lose. So, have fun riding the roller coaster. It’s okay if you scream, cry, and laugh. Don’t forget to breathe. Oh, what a great Life.

Some Days You Just Have to Go to the Beach

Such a February, California morning. I just want to be out and about. I left my crowded corner and as everyone was busily driving off to work or school, I headed for the beach.

At Seabright I found fellow beach combers and tail-wagging dogs. One fisherman! Happy, everyone looked happy. It feels like one of our best summer days minus the fog!

The angels say enjoy! We will have more rain, probably until May. Hope your day, where ever you are, is sunny and bright.

S.O.S.

If you are having a rough day, ask the angels for help, and send your Higher Power a S.O.S! Then watch and wait for the miracles!

Self Care on Winter Days

Sometimes the hardest time to take care of ourselves is during the winter when clouds, rain, snow, and weather just keeps oncoming. But self-care is so important!

I remember first hearing the term when I was a mother of two young children. It was such a surprise that I was suppose to give myself time to meditate, exercise, and relax! I would be a better mom and person if I took care of me first.

Now my children are grown and out of the home, and its still important I take care of myself. I feel so much better after a walk, a swim, or Jazzercise. Some days I’m feeling a little blue, and I have to give myself more of the gift of self-care.

So have your nails done or a pedicure or a massage. Or go to the bookstore and buy that special book you’ve been wanting. It won’t break the bank and you’ll feel much better!And maybe more present for others! Have a sweet day!