Chapter Four - Water - Dancing In The RainThe Elements of Art Journaling with Effy WildAfter our explorations with earth and air we have begun to develop roots and branches. Now it’s time to begin to settle into the truth of who we are and sway & bend & dance in the truth of what we feel.

This Week Will Be Spent Dancing With Our EmotionsThere won’t be very much writing during this week’s lesson. (I heard that sigh of relief! :))

I would like for you to do the same clustering exercise you did with the element of earth. Type up your list of associations and save your words in the back of your journal. We *won’t* be using them in our art project this week, but that’s okay! You’ll have them ready for use in the future! You might also consider employing the technique of contemplative meditation (in the form of free writing) to your work with water this week, perhaps by spending some time with an image or symbol of water that speaks to you.

We’ll be learning the skill of sitting with and honouring our feelings during this week’s experience with water. We will then invoke the spirit of compassion to heal and transform the emotions we’re working with.

Find a quiet half an hour and conjure up the memory of something you experienced that had very strong emotional content. Try to remember it as vividly as you can. Include as many of the five senses as you possibly can during this exercise. This may take some time, and that’s okay. DARE to fully feel it. Know that you already experienced this feeling before. It didn’t overwhelm you then (you’re still here, aren’t you? :)) and it won’t overwhelm you now.

Dare to confront it head on, to be honest with yourself. Listen for any insights that might come up. As you sit with the feeling ask yourself how the spirit of compassion would address this feeling. What would compassion offer a little girl who experienced this situation or emotion?

When you feel that you’ve gained some insight, or the emotional charge is beginning to ebb, put your palms on your chest, over your heart, and send yourself comfort, love and healing. Honour the feeling as being a part of you. Acknowledge it. If it something you no longer wish to feel, release it by imagining it flowing out of you like tears.

I call this “Sitting With It”When we sit with our emotions be they wonderful or difficult and fully feel them we allow them to communicate with us about what’s really going on. The tendency in our culture is to run from strong emotions as fast as we can, but this is incredibly unhealthy. Sitting with it allows us to be fully present to the moment. In the case of wonderful emotions, it is a little like nailing the feeling to the wall of our hearts where it will remain forever. We truly own that feeling of joy or excitement or strength. We take it in and claim it for our very own. In the case of difficult emotions, it is a little like ripping the band-aid off in one smooth movement. There is a sense of moving through it rather than stuffing it, ignoring it, or dishonouring it. In either case, when we sit with our emotions, we are giving ourselves the gift of being fully present to our experience. Being fully present, the emotion has the chance to teach us, to inform us, to transform us.

You can employ this method of honouring your emotions and listening to what they have to teach you any time! Once you’ve worked through the process, it is always a good idea to make note of the experience in a journal. At some point in the future, you can refer back to these notes and then sit down to art journal with clarity and self-empathy.

OPTIONALIn chapter four, we’ll be working with ‘watery’ techniques. Before you pop in to see the video, it would be great if you would grab a piece of notepaper and write down any art techniques that spring to mind as being especially ‘watery’. Once you’ve done that, come on over to the classroom and watch the video!

If you’re doing what I’m doing you will need the following supplies for this project:

*Your art journal

*White gesso

*Drawing tools (graphite, etc.) to draw a face with, a magazine image of a woman that makes you think ʻcompassionʼ or the image of the spirit of compassion that I provided you with.

*Paint, mark makers, etc.

*Anything else that pleases you

This Week’s Art Journal ProjectAlternative Projects To Try*Pick an association from your water word list that has special resonance for you and do an art journal page using that word.

*Print out a fresh sheet of your associations (and add to them if you feel compelled!). Say out loud “I Feel...” and circle all the words that fit. Do a page using these associations.

*Art journal about your relationship with your emotions. Do you try to escape them? Do you feel them fully?

*Think about an emotion you have a lot of difficulty with. See if you can express it in an art journal page. Journal, in writing, about how it feels to confront it head on.

For this weekʼs project, we will be working with art journal techniques that allow us to embrace difficult emotions and transform them. We will be using a lot of water soluble mediums and some gesso.

Going Deeper*Try out the “Water” meditation by Philip Carr Gomm (you do have to purchase the album as an mp3 download). Alternatively, you can listen to a meditation on all four elements for free on Druidcast ~ one of my favourite podcasts!) When youʼre done, do an art journal page around whatever insights came up for you.

*Listen to #4 - Water by Wendy Rule. (Again, you do have to purchase the song as an mp3 download unless you won a copy in one of our contests!). Do an art journal page around whatever insights came up for you. Include earthy elements such as texture or thick layering.

*Take a long hot soak in the tub and think about your origins - your motherʼs womb, the primordial soup from whence we all sprang.

*Think about your relationship with your emotions. Do you dare to feel them fully or do you attempt to escape them? Addiction is a very ʻwateryʼ thing, and often it develops as a direct result of trying to manage emotional states. Do you struggle with this? Explore this in a journal page.

*Watch a tear jerker and honour your ability to cry and feel empathy.

*Wear a lot of blue-green and see how it makes you feel.

*Do some research on developing your intuition, if this interests you.

*Go swimming!

*Drink a glass of cool, clear water and imagine it cleansing your innards.

*Do some research on water soluble mediums and experiment with some that you havenʼt tried yet.

Supplemental List of Water AssociationsThis list is in no way complete, but it is part of my own work and has been compiled over 25+ years of working with the elements. It is organized in two categories “Non Woo Woo” and “Woo Woo”. There may be information here that does not resonate with you at all, and thatʼs totally fine! Add to and subtract from this list as you see fit. There are resources links for further exploration (most especially on the ʻwoo wooʼ side of things) throughout, so make sure you save this PDF along with the printable version for future reference. When examining this list, try not to ask ʻwhyʼ a particular association has been made. Remember that this information speaks to the subconscious mind. Read it over. Let it sink in. If a particular association doesnʼt make sense to you, feel free to disregard it.

Non-Woo Woo Associations(Being those that make a common sort of sense)

Sense: Taste

Physical Representations: All bodies of water, wells, tubs, cups, fountains, images of hearts, tears, pearls, shells, water creatures such

as dolphins, starfish, otters, rain, rainbows, clouds, fog, mist

Life Cycle: Middle Age

Keywords: emotional, intuitive, cleansing, ebbing and flowing, fluid,

Colours: blue, green, the colour of the ocean in any weather or time of day, colours associated with sunset and rainy days.

Water Activities: crying (for joy or sorrow), communicating with your eyes instead of your words, feeling, intuiting, dreaming, bathing,

cleaning/cleansing, swimming, soaking.

Water Techniques: all water soluble materials and applications, exploration of emotion or intuition.

Woo Woo Associations(Being those that are intuitive and spiritual)

Astrological: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Tarot Suit: Cups, Challices, Cauldrons, Bowls (click here to learn more about Tarot)

Time of Day: Sunset

Season: Autumn

Direction: West

Symbols: Downward pointing triangle (alchemy), silver crescent (tattva), cup, cauldron, chalice, well, rivers, streams, the moon

(alternative and neopagan spirituality)

Ruling Angel: Gabriel

Mythological Creatures: Undines

Superpower: To Dare/To Dream/To Long For

Gemstones: aquamarine, pearl, moonstone, fluorite. beryl

Metals: silver

and so much more...