Opening up to Divine Inspiration is the key to extraordinary Art..
What is it about jewelry that seems to have that special mojo? A timeless, talismanic, shamanic quality that you just know has something very special going on. My experience as a jewelry designer and artist in Santa Cruz, California and throughout the Bay Area and Southwest has been dedicated to the expression of the Sacred and to create shamanic art jewelry pieces for people that truly speak to their soul and bring the presence of the Sacred in to their daily life.
If you are an artist looking to bring more depth and spiritual energy to your work, I’d love to share a little bit about how I approach my creative process.
#1. Know that you have a unique and precious gift to give that Creation has blessed you with and absolutely NO ONE else can ever give that gift to the world like you can. It is you alone that can share your unique story or express that vision. Don’t deprive the world of what you have to offer because doubt or comparing yourself to others gets in your way.
#2. Dedicate your work to something bigger than yourself. Take a moment of prayer and dedication before you begin your work (or anytime for that matter) to give thanks for all the gifts you’ve been given. Invoke and thank your teachers, your guides, your inspirational influences, and dedicate your time and your energy to something that feels particularly touching and authentic to you. Maybe its Personal Healing, maybe its the Children of the World, maybe it to the purification of the Earth’s Waters. This part is deep and fun and many times I find myself in tears by just how moved I feel opening my heart and connecting to the bigger circle of Creation in this way.
#3. Let yourself be a TOOL of the Divine. An extraordinary African musician that I interviewed once said that the secret to his abilities was that he had honed his capacity to completely get out of the way and allow God to move through him and basically take over his body. He lets the music play him. It’s kind of like asking the question, “What do you want to say through me, Creation?” And then going with it moment to moment. The beauty is YOU (as an isolated ego) don’t have to be burdened with generating awesome inspiration. That comes from something much bigger.
#4. I love to sage or smudge with feathers my workspace and myself before I begin. This gives my the opportunity to consciously clear my head and my heart of distractions or negativity, and to invite in the qualities I’d like to have in my zone. Plus it feels good.
#5. Okay, so sometimes I’m getting to work and have an interesting idea. However, there are some fuzzy areas in the plan. And this can happen in any creative process really. You have a sense of it, it feels right, but some of the details are definitely not all clear. TRUST IT. GO WITH IT. START. Simply take the next logical step. Trust that, as you move forward, the next logical step will continue to unfold and my experience is that it always does. It’s like being led my Creator down the path. You may have a blindfold on but you can trust your guide that you’re being taken to an extraordinary and beautiful place.
I hope this is helpful…and more to come on the creative artistic process!
