*Calling the Tribe of the Wild Soul

 

                                                                                                           by Erin Faith Allen

I'm lucky to live in an area with lots of good country drives, perfect for chatting with Maddie.  Somehow, she's in Vancouver, British Colombia and I'm traversing the hills to Napa, California, but no matter. When we're together we're together.  

You know those tribe members that have been with you before?   Who's words & images hit you as soul-immediate, a balm for what you didn't know you needed? She and I have no idea who found each other first. But I know for certain that the first time I spotted her Persisting Stars e-course I began a list:  Anthropologie for my Heart.

madelyn, roadtrippin' thru oregon's layered sky. also w/ tish at herbmother.com

To go with the windy roads and big sky, there's favorite conversational threads, like bright comfort food, making small movies, capturing the first glimpse of wind with our words, and that kinda thing.  There's some passing threads, about the weather of our beloveds, and the current temperature of our creative landsapes.  And then a few mysterious, repetitive threads, like...Erin Faith Allen.

Madelyn and I both have deep, cell-melting wanderlust.  It's a current that yearns and nudges; a need to head out in search of a surprisingly verdant hill or soft, unspoken and endangered vignette of Earth-stuff looking for just the right editor.  

Each time we hit the travel thread, and more specifically, sacred travel, Erin's name danced into our conversation.  She kept dancing from Spring 'till late August, and not just with Maddie, but whispered at tables, brought up over meetings and coffees with so many friends.  Women were gathering, around the world, fusing art with Spirit, on sacred lands.  My curiosity took over and when I got on the phone with England I fell fast + furious for her love of all things wild + feminine.  Erin's joy spills out over the ocean & she somehow captures shadows and danger in scrawling flats of pastel and starburst; a vibrant stand for effusive self-expression.  Erin's channeling a profound and needed movement: awakening our Creatrice, aligning us with Earth's creative force. What's come are plans for my dream vacation, including this...oh, I'm so excited about this, her gift to those of us with wild hearts...

Glastonbury … also known as the Isle of Avalon … also known as the Heart Chakra of our planet.  The energy of Glastonbury is pure alchemy.  You arrive, you become enveloped in pure soul magic, you leave a new person with new layers of yourself revealed.  That’s what this retreat is all about:  marinating in hardcore earth magic, and unleashing new facets of your divine womanhood in land which has been a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years.

Glastonbury is layered with myths and legends: Glastonbury Tor, Wearyall Hill, the Abbey, the healing waters of the Chalice Well, the Holy Grail and King Arthur, Saint / Archangel Michael, Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene and other saints and luminaries.

Join Madelyn Mulvaney, Maya Corinne and Erin Faith Allen for this epic three days of exploring feminine mythologies within while anchoring into the power of one of the most potent energy vortexes on our beautiful planet.  You don’t want to miss this!

Over three days you will spend one day with each of our teachers. Your days will be split between time in workshop space, and time exploring the mythical and lore-soaked landscape with your tribe of wild women.

 ’Infinite Love’ is pilgrimage delving into our soul’s journey through Sacred Altars, Cyanotype (Sun) printing and Photography in the Ancient Isle of the Goddess, Glastonbury.  Your day with Madelyn will be filled with 3 sacred creative offerings: 

Sacred Love ~ ‘Building Tabernacles’:  Igniting / unearthing our relationship with self-love through three altars:  Past (release), Present (sensual / spiritual / emotional presence of self-love, and Future (magic, rapture of intention flowing from a well spring of self-love in all it’s beautiful imperfections which make us startling and unique). 

Sun Printing / Cyanotype:  Using sacred elements from nature found on a walk in Glastonbury, along with elements brought to the retreat (personal elements such as feathers, pods, negatives, words, poems) we will celebrate our connection to Mother Earth in a gorgeous, simple cyanotype print which can be created rain or shine. 

‘My Sweet Muse’:  Using a camera (digital or phone) we will explore our offering to the Spiritual enlightenment of the world ~ how we can touch the lives of others and make an everlasting difference connecting with our holyest inner Goddess and sharing her with a soulFUL self portrait.

Madelyn is writer, photographer and the creator of the Persisting Stars photography ecourses. Her photography is represented by Getty images and her writing has been featured in publications around the world. She lives in a house by the sea with her luminous daughter Tess, effervescent son Noah and two beloved dogs, Roxy and Romeo.  She is currently writing her book ‘My Sweet Muse ~ awakening your inner artist with morning coffee and a whole lot of soul.’ www.madelynmulvaney.com

We’ll walk the grounds in a Balinese meditation state in search of the sentient & elemental beings that frolic in the fringe of Avalon.  Once we find your Guidess, the one who is also looking for you, we’ll glean her gifts ~ the principle anchors & storyline she is holding for your vision.   You know, the one that’s always been there.  The Guidess helps you hone in on your personal anchors: truths, principles & concepts that feed your “big picture.”  She is an ally for that secret timetable, because she knows the truth…it is your heart’s delight, your scary what-if, and more than that, it is your gift to the Whole.  She knows it’s bigger than you, that you are Earth’s daughter, and so your offerings are always, always in right time and rhythm.  Indeed, we can never be behind.  She brings her wispy magic to support your larger contribution.

I’ll teach you the basics of fashion illustration and textile sculpture to bring your Guidess to life with a modern couture frock of natural fibers I’ve dyed in my garden, a shiny woolen mane, wings for flight and just maybe, a crescent moon crown.  We’ll dabble with metallic paints, fibers & wires to make sure she feels adorned, delighted & On Purpose to hold your best truths. 

Maya: Since childhood I’ve lived dreams of Avalon, surrounding myself with holy waters, knowing soil and whispering elemental beings. My home is an oasis of practical ceremony for my family, Earth & animals in a town very much a bubble of conscious community. Those of the Avalonian lineage have always managed to find me on my travels, and I’m ecstatic to join you on the sacred grounds, knowing we were long meant to be together. Again. I’ll bring fabrics from 15 years as fashion stylist to A-list celebrities, my toolkit as Legacy Architect, open heart, open mind and open eyes.  www.urbanorganica.com

 Thousands of years ago, Woman was equal.  She was respected and seen in all her strengths as mother, daughter, sister, leader, priestess, goddess, grandmother.  Wild, full, empowered, wise, and free, she was also intuitive comforter, life-giver, cohort to the male god worshipped in every corner of the world.  Women were taught to see themselves in the image of any number of ancient archetypal representations of powerful deities, and she was one half of a whole that lived in balance.   Then the patriarchy came, and life for women began a long descent into darkness and inequality.  Things are beginning to look up … the Big Wild She is rising again.

We will dive inward to the space in which we have repressed our inner deity; with mixed media collage and the collaboration of the powerful energy that lingers in the holy hills of Avalon we will unleash our Big Wild She. Through intention and artmaking ritual we will access our layers of forgotten power and vow to intimately know and nurture these vital aspects of our womanhood.

We will spend our morning exploring a mythical and ancient site in Glastonbury, and return to the studio after lunch to create a mixed media collage self-portrait that reflects our experience in the landscape and the new revelations of the Big Wild She that we, as 21st century women, still are.

Erin: An artist and empath, Erin experiences the world on a supernatural level.  She makes art to understand herself and the planet she lives on.  Feeling the strong and undeniable presence of universal woman-ness, she actively conjures feminine story through words and pictures. Her work conveys the delicate dance between light and shadow, and she believes we must know our depths to know our heights: we must howl in wild stark exposure at the moon in order to know true bliss in the glow of sun.  Erin’s art has been featured in numerous publications, and hangs on walls around the world.  www.erinfaithallen.com

Join us in Glastonbury, England for three days of sacred and empowered creative exploring:  July 4-7, 2013.

This retreat is specifically designed for women seeking:

• A deeper relationship with empowered self~love
• Access to your soul’s highest knowledge whilst engaging with Mama Nature
• Dialogue with your spiritual lineage through creativity

Is this your tribe?  Sweet.  Me too.  Let's play.  xo, Maya 

little admissions #1

*I come from generations of healers, and those with crystal clear intuitive vision.  I am so not my family's healer.  Luckily D's healing powers are effortless, genius, on spot & on time.  So the truth is...the kids never go to me for first aid.  Never, ever, ever.  Because I have an impatient bedside manner with neediness.  I am only able to take pictures of them when they are ill.  Because I am in love with them.    I tuck them in.  Run a gorgeous herbal bath.  But let's be honest.  They can't smell it.  I am merely nursing aesthetics.   Soulstorm's Laura Emily is going to show me how to create balms, baths, and bubble some brews.  And...I might not ever apply it to my beloveds.  It's like having a mom who's a really good cook.  I did, so never made a meal until I left home.  

•+•+•

Poppy and Molly love real life.  Poppy wants me to share the mess of my big cabin with you all: blaring hip-hop, spontaneous dinner parties with dirty dishes for twenty...kids flying dangerously out of the hammock.  Molly pronounced "Real Life!!" the very first time she walked in my door, and I think every time since.  

Hmmm.  I can't stand pretend confessions that just skim the surface, but, I'm really actually quite private & very aware that my own musings are never just my own, but those of my beloveds.  Actually, the scariest admissions are those of goodness, support, vitality.  

And...I think it's important to share the fuller picture.  There's a constant perception that there's a right way to do things and it's just not true.  In my intensives, I always keep the videos homemade, low-key and non-pro because it models ease, play and casual sharing for my ladies.   I tell them that all homework from me should be knocked out in ten minutes.  Yes, even the 100 Year Vision.  Their Sacred Current.  Their 20 Year Games. It's important to just play and not worry about it.  Once they let go of their fear of doing it wrong, they can actually start.  In ten minutes, the basic architecture is in place.  Then they can spend a week sussing it out and making them beautiful.  In my world, the way to do it right is to just be willing to do it wrong.  Everything comes out stronger from the learning.  And that's where the magic happens.

At every level that I work, folks are paralyzed ~ for years.  For decades.  Over the fear that they aren't on hit.  New mamas and experienced papas alike know that "restaurant-tension:" the kids might freak out, requiring them to parent publicly (gasp!!).  Moneyed folks are scared to blow the dough.   Newly minted Ivy-Leaguers are distraught over choices, so they just get the next degree, then the doctorate, then the double-intensive specialty.  Athletes, artists and actresses alike are terrified to show up less than the brightest, biggest, boldest version of themselves.  Community leaders and activists cave to their understanding of diplomatic etiquette.  No, I'm not referring to the inspired and talented.  I'm referring to the talented and afraid.  We all do it.  It's a cultural phenomena that truly keeps us safe.  It's fascinating! 

And that's why this is a once-and-forever unschooling blog.  For every question asked,  free-range learners think there's at least twelve answers.   Who knows if any of them work until we experiment a little?  So many, many answers are long-term discoveries I still am in the middle of. That's the real life part.  The messy, imperfect part.  The scarily blessed part.  

So...as often as I remember to, I'll look around and see if i can't share some more little admissions...

real life. by thea coughlin

*I cook maybe a couple of times a week.  {D wanted to be the full-time parent last year, so he cooks.}  After years of cooking three organic meals a day for a vegetarian, a red-meat + greens diet, & sometimes gluten-free, sometimes casein-free, always sugar-free crew, (it literally is impossible to break that down in a sentence, let alone daily rhythm) I burnt out & possibly misplaced my cooking mind forever.   It was lost over gluten-free gnocci.  The sticky goo was not behaving correctly, sticking to my hands like peanut butter.  Not a soft, smooth dough that's powdery on the skin.  Instead of dropping fluffy oval clouds into the broth, I was flinging muck into it.  I turned around & flung it all against the wall, covered in family photos.  And took a really, really long walk.  That was three years ago.  It's never been the same around here.

*I've always had help caring for my home from my girlfriend Margarita & her older children, Yohanna & Miguel.  We clean together as families, with our little ones all about.  Sometimes we were pregnant, sometimes we had a newborn on the couch while we all shared a meal.  It was needed for the 9 1/2 years I was recovering, and it is certainly a luxury now.  As are the nannies and assistants who have traveled with us, who became real sisters and brothers to my brood.  I am not an elf without elves.  I can do so much because I have help.  I don't do it on my own & couldn't do it on my own.  Illness taught me that.  Some people can & I so admire that.  And I really mean it when I say I am a servant, a function, and a product of community.  This feels healthy and right to me.

*I leave my family for extended periods of time for work.  Next year I'm traveling at least 8 days each of all twelve months to teach, speak and style in my dream locations, at world-class spas and retreats.  Paris, Lyons, Barcelona, Glastonbury, Sedona, Seattle, New Hampshire, Outer Banks, Madrid, Big Sur are all booked, paid for, ready for me.  In 2014 you'll find me in Asia and the South Pacific.  I waited until each boy was nearly four before I left him.  And now I go.  My heart is wild, I relish my creative freedom, it takes massive partnership with D, my parents, other village members...sometimes I have to juggle this out in my head, and seemingly go backwards sometimes...like occasionally nursing my otherwise super-independent four year-old.  (I guess, for some folks that's it's own admission.  My people have always nursed their children.)  I follow my instincts for what my family needs and what I need.  They know the folks I serve & they feel like they're serving them, too.  I read my three boys every single love letter and make sure they handle every thank you gift that comes as their own.   It took me years to let myself believe it really is okay to travel the world with - or without - my family.  I believe my children need me to model personal philanthropy + creative bliss as guilt-free + shame-free.  So I'm not always here.  I am gone.  Gone like the wind.

But not now.  Right now I'm in front of my fireplace. It's 6:29 am.  My kitten, who is not supposed to be in the house, is running up and down the stairs.  Lake, my newly 7 year-old, is wrapped in a quilt with long curls spilling onto my lap.  And I am here.  Just me.  Free.

much love.  true love.  maya