A Love Letter to Costa Rica-Weed Wackers in Paradise

insect love in the jungle

Costa Rica has captured my heart, as I suspected it would. Before leaving on this adventure whenever I would say where I was going my shoulders would do this little shimmy and I would get a sly grin on my face. Good signs.

Orosi Valley, Costa Rica

The journey on this land has been both oddly familiar and perplexingly foreign. {I am still writing in the present tense. I did not realize this. The first morning back in the states on the rural Vashon Island i had a dream that I was still in the jungle. A part of me is still coming home}. It is a strange feeling to experience a place on an energetic level that does not translate to the practicalities of language and cultural differences with the human ones. The first time I was consciously aware of this type of experience was when I visited the Hopi lands in Arizona. It was home, and I was different.

My Spanish teacher Isabel

I began this trip in a delightful little village in a coffee growing valley call Orosi. It is the sort of place where people sit on their porches in the evenings and greet their neighbors, they have two sacramental temples, the church and the football {soccer} field, and they adore their children. An arty looking Swiss woman makes real, organic wheat bread and pastries, and you can almost always hear someone playing bouncy latin tunes and reggae-tone. They have natural hot springs, and the locals actually look pretty happy. When I researched Costa Rica, it said they are a unique country, with no standing army, almost the entire population is literate, and they have a very high standard of living for Central America. They have dedicated a large percentage of their land to national parks, and they live what they call “Pura Vida,” literally pure life,  meaning life is really, really good. They actually say it on a regular basis.

Patron Saint of Costa Rica-Black Madonna Virgen de los Angeles

The magical synchronicities of the trip are still being absorbed, and I look forward to sharing what I can as I integrate the deep mysteries that came through the ancient ones and the land and stone spirits. As life will do, I was guided to spend a month in the Orosi valley which is 40 minutes from the most important religious site in Costa Rica, which has a BLACK MADONNA! On her feast day, August 2nd, the devout walk 20 miles on their hands and knees to the cathedral in Cartago. I got to see folks doing the final leg of the journey in the church as they slowly made their way up to the little two-inch icon in such a humble fashion. I did not know she existed until I had been there a while, as I do not research my trips extensively. I Intuit where to go, and then show up and am lead to where I am best served. More on the Virgen de los Angeles as it emerges.

Mist Spirits at volcano Irazu, Costa Rica

Volcano Irazu's brilliant lagoon

From the mossy lushness of the Northwest, my heart remembers the magical white horses grazing on the terraced green hills, the huge toads devouring bugs in the evenings, the giant flying cockroaches, the black earth of the volcanos with hot springs on the rivers, coffee coffeee everywhere, the charming “adios” given as a greeting, the American thrift store clothes imported for that real US flava’, running out of vegetables at the grocery store, trying to learn Spanish when I was being deeply initiated by molds and pollens {good luck}, the wild 6.0 earthquake on my 9th birthday {see last blog post}, the abundance of friends available when you stay in hostels, only wearing my backpack about 20 minutes the entire trip, hearing weed wackers buzz regularly as the Tico’s attempted to subjugate the jungle, how light and effervescent the volcanos actually felt, and Lord Aranal the volcano, shrouded in the mist spirits, with the vacation portion of the trip at the fabulous “backpackers resort” http://www.essencearenal.com/ Much love to the jungles I shall return to.

Volcano Aranal the last morning

I am 9 years old Today in Costa Rica with an earthquake

What a week. I am in Costa Rica with torrential rains, thunder and lightening and a half an hour ago we had a 6.0 earthqauke. This week has been a major initiation, getting a rugged head cold, not seeing the sun for 6 days and then the fiascos with trying to phone home.

And that said, today is a really precious day, it is when my new life began. Nine years ago at about exactly the time the earthquake hit my beloved husband Christopher went home to the other side. It has been a wild journey over the last nine years, and I have become less certain and more clear.

Today I honor the complexity of life, of my initiatory path, and thank the angels for bringing me such a beautiful way to learn about love,  loss and resurrection. Because I am still pretty punchy from being sick, I am going to elaborate on the beauty of Christopher another day. I am learning to slow down and let go here in a country where no one power walks.

Circa 1984 Parisian Graffiti in Costa Rica

 

OK, work with me here. I can´t find a way to call the US for under multiple dollars per minute, I am butchering the language and inserting my latent Italian at every turn, and saving the day in this magical verdant valley I have found a stencil graffiti artist that is extraordinary. I wish I could show you  pictures, but I have blissfully left my laptop at home, and so you can see an image from when I was 15 in Paris and the level of detail the aerosol artist possess. The local ones here have that 1980´s punk feel to them with raw powerful women commanding their space and some erotic poses as well. WE LOVE IT as Alee and I would say. {Back in the USA..images added!!!}

I am here studying Spanish in the Orosi Valley in Central Costa Rica. The village is pokey and delightful,  filled with vibrant tropical flowers, huge frogs in my hostel, and beautiful people. Costa Rica is the Switzerland of Central America with no standing army, a 95 percent literacy rate and a standard of living uncommon to their neighboring countries.

A plug for my school. I found Montana Linda in The Lonley Planet, and it is terrific. For $760. I get my own private dorm room for a month, a shared bath, kitchen privileges, and sixty hours of one’on’one Spanish classes. I am very happy with my teacher, and the entire staff is great. Montana Linda is said to be the most affordable school in the country, where costs can be double some of the other Central American countries. I also feel really safe here, and its pretty calm. You even get 2 dog guardians, magical white horses and cats on the roof. I won´t mention the big cockroaches.  http://www.montanalinda.com/

 

I came here after going to Antigua, Guatemala for Semana Santa, their psychedelic Easter festivities. When I was researching this trip before my Oracle of Initiation book overtook every bit of my bandwidth, I read the name of this valley and a potent energetic YES swelled in my heart.

I actually have no idea why I am truly here. I have carried an intuitive knowing for about five years that I need to speak Spanish, and immersion was going to be the only way. My ego self has quite a long list of places I would choose to go before here, but here I am. I have been around the block enough to see a sneaker attack when it’s on its way.

Let me explain. After my husband died in 2002 I went on a seven-year vision quest reclaiming my true self. Horses were the sneaky instigators in that round of my expansion. I fell head over hooves in love with them, and what they actually ended up doing was bringing me back to tha land. They were the carrot that drew me into union with the earth and my creative receptivity. Somehow my lack of interest in Central America will turn out to be some form of life path epiphany.

I am in my first week of being in Orosi, and it is slowly revealing itself to me. I am vacillating between wishing I had a traveling partner and thanking my lucky stars for being alone. Last weekend a group of young missionaries were in the  hostel, and when I went on an adventure with them I noticed how closed the locals were to a rag-tag bunch of backpackers. When I am alone there is a much warmer reception. For me that is the great struggle in my life, my love of the synergistic magic that can occur between us, and my MASSIVE  desire to be alone. So, I sit with one of my many dualities. What a fascinating incarnation this one is.

I got early training for this when I lived in Italy at 20, and those skills and confidence are serving me well. It is such a different experience to be more aware, awake and intuitively plugged in this time. I was a pretty lost young lassy, and this is really a gift to see how I deal with the language and cultural discomforts.

I was reminded last night of how potent music can be to bridge worlds. When I lived in Italy there was an international station that played such a wild mix of music you never knew what was coming. The local pool is next to the Hostel here, and someone was having a birthday shindig. The playlist was steadily Latin dance music until a descent Beatles medley kicked in, and then Double Dutch,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr7QvpHsJBg

Funky Town [the crowd roared], Hurts so Good, a Gary Glitter remake, Credence Clearwater Revival, and then into a long set of Reggaetone. wow. I was sure Peaches and Herb, the Pina Colada song, The Whiz, Bette Davis Eyes, Electric Avenue or Captain and Tenniel were going to be blasting at any moment.

Spanish classes are going well, four of my initial twenty have occurred. As I said above, I can butcher the language well. So, greetings from paradise, where I am slowing down, not driving, cooking in an open air kitchen on a crumbling hot plate, eating hotdogs and other mystery meats, and enjoying the mist covered mountains. Mellissae Lucia

San Diego Fabulousness

San Diego has once again, been fabulous. The Oracle of Initiation book continues to take up the majority of my time, and I send love to the friends that I will have to catch on the way back round. The Ocean is cleansing me in her own unique ways, such a welcome contrast to the desert. Below are a few of the highlights of this trip…Jo in touch with her awesome; Eshu/Ellegua/Santo Nino and I at my Controversial Bookstore Shape-Shift your 2011 Oracle of Initiation Workshop; attendees contemplating the Oracle at the workshop; Violet a magnetic friend; and Mother and daughter beauty. OH- and I am taking FILM images these days, with an eight lensed camera, and as you can see below the disposable camera with fortunes printed on the images. The oracular accuracy of the fortunes on the images was uncanny. LOVE IT as Alee and I say.

and a teaser, look for the faux Banksy graffiti blog post coming up about master manifestation.

Albuquerque Tarot Meet-Up with The Oracle of Initiation

59. Expansion from The Oracle of Initiation deck by Melissa Weiss Steele

 

“This was by far the most inspirational meet-up ever! Melissa, and the images of her Oracle of Initiation deck, evoke the deepest part of your psyche in layers that allow you to become one with your feelings. Her presentations have you hanging on every word and shaking your head in agreement as you come to realize THIS is your place in life. Thank you, Melissa, Asher & Wisdom Moon for the insights presented on a power-filled afternoon!”

Gloria Vinskey, Albuqurque Tarot Meet-Up

 

“Fabulous! I never thought I might come across another deck and love the purity of it, as I do James Wanless’s Voyager. However, Spunky clear hearted and visionary Melissa and her Oracle of Initiation deck have won me over.”

Early Gardner, Albuquerque Tarot Meet-up

 

We had a wonderful day divining with The Oracle of Initiation yesterday at the Albuquerque Tarot Meet-Up. I got see some familiar faces from LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium held last October in Santa Fe and some new friends as well. This was the last presentation I will be doing on the land of The Oracle’s emergence before I am off to the Ocean and Central America.

During the event we got to consult The Oracle’s wisdom about  what our true happiness is as a way to center and focus our intentions and dreams. We also examined what outdated stories we are carrying offers us access to our Rainbows in the Dark, the potential to reframe the initiations we have encountered to find our true power and gifts.  Thank you to Margaret & Robert for organizing the group, and Amy & Meekah for being fabulous Guardians while I offered my sacred work. life is good.

27. Gathering; 46. Reliance; 3 Instinct from The Oracle of Initiation

Top TEN in 2010

2010 was incredible. I felt optimistic about this year like I had never experienced. I felt all of the work and dedication I had been putting into my life was truly grounding, and it was TRUE! I am so grateful for all the beautiful friendships, family connections and co-conspirators dancing this crazy TRUST WALK of a life with me. Blessings to all….and 2011 is already shaping up to be extraordinary.

I am finishing the book for My Oracle of Initiation deck, and am thrilled about the caliber of contributors I have offering their insights into the cards. I will be off to the West Coast to teach in March & April and then down to Central America for 5 months this spring/summer. Thank you for all the ways you each touched my life, making this a sparkly, juicy, DY-NO-MITE year. Here is my top ten list of the rock star brilliant things that occurred…

1. I published my first edition of my Oracle of Initiation Deck!!

Boy was this an experience. Almost four years into the project, I went into the zone and in 13 days time I designed, graphically set up and wrote the text for the  first edition of 88 decks. Thanks to MaryBeth for all her amazing help in this crazy, madcap caper of Oracular joy.

2. Joyful success during the West Coast Oracle tour

Spring 2010 I took the show on the road and taught with The Oracle of Initiation on the west coast. It was the business success I had been palpating for years, and it finally landed. I can feel things YEARS before they manifest, so it very cool when they materialize on the earth plane. I met amazing people, had a BLAST doing what I love and came home feeling empowered and proud of offering my sacred gifts. I want to thank everyone who showed up to my workshops and lectures in San Diego, especially Lisa, Trevahr, Jade and Xana for being my fabulous Guardians. I look forward to this springs tour, go to the event section at www.OracleofInitiation.com for the locations of the groovy gatherings with The Oracle in March and April.

I also want to thank one special client who has been a dream to work with. We met at Esalen during my tour and she has moved mountains within herself during our time together. It is such a gift to have a receiver for your work. I love yah IVP in Paris.

3. I won a year of free dance at EmbodyDance Santa Fe’s 10th anniversary party!

I magnetized my raffle tickets, energetically twinkled the little girl who was drawing the winner, and then put my hands out, palms up, to receive, and they called my name!!!! May abundance shower down upon you in the ways that feed and serve you best. They have for me. And much love to the beautiful dance community here in Santa Fe.

4. The Bachelorette & Amma & New Visions of Relationships

I am both a romantic and a cheese-ball. Its true, I enjoy  watching the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Part of it is psychological voyeurism, but the main attraction is the idea of true love. I know, I know, it rarely works out on that show, but I have always carried a torch for great romantic unions. Because of the struggles I see so many contemporary people having {me included} with finding suitable mates, I am refocusing my work towards why this is happening. I have been interviewing men about their perspectives on what has happened with relationship over the last decades.

Men are my main subject at this time because my work has previously been with women’s empowerment, and I am  wondering where the men are at. Thank you to all the lovely men who allowed me to peek inside their psyches and share their ideas on women, love and commitment. May we all evolve beyond the Madman version of gender roles and expectation. I am bringing Amma into this because my heart was blown open when I saw her for the first time this spring, and I believe energetic expansion may be the pathway to reclaiming the sacred within our intimate relationships. I will keep you posted on what I learn.

5. My Painted Body ritualistic photography work

This was a bang up year for my Painted Body ritualistic photography work. I had some fabulous shoots in Abiquiu and my first collaboration outside of New Mexico in Joshua Tree. It is such a primal joy to share my relationship with the land through initiating others into their unique brilliance. I shall miss the arid desert lands when I dance by the sea, but will always return to one of my true loves, magical, magical New Mexico.

6. Eating Coconut Ice Cream

For 10 years I did not get ice cream because of a lactose intolerance and the sugar. And then it came, the crazy-good coconut milk ice creams sweetened with agave. Lord have mercy. I have died and gone to heaven. HEAVEN. God and Goddess are good.

7. Yraceburu EarthWisdom-Family of my HEART

I have had a very good year with the family of my heart, Yraceburu EarthWisdom. In July I was initiated during The Otter Ways Women and Girls Rights of Passage weekend  in Las Vegas, NM. I was then a Guardian at  the incredible Grandmothers Summit Celebrating Turtle Island honoring our Elders and Wisdom Keepers this October . The Dream Circles have also been very juicy for the women to reclaim the ancient visioning ways. It is good to find your family. Very very good.

8. Tarot World FUN

Boy was this a fun year for Tarot community events. I got to go to The Readers Studio in NYC in April meeting delightful folks. The 2nd photo below is of Mary K. Geer, a prolific researcher and writer on Tarot and divination, Joanna Powell Colbert of the fabulous Gaian Tarot and Marilyn Shannon a crystal ball expert. We were all headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the secret back room to see ancient Tarot decks with Robert Place. Good stuff, thanks Sasha Graham-cool Tarot chick-for setting it all up. I also got to meet J. Jordan Hoggard of his magical Mystereum Tarot, being released any moment by Schiffer!!

The Oracle was also a cover girl, having 3 limited edition covers for Marcus Katz’s Tarosophist Tarot Professionals magazine.

And then…here in Santa Fe over Halloween weekend, we had LETS- Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium!!!! So way way cooool. I was the opening speaker, and all the other presentation were top-notch. If you would like to see the story of how my Oracle deck was created, you may watch this 55 minute video with  images of where my ideas and influences come from.

http://vivu.tv/portal/archive.jsp?flow=397-654-7677&id=1291578442700

If you read this Blog in the future, I believe the video is only cataloged for 9 months {August 2011 it dies}. Thanks Carrie Paris, Margaret Letzkus and Robert Hahn for organizing such a worthwhile event…watch out for next year.

9. The photo album revealing My Destiny from my Mother

My mom hit it out of the ballpark this Christmas. When I opened my presents from her she had complied a photo album of my life from zero to twenty-five. The astounding thing about this was SHE FOUND NEW PHOTOS I HAD NEVER SEEN…and through this surprising new vision of my life, my DESTINY was mirrored back to me. I have to explain why new photos are so special. I am obviously a photography nut. Its part of what I do. But I have always had this energetic connection to images, I feel the depths in them, I draw on the energetic signatures and travel through them for memories and connections. They are alive to me. So at 42 to have my mother bust out some new representations of my story, my myth shocked me. I KNOW all of the family photos, so I thought. Re-visioning is so great, that’s what my Oracle deck is about, reclaiming the power and gifts in the challenges and misperceptions. And then I was able to see all the threads, all the tendrils to who I have become…SINCE I WAS AN INFANT. I am working on a video to share these connections, be patient, its a technology upgrade in me…i-movie…I am giving my mother BIG LOVE  {no-not the polygamy folks people!} for all her work feeding those negatives she has drug around for 40 years into her Wolverine machine to bust out one of the best physical gifts I may have ever gotten.

10 Azul my LOVE

I am an animal person. I had cats for 28 years straight, and then I moved to New Mexico. I need animal love, and Azul my roomie has been a light in my life. I thank her for all the joy, delight and holding of the space she offers. She is a Angel.

Rest in Peace Beautiful Julie Rivers, I honor your radiance and see you glowing in Chochiti canyon.

And Santo Nino, Eshu, Ellegua, Poppa Legba, Thank you for opening the doors and gateways to my destiny this year, and I appreciate all your support as a messenger and a scribe. And the abundance rocks. love yah….and Ogun, Shango, Oshun, Yemaya and beloved Obi, Obatala who has my head. Much respect.

Final words of wisdom…

LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium VIDEO of The Birth of The Oracle of Initiation

My Oracle of Initiation LETS presentation with the image "Sanctified"

I want to share the wonderful video Carrie Paris and I created today from my presentation for LETS- Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium that was here in Santa Fe this October. Below is also an update about The Oracle and my travels, projects and upcoming adventures. Life is good.

LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium VIDEO of the Oracle of Initiation’s Birth {use either headphones or plug into external speakers…the audio is low}

http://vivu.tv/portal/archive.jsp?flow=397-654-7677&id=1291578442700

Carrie Paris Tarot Goddess and co-organizer of LETS

I want to share some wonderful new videos about The Oracle of Initiation deck and keep you up to date about my travels. I will be leaving Santa Fe at the end of January 2011 to go to the west coast to teach and divine and then will be off to Central America for 5 months to learn Spanish. I am currently finishing the book to go with the Oracle deck and look forward to telling you more about that project and the wonderful contributors I have gathered. The deck is a vast and Mysterious creation that has called forth a variety of voices to help illuminate its potentials.

Lisa with one of her De St. Croix Tarot images

Tonight on the Sagittarius New Moon I was doing my manifesting through Beatrex Quntanna’s incredible 2010 Moon Book { to order your 2011 copy:

http://www.beatrex.com} She and Susan Lennox have created a workbook to utilize the moons incredible power to co-create the destiny we desire. The reason I am bringing this up is because there has been some really interesting synchronicities with this moon’s symbolism and my stepping out into videos offerings.

The ladies goofin' it up

Today Carrie Paris, local Tarot Goddess and I recorded my presentation for the LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium conference that happened in October. The initial talk had technical difficulties and did not work. Part of the LETS conference’s magic was the potential to see the main presentations online, from anywhere in the world. Carrie and I tried to record my talk again, and the sound was silenced. So today, our 3^rd try, we recorded a great presentation on the birth of my Oracle deck, and the sound is low on some computers. Hmmmmm. here is the link again….

LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium VIDEO of the Oracle of Initiation’s Birth {use either headphones or plug into external speakers…the audio is low}

http://vivu.tv/portal/archive.jsp?flow=397-654-7677&id=1291578442700

Jordan Hoggard with his soon to be available Land of Mystereum Tarot Deck- The Death Card

So I am reading about the Sagittarius New Moon in Beatrex’s book and the manifestation Goddess featured is Saraswati. The description speaks of her as “fusing our personality with the light of our divinity…When this fusion occurs, the Law of Sound is made available and we have the ability to manifest our vision through the resonance of our voice!!!!!”  So….it gets better…As Carrie and I created the altar backdrop for the LETS video today we PUT HER SCULPTURE OF SARASWATI BEHIND ME!!!!!

So, it is interesting that my video is muffled at times. Hmmmmm. Still sitting with what this may mean.

Tarot Maven Mary K. Greer with my Oracle deck

It really is a cool video, I am proud of it, and the images that accompany the fascinating story are gorgeous. Some of my early inspirations are really interesting. It is a 55 minute investment, but watch it instead of a TV show or reading something else. It really is a gift to see how another has enlivened her life and stepped into her unique passions and joys. Inspiration feeds the soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-organizer Margaret Letzkus on her sacred geometry presentation

 

I have also included a couple of animoto videos of my earlier work. Good stuff.

Earthen Body Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Eye Graffiti-Earthen Body Series

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxEQUY342Og

Weiss Steele Early Art Work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire Horse collage

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jYUc7Hgus

Donnaleigh de LaRose created this wonderful video using the Oracle deck. I will be on her Beyond Worlds Tarot Tribe radio show March 6th 2011. Cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcp8JM2eYc8&feature=player_embedded

January 15^th 2011 I will be speaking to the wonderful Albuquerque Tarot Meet-up…come play with one of the limited edition decks if you are in the area. We will have both juicy depth and raucous fun. That’s a good combo.

Sifu is so cooollll

So happy holiday, and if you want a reading in-person in Santa Fe, you will need to catch me before mid January. I can always do work over the phone as well.  I am seeing a lot of lineage coding coming up in people to be released and have had wonderful success with other clients in transforming those old messages and constrictions that were never truly ours. Break free from the agony of the illusions of isolation, shame and worthlessness. They are NOT TRUE YOURS.

There are also copies of the first edition of 88 signed copies of my Oracle deck on the website..go get your today to help read the landmarks, challenges and gifts along your glorious journey of awakening. www.OracleofInitation.com

Jordan, Marianna & I

So here’s to the intensity, the turbulence, and the great beauty of this Grand Initiation we are all undertaking. I will see you all dancing under the stars as we embody our true brilliance and divinity, together…MelissaBee

Pegasus collage by moi

NEW Painted Body Series #39-Turquoise Pendelton Blanket with Mudcloth

I am in LOVE with this newest set of photographs taken here on the land in New Mexico. The Painted Body ritualistic photography series has been one of the great loves of my life, as is the powerful earth here in the land of enchantment.

It is not an easy place to live. The desert is like The Dark Mother wielding her sword, “we shall cut this away NOW!” You do not marinate in your process here as you might in a more watery or relaxing place. Because of three very intense years here, and a need for more juiciness mixed with a deep inner-knowing that I am to learn Spanish, I am leaving. Look for me teaching and divining on the west coast this spring after I finish the book that accompanies my Oracle of Initiation deck.

I do not know if I will return to this lover, the land,  or if my wandering shall call me elsewhere, but I do know I have been blessed beyond reason with my creative & spiritual relationship to this place.

So on this windy day in Abiquiu I started my goodbyes. It was rough. And it was beautiful. This canyon may be my favorite place on the planet. I am so irrationally happy and at peace there. Something happens in a place where one is so happy. I look more alive, more beautiful in any photographs you will see of me there. I am fully me.

I will ask for love and faith as I step away from a home that has met me in ways I never knew possible, and may or may not be my daily dance partner in the future. We shall see. They say when New Mexico claims you, you will always be back. At least I am humble enough to realize I don’t really know where my path shall lead.

Blessings to the land, The Painted Body series, and my Oracle of Initiation deck that all emerged here.

I wrote this on facebook in response to others appreciation of the work: “The vibrant blue Pendelton blanket crown looks incredible with the stark-white canyon walls and equally arresting turquoise sky. There is a lushness to the primary colors vibrating off of the rugged, fraying African mudcloth. Cool man…life is beautiful…”

Way Weaver and Pattern Walker Coleen Renee’s Painted Body Initiation

My sister Coleen and I met the call of the Red Earth together through my Painted Body ritualistic photography process here in New Mexico. Enjoy Coleen’s first hand account of this transformative,  fierce and joyful experience:

Red Earth Calls

By Coleen Renee

 

Red Earth calls…

Primal stirrings…

Awakening self I do not recognize.

Oh.

It’s you!  Yes, I…I remember now.

Take my hand, let’s play, walk, sing, dance, scream, laugh, sleep, pray, be…

United.

I’ve missed you.

I love being in nature in my altogetherness.  The obvious vulnerability and the strength felt while standing in that vulnerability brings an aliveness and freedom one must experience to understand.  It’s perhaps a bit like the first time you say, “I love you” to someone.  You’re not quite sure how it will land, but you feel the power of owning and expressing it.

When I was invited to participate in the Painted Body work with Shaman/Artist/Healer, Melissa Weiss Steele, I said yes without hesitation.  Being naked in nature is almost always a “yes” for me.  Of course the Painted Body work offered something very different.  I have seen the growth of Melissa’s work over the years and heard many stories of her adventures.  I felt profoundly honored to be asked to participate with Melissa as my guide and witness.

We headed up a canyon in Abiquiu, New Mexico on a warm sunny afternoon in November.  Being a very pale woman of Irish descent with “bad” knees, I worried a bit about surviving the harsh sun and making the trek into and out of the canyon.  Melissa let me set the pace.  Toting a gallon of water I headed in with Melissa’s guidance.

I was not prepared for the intensity of the place: immediately sacred, challenging and very aware of me. Having been here many times, Melissa had become quite accustomed to the energies and gave me several helpful suggestions as I worked to acclimate to the intense energy moving through me.  I finally found my center by both grounding into the earth and lifting my heart to the heavens while leaning against a dark red earthen wall.

More in sync with the land and its energies, we continued into the canyon.  We had set our intentions as we drove to the canyon entrance.  I sought guidance for my work and the courage to walk my path fully.  The Land Spirits offered me teachings and gifts in great abundance.  I took in all that I could at the time and weeks later am finding new revelations from my experiences.

Deer chose the spot for the actual Painted Body work in the late afternoon.  As I disrobed, that familiar sense of strength and vulnerability infused me.  To remove the barriers between nature and myself is an act of trust that, for me, is always rewarded with a delightful communion of spirits.

The sensations of being painted – coolness of the paint, texture of the brushes – made me acutely aware of my skin and before I knew it moved me beyond it.  While my skin was being covered I slowly became more and more naked to myself. Parts I had never experienced began to surface.  These unexperienced parts of me intrigued and even thrilled me.  I slipped into my animal self – and sight, sound, smell, touch and even taste became attuned and merged.  My Western thinking mind no longer had control of me. I was free of ideas of who I was suppose to be.  I walked across the land without a thought to my feet.  I brandished a stick for the pure delight of it.  I laughed.  I prowled.  I rolled in the beautiful red, red earth and was embraced by the Mother and reborn.  I danced.  I played with Sun, Earth, Vegetation, Melissa, shadows – exploring whatever called to me there in the safety of the canyon and with Melissa as sacred witness.

As the sun moved beyond the canyon and shadows fell my new experiences merged within my more familiar self, now changed forever – now changed for better.  I vibrate differently.  I am more assured of my path and feel the courage to walk it pumping through me.  I dressed once more in my clothes but the Painted Body still covers me – it has become part of my new skin even after many weeks of bathing.

The next morning on the way to the airport, Melissa pulls off the road to show me some of the slides from the photos she took in the canyon.  Part of me doesn’t want to see them for fear they may rob my experience somehow.  But I am pleased to find how wonderful it is to recognize myself in a picture looking just like I felt at the time of the photo.  How rarely it happens in our culture to have one’s insides and outsides matching.  How delightful to have a visceral experience accurately captured – a true mirror of the naked self in the Painted Body.  I feel so grateful for this profoundly beautiful and deeply precious experience.  Thank you Melissa!

Margi Halfon’s Painted Body Initiation into the Hidden Petra-like New Mexico Desert

Petra is a DreamTime place. It is a magical and cloistered city tucked away in the desert cliffs of Jordan. The first time I saw an image of the huge temple facade peeking though a slender opening in the canyon walls I was stunned. I have yearned to walk through that portal into that otherworldly place since that day. I had no idea that through moving to New Mexico I was entering the same landscape as “a rose-red city half as old as time.”

Petra

Like Petra, New Mexico is an enchanted and mysterious place. It has its own hidden canyons, caves and tunnels. I have made it my work to enter these worlds and dance with the energies. The Painted Body ritualistic photography series emerged from these explorations in graffiti strewn tunnels and waterways. Now I am sharing these adventures with other brave souls, and we are embracing our fierceness and joy through these initiatory photo shoots.

Margi Halfon is a complex and magnetic person. She has her own deep cloistered parts, and is also a sparkly and engaging spirit. She and her partner Sean Tebor’s vision is to weave together yoga, dance and Tarot creating a community gathering place where Santa Fean’s can explore and embody their own juicy vitality.

Margi entered this Painted Body Process from a place of surrender and awe. She had recently gone through some intense personal shifts and was ready to meet the earth and herself through this collaborative ceremonial process. Throughout the journey she kept pointing out how much the land reminded her of Petra. She had been fortunate enough to visit as a younger woman when she lived in Israel. I had not shared with her yet that I pulled some of my own Oracle of Initiation divination cards and The Stargate deck by James F. Jereb before we met. Both of our ‘Masters of the Stargate’ cards were Egyptian. I found the parallels between her recognition of Petra similarities to this place and each of our connection through the cards to Sekhmet and Re incredible. The world NEVER ceases to amaze me.

Margi and I in a Petra-like portal created by the camera...life is so fascinating

As we wound our way back into my secret cathedral in the stones I was aware of what a gift I have been given by having such a sacred place for my soul. Margi illuminated how rare it is to have a relationship that feeds and nurtures me so deeply. It really is my hidden sacred temple. It is home. The feelings of love, joy, peace and belonging I experience there is what I have always dreamed of. This knowing of my connection to the land is part of the wisdom I share when I take people on these initiatory journeys; a gateway into their own re-enchantment with the Earth Mother.

During the Painted Body process different people need different things. At times the Painted Body shoots have been very shamanic and intense, at other times playful and inquisitive, but always potent and visceral. It really calls forth what transformation that person needs at that time. The process always offers a doorway into delight and wonder through engaging with the raw natural world. The exposure of the nudity, the sensuality of the paints and the soil, the freedom of flowing through the ritualistic container that we create all offer an opening into ones true essence. That really is our work, to reclaim our own inner knowing and engage with life from that innate radiance. We are all creative, passionate, powerful people when we release old programs and constrictions connecting to our pure potential.

Margi met this place of pure potential. She embodied her regalness, her reserve, her exuberance, her vulnerability and her unbridled joy. She danced her own rhythms, she touched her own depths, and the canyon, camera and I witnessed her majestic Spirit. It was an honor to share this experience with her. Life is beautiful. Thank You.

www.OracleofInitiation.com