The Moon and the Virgin

I've been spending the past month immersing myself in what I'll simply describe as being an ongoing, life long journey of spiritual creativity that Maureen Murdock speaks of in her book The Heroine's Journey, and learning how to actualize this in my life as an artist. It all very exciting and rather daunting at the same time. But I have never felt more proactively engaged in, and connected to, the creative process.

In practical terms, it translates into knowing and connecting the dots with these four things that Ann Rea from Artists Who Thrive has taught me.

• Why -  Knowing who I am and what at I stand for, and what I stand against and Why, my Purpose.
• What - Knowing my Why determines my What, my Mission, the one problem that I believe is really worth solving.
• How  -  Knowing How I can help to solve that problem, through a particular process of creating value above and beyond my art.
• Who - Knowing Who has the problem worth solving.

As mentioned I am re-reading The Heroine's Journey written by family therapist, educational consultant, and writer Maureen Murdock.
Below is a poignant quote out of the book by Nor Hall.


"There is a void felt these days by women and men-who suspect that their feminine nature, like Persephone, has gone to hell. Wherever there is such a void, such a gap or wound agape, healing must be sought in the blood of the wound itself. It is another of the old alchemical truths that "no solution should be made except in its own blood." So the female void cannot be cured by conjunction, by an integration of its own parts, by a remembering or a putting back together of the mother-daughter body."
                           - Nor Hall, The Moon and the Virgin: Reflections on the Archetypal Feminine


I posted my review of The Heroine's Journey on Good Reads. It was interesting to read the other reviews. This is what I wrote.

My second reading of this book, but this time intentionally studied, with much note taking. One of the most important books for any one to read, in particular, women who wish to understand what the heroine's journey is, and to learn how to heal the mother/daughter split and the feminine wound in order to "revive a spirituality of creativity."

Because this book was written in 1990, sixteen years ago, it is seen by some to be irrelevant, in a 'post feminist' society. Having lived through the second wave of feminism  myself, and historically aware of the first wave, I must disagree with that. This book is actually as relevant today, if not more so, in many ways.


It would be easy to make the assumption that circumstances have moved progressively forward for women, but my observations tell me otherwise. There still exists numerous discrepancy's between men and women, discrimination based on gender, sexuality, race, religion, poverty, and great income and socioeconomic disparity throughout the world. This reality check seriously makes me wonder why we haven't come further ahead.

Maureen Murdock states that our society is androcentric, which means seeing the world from a male perspective. I believe this to be very true, it explains a lot and still very prevalent today. You don't have to look far to see the evidence.

What Nor Hall says is true. Many of us do suspect we are like Persephone, and have gone to hell.

Yesterday We Ran Out of PAINTS

Mandala

Yesterday we had our last PAINTS session with grades 3-5. It was a bitter sweet day. I think we were all sad it was over. Hopefully we'll be able to have another go round in September.
What a great bunch of amazingly insightful, imaginative and creative kids they are.

It's hard to put into words the feeling I had after they'd all collaborated in a very special exhibit of their artwork created over the past eight weeks. I was so proud of them all and I could see the pride they had in themselves.

 All the other classes and teachers in our little rural school were invited in to see what they had done. The kids were paired off in groups at particular stationed areas of the room, where we had their art work displayed on tables. As the other classes entered the room the students would give a brief description of what the artwork was about in relation to the Circle of Courage.

It immediately became so obvious how important this overall conclusion to our PAINTS program was, and that this exhibition was such a vital part of the whole program. It made it real, gave it a depth of meaning to the effort the students had made and brought it all together.


First Workshop -  Belonging/Community/History - Sculpture/Hand building techniques with ceramic clay creating symbolic Animal Totems represented in the Circle of Courage.

Drawing, Painting and Collage using various mediums and techniques were all an important part of our creative process.

Second Workshop -  Independence/Connection between Self/Others/Environment awareness and social harmony - Mandalas

Third Workshop - Generousity/Developing Empathy - Earth Wall Tiles

Fourth Workshop - Mastery/Achieving Goals - Masks

The Circle of Courage project is based on the model of positive youth development founded on the universal principle that to be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of belonging/attachment, mastery/achievement, independence/autonomy and generosity/altruism.

Each session explored the basic universal growth needs through art activities such as hand built sculpture using ceramic clay, applying techniques for hand built animals that represented and expressed the animal totems in the Circle of Courage.  These animals were the Bear, symbolizing Belonging, the Buffalo, symbolizing Mastery, the Eagle, symbolizing Independence and the Deer, symbolizing Generousity.

Our afternoons began and ended with engaging discussion about the topic and workshop. The students all enthusiastically created pictures using various drawing mediums and tempera painting on paper prior to creating each project.

 Discussions also took place regularly surrounding colour, the colour wheel, mixing and application of colour, techniques and introduction to learning about graphite drawing pencils.
We always had a time of reflection at the end each session for each student to express what was learned and then there was a brief introduction of what was going to happen in the coming week. This always proved to show how insightful these young budding artists were about creativity and their understanding, insight and connection with themselves, the world, and their environment. I was very much impressed!

I presented online examples and brought in my own artwork of paintings, sculpture, drawings of sacred geometry/mandalas, online resources of historical examples of masks and their uses in all cultures and I showed them a youtube video of Mummenschanz is a Swiss mask theater troupe who perform in a surreal mask and we discussed all of these in relation to art and the Circle of Courage.

We concluded PAINTS with an very enjoyable and wonderful exhibition in the school and we were all very proud and very happy!

Circle of Courage - Garbage Bags - Youth Care Workers - The World

"The Circle of Courage® is a model of positive youth development based on the universal principle that to be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity."

I am sorry to be wrapping up the PAINTS ( Professional Artists in the Schools) program with the kids, grades 3 to 5, in our local school this coming week. I so wished it was continuing and in a perfect world, art would be offered to youth each and everyday in schools, as the educational foundation that enables youth to connect with themselves, others, with the environment and their world. The PAINTS program I offered was based on the First Nations Circle of Courage which reflects basic human needs and the values of Belonging, Independence, Mastery and Generousity/Empathy. These were expressed through the art work and creative imaginations of these insightful youth who have inspired and left me feeling hopeful.

In my other life and vocation as a Youth Care Worker for 20 plus years, I became acutely and personally aware through my work with youth and families within the system, of the crisis that exists with youth on both a national, and global scale.

It pains me greatly when I hear the proverbial cheap lip service, and rhetoric of how youth are our greatest resource. This is not what is reflected in reality throughout the world, when you see the proven statistics accounting for child abuse, poverty, homelessness, or suicide among young people baring the burden of mental health and addiction issues.

Many troubled youth at risk who have spent years within foster care, group homes and custodial facilities, especially those who have been involved in the courts, are eventually more often than not preened for the adult correctional system especially if they don't get the help they need.

Once a youth has served their sentence in open or closed custody, they are basically on their own without enough to no support and return to dysfunctional homes, they choose to live on the street or couch surf, go missing or in the worse case scenario, are found dead.

With the influx of people moving to the urban and city areas these complex problems are compounded and
 intensified resulting in more serious issues.

There are many theories and reasons that have long been discussed in order to resolve this crisis among youth. But for me it has mostly been empty talk with no concrete resolutions particularly when politicians or government is involved and falls upon deaf ears. I don't put my faith in politics or government. However they still need to be lobbied and pressured to do the right thing for families and youth.

There are some folks who I believe are making a difference. The front line workers, those who genuinely care enough to advocate for kids and families, and the youth themselves, such as organizations like Hope Blooms.

 Violet-Rose Pharaoh who started the garbage bag challenge is raising awareness and funds to provide suitcases to kids in care. Time and time again I saw kids who were carrying around all of their belongings in garbage bags and this is what they left group homes with.
Violet spent much of her childhood and youth in care.

Another person, a Youth Care Worker who is making a difference through Twitter, is Mark Cherrington.
Dr. Bernie Krause is another individual who understands how humans need to be living harmoniously with connection to the environment instead of trying to conquer it.

There are no simple solutions to the crisis among youth and families. I do believe however that if values are imparted to children that fulfill their needs in order to give them a true sense of belonging, independence, mastery and generousity, these would in turn make a huge difference in the well being of our youth, our families and in our world.