Art and ritual share many similarities; the essential movement of creative energy with specific intentions and actions, which have been used through the ages in many cultures and traditions around the world.
Personally I use ritual and ceremony as an act to give form to intangible and significant aspects of life such as releasing, grieving, healing, rebalancing or planting new seeds. I find bringing focused energy, prayer and openness to such transitions is a way of naming and marking initiations, and deeper still, it is an opportunity for making space internally for more creative potential in my life. As a woman, I am privileged to also experience these elemental transitions and rhythms within my body.
There’s no avoiding certain experiences and the more we resist feeling fully and completely, the more suffering we create for ourselves. It’s no longer about avoiding such and such but rather about embracing “what is” and becoming intimate with our personal experiences regardless of whether they are positive or negative, without attaching to the stories. Essentially just allowing the energy of emotion and sensation to move through us.
We can choose to experiment with how we experience our pain, our longing, our depression, our sadness, rejection, abandonment, loneliness and sense of not belonging, and do something new with it. We can create new meanings that deepen and nourish our souls. This is where art and ritual making intersect as a way to deepen the potential for healing and celebration in life, simultaneously creating meaning, substance and beauty.
