I have always associated the Winter Solstice with Star energy. This amazing energy blesses and teaches me more and more, whether that is through paintings, commissions, workshops, working with clients, the local drumming group or my fortnightly moon journeys. These regular circles give such support to me and continue to be powerful points of connection and learning. So my grateful thanks to the helper spirits, and the two-leggeds I share these special moments with.

Dancing with spirit helpers on a shamanic journey

This year our drumming group – four of us who meet each month to sit in circle, journey, pray and listen to spirit – has taught me so much. In October we held a despacho, a South American traditional offering ceremony, with the help of Michele Brown, and through it have connected even more deeply with the spirits of our beautiful land here in Wales.

The Pools of Annwn, fabled local gateway to the faery realm in the Welsh Mabinogion sagas

In September I took part once again in the Society for Shamanic Practitioners Annual Conference at Gaunts House. This was a nourishing delight as always, a real community of souls that reminded me how important it is to keep our hearts holding hands round the circle. More inspiration and learning came from wonderful workshops with my teacher, Jonathan Horwitz, and I gained much, as ever, from his gentle guidance and profound connection with the spirits.
All these riches have given me a list of paintings waiting in the wings (or maybe under the wings). I have learned that the list gets completed in good order and timing – if I can just remember to stand back and let Spirit sort out the diary.

Sketch of a mandala that is on my 'to do' list of paintings

In the summer I signed a contract for writing and illustrating a new book on ‘Making Sacred Art’ with Wisdom Books. I am very excited about this and the contents have slowly grown despite distractions and detours from ‘getting on with it’. As time has gone on I have realised that some of the apparent detours give me additions to the material for the book; or a painting I have been given by the spirits as an urgent commission that has interrupted my work plans slots into a gap in the book seamlessly; or a strong connection I make through ceremony or personal soul work adds to the knowledge that I can put into the text… Why am I so surprised – I was told at the start by my spirits that ‘this book is for your learning, not the readers’! And I am learning all the time….

Moon Blessing received during a moon journey

Also a new venture for 2012 is two series of workshops I am offering in West Wales, one series is on finding our core stillness through medicine wheel and other shamanic teachings, and in the other series we will be creating visual blessings from inner visioning and sacred inspiration processes. I like to give individual attention, so the groups will be small, and I hope to meet some of you there. Full details on our group website www.earthstarcentre.com.
I hope to be blogging every month or so from now on, documenting progress on the book. I am ‘in the studio’ in a concentrated work space until the end of January, so will let you know what is brewing in there…

Working on a painting for the new book

Peace, well-being, happiness and many blessings to you for 2012
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Faith Wolfheart

A Giveaway is a Native American tradition where a number of items
are given away in a sacred manner to honour a person, give thanks, or express a prayer.
I was certainly thankful to be alive, and my first Giveaway expressed this.
It also showed me that this was a beautiful way for my work to find new homes, the way I wanted to pass my paintings on.

So this year it was time to giveaway the next batch of paintings, fourteen in all.
I duly sent out emails to my mailing list and put a notice on the website explaining that each title offered would have a ‘hat’ from which names would be drawn.
One request per person. There was a big response, and every painting was requested.

This time I dedicated the Giveaway to honour the Ancestors, as I work closely with their help and inspiration and I have accepted their commission to make paintings.
Therefore the Giveaway was to centre around the 31st October, Samhain, the Day of the Dead. The closing date for applications was the 30th and this gave me time to gather the paintings together. And because Giveaway is a sacred act, I wanted to make a simple ceremony that would honour and bless the paintings on their way.

So I set the work in a circle around my sitting room with an altar in the centre and candles. In front of each painting was a dish or hat containing all the people’s names who had requested that title.

At this point I took these photos, which I hope convey how beautiful the paintings looked ‘sat’ in circle, ready to be blessed. The little dedication ceremony had not yet begun – it would not have been right to photograph at that time.
I am always very careful to respect the space of ritual, and taking photos would be a distraction and disrespectful.

I then smudged the circle, the paintings and the names in the ‘hats’ and drummed and sang to the ancestors.
The feeling of the room deepened to one of great stillness and beauty. I invited the ancestors to come to this ‘exhibition’ of work I had done for them, and the room became crowded.

I explained to the ancestors that the paintings were to go their separate ways and asked them to help us pick the new keepers the next day.

I asked blessings on all the paintings and on all the people who were taking part, thanked the ancestors and left the candles burning into the night, the paintings illuminated just by candlelight. It was a beautiful circle, like a vigil, and I realised that the paintings were also bidding farewell to their birthplace and each other. They have been studio companions for quite a while.

The next morning my soul companion and editor of Sacred Hoop Magazine, Nick Breeze Wood, came to draw the names out of the hat. I had removed the altar first thing, and then he picked out the names.

Since then life has been taken over by a great flurry of emails about the results, checking of addresses, etc. The recipients come from all over the world, and the feedback I have had on the work and the process of Giveaway has been so heartwarming and encouraging.

So I am just emerging from under piles of packing card and rolls of parcel tape, lists and labels. This is the scene in my gallery home at the moment!

Next week is the ‘great post-out’. This is the bit I hate… For some reason I get post office stress, and will be holding my breath till all the work has arrived safely.

And then…. somewhere under the ‘leaf litter’ of packing…. there are new shoots of a book on sacred art pushing forth. More about this next time.

A huge thank you to all who have sent encouragement,
appreciation, feedback, and entries.
Blessings to you all – keep visiting the website.
And in some wonderful words I recently found -
May your heart be fat with sunshine!

But where would these ‘blessings’ be intended for, and how would they get there? I knew I had to trust the process – I have always watched with interest, and some amusement, how my paintings travel about, they find their new homes with great precision and a couple have even returned so that I can be the dispatch service again and send them to their next destination! So the act of sending out the blessing paintings is been a fascinating one for me to explore.

I started out by sitting with a small canvas in front of me, sitting quietly with my spirits and seeing with the inner eyes, then transferring the image that had come onto the white surface. I usually work on a few paintings at once and so four blessing images all grew together round my work table over the summer: two trees, a dragon and star, and a moon blessing.

Here are three of them on my worktable mid-way through their making [on the top left is another painting in progress]. The dragon was yet to be started.

The four paintings were finished at the end of August and at the start of September I went to the Society for Shamanic Practitioners UK Conference – a rich and beautiful soul time. This year I was co-ordinating the lively Shaman’s Market held there – and growing – each year.

SSP shaman's market in full swing

my pitch at the market

I also had a pitch at the market, at which I sold prints and postcards of my paintings, and had the four ‘blessing’ paintings to give away.

So these were displayed with the intention that the person the blessing was intended for would find it, connect strongly, and I would then know that they were to have the painting as a gift.

Three were claimed quickly, and at the end the moon blessing was left. A friend helping me said immediately – “but that one is perfect for you”. So it is now on my altar and I feel its blessing every day. What goes around does surely come around!

I will continue to do these blessing paintings, and I have a feeling it is the start of a very important part of my work. I trust they will find their keepers in due course.

So blessings to all of you. Dip into my magic bag of images in your mind’s eye and see what you pull out! It is limitless – in it there are stars and colours, and all kinds of creatures, and wide skies and deep rooted stones, sounds and scents…. I could not imagine what you will find…. but you can. Happy blessing dipping.

And you might feel like doodling it somewhere to remind yourself what you have found, and to keep it close by. Doodle in beauty my lovelies.

With my love – Faith Wolfheart

PS – next blog will DEFINITELY be about that buffalo painting!

FOR THE CHILDREN

The first request was from Tros Gynnal 2010 Charity Art Exhibition and Auction a charity supporting children and their families in Wales. In the Native American teachings I live within there is great attention paid to the precept that ‘nothing must be done to hurt the children’. This is known as the Childrens Fire and refers to children of all kinds: two-legged, four-legged, swimming and crawling nations, plants, stone people, standing nation [trees] – everything is part of the ever-changing process of becoming, and should be treated with the greatest respect.

When I begin a painting I have various ways I start/dedicate the work. Sometimes I may make a simple prayer, smudge [incense] the work area, light a candle or even drum gently on the canvas itself to focus and bless the process and to connect with spirit guidance and help. On this occasion I took the small canvas [30cm x 30cm] out into my garden and presented it with prayer to the four directions for blessing. Immediately it was back on the easel an image appeared strongly in my mind’s eye of a spirit standing in a garden. Not unusual subject for me, but each one is an individual.

As swifts are raising their brood in the roofspace above my studio, the feet pattering across the ceiling as insect-laden parents arrive, to the frantic cheeping of the babies. So they appear in the painting too, as a blessing for their incredible flight soon back to Africa.

I was pleased with the day of intense painting that followed, but when I returned to it next day I found I had painted a very huddled, dejected figure standing in yellow ‘grass’ that was more like flames. Hmm… Sometimes the process of developing the image is itself a challenging act of change and healing. So I painted the ‘flames’ into soft grasses. The sky was painted a beautiful vibrant pink ['pink?' I argued as I reached for the paint pot  - 'surely not...' - but I have to trust and onto the paintbrush it went].

As I did this the mood of the work changed, the spirit figure stood up straight and arms reached out either side with energy flowing as blessing into the garden. Now I have no idea what was actually going on there, it is part of the mystery of working in this way. There are several obvious interpretations, but I just carried on with the intention and focus of honouring the children and bringing beauty into the work.

Willingness to change an image completely in this way as the process unfolds feels deeply risky. It is an exercise of deep letting go of attachments and holding trust in the process. Much as we have to in raising human children. We sometimes have to release them into life and let go of our expectations with as much blessing and beauty as we can. I have raised three, and watch them learning this with their own offspring.

This painting will be exhibited with others in the auction – see the Tros Gynnal website for details and go via the Fundraising link.

BADGER DREAMING . . .

The second request was from Pembrokeshire Against the Cull [PAC], a grass roots response to oppose the plan to cull badgers in the area I live, to prevent the spread of bovine TB. They were raising funds for the legal costs of the action which has now been successful in stopping the cull. I had a dilemma with this request as this problem is complex. My neighbour is a cowman, who sees the slaughter of animals he knows when they get sick. There is conflicting science and solutions and many agendas!

I sat with this for a while and in the end I did the painting as a blessing and empowement of badgerkind as my relatives.

The painting immediately developed around a strong spiral composition I was given [which I had doubts about at first] and for me became a reflection on the precept that we should take any action with regard to its effects ‘unto seven generations’.

The pawprints of the badger represent this teaching and put this message into the mix of the situation.

Badger ‘s face followed the pawprints and sat squarely and unshakable in the composition, watching me from the other side of the canvas. Badger energy is about persistence, routine, organisation, continuity, building, earthy knowledge, ancestral paths, nocturnal doings.

Of course there was a lot of badger energy around in my life while this was being done. Paintings weave in with my own life events and lessons all the time.

And for me personally the human generations were to the fore as for the first time my daughters and their families – one family visiting from New Zealand – were able to gather for a wonderful birthday lunch in the local wildlife centre cafe, 

[don't count the candles please!] followed by a magical walk alongside the big old badger setts. And then back at my house the games continued, with many happy squeals, balloons and all the bustle of many-bodies-small-space. Upstairs in the studio badger kept watch from the easel! An incredible blessing for me.

The painting ’Badger Dreaming’ continued after all the excitement, and was a stop-start painting process. It was very clear when the painting wanted to be worked on, and when it wanted to be left alone – a bit unsettling when there is a deadline, but I have to trust that Spirit has got a weather eye on the diary too. It got done in good time. PAC will hold the auction on Thursday August 19th. For online catalogue and further details go to their website.

PRINTS NEWS

I now have a new address for ordering prints online and some tree and creature images are now available there, including Badger Dreaming. I am still feeling my way with this and welcome feedback about the services of Imagekind. and new images will be added soon so keep checking if you want high quality prints with mounting and framing options. Faithnolton.Imagekind.com.

BITS & BOBS ….

SPIRIT CONSULTATION. Watch an ancient bone throwing divination system reflecting on the Gulf oil spill with Kay Whittaker Cordell – the spirits are telling us how urgently we need to apply creativity right now, for all the children.

MY OPEN STUDIO August 11 – 18 : come and visit me in my studio if you are in the West Wales area. Details on www.cardiganstudios.org

GREAT SHAMANIC GATHERING: International teachers, community ceremony, sharing, dancing, healing : Society of Shamanic Practitioners Annual Conference ‘Dancing With the Cycles of Life’ is at Gaunts House, Dorset. UK on 9-12 September : www.shamanconference.co.uk. A deeply humanising and heartful crowd who really care about real life.

AND of course that Buffalo painting is still brewing….

Wishing you the blessings of good health, good friends and safe journeys in all worlds

Walk in Beauty

Faith Wolfheart

Fern 'croziers' at Caldey

Jetty at Caldey, mainland in distance

CALDEY SPRING PILGRIMAGE

At the end of April I visited Caldey Island, a monastic community off the coast of Tenby, West Wales. The island has a deeply peaceful and embracing atmosphere and at this time of the year the many wooded areas are bursting with new shoots and the wonderful ‘bishop’s croziers’ – the new fern fronds – uncurling with the unstoppable force of spring.

The boat home

The crossing to Caldey in a small open boat is uncertain – sometimes the tides and currents are too extreme for it to operate and the island is then cut off from the mainland for one or more days. The journey over was choppy, with delays because of the extreme spring full moon tides and currents; returning back after three days’ stay at the guest house on the island, there was dense mist and a millpond flat sea. It felt outside of time and space, reality reduced to mist and water, the steady chugging of the diesel engine and the little group of us from the guest house returning – like the pilgrims of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – having shared the parts of our stories that had bought us to the island, all from very different stages and walks of life. I had gone to give thanks for my returning health and strength and pray for healing for some dear ones, and to experience the island that had known the rhythms of ceremony and prayers and the footprints of pilgrims and for centuries. Celtic pilgrimage still has a strong presence in West Wales. What I found was peace, tranquility, new confidence and the pleasure of new faces and warm hospitality.

SACRED MOUNTAIN…

Back home ….. I immediately had an unexpected opportunity to join a mosaic course. I had done one course before with this excellent teacher, Teena Gould, which I had really enjoyed and although I had not continued mosaic, it had given me new insights into my painting processes. It had also been good to meet up with new people. I was not sure why I was going to this new course, but soon found it was about the changes I am making in my garden…..

At this point I need to explain my garden; it is a steep slope behind the house, not visible from inside except through one tiny landing window. When I arrived here eight years ago it was barren and sad, and even weeds were struggling to grow. Since then we have got to know each other and now it is lush as a jungle. It does not like vegetables, but loves alpines, ferns and flowering shrubs and moss.

Often I do not go out in the garden for many days. It likes its own private being and I am always a visitor. Sometimes when I may want to go out there, but I feel a definite resistance and so do not intrude .The garden is a community of spirits and creatures that have their own lives going on, which I respect. However,  when it invites me out, we link together with great love and connection. Then work gets done incredibly easily. There is no struggle and the energies are wonderful, restoring and very peaceful. The garden gives very clear instructions about what it wants – and when.

This spring the garden has called for a new flat area where land and I can share ceremony. And here  [at last!] is where the mosaic comes in. The mosaic pieces I made on the course were to call specific energies into this ‘sacred mountain’.

MAKING THE MOSAIC…

The mosaic method I used on the course is known as ‘Indirect’.

THE DESIGNS

A photo from the Old Priory grounds on Caldey inspired the first pieces I made on the course on fragments of broken paving slab; I wanted to evoke a sense of uncovering traces of past occupants showing a continuum of  lives that have passed over a piece of land.

Stars bring the star energy into the ground…

A bird symbolises Spirit…

Beaver – the shaper of landscapes – construction and maintenance energy! May they soon live and breed undisturbed again in these islands.

A fish [seen in progress above] represents the Celtic Salmon of Wisdom … definitely need some of that…

and a glittering dragonfly that just keeps flying into my life at the moment with its intense focus and boundary keeping!

If you have made it this far – despite scrambled spacing at the end that I can’t struggle with any more and stay sane….

hope you will come back soon for tales of buffalo that are brewing…..

Walk in beauty

Faith