Knowledge helps you navigate the earth,
but wisdom helps you navigate the landscape of your soul.
Alan Cohen
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Dear Creative Friends,
As I look back on 2022, there is so much to be grateful for, including the labyrinth I've now created in my new Cape Charles landscape (with a lot of backbreaking work from my husband, my son and my brother-in-law). This photo is from the window of my studio, and being able to keep the labyrinth in my peripheral vision as I play in my studio is an added bonus.
The path of the labyrinth is made from crushed clam shells which are plentiful here on the Eastern Shore and I love sound the shells make as I place my foot on the path. It makes for a very mindful walk, and I remember the words of Thich Nhat Hanh "walk as if your feet are kissing the ground".
If you are ever in the area and would like to come and walk my labyrinth, just let me know! Walking a labyrinth is a way to gently unwind and center yourself during the holidays.
I'm thinking ahead (as is necessary when one plans retreats) and am excited about the 2023 events I have scheduled. Moving to the Eastern Shore has reminded me how much I love the mindful and creative aspects of photography and so photography features in many of my retreats and pilgrimages. I discovered many years ago that photography was a way to listen to the voice of my soul. Combining photography with time in nature, with slowing down enough to see the essence of a place, and then using these images in visual journals has become one of my favorite ways to process the experiences of my life. And the older I get the more important it is for me to keep flexible and curious, and travel makes sure I do!
If you love islands and the water as much as I do, you might like to join me on the Italian island of Ischia in early June, 2023. This 7 night small group creative pilgrimage includes day trips to the islands of Procida and Capri on the Amalfi Coast with wonderful opportunities to expand your skills as a creative photographer. Right now there are two spaces still available.
I invite you to read the poem "Mapping a New Reality" by Siobhan MacMahon at the end of this newsletter and to consider "...following the knowing in your bones, the aching of your heart, the song-line of your body" as the new year dawns.
May you be blessed with gentle, quiet time with your Soul during the holidays, and may the new year find you playing on the path of creativity.
Love and blessings,
Catherine
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If you'd like to learn new ways to play,
I'd love you to join me on one of these creative adventures in 2023
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Travel is like love, mostly because it's a heightened state
of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive,
undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed.
Pico Iyer
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A Creative Pilgrimage
to Ischia, Italy
Island of Inspiration
and Enchantment
June 8-15, 2023
This is a small group retreat for five participants on the Italian island of Ischia off the coast of Naples for 8 days of creative inspiration with your camera.
Each day will be a new adventure as we explore not just Ischia, but also the nearby islands of Capri and Procida.
Two spaces still available.
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Creativity is medicine. It is life-affirming and essential.
The more we ground it and regularly access it,
the better off we are.
Julia Cameron
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Visual Journal as Inner Compass
March 5-9, 2023
at St Francis Springs Retreat
Center in Stoneville, NC
This five day, four night retreat is focused on giving you the time and space to listen to the voice of your Soul through the visual journal process. In this retreat we will play with the metaphor of maps, the heavens and the directions and see what emerges. When there is no expectation and we allow our creative self a time of spaciousness to play with the things it loves, unexpected revelations can arise.
Five spaces still available.
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My life is like a stroll on the beach,
as near to the ocean's edge as I can go.
Thoreau
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Between Sea & Shore:
A Contemplative Photography Retreat
May 2-6, 2023
Kiptopeke State Park,
near Cape Charles, VA
Join me to explore the intersection of creativity, contemplation and wonder on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay for this five day, four night contemplative photography retreat.
I am excited to host this first retreat close to my new home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
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My photography is the best way I know of bringing me closer to some of the mysteries of existence.
Wynn Bullock
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Landscapes of the Soul:
A Creative Pilgrimage
in Locquirec, France
October 4-11, 2023
Through the mediums of photography, language of light and reflection, and visual journaling we will learn to connect to images that seem to have secret messages for us.
This seven night, eight day creative pilgrimage in Locquirec on the coast of Brittany, in north-western France, will guide us to become more conversant in seeing with our senses and our soul. More information here
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The archetypes want us to grow.
The challenges and wonders the archetypes present to us
move us toward our growth edge.
Kim Krans
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Archetypes of
Creativity & Imagination
ONLINE: January, 2023
I'm teaching one of seven workshops being offered by Kaleidosoul in The Great Big SoulCollage® Archetype Adventure of 2023.
Of course I chose to explore the Archetypes of Creativity and Imagination! My workshop will be the first workshop of the series and will be offered in January, 2023.
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New Collage Imagery Book
I think standing on the shore watching a sunset is a way to experience all the elements together!
After my trip to Iona this year, it seemed like the right time to put together a book of copyright-free images for collage relating to the Elements of Earth, Air, Fire & Water.
together with my other copyright-free collage imagery books:
This list grows as I create books as resources for my workshops and then make them available on Amazon.
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Mapping a New Reality
By Siobhan MacMahon
When all the old paths
have been concreted over,
the way forgotten,
when words shape-shift
beneath your feet,
spelling another reality,
when you don’t know
what to pray for anymore,
let alone to whom – then
you must abandon
the broken compasses,
burn the man-made maps
and head for home –
follow the knowing
in your bones, the aching
of your heart,
the song-line of your body.
or watch Siobhan perform an extract from Holy Dreaming below
"There is a new story, you know,
only we haven’t found all the words
yet; she is still telling it through our dreams."
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