The Call of the Wild Soul Retreat

My experience, reflections, and art from the retreat

Episode 39:

Imagine what’s possible when you give yourself the time and space to create - I mean actually step away from the busy-ness of life and give yourself more than a single drawing or painting session. I know it can be hard to step away when there's so much on our shoulders and so many people counting on us and yet there's so much available to us when we refill our own cup.

I hope this post inspires you if you're considering going on a retreat or you'd like to hear more about what actually happens on an art retreat. 

Image Above: Me in the middle of the labyrinth at Ghost Ranch

I'm still in awe about what transpired for me when I went on the Call of the Wild Soul Retreat. I was 3 months pregnant and even though I sensed this experience would be an important one - I had no idea what was about to unfold.

I'm writing this post almost 10 years later and realizing all of the ways this retreat not only became a pivotal moment in my creative journey but also helped lay the foundation for my path into motherhood.

In this episode you'll hear:

• About Ghost Ranch Retreat Center and Georgia O'Keefe's time there

• Some of the most powerful moments for me during the retreat

• The moment that became the birth of Womb Based Creativity

• The art I created during the retreat and how I integrated into our home & nursery

What began as an art retreat became something much deeper: a remembering of who I was, a new way of trusting my creative voice, and a doorway into the next chapter of my life. 🌿🎨✨

What is the Ghost Ranch?

Image Above: Part of the gorgeous scenery at Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch is a retreat center about an hour away from Sante Fe, New Mexico. It's gorgeous, wide open spaces has all the room you need to dream, create, and reconnect with your wild spirit.

It's on this land where Georgia O'Keeffe spent her summers for 40 years. She would spend her time at Ghost Ranch painting, and she even bought part of the property when it was a dude ranch before it became the retreat center that it is today.

Image Above: Different areas, lodging, and classrooms around Ghost Ranch

I feel like my time at Ghost Ranch helped me better understand the vast, unfolding, feminine forms in Georgia O'Keffe's work. You can feel the same powerful energy from her paintings embrace you once you connect with the land there - it brought me to tears on the first night.

Looking back now as I write this almost 10 years later I'm realizing the way that I've been developing Womb Based Creativity with this same feminine energy I found at Ghost Ranch. The more I unpack and look back at this trip, the more I can appreciate just how much it is still shaping me to this day.

The birth of Womb Based Creativity

Image Above: The first night of the retreat at our opening circle. This was such a defining moment for me!

I took this photo (above) moments before our opening circle on the first night of the retreat. Little did I know I was about to have one of those life-changing moments. At some point during the opening meditation I felt a deep connection being reactivated between my heart and womb. It was electric! It was this moment that Womb Based Creativity began for me - I felt it in my body before anything else and I wouldn't even have a name for it until years later.

After this I sensed that I suddenly had access to my womb space (and my little girl) in a new way and I only wished I knew about and worked with this connection earlier in my life. That moment changed everything for me.

I believe we can all access this womb space and reclaim our womb heart connection.

Imagine your heart - it has so much love, strength, and intelligence.

Now imagine your womb space (you can think of a cosmic womb if you don't have a physical womb). The womb is a creative center that's connected to cosmic energy, the earth, to our ancestors, and our roots.

When you connect those energetic centers you are creating with love. I always say that creativity is love in action and rediscovering that womb and heart connection has been the foundation of what I'm teaching now. It all came from that moment.

What I heard while walking the Labyrinth

Image Above: Me with Cvita Mamic (left) and Flora Bowley (right). I took a 2 day class with them during the retreat.

On the second day of our retreat Flora Bowley and her friend/co-teacher Cvita Mamic led us to into the labyrinth on the property. (You can watch an interview I did with Flora if you'd like to hear more from her).

At that time I had never walked a labyrinth before. If you're unfamiliar with them - the whole concept of a labyrinth is that you're following a spiral path towards the center and then you walk back out. It's a walking meditation designed to quiet your mind.

As we were walking together I remember the power of the land, the shuffle of everyone's feet in the gravel, and the sacred space we created together. It was in that space that I heard so vividly...heal women and you will heal the world.

That was one of the biggest downloads I've ever received and I think it's so beautiful that as I had that download come in, I was pregnant with our daughter. I credit her presence for helping me receive that message and it still feels connected to our time and mission on this Earth together.

Image Above: Different areas around Ghost Ranch

Calling in the Mother Energy

I also got to do a session with Melody Ross and Pixie Lighthorse. In this session we did a self-portrait and connected with an aspect of nature.

I connected to the sun and although energetically it's considered more masculine, I've been tuning in over the years and feel like it's more connected to the mother and unconditional love. Almost a decade later it's crazy to see this image, knowing how supportive it's been to work with the sun and bringing more light into my body ever since this retreat.

Images Above: These are images of my self-portrait process inspired by the sun. Here's a reference image of me - so nauseous from being pregnant (top left). The background layers of my portrait (bottom left). The final piece on the altar (right).

Making the choice to go on this retreat even though I was pregnant was a promise I made to myself - that creativity gets to be part of motherhood. They get to inform each other. I promised I wouldn't stop creating when I became a mom. I also started to connect more to the mother energy and the new levels of love I was feeling.

Image Above: The altar in the middle of the classroom during our sessions

The art I made during the retreat

These next images are from Flora's and Cvita's session. You can see where we spent our time and some of my favorite pieces I created...

Image Above: Our classroom for the first session

Image Above: At the end of the class we all put our favorite pieces and mandalas together in circle

Image Above: This piece started as an oil pastel scribble (see image below) and black paint on top. I wasn't trying to create an image, I was just playing. I didn't see the image in this piece until a couple of years later when I was going back through my work and I was blown away! I'm calling this piece Call of the Wild Soul because it sums up my entire journey at Ghost Ranch. It's been hanging in the center of our house ever since :)

Images Above: An abstract mountain drawing I did with blue ink and oil pastels (left). The bottom oil pastel layer to the piece above (top right). My mandala in process (bottom right)

Images Above: My final mandala inspired by the new chapter I was entering

The poem I wrote on my mandala...

A covenant with the sky.

The rocks stand still against the wind

and the clouds learn to fly.

Finding ourselves

in the belly of the silent giants among us.

Filling our minds and our dreams.

Forever reminding us to look up.

Integrating my experience after the retreat

When I got home from the retreat I instantly knew the mandala was meant to go over my daughter's crib in the nursery. It stayed here for her and my son for about 9 years until it was recently replaced with a monster truck. The beautiful part is that my daughter wanted it hung in her room so it's still something I get to see everyday. I'll always have this piece somewhere in our house.

This mandala still holds the energy from the retreat and has offered me support during hard times, protected my kids, and a reminds me of that initial intention I made many moons ago with my daughter in the dessert - and of course this was just the beginning.