Celebrate the Small Steps

"We live in a society where only "big success" is acknowledged. We don't care about the small steps. We don't hear about the stumbles. Yet it takes outrageous courage to be in the middle of your journey. The middle is where it's at, baby.

Maybe you're growing a new business, writing the book of your dreams, or healing from a necessary divorce. There are the times when alligators are nipping at your raw feet, the rain keeps beating down, the moon is fading, your mother is calling, and you wonder if you are going to age in poverty with hopes that never came true. Yep, these are the moments that need celebration.

These are the times we need applause and ribbons and massive hot fudge sundaes and witnesses to our magnificence. These are the time we must love ourselves through the hunger and exhaustion. These are the times when we must celebrate our courage, the power, belief, and stubborn pluck it demands to keep just lurching and wobbling forward....

You are on the path. You are on the path. You are on the path. The path begins wherever you are, when you embrace your life with honesty, patience and compassion."
Tama Kieves, Trusting the Journey Times, October 17, 2007

Transformation Dolls

I thought I'd share a couple of the Transformation Dolls going out today, as well as the description of my intent behind the dolls. Of course you can't see the beautiful detail of the fabric texture and coloring, but you get an idea anyway.

Transformation Dolls are made with the intent to be a symbolic companion to the lives of women in transition and/or healing. It takes one full day to make a doll and I hold healing and loving intentions for you during its entire construction. I hold hope that you will nurture yourself and find the beauty in your life. In heart-full agreement with Oriah Mountain Dreamer, I pray that you discover the one word you are meant to be in the great love poem of life we are writing together.

The doll filling includes lavender and chamomile to induce feelings of calm and peace.

Butterfly dolls and/or charms are meant to symbolize the process of growth and transformation that you are embarking on or journeying through.

I use beautiful, bold colors with the following meanings in mind:

Purple is an uplifting color representing spirituality, wisdom, and the crown chakra – our direct connection to the Divine. We must remember to keep ourselves open to guidance and the still, small voice within, our deepest intuitions. We must learn to release and surrender, flowing with life instead of struggling against it.

Blue is a healing color and induces feelings of calmness or serenity. It is often described as peaceful, tranquil, and secure. It is the color of the throat chakra, which represents our voices and our will. Women too often keep our thoughts and feelings quiet, usually stuffing them deep inside, internalizing life’s difficulties and wreaking havoc on our bodies. We must learn to honor our truths and vocalize them when necessary.

Gold/yellow is related to wisdom; wisdom in thoughts, words and deeds. It is the color of the solar plexus chakra and motivates us towards making positive changes in our lives. Also related with optimism, self-confidence, spontaneity, flexibility, understanding. A sense of humor, joy, and laughter are natural balanced expressions of the solar plexus.

Orange represents constructive joy. Orange is the best stimulant and help in times of depression, loneliness, and boredom. Orange is the color of the sacral chakra, the energies of which concern our personal relationships. Are we in relationships that nurture and uplift us? Or are we settling for less than we truly desire?

Creative Generosity Hero

"You wouldn't know it by looking at the man in the t-shirt standing on the street corner, but if you listen, it's easy to tell that David Juritz is a world class musician. He's just traded in concert halls for street corners. The violinist left his London home on June 9 and has since traveled the globe as a street performer, raising money to fund music education for some of the world's poorest children. Near Stanford University, he raised $500 in an hour; in Berlin, he got $16 after 3 windy, rainy hours; and in all, he's collected over $65K. But his best moments aren't associated with large amounts of money, he adds." From CharityFocus

Learn more him and the Musequality program at his website: Round The World and Bach

On Beauty

Andrew Schneider: “When a being is authentically what it is, the presence of Spirit within reveals itself as Beauty which touches our heart. Whenever we experience beauty, our soul is activated and love is awakened. And whenever you are true to yourself, you are beautiful!

“When we open to Spirit, we radiate beauty. Beauty transforms, so when we radiate beauty, we empower others and give them a glimpse of their own beauty, the Spirit within themselves, which is the source of their power. The key is that we must know we are beautiful, and feel that beauty within ourselves, before we can empower others.

“Beauty is magnetic and draws our heart into loving contact and connection with it. We only love what we, in our hearts, perceive as beautiful. Deepening our contact with, and appreciation of, beauty will increase the love experienced in our lives.”

Donations to the Conspiracy

I received a comment asking about sending donations of paper or postage. I would be happy to accept any donations for the Conspiracy. I prefer material donations to money, so that people are as certain as possible that their donation goes towards what they intend (which is why I haven't added a donate button to this blog). I've also had people donate their own artful blessings to be shared with others, which have been very complementary to my own creations.

I can be emailed at blessingconspiracy@hotmail.com and I'll send my mailing address to you.

What Do I Do Exactly?

I've received some inquiries recently into how exactly I piece together blessing packages for each recipient, so I thought I'd write a post about it so that people have a better idea of things.

Each package is a combination of both stock and unique pieces:

Every package contains a set of art & word cards that are not unique but highly inspirational writings or poems that I believe anyone could benefit from. I put together the writings with my mandalas, kaleidescopes or beatiful stock images I find online. Not everyone gets the same set--I try to draw on what little I know about them or trust the Universe is guiding me--and I'm always adding new ones to the bunch. Lately, for women I've also been intuitively drawing a card from the Grace Cards to include in their packages. I used Goddess Knowledge Cards from Susan Boulet in the past.

I create a unique envelope for each set of cards made from pretty papers, stickers, embellishments, etc.

Then I include something handmade: either a Transformation Doll, Blessing Box (full of at least 50 business card sized inspirations), or I'm going to start doing journals as well (they will be decorated on the outside and have handwritten quotes/poems/prompts on some of the pages inside). I've also made clay tokens with symbols or quotes. I'm thinking about getting back into clay again and maybe making inspirational tiles.

Depending on my abundance level at the time, some packages have contained Blessing Rings or cards from NepalesePaper.com.

Lastly, I include a handwritten note or card.

I wish I had the time and inspiration to put together entirely unique packages for everyone, but now that I've sent out more than 100 packages in the last year, I'm grateful I set things up the way I did. Everyone is guaranteed to get a unique piece of art from me, but also get a big handful of inspirations.

How much goes into packages often depends on my financial and art supply abundance at the time. Sometimes I'm struggling to get printer ink and card stock to print post cards on or postage for packages. Other times I have plenty of everything. I'm good right now. I'm still using the postage that was donated quite awhile back, but it's close to running out. That's when things might get more complicated since every package costs at least $2.00 to send. I'm just going to trust the Universe will provide as needed.

Smile Award and More Blessings

Emma gave me the Smile Award recently, which I think is very thoughtful. I have a few subscribers to this blog and they have been very uplifting to me over the months.

I am very excited that my inbox is filling up with requests since the project was mentioned over at Create A Connection, a fabulous community art blog that I don't have enough time to properly enjoy. An especially lovely request is for a woman who runs a sexual assaul survivors' website and she wants some blessing packages to pass on to the women she works with. Now I have something to work towards, a few new dolls, boxes, and possibly a journal or two, something I've been pondering for quite awhile.

Smile Boston Project

Check out generosity artist Bren Bataclan's Smile Boston Project. He leaves pieces of his art around town for people to pick up for free, but he requests that they smile more often and share their feedback at his site if they take the piece home.

Lovely Blessing

I stumbled across this in an unexpected source recently...

Deep peace on the running wave to you
Deep peace on the flowing air to you
Deep peace on the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace on the gentle night to you
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you
Deep peace to you

--Traditional Gaelic Blessing

New Requests

Yay! I have three new requests to fill this weekend. I think I have three dolls left as well, which is perfect. I hope to spend considerable time this weekend working on Conspiracy art projects. It's time to think of holiday possibilities for the project since the winter tends to be pretty quiet in my life and I should have lots of time on my hands. I still haven't completed the basket of packets I'd like to take to our local domestic violence program staff and clients. Perhaps a bunch of transformation dolls would be the perfect final touch.

Imagination Needs Generosity

"If we want to make the imagination feel at home, generosity shows us the way. How else can imagination thrive but in a place where welcoming comes first and where judgment feels no need to speak and finally feels no need to be?" --Sarah Wider

You Have the Power to Bless Life

"Few people know that they have the power to bless life. We bless the life in each other far more than we realize. Many simple, ordinary things that we do can affect those around us in profound ways...the unexpected phone call, the brief touch, the willingness to listen generously, the warm smile or wink. We can even bless total strangers and be blessed by them."--Rachel Naomi Remen

You are the Tree of Life

You are the tree of Life. Beware of fractioning yourselves. Never set fruit against fruit, a leaf against a leaf, or a bough against a bough, the stem against the roots, or the tree against the mother - the soil. But that is what you do when you love one part more than the rest, or worse yet, to the exclusion of the rest.

You are the Tree of Life. Your roots are everywhere. Your boughs and leaves are everywhere. Your fruits are in every mouth. Whatever the fruits on that tree may be … whatever its boughs and leaves may be … whatever the roots may be … they are your fruits; they are your leaves and boughs; they are your roots.

If you want the tree to bear sweet and fragrant fruit, and if you want it to be strong and green, pay attention to the resin – the life-blood of the tree. Love is the resin of Life. Love is the blood that must circulate unhindered in the veins. If you repress the blood, it becomes a plague. Hate is Love repressed or Love withheld. […]

You do not know the Joy of Love if there is any hatred in your hearts. That which you hate is bound up inseparably with that which you love, like the head and tail of the same coin. If you are truly honest with yourself, then you must Love what you hate and what hates you before you can Love what you love and what loves you.

Love is not a virtue … it's a neccessity of greater importance than bread and water, and more important than even light or air. Let no-one have pride in their loving. Inhale and exhale Love just as unconsciously as you breathe in and breathe out air. Love needs no-one to exalt it. Love will only exalt the heart that it finds worthy of itself. Don't seek out rewards for Love. Love is rewarded sufficiently with Love, just as hate is a sufficient punishment for hatred. Love accounts to no-one but itself. Love neither lends nor borrows; Love doesn't buy or sell.

But when Love gives, it gives all; when it takes, it takes all. Its very taking is giving. Its very giving is taking. Therefore is it the same to-day, to-morrow and forevermore.

–Mikhail Naimy, From “Book of Mirdad”