Dancing with the Hierophant

Throughout the year, I’ve been leading monthly on-line Creative Art Playshops. I offer these gatherings to support soul-engaged community with coming together to explore themes of our individual & collective Hero’s Journeys. We are living in intense times & it's healing and deeply inspiring to have a safe space to connect with others & ourselves through creativity, reflection & presence.

Holding space for community to gather in this way is both a privilege & a sacred calling for me. I’m grateful to have the capacity to offer these events at a discounted rate so more people can experience the nourishment, insight & magic these gatherings offer.

It’s been lovely to see the various forms of art that get created in these gatherings. Some participants collage or paint, others bead jewelry or fix household items with care. Some write poetry or journal. One participant spent a session reading cards she’d received over the years, allowing herself to receive the love she’s gathered throughout her lifetime.

These Playshops are not about perfection or polished outcomes. They're about the process of exploration, reflection & connection with yourself & others. I invite you to enroll in an upcoming event & gift yourself a few hours of soulful reflection, creative freedom & community connection. These gatherings are fun and inspiring in so many ways. Here's a link to upcoming events.

Throughout the year, I’ve been weaving chakra themes into these monthly gatherings to inspire and guide our creative explorations. Chakras are understood in many traditions as energy centers within the body associated with different aspects of our physical, emotional & spiritual being. Each month we journey through a different chakra, using archetypes, elements and expressive art to access wisdoms of the mind, body & soul.

In April we focused on the Crown Chakra & worked with the element of Thought. We activated the archetype of the Magician to support us with cultivating mind magic & thought alchemy. Our thoughts create our reality, so I created this drawing to explore this theme.

In May, we explored the Brow Chakra and the element of Light, which by default also introduces the concept of Shadow. In this playshop we each named & honored archetypal forces in our Inner Council & explored how these inner guides influence our perceptions, decisions & sense of identity. Here’s a collage I created as I explored the council of women within me that are wisdom keepers, truth tellers & soul companions that illuminate my path.

In June we activated the archetype of the Hierophant in the Throat Chakra and celebrated Summer Solstice. The Hierophant is a wise teacher that shares sacred knowledge with the world. The Hierophant reminds us that our voice can be a vehicle for transformation & to speak, sing, create & share from a place of deep integrity & alignment.

Here’s a page I started in the playshop. It's not done yet. It may take months to complete. That's one of the things I love about art journaling. Pages can be done in layers, bringing inspirations to life over time, evolving along the way.

Saturday, July 26, 2025 is the next playshop, where we will explore "The Hero's Journey of the Heart". I encourage you to enroll and say YES to celebrating your life journey in a heart-centric way.

Dancing with the Heirophant

It's amazing how wisdom teachings from these Playshops find their way into my life. The day after the Throat Chakra playshop I went to City Park Jazz, one of Denver, Colorado's beloved summer concert series.

Every Sunday evening a different band plays music as the sun sets. The crowd that gathers is multi-ethnic & multi-generational, which I deeply appreciate. Blankets, lawn chairs & dancing creates a lovely sense of aliveness for the community as we bring closure to the weekend. Here's a little video I took of "Atomga" a joyful band that recently played.

As I listened to this band play, I was inspired to head to the dance floor. I took off my shoes, walked to center stage & started moving my aging body...which now has a more restricted range of motion. As I danced, the Hierophant within guided me through the chakras, activating wisdom teachings for me to embody right there in front of a crowd of a few hundred people.

First, the Hierophant activated my Crown Chakra & reminded me of my core spiritual practice of Prayer. I looked out over the sea of people sitting in the park & connected into prayer for each one of them. I strived to see the Divine embedded in each person, including myself & let this prayer for All infuse my movements.

Then the Hierophant awakened my Brow Chakra & called forth a core member of my Inner Council, the archetype of "The Dancer". Over the past several years, I've been mourning the loss of this part of me as my body ages. The Hierophant informed me that it's time to dance in a new way and to keep this part of my spirit alive as I move into this next stage of my life.

Then the Hierophant spoke truth from my Throat Chakra and reminded me that I am a Ceremonialist. I took wider ownership of this aspect of my being and deepened my prayer dancing as a form of ceremony in & for the MiddleWorld. My dancing became a devotion to bridging Spirit and Soul, Heaven and Earth, and the Sacred and the Mundane.

The Hierophant then breathed into my Heart Chakra the invocation to keep my heart open with love. I danced my heroic heart open and shined it out in all directions with compassion, forgiveness & care. Dancing my Heart Prayer reminded me that Love is a verb and a way of being, which is so needed during these intense days of uncertainty, grief & anger.

I ignited my Solar Chakra & allowed myself to be powerfully present with courage & vulnerability as I danced big in front of the crowd. Rather than shrinking back due to my age & shifting physical limitations, I expanded my fullness and permissioned myself to be seen in my raw & radiant expression of my prayer dance.

The Hierophant reminded me that to hold sacred wisdom is also to stand in it, publicly, visibly, even defiantly, especially in a world marked by injustice, grief & spiritual amnesia. The Hierophant does not whisper truth to only the safe or the ready. This inner teacher stands unwavering, illuminated by integrity, speaking & moving from a place of soul-aligned power.

All of this energy moved down into my Sacral Chakra, activating my senses with the pleasure & joy of being alive. I felt the wind dancing on my skin, my heart beating with aliveness, my lungs breathing life force energy and my muscles expanding & contracting as I danced to the music.

The Hierophant reminded me that movement is not only prayer, it is medicine. To offer healing to the wider world, I must also tend to my own temple. As I danced, I felt into stagnation that has settled into places within my own being. Through movement, I began to clear debris from my BodyMind, making space for vitality, joy & inner flow to return. This dance wasn’t just an offering for the collective, it was a reclamation of my own aliveness.

As I danced with the sun to my back, I watched my shadow dance with me and I reclaimed some love for my form and movement. I embodied a deep gratitude for being alive now, in this moment.

The Hierophant offered a powerful Root Chakra reminder for me: the body is not just a vessel, it's a template of sacred life. Yes, it is aging. Yes, it is changing. And still, there is life in me yet, and I am meant to live it fully, reverently & unapologetically. Here's a rock I painted in one of the Playshops to remind me of this.

After this prayerful session of dancing wtih the Hierophant I returned to my park blanket with a smile on my face and light in my heart. I was deeply grateful for this expiernace and for the guidance I was able to receive in such a fun & engaging way.

As I left the park to return home & prepare for the upcoming work week, the Hierophant reminded me that I do not need to be on a dance floor to pray with my body. I can use sacred movement in the everyday rituals of my daily life.

Whether I’m doing the dishes, watering the garden, or standing in line at the store, I can choose to move through the world with awareness and grace. I can stretch, sway, walk or simply breathe with intention, offering my presence as a prayer.

Embodiment itself is holy. Every movement, no matter how subtle or small, can be an act of love. A living prayer. A quiet offering of my heart to the world. That is what I am taking forward with me from this experience. My hope is that something in this story lights a spark in you as well, reminding you that your body is a sacred vessel & that your daily life is a ceremony in motion.

I am deeply grateful for the inspiration these monthly Playshops bring into my life. It's an honor and a joy to gather with community each month to create, reflect & celebrate the ever-unfolding journey of being alive, in all its twists and turns and complexities.

If your heart is longing for connection, creativity, or simply a space to be witnessed and renewed, I warmly invite you to join a Creative Arts Playshop. I will be offering them monthly throughout the rest of the year and look forward to seeing you soon. Sign Up Now.