In This Issue:
• Dancing Around the Maypole
• In the Hands of Alchemy
• Growing Big Dreams
• The Artistic Spirit
• Better Living Through Journaling
• Black Water Siren Studio
eScribir · August 2021
"When we are being our true selves, we are making our greatest contribution to the whole." —Marcia West
"Happy May Day, Chris!"
"Thanks! What's May Day?" I ask, flipping the calendar page.
"May 1 is an ancient festival celebrating Spring!"
"Really?"
"Yes! I have so many fond memories of celebrating May Day with my mom when I was a little girl." Marcia said. "We'd dress up … and dance … it was such a happy time. I have so many good memories of that," she gleamed.
It suddenly clicked, "Oh! Like dancing around a … maypole!"
"Yes!"
Marcia's storytelling delighted me as I imagined her as a 6-year-old with flowers in her hair, carouseling around a maypole, giggling and smiling as little girls do when immersed in joyful play.
I met Marcia in my early 30s shortly after she wrote her first book, Seven Portals to Your Soul. Since we were both fond of portals, we quickly became friends.
"Tell me about your journey," I asked one day as we shared tea. She told me about leaving her job as an engineer mid-life to follow her calling as a writer and to start Bridges of Unity. She also had a degree in ceramics and taught high school home economics.
"My Home Ec teacher was named Mrs. Button," I laughed. True story. "She had us sew H-shaped pillows — "H" being the first letter of our school's name. The pillows became autograph canvases to our 8th grade class on the cusp of graduating junior high and going off to high school." It was a fun memory, and the last time I threaded a sewing machine.
Marcia was one of the first friends I had with a very different take on life. Our differences made me curious and helped cultivate an openness to experience, stilling my need for answers, and a seeking towards resonance in the small strokes delicately laid upon a canvas with a picture I couldn't fully see. I soon realized we longed for the same things and used different language, symbols, and metaphors to describe it. She taught me how to listen with my heart and when to follow the prompts. She helped me to see that creativity is the expression of all of that, so multi-layered and intricate in its stitching. Our conversations were intimate and deep, imbued in namaste, kindness, and joy.
"Will you put my book on your Web site?" She asked me last fall when she started hospice. "I want it to be available to everyone in the world to download for free."
"Of course," I said.
She wrote her second book, Big-Hearted Change, in 2016 continuing and expanding where Portals left off. I asked if she might write a little something to go with the book download to introduce readers to her work and say what she wanted to say, which she did during that delicate time.
My friend and mentor Marcia West left us on May 24, 2021. My last phone call with her on May Day was a gift wrapped in the sweet memory of childhood. I will miss her and will always remember her laughing and dancing around the maypole.
If you haven't already, you can download Marcia's gift, Big-Hearted Change, here.
In the Hands of Alchemy: Artist Jerry Wennstrom
At the age of 29, after producing a large body of work, artist Jerry Wennstrom destroyed all of his art and gave away everything he owned. For 15 years he lived a life of unconditional trust, allowing life to provide all that was needed.
The Stronger the Imagination, the Less Imaginary the Results
Robert Moss, the creator of Active Dreaming and author of Growing Big Dreams, explores four secrets of the imagination that will help us grow a vision of bright possibility so rich and alive that it wants to take root in the world.
Persistence, Faith, and the Artistic Spirit with Helen C. Read
Immerse in perspectives on creative process with educator and artist Helen C. Read steeped in chronicling the artistic journey, balancing productivity with priorities, and staying true to the course when it's not easy.
Better Living Through Journaling
Writer and group facilitator Kristin Donovan explores the power of community and journal writing to enrich your life, clarify your emotions, and jump start your creativity. Dive deep into its therapeutic and life-enhancing benefits for working through challenges, processing and healing, slowing down time, and breathing life into everyday occurrences.
Interview with Black Water Siren Studio's Christen Douglass
Christen Douglass is a self-taught artist, jewelry maker, and photographer who was encouraged early on towards the arts and sees creativity as "the most rewarding road to travel," as "it develops strength of character and self-acceptance, is a productive avenue for self-expression, and provides a sense of personal fulfillment that nothing else quite can."
©2021 Chris Dunmire. All rights reserved.