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Kristena West M.A.
coach artist shaman dreamer
Hello Friend,
Every one has gifts to bring to the world. We all harbor secret dreams for our lives. When we sit in circle, the discussion and sharing of women is always such an honor. So many women have "spiritual" gifts, they rarely talk about, and if they do they call it "weird."
But if we work with these gifts then they tend to reveal aspects of our right-livelihood, what we are here to offer the world.
So if you long to understand your life-purpose, or have hit a bump in the road, want to kick-start your creativity, or dive into some spiritual study & explore the universe, then Join Kristena West Art
You choose what areas of life you want to engage in, art-making, dream work and journal writing, how to create healing rituals?
For those who wish to work longer sessions, a condensed price package is available. I invite you enter into the Alchemy Lodge of your life, love and engage in this exciting journey of your life.
Where are those ruby slippers?
sacred arts alchemy of life
The alchemy work includes of course our ancient ways of knowing. One of those terms we recognize today is "Shaman." The Tungus term "Shaman" means To Know or to See with a Strong Eye or See with the Heart. These ways of perception have been almost lost, but we can develop many techniques from different traditions to "Know the World" as a means of perception.
Foundational shamanic practices, the shamanic journey, and psychological tools are taught within the Five Lodges of Perception. These are tremendous gift to us, to have in our personal tool-kit. We will remember the sacred rhythms of the earth; the cycles of nature and the forgotten traditions of Women's Medicine Ways.
• Air Dream Lodge learning to work and journal our dreams - Will
• Earth Body Lodge taking care of body & tools of self-reflection - Thinking
• Dolphin Lodge Emotional Lodge -Feeling
• Fire Lodge of the Heart - Revelation
• Aether-Space-Void Lodge - Being
Air: Owl Dream Medicine
Earth Bear Physical Medicine
Water Dolphin Emotional Medicine
Fire Lion Heart Medicine
Space or Void Medicine
Air: Owl Dream Medicine
The Dream Lodge
Ways of Seeing
Learning sacred arts includes waking up to ways of seeing. How we do not really look at things. We scan with a unfocused eye, and are kept too busy in our daily life.
Sacred Arts is not only art-making, it's an entire way of life. When we take up creativity in a "sacred" manner it changes our focus, enhances our contemplation skills and we learn to hone our intent as we create. Through the lessons, we develop rigor and discipline learning how to create a chalice within; to center and enter the silence.
We engage in different ways of "seeing" we re-learn how to really look at the world, nature and the other; this wakes us up to the numinous.
Dream Practice as an entry into Sacred Art
Learning the skills of dream work is one of the many tools for gaining gifts, information and yes, even training in sacred arts.
Dreams are one way many people are given direct training in sacred arts. They are shown how to design, make and empower ritual art objects. When one is given a dream art image, shown what materials to use and how to empower it, they become sacred artisans. These kinds of tools, masks, or ceremonial art will carry the power of the spirits and it’s maker.
When I decided I was going to start a business making spirit dolls, I recieved many dreams all the aspects of doll making and empowerment.
Learning dream work and building a cohesive dream body is essential for crossing the thresholds and bring back spiritual tools and information.
Alchemy Dream Practice
Learn Basic Dream Work 6 Sessions
• Remember Your Dreams
• Keep an Art & Dream Journal
• Identify Your Personal Symbology
• Connect with Your Ancestors
• Meet Your Dream Teachers
• Learn How to Incubate a Lucid Dream
• Use Dream Work to Discover Life Purpose
Bear Medicine Ways of Relating
The Body Lodge
Curing the Soma
One could say Bear is the Great Dreamer too. These animals are chosen to represent the directions, and they are found cross-cultural. But for the Medicine Lodge we use them in a general way. Bear is one half of the year on the earth and the other half of the year under the earth; this is two-earth medicine.
Bear medicine is both taking care of the physical and the unconscious. For women we acknowledge our place in the world and take care of our daily life of being in the world and also personal development of our soul-spirit selves.
When we experience issues at work, in our families and close relationships, we can deny or submerge our feelings in our body, because we have to just get on with life and our many tasks. When we begin to slow down and breath, take time to just be, walk in nature or sit at our art table we can make a "sacred" time-out to do some creative writing or art to express what arises in our body. Expressive arts can make a big difference in soothing our anxiety, sadness or low-self esteem.
When we develop a habit of "soothing" our body-soul-heart connection as a daily or weekly artistic practice, we find that it eases our mind, smooths out life's wrinkles and develops an inner strengthening that builds a firm foundation.
Water: EmotionalMedicine
EmotionalIntelligence
Balancing the Opposites
If we think about it, we could say the whole world is driven by the feelings of every human being, couldn't we? Feelings are the driver behind all our triggers, decisions, reactions, musings, wishes, longings and drives.
A Medicine Woman must have an understanding of her own feelings, and unravel the knots of her unconscious resistance, fears and self-doubts that may have developed into patterns that limit her life. And through conscious decisions, she lays new more creative pathways to her life path.
This is the secret key of transformation.
In the Dolphin Lodge we will be delving into our biography using creative writing and artistic practice to explore, expand and discover our deeper story.
If you have some struggle, go through it. Grow through it. Don’t let it stop or hinder your outflow of creative juices.
Creation is a birth process, and part of that process is the tension or struggle to release the sacred art you feel within your soul. Let it flow through your body and mind.
Allow the power and potency of pure, raw creativity to lay new pathways within your soul being.
~Kristena West M.A.
Fire: Lion Heart Medicine
the Heart Lodge
Igniting Creativity
Doing our art lessons, life-story creative writing, personal development and researching and using sacred techniques of the shamanic journey, meditations and dream journaling, we can over time, gradually sweep clean the inner chambers of our hearts. It is in this sacred silence that the World Soul the Animus Mundi can speak to us. Perhaps it's only a whisper at first, and that is okay we allow what is, and this begins our conversations within the Heart-Lodge.
Developing this connection is the Medicine Woman Way, it does take time as we have to clear away the debris of our lives, and this is our inner-work will give us strength, purpose and reveal right-livelihood gifts that lead us into our future.
Each of the Medicine Women Lodge practices, artistic lessons, research, life-story expand our world view, open us to the paths of the ancestors and also lead us into the future in raised awareness of our lives and natural world.
The Void: Being Medicine
the Aether Lodge
Revelation
The whole universe is in the process of letting go, this Lodge is is the most mysterious of Medicine Lodges, and we can only touch on it's meaning over time, with our studies and experiences.
The Saints, Mystics, Dreamers, Gods & Goddess' all say that the Primal Godhood, is beyond space & time. These are deep matters of the divine manifesting in the world.
It is the final frontier, the end of all roads and journeys. It is truly beyond the comprehension of most of us, unless we are granted moments this veil is lifted.
Introduction to Sacred Art training ranges over many media, styles and hand-crafts.
Painting, drawing, mixed-media, fabric arts, book arts, art journals, dream journals, pastels and more!
Playing with colors, beads, threads, feathers, fabrics & textures, collage, nature's petals or leaves, thread, inks, pencils, charcoal, we dive into sensual tools of art-making.
Creative Writing Journal;
We will keep an art & dream journal. We will also write our thoughts, dreams and ideas as we progress in our training in sacred arts.
Writing as a daily practice, like art making, creates a healing rhythm that supports our contemplative practices.
After we learn this rhythm, it gives us strength, silence and we grow to depend on this daily time for ourselves.
Shamanic Journey Work, Active Imagination and Meditation are the three keys to contemplative practices.
Learning the techniques of the shamanic journey teaches us that we have helpers and can gain tools and learn about the sacredness of life.
Meditation is one of the ways to calm the mind and body, and overcome our inner critic so we can allow the freedom of creativity to guide us.
Developing Personal Healing Rituals is the ancient art of women's ceremonies over the ages.
SPIRITUAL = SPI-RITUAL
You will learn many ways of art-making lessons contain creative writing exercises to explore inner story and then bring that out into manifestations of form. Finding our soul song is another pathway to power.
Ritual frees our deep self which lifts us to higher and loftier levels of energy.
An introduction to all the tools and exercises to start activating experiences.
If you wish to learn about creating sacred art, we realize we can't do that if we are filled with our own psychic debris.
As we begin to live into our story we will work with our writing journal and mixed media to illustrate information that is arising.
HOW IT WORKS
One-on-One private work for you to bring courage, creativity and exploration in your lives.
We all know the creative blocks we face, and it's so great to work along with another who can "hold your field" and support developing and putting into action the goals you want to achieve.
Kristena has taught many of the subjects we face in life: transitions, transformations, creative issues and blocks, and how to bring a deeper meaning into your artistic life.
We need to honor our process and listen to the quiet conversation of the heart. The question arising from each heart and this is answered in dreams and the outline of our work together.
It's through out lively discussions, sharing and creative exercises that we receive intuitions, ideas and the revealing of our gifts and how we want to bring them to the world.
Dreamwork, Shamanic Practice or Training, Life-Purpose, Creative Writing, developing a Spiritual Practice and bringing harmony into our lives through contemplations.
Who are We Becoming?
What am I passionate about?
What do I want to do?
Will it be worthwhile?
Will it benefit myself and others?
If we want to make a piece to express some strong emotions or to say the unsayable, art is the flexible, moldable, movable, carve-able, additive or subtractive medium. And within that medium are hundreds of forms, including paper, wood, canvas, altars, cloth, music, dance, theater, sculpture and sound.
People create art for many different reasons. If we want to invoke a feeling of divinity within the viewer, we will use images, symbols, gestures, colors to invite that experience.
If we want to make an art piece that is healing or holds power, we will infuse our ideas with that power and move it into the art. But we need to be capable to know how to cultivate power, contain it and empower an object, that takes training and knowledge.
Kristena West Art will expand and strengthen your skills, while cultivating contemplative practices.
What You Will Learn
In Indigenous societies, we would be "Seen" by our tribe, our community, by our elders and those who walked various Medicine Ways as well as the Shamans. Our "Gifts" would be Seen and recognized and we would be given pathways to develop. Every community had their Medicine ways and the children would be guided and taught to cultivate their strengths to grow into authentic human beings, with an inner competence and personal power to face their life.
As adults some would enter the Dreaming Society Lodge, some might enter the the Healing or Herbal Lodge, or the Artisan Lodge and some may be called to the shamanic Medicine Lodges.
We have lost these "sacred" ways and their is no one to guide us in the journey of our personal development. But we need this guidance & varying paths of disciplines so we can grow into our life gifts and offer this to the world.
The Alchemy Lodge brings back a wealth of sacred arts & ways of knowing, for women and men to develop their personal path of power. It's a great place to start and for those with some training more advance work is available.
Artists, because they stand at the edges, can see farther than the ordinary mortal. They are not as rigidly constructed as most folks are and their feeling nature is highly developed. This means they are extremely sensitive to the fluctuations and energy surges of the universe-in-making. This allows them to stretch their antenna, if you will, out into the web of our universal weaving. They bring back ingenious designs, inventions, and ideas that will help anchor this new creative and healing energy.
With this kind of skill and life purpose we can see that character development of the creator-artist would be the integral measure with which to weigh the merit of the inspired designs coming in from the borderlands of our sacred hoop.
The clearer the vessel, the clearer the energy. To become a clear vessel takes discipline and dedication to an creator-artist-writer's path of personal development. Alchemy Lodge
I look forward to working with you! - Kristena
