Creative visualization collages



Feng Shui Shield

"Everything will now come your way." Fortune Cookie

My first taste of magical living came in 1986.  It was my first job out of college and the environmental buzz of “lay-offs” created this huge knot in my shoulder.  My stress management techniques used in college didn’t work.  I decided to take a class on “stress management” however this title was a disguise for what the class was really about: creative visualization and changing one’s thoughts about the stress.  Looking back I remember how New Age, Eastern ideas and touchy feely therapy were considered on the fringe of traditional western medicine.  It was considered folk medicine and didn’t meet the requirements set forth in by peer reviewed therapies that are published in fancy scientific journals.  Yes, western medicine has made some acceptance today only if the practice has met the battery of tests. 

In my class I learned that I could use my imagination to visualize what I wanted.  This desire could be something physical like a new job or new house or it could be something less profound or like handing stressful situations better.  The first key was developing an understanding that everything around me is made up of atoms or energy.  (Note: This made sense due to my Pre-Med Chemistry and Physics classes.) That everything has a different vibration, but we all in some way attract each other.  If I needed something or desire an answer to something - the universe is willing to provide.  But, I first must be able to clearly formulate the idea of what I wanted using all my senses (i.e., taste, smell, feel, see, and hear).  And, look subconsciously and face my fears head on.  And, clear out my mental goo that distracted from my focus. 

One of the nuggets I carry with me from my instructor is: “we each have the ability to make dreams a reality, but we need to learn how to concentrate on our intent.”  So I sat through the five week course visualizing red and yellow, being on a beach or next to a mountain stream.  I practice within my mind walking up stairs and down, tasting chocolate or smelling a marigold.  I would practice the exercises she assigned us and by the end of the class I could sit for thirty minutes.  Finally, I could keep my mind from wandering and talking.  This helped me focus clearly on my dreams.

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Feng Shui Shield 2

In most books I’ve read about living the magical life, I’ve discovered that our actions and rituals solidifying our goal.  When I create a candle spell I have a desired outcome.  Before the match is struck, I have to have a clear picture of what I want.  I have a multisensory picture of how it will be when it comes into my life.  I put this picture energy into the candle.

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Activity: Re-solution Collages

Treasure maps and dream boards aren’t new.  Even Oprah uses this concept.  I heard Patricia Spadaro interviewed while she was here for Central Ohio’s Light Expo.  She discussed using them on a spiritual level. 

Every year I put together one of these collages.  I’m not different from anyone else and have a laundry list of what I want.  But, over time the material things have dropped (i.e., extreme wealth ) to more tangible things (i.e., publishing a poem or short story, painting the dining room).  But putting these dreams into pictures has been helpful for me.  My collage layout is different.  It is based on the Feng Shui floor diagram of how energy moves.   Sometime in the last six years my collages has turned into a shield (i.e., circle). 

I use a worksheet I created based on the 9 areas.  I also don’t take any credit for these questions because they are based from many sources.  After I fill it out the worksheet I find pictures that represent these ideas.    

Before starting on the sheet – I light a candle and pray to the great motherfather spirit saying:  Looking back, may I be filled with gratitude; looking forward my I be filled with hope; looking upward may I be aware of strength, looking inward may I find peace. 

Worksheet:

1.        Journey/Career: where are you going?  What new beginnings or new opportunities would I like for this year.

2.       Relationships with partner, self, family, friend, colleagues:  How do I want my relationship nourished this year?  Who in my life do I want to surround me and uplift me to get to my dreams?

3.       Elders: family heritage, ancestors, parents, authority figures – What would I like to see happen this year with my parents.  How will my Grandmothers and Grandfathers teach me and guide me? 

4.       Fortunate Blessing:  wealth, universal flow of abundance into life, money, blessings and prosperity – How can I continue to feel richly blessed?  What do I need to make me feel full of inner peace and happy?

5.       Unity: Health, connection with God/Goddess/Universal Life Force:  Are you physically healthy?  Do you feel connected with spirit?  What needs to happen in this coming year? 

6.       Helpful friends/travel: books, angels, friends, philanthropic acts – who do I want to be supported and guided this year?  Where would I like to travel this year (physically or in a book), Who can I help this year?

7.       Creativity: children, what do I plan on giving birth to? A project?  How will I show creative fun this year?  What new projects would I like to finish this year?

8.       Contemplation: Knowledge, new learning, study, intuition, spiritual force?  How is my relationship with myself?  What new thing will I learn this year? 

9.       Illumination: fame, spiritual enlightenment, self-realization? 

Once the questions are answered, I go through magazines and old Holiday cards tearing out symbols to represent my answers.

I then past them in their respective areas ( See below).  Finally, on the new moon I dedicate the shield.  I have the shield hanging in my office next to the phone.  If someone asks, I tell them I’m being creative. 

4) Abundance, fortune, blessing, wealth	9) Identity, illumination, fame, enlightenment	2) Love, relationships, family, friends, colleagues
3) Community, elders, family , heritage	5) Mother earth, health, unity, connection to universe	7) Creativity and Children
8) Wisdom, contemplation, knowledge, learning	1) Life’s passage, life’s journey, career	6) Connections, helpful friends, books, angels.