exercise one

[winter]

Spirit channel: “The intent of first drawing is to reflect where you are. If your heart feels hollow, show that. If your legs are with pain, show that. If your body feels tight, your mind feels full, your head continually wanders, show that. Why? Because we cannot understand what we truly want or need in our lives unless we’re willing to first take an honest appraisal of who, what, and where we are.

Store this drawing in a safe place to come back to.”

In Summary,

Download your copy of the non-binary template here.
Using whatever materials speak to you, decorate the template to record how you’re feeling in body, mind, and/or spirit.
Store it somewhere safe to reflect upon later.

HELPFUL TIPS

Everyone creates differently. How you choose to conceptualize the artwork should be an honest reflection of you. I recognize that the creative process can be a difficult one for many to get into, so here are some helpful tips to get you started.

In the Spirit channel, we were directed to relate how we feel. Using the symptoms in the channel as examples, here’s a few ways one could express that information artistically.

Spirit said, “If your heart feels hollow, show that.” You could:

Draw an oval on the chest and leave it blank
Cut out a shape from the chest
Write the word “hollow” over the heart
Leave it void of color

Spirit said, “If your legs are with pain, show that.” You could:

Fill the legs with a color that you associate with pain, such as red
Draw the shape of the way you experience pain body, such as lightning bolts for nerve pain or fire for inflammation
Color stiff joints with gray for granite or concrete
Write the actual word of how you feel in that body part (stiff, inflammation, nerve pain, paralysis, etc.)

If control is an issue for you, perhaps you could cut out a picture of a steering wheel from a car advertisement and paste it over your heart or brain.

If your currently really happy over a pregnancy or puppy, draw or paste a picture of puppies or babies.

If you feel blocked from connecting to this exercise, scribe the word “BLOCKED” across the head or the hands. Don’t be afraid to be literal.

Remember, how you interpret what’s going on in your body is for you to recognize, nobody else. If you’d like to share your creation with me or others, I am certain many would be honored to see it. You can post and hashtag the drawing #treasurehollowed2020, DM me on Facebook or Instagram, or email me the picture directly. And of course, you can always ask me questions to help you along the way. I’m happy to help you through this.

exercise two

[spring]

New Years herald new beginnings. As 2020 swept in, each of us were invited to participate in a creative reflection practice led by Spirit. Over one hundred of you decided to join me in this artistic practice and I couldn’t feel more pride from that. Making space for creativity is the most important part of this process.
Love met us here.
Love helped us peer through the veil of our projections and soften our truth onto a blank page. We tuned in to a higher perspective of our body and the subconscious. To the messages of the soul body. You all should be so proud.

A dozen people decided to share their winter interpretations with the rest of us. To you I give my sincere gratitude. Thank you for your vulnerability. I can say with absolute certainty your work truly moved others to action. The numbers don’t lie. Every post featuring your completed art generated a dozen more people beginning the program themselves. It encouraged questions, which meant people were beginning to think about intuitive art is a new way. You ignited passion with your humility and instilled bravery with kindred purpose. You gifted confidence. That, my friends, is invaluable.

As for my own experience with the first exercise in Treasure Hollowed…well, what more can I say other then it changed my entire life. And I mean that without a hint of exaggeration. I’ve been on the fence of whether or not I was going to share this publicly, but I concluded that you all show up for yourselves with me every single day stripped raw and eyes open. I want to honor myself with that level of surrender and dignity too. I don’t want to hide this, because if I did, it would be out of shame. And there is nothing for me to be ashamed about.

For those interested, you can read more about what truly life-changing information the winter practice helped me uncover. For those who are just ready to get in it— get in it!

Spirit Channel: “Instead of following the trail of breadcrumbs that keeps you from starvation, why not instead follow the pathway that leads to plenitude? We can think of no greater disservice you create upon yourselves than running away from what makes you scared instead of following all that makes you happy.” - Wisdom of the Grandmothers Circle, Spirit Channel

In January, we were invited to participate in the experience of coming into presence through art. Using color, symbolism and collage we were prompted to create a mirror of who we are in this moment. Now, let us turn our gaze forward and express our hopes with open hearts and plant the seeds of what we want to cultivate most through the coming year.

Exercise

Download your copy of the non-binary template here.
Using whatever materials speak to you, decorate the template to create an invitation for the medicine or experiences you seek in your life. Be it a project you wish to start, movement you want to happen, or healing you are ready to invoke.
You can let your intuition decide for you by laying color down and designs with what feels right. Or, you can take a focused approach and center your energy on just a few things that you would like to cultivate.
Consider this as a vision board for the body and soul.
For example, if you have a knee that’s been bothering you, cool it down with green or blue. If you have a hip that’s tight, you can draw or clip a picture of an open lock. If you feel like you keep repeating a childhood wound, consider drawing your inner child holding your hand as a symbol of peace and safety. Stick-men will do, so try not to overthink it. If you have a strong resistance or recoil to it, that may be the critical-self struggling with perfectionism. Don’t scrap it! Consider drawing/adding something to represent bringing healing to this aspect within in you too. It’s normal to feel as if something is missing, or that perhaps we did it wrong. These are trust exercises just as much as they intuition flexors.
Display it somewhere safe to reflect upon.
Most importantly, the first drawing is, without a doubt, always the perfect drawing.

HELPFUL TIPS

Try to think about color as you use it.
What color makes you feel powerful and in command?
What color refreshes you?
What color invigorates or relaxes you? What color commands attention?

Basic color theory is as follows:
Red = Love, passion, strength, power
Orange = Confident, courageous, friendly, energizing
Yellow = Energetic, creative, joyous, childlike
Green = Freshness, growth, healing
Blue = Calming, stability, integrity, peace, loyalty
Purple = Nobility, spirituality, ambition, intuition, mystery

How you interpret your desires is for you to decide. Try to avoid adding anything material, like a car, house, etc. Remember, this practice is for connecting to the body and soul. The brain wants things, the body wants health, the soul wants joy, experiences, and peace.

If you’d like to share your creation with me or others, I am absolutely certain many would feel honored to see it. You can post and hashtag your work with #treasurehollowed2020, DM me on Facebook or Instagram, or email me the picture directly. And of course you can always ask me questions to help you along the way. As always, I’m happy to see you through this.

Lotsa love!
Jamie

exercise three

[summer]

And so the Treasure Hollowed journey continues. To those who are just beginning, welcome. To my veterans, thank you for seeing this through. If you still have Spring’s assignment laying on your desk or stowed away in a drawer, know that it’s okay. Come back to it, leave it, start with it— whatever you choose is the right thing to do.

As for me, I’ve been thinking a lot about illustration these days. I’ve always been a big fan of storybooks. They captivated me as a child and they captivate me still. They’re one of the reasons I dreamed so strongly of becoming an author. I’d stare in wonder at the pages and try to imagine myself being able to conceptualize such grand tales and support them with my own arrangement of shapes and colors. In fact, one of the things I longed for most in my days of wildlife realism was to incorporate illustrative qualities; to completely transition from creating what I saw with my eyes to creating what I saw in my head. We can do this with TH. We conceptualize and create from our imaginations, which is what makes the artwork so accurate for it’s through the imagination that Spirit speaks.

This season’s TH exercise, I’m going to add a personal touch. If you’d like to participate, I want you to email me when you’re ready and I am going to connect with Spirit on your behalf and ask how it would best serve you to complete your artwork.

So what would that look like? Well, perhaps Spirit will instruct you to only use three colors. Or maybe that you’re to decorate the page with quotes, or create a contour drawing, or clip pictures from magazines and create a collage. The possibilities are limitless. Know that they’re your instructions and yours alone. This is about restoring the magic in the medicine for all of us and to push you beyond what you’ve already done. When it’s complete, please post to share with the hashtag #treasurehollowed2020, or you can email me to post on your behalf on my account. As always, if you run into problems, connect with me and I’ll be happy to help.

Beaming proudly at you all,

Jamie
jamie@jamiehomeister.com

(If you need a copy of the template, you can access the non-binary here.)

exercise four

[autumn]

“Welcome to your time of Harvest. Some will gather in love, and some will gather to mourn; many gather to mourn love lost, and most will not gather at all. There are those who blossom in the season's warmth, whereas others begin to shelter themselves inward. The continuing thread between all- the cord that ties our experiences together- is family.This Treasure Hollowed season will be hallmarking family, specifically, your family of origin. How does thinking about your family make you feel inside your body?
Be free in your coloring and render. Close your eyes to choose your colors. Let your hands move you to choice. This exercise may not be a simple task, but it's one worthwhile."
- Spirit Channel, Wisdom of the Grandmothers Circle

Take a deep breath…
steady your heart…
call on the energy of your family…
and create!

For me, I plan to paint three separate pieces because I feel that I have three different families: my family of origin, the family I created, and the family I married into. None of them have come together in a cohesive way. Why? Well, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that every autumn, I gain a lot of weight. I try not to be too hard on myself about it, but it’s been a really difficult year. My mother was obsessively cruel when it came to numbers on the scale, and healing that inner language has been harder than rewinding almost anything else from my childhood. As soon as September hits, my body balloons by twenty to thirty pounds. Its both painful and uncomfortable. This year has been the most aggressive example that I can remember. It will be enlightening to see what emotions I am holding in my torso, and I hope this exercise will give me some insight into what I need to work through to care for myself when I am in this cycle. Perhaps even how to prevent it entirely.

The things I will be looking for:

Repeating colors. These will tell me if I am bringing a specific emotion into each family unit.
Repeating colors in specific locations. Repeating colors showing up in the same location will show me exactly where I am holding a particular emotion in my body.
Contrasting colors. My body might feel totally different about my family of origin versus the family I've made. I'll look to see which one feels more in power, in grace, and in softness. Then can begin to reflect on why.
Repeating shapes or symbols. Bears, snails, squiggles, circles, spirals, what do they all mean? Perhaps I will look up information online or in books to their significance, or maybe I will just hold them close to my heart and see what time reveals. What’s important is to acknowledge that they showed up. I truly believe everything else will unfold in its right timing.

If you'd like to “read” into the colors, here's a few interpretations to get you started:

Purple: positive, inspiration, intuitive, teacher, loyal
insensitive, disconnected, obstinate
Red: courage, strength, energy, passion
frustration, insecure, irritable
Orange: joy, creative, ambition, vitality
self-indulgent, confusion, lack of energy
Yellow: independent, free-thinker, strong personality
suppressed personality, lonely, isolated
Green: connection, compassion, trustworthy
jealousy, insecurity, fear
Blue: imaginative, ingenuity, generosity, imaginative
moody, critical, misunderstanding

I recognize that this isn't going to be easy for many of us, myself included, but I also know that this the potential to be the sweetest experience. Please take care of yourself and do what feels respectful to your body, mental health, and spirit.

I’m sending my hopes and wishes for a graceful and gentle autumn season.

Love, and love.
Jamie

(P.S. You can download a copy of the template here)

(P.P.S., please consider sharing your process. The resonance to your artwork or story can be so strong and powerfully healing to others. You can email me your completed project to jamie@jamiehomeister.com, or hashtag #treasurehollowed2020.)

[welcome]

Hello, my friends.

Welcome to Treasure Hollowed, an exploratory offering of artistic intention setting. This is a sacred invitation to work intimately with your Spirit team, even if you don't exactly understand what that looks like for you. You do not have to ascribe to a specific cosmology to benefit from these teachings. Nor do you need any skill with connecting to your intuition, to Spirit, or the Universe. You do not need to believe yourself to be intuitive or magical. (Although if you feel called to this medicine, I am quite sure you are both these things and more.) All you need to know is that the person who shows up for this practice today, just as they are, is the person who is prepared to complete it perfectly.

CHALLENGES ARE JUST OPPORTUNITIES IN DISGUISE

This process will challenge us in our own unique way. No two experiences will be the same. Where some folx may be gifted with powerful breakthroughs in the first season, others may require all four practices to see a benefit. Trust in the timing and circumstances of your experiences for they are being crafted in divine relationship with an intelligence much higher than our own.

The Universe is not apathetic to your existence. It is not condemning or unkind. Truly it wants nothing more than your happiness, wellness, and joy. But to be in receipt of that goodness, many of us have to first recognize what we actually believe ourselves worthy of receiving. Perhaps this is where Treasure Hollowed will lend its magic to us most, reshaping our perspective through the softening magic of art.

RESETTING THE EXPERIENCE

If you feel overwhelmed with any of these projects, know that you're not alone. I find that the creative process instigates my inner critic more than any other area of my life. If you catch yourself casting opinions, judgments or expectations upon yourself, stop when you recognize this energy is coming up for you. Place two soft hands over your heart and reconnect to your breath. Consider this as an invitation to be still. Tune in to the beat of your heart, to the hum of your surroundings, to the rise and fall of your chest. Acknowledge that there is a very protective piece of you that may be scared of trying something new. Send it love. Thank it for working so hard to keep you safe, but let it know that its assistance isn't necessary anymore. That you’ve got this.

You may have to engage in this practice several times, maybe even in succession. If you have spent a lifetime giving your power away to your inner critic, it's only reasonable to expect that they will throw a tantrum when you begin to pull it back. But by taking a few small moments to pause and reconnect with yourself when these feelings come up, you’re acknowledging that you choose to tune into and empower the wisdom of the heart rather than the fear of uncertainty. This is a tremendously valuable exercise that can change the entire pitch of our vibration, and should not be one to skip if it speaks to you.

A SACRED AGREEMENT

This offering is extended by invitation, which means one has to agree to the terms given to participate. These terms are:

Respect your community. Treat others as you'd want to be treated. If there is a teaching moment regarding the words someone uses, inclusivity, appropriation, etc., please inform the participant discreetly rather addressing them in a public format. Anything that surfaces as a community or program issue should be immediately directed to me so I can address it promptly.
Respect your wisdom. This offering is 100% channeled through Spirit, which means its teachings will hold something for everyone. Yet each of us carries our own inner well of wisdom from our lifetimes of experiences. That inner well holds your truth, what you know to be right for you. If you are strongly for or against a practice offered here, trust in that. Sometimes the greater teaching is just learning to honor our 'no.'
Respect the materials. While this offering is crafted by Spirit, I am choosing to be a channel and deliver their will through my hands. Please respect what is being offered here and do not use any of the materials beyond what I have given my consent to.

So let’s get to it, shall we? I'm so excited for this journey and to watch how this work will take shape through your hands.

Let go and let the creator create!

[materials]

This offering has been crafted to make use of what’s immediately available around your home. Choosing your materials can be as simple or intricate as you like. You do not need to purchase anything to participate, however, I strongly suggest that you use what you feel called to. Meaning, if you are pulled to use color in one drawing but complete the next in monochrome, trust in that.