If you wish to see my work or hear me speak, check back regularly for upcoming events.

As of this post (3/26/10), my work can be seen at the following location(s) (all in the Asheville, NC, area):

The Downtown Market, 45 South French Broad, downtown Asheville (open Fri-Sun, 10-5); I will be leaving this site as of Sunday, the 28th, at 5pm. Look for my work to pop up elsewhere in Asheville.
Bravo! office, 5th floor, BB&T building, downtown Asheville

HAPPENINGS:

AT CRYSTAL VISIONS (in Hendersonville, on highway 25 just west of 26):

On Saturday, April 3rd, I will be giving a brief FIRE talk at Crystal Visions about my event there on the 22nd:

On Tuesday, April 22nd, from 7-9pm, I will be offering an introductory workshop on playing the Transformation Game to ignite de-light within (and between) people.

Sometime in April or May, I will be offering a Transformation Game focused on rediscovering joy in oneself and one’s relationships. Please check back for exact date(s).

All of these events will be co-led by Bonnie Cooper, LCSW, relationship coach and certified imago relationship therapist.

Ongoing Asheville dream group next meets on Wednesday, April 7th, from 7-9.

Please contact me at innerlandscaping@aol.com for more information about any of these events.

Today in secular terms is Groundhog Day, but in Celtic tradition it is known as Imbolq, the special day mid-way between winter solstice and spring equinox. Six weeks after the shortest day of the year, we can now see clearly that the sun is returning. One of the traditional “tasks” for this day is to completely sweep out the hearth, the heart of the home, and lay in a completely new fire. One might also do this with the human heart, and so I dedicated my morning’s labyrinth walk to this task—sweeping out the old ashes and preparing a completely clean heart-space for what is to come. 

This morning as I walked my labyrinth with small, measured steps, I was reminded of the movie, What About Bob, where Bob’s therapist advises making changes with baby steps. In fact, it has been said that you need only take one small step towards spirit, for it to meet you—more than half way. And so, with my new grand adventure underway, I am reminded by my labyrinth walk that all it takes for the rest of my life to show up is for me to take one baby step at a time.

From 1/17/08
This morning I watched a video by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., entitled, Healing the Luminous Body: The Way of the Shaman, in which he talks about Destiny retrieval. This feels very similar to James Hillman’s ideas in Soul’s Code, and to a number of current writers/thinkers. The idea is this: no matter what current circumstances are, no matter what diagnosis you have been given, etc., there is a possible healthy, whole, joyful, successful you which already exists in the “future”; the retrieval opens a doorway to that possible you and retrieves it from the “future” to the present moment—you merely need to allow it, step into it, etc.
I took this idea with me into the labyrinth this morning, and walked toward that “possible me” which is a successful visionary artist, leaving behind the worries, fears, doubts, and nay-sayers in my mind.

The problem is, even after a “onederful” experience in the labyrinth or at the Oneness Blessing, I need constant reminders to keep me connected to that realization. A chance encounter with a butterfly can do it or with a “onederful” person; little notes I leave for myself can also be quite helpful, In this vein, I have created a line of clothing, cards, mugs, bags, and stickers which you might find helpful, too. Check them out at “The Onederful Store”—http://www.cafepress.com/oneder. I hope you enjoy your trip there, and thanks for visitng here.

It never ceases to amaze me—you follow the path of the labyrinth in to your own center and, if you look long/deeply enough, it opens out onto/into the entire universe. Kabir (version by Robert Bly) says it better than I:

Inside this clay jug are canyons
and pine mountains
And the maker of canyons
and pine mountains,
All seven oceans are inside,
and hundreds of millions of stars.
The acid that tests gold is there,
and the one who judges jewels,
And the music from the strings no one touches,
and the source of all water.
If you want the truth,
I will tell you the truth,
Friend, listen:
The God whom I love is inside.

A number of years ago a friend gave me a deck of cards called Osho Zen, based on the spiritual teachings of Osho. Eash morning I draw 1 or 2 cards to reflect on for the day. This morning I drew Clinging to the Past and Moment to Moment. I realized that an event from the previous evening upon which I was obsessing was, indeed, the past and I sure was clinging to it in continuing to chew upon it in my mind. I used my morning walk in the labyrinth, then, to be in the moment, with each step being a new moment, a new beginning, a new life all in itself. (You can select Osho Zen cards online at: http://www.osho.com/main.cfm?Area=Magazine&Sub1Menu=Tarot&Sub2Menu=OshoZenTarot&Language=English

From 1/8/8
Willow was sick over the holidays. This is the first morning in a long time that she joined me out in the labyrinth. The morning was balmy; I was in shirt sleeves, enjoying the warm breeze blowing in a new sense of inner peace and calm.

From 12/24/07
Willow hadn’t been coming to the labyrinth for a while. This morning I entered with a different energy than usual—dancing (a la Chocolat)—and she ran through a portion of the labyrinth, like a kitten playing, chasing an unseen friend.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a LIGHT from within.” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I often find that my internal light glows brighter after a visit to the labyrinth. On the cloudiest of days, once I reach the center, it seems as if the sun has peeked out from behind those clouds, but it is just my perception of my own light radiating out.

What makes your inner light shine?