My spirituality is integrated into every aspect of my living, it's not separate. For a long time, I considered myself on a spiritual path, but this has evolved over time and now my spiritual path is simply me, living. That's how I express my spirituality, because it's so interwoven with everything I do, whether it's playing with my children and spending time with my family, painting, or cooking, my spirituality is something that I have grown and developed into something very practical and applicable to my life – I can apply it to everything.
Shamanism is the framework that I work within, which allows my spirituality to be so practical and helpful. I've tried several different paths for extended periods of time, and they all lead me back to shamanism, the source of all spiritual practices and the earliest form of spirituality. It's about relationships - between us and our environment, our friends and family, the land, the people we work with, our ancestors, our lives and who we came here to be. It informs everything that I do in my life.
Once I'd embarked on a shamanic path, I started healing the wounds that were holding me back from expressing creatively. Ultimately, I discovered one of my purposes for being here, which is to share creativity with other people, as well as to express the beauty that I see in the world through painting. I see myself on one level as a map maker, a luminous cartographer, creating signposts for others to help connect them with the sacred in their lives.
My creative process depends on the situation. If I’m called to do some work with the land, then my process will involve spending time out in the wilds, walking and entering into dialogue with the landscape and it's inhabitants, and engaging with them on all levels from the energetic to the physical.
I will then spend time painting and drawing on site, visually mapping these conversations, which I'll then follow up with shamanic journeys to meet the landscape in the energetic and spiritual realm, on it's own terms. Along with my creative guides and the spirit of place, we then work together in a collaboration to express part of the medicine of that place, or a teaching or a vision that they wish to share.
I'm always in ceremony when I'm painting. Working in sacred space and sourcing from the vision of the journey helps me focus and maintain a living connection with what I'm bridging. Examples of this kind of painting process are the Forest God series and the River King.
The Forest God series was a particular breakthrough in my way of working using this method. It was the result of working with the guardian spirit of a local woods, who helped me to map and express the energetic realm of that place. It helped me to share the vision of this spirit and the forest in it's pure energetic form.
The River King was an example of being called by one of my main local land spirits, a river, and was an invitation to map my journey to them and their role in the landscape as an ongoing collaboration.
Another approach I use is lead by my teachers and guides, where I'm given a journey to map a particular medicine or teaching. This will involve several journeys and then working directly from my experience of these as I translate them into paintings.
An example of this kind of work is the Six Directions series, where I was shown and taught the medicine and teachings around the personal spiritual compass. This was a big piece of work for me which concluded ultimately with the painting Spirit of the Centre. This painting anchors the teaching of always being in alignment within our personal compass, and locating ourselves within the centre in order to live with clarity, purity and beauty. Having this as a painting helps me to reference from my own centre if I ever feel out of balance.
And finally, another process that I use is where I pro-actively seek help or guidance about a subject. This could be about a major decision I need to make, problem solving an issue, or asking for a map to help me envision something in my physical, everyday life.
An example of this process is the Sons of My Fathers painting, which came from working with my creativity teacher around the role of the Sacred Masculine as a bridge, creator and midwife to form.