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This classical labyrinth was co-created by a group of us
at St Francis Springs Prayer Center in July
with the help of Nathan Wiles of InnateCreations.
Thank you to everyone who made this such a special weekend!
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Dear Creative Friends,
The poem The Muse Asked Me to Remind You ...( which you will find at the end of this newsletter) has been reminding me to make more time for my own creative practice. Often it is easier to put aside a couple of days and create in community without the distractions of everyday living, so if you have been ignoring your Muse and not making time for your creativity, consider joining me on one of the winter retreats I'm offering in February and March next year at St Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, NC. You'll find all the retreat descriptions here, as well as listed below.
I'm heading out in a couple of days to visit my daughter who is currently living in Germany, and then on to Chartres to assist at the Veriditas Cosmogenesis Pilgrimage led by Brian Swimme and Phil Cousineau. I'll be back home in early October.
May you find the time to engage with your Creative Muse as the days starting getting shorter and the weather starts to cool down. She is worth the time!
With love and blessings,
Catherine
www.creativepilgrimage.com
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The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm.
A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses
of an inner landscape, one that is beyond our understanding.
Art is our portal to the unseen world.
Rick Rubin
in The Creative Act: A Way of Being
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INVITATIONS TO CREATE TOGETHER IN 2025
at St Francis Springs Prayer Center, Stoneville, NC
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February 23rd to 27th, 2025 in NC
Creating with the Muses: Exploring Mixed Media Techniques for SoulCollage® Cards and Visual Journals
In this retreat we will invite the Muses to join us as we play, experiment and create one of a kind mixed media backgrounds and embellishments to use on our SoulCollage® cards or in our visual journals.
We will explore the Archetype of the Muse, and uncover what our own Muse needs from us to express itself more fully in the world as we create SoulCollage® cards to honor the creative parts of ourselves as well as those parts that prevent us from fully embodying our Artist self. Creative techniques will include gelli printing, watercolor, rubbings, scratch art, creating with shapes, embossing, using gold and silver papers and tape, drawing, transfers, and more.
The Artist Archetype works with the alchemy of transformation by taking raw materials and turning them into something new. These are times that call for rethinking old ways and imagining new ways of doing and being, and the Archetypes of Creativity and Imagination can lead us to find answers to questions we did not even know we were asking.
More information and registration here.
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March 30th to April 3rd, 2025 in NC
Exploring the Archetypes of Circle, Spiral, and Labyrinth through Visual Journaling
In this five day, four night contemplative retreat, we will be exploring the Archetypes of the Circle, the Spiral and the Labyrinth with paint, paper and pattern. We will be using these archetypes in a visual journal to find our rhythm as we slow down and engage with these patterns.
We will walk both the eleven circuit medieval labyrinth and the five circuit classical labyrinth at the retreat center, and use our creative practices as pathways for integrating our labyrinth walks.
In addition, we will create a set of Spirit Stones using images and words. You could also call these stones Alchemy Stones, Symbol Stones, Vision Stones, Story Stones … they are a meaningful way to bring metaphor and symbols into a labyrinth walk.
More information and registration here
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July 27th to 31st, 2025 in NC
Visual Journal as Invitation to Creative Possibility
In this retreat, our visual journals will lead us on a journey of self-discovery as we play with possibilities. Unexpected revelations can arise when we allow our creative self a time of spaciousness to play with the things it loves with no expectations and with an openness to seeing things in a different way.
I’ll share with you the basics of visual journaling: creating word libraries as sources of intuitive wisdom and creating a library of painted pages without a paintbrush. Your inner artist will experiment with creative processes that will encourage it to play with the shapes, symbols and colors that express what it loves. Our focus will be on listening to our inner voice and giving it time and space to be heard.
I will show you how to use Photo Apps on your iPhone to create your own unique images that you can print out and use in your journal when you get home. This is a way to bring your own photographs or copyright free imagery into your journal, along with fun techniques that add unexpected and unique creative elements to your images.
More information and registration here
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November 16th to 20th, 2025
Exploring the Ebb and Flow of Life with SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth
The waves of the ocean breathe with their natural rhythms of ebb and flow, of flowing forward, letting go and returning to source . How can we honor our own unique natural rhythm? How can we find a balance between inner and outer nourishment?
In this retreat we will explore these questions, using SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth to deepen our understanding of the natural rhythms around us, and to explore ways to create flow and ease in our daily lives as we consider living in a more cyclical way.
Our activities will include:
- Creating a Moon Mandala to better understand the phases of the moon
- Creating SoulCollage® cards to express the messages in each moon phases
- Connecting to our inner wisdom and intuition by dialoguing with our SoulCollage® cards
- Labyrinth walks to integrate and deepen the messages of our SoulCollage® cards.
More information and registration here
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The Muse Asked Me to Remind You ...
The muse asked me
to remind you
that although she is
a vast, powerful being
with infinite reserves
of creativity,
she is also
like a child
who requires
regular care
and attention
to thrive.
She asked me
to remind you
that although
her needs are simple
and she can endure
many challenges
and setbacks,
you will need
to feed her
to keep her alive -
and that she will
languish on a diet
of pressure and busyness,
and flourish
on a diet
of freedom
and kindness.
She asked me
to remind you
that although
she can tolerate
some neglect
and regular,
even daily
questioning
of her gifts,
that as much
as she wants
to stay
by your side,
even in the face of
the sad parade of
doubts and distractions
that pull you away from
her loving embrace,
she, too,
has her limits -
and if you put her
in a dark closet,
forget about her,
and don't come back
until years later,
she may
not
be there.
Kai Siedenburg
From Space Between the Stones: Poetry & Practices for Connecting with Nature, Spirit, and Creativity
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