tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29301866627180813822024-03-13T06:49:04.136-07:00Shiloh Sophia McCloud and the Cosmic CowgirlsTransforming Lives Into Legends! Featuring the ramblings on and whereabouts of Chief Laughing Cloud.Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-23481888824232624022009-01-16T07:48:00.000-08:002009-01-16T07:55:09.026-08:00The First Ever Cosmic Cowgirl Journal Entry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SXCtzpDz8TI/AAAAAAAAAHc/unoWbKMKC3Y/s1600-h/Unknown.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SXCtzpDz8TI/AAAAAAAAAHc/unoWbKMKC3Y/s400/Unknown.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291920664867107122" border="0" /></a><br />This morning I was searching for writings from the past and I found this amazing journal entry which ended up in my book, She Dances Between the Worlds, but it was the first ever Cosmic Cowgirl heart storming that I ever did...<br /><br />Do you have one bare foot on the earth and one boot in the stars?<br /><br />It has been said that wellness in this life is a matter of finding balance...<br />For instance… "balanced energy products now on sale at your local zen mart and all you have to do eat this super bliss bar, drink magic vitamin water, go to these classes and meditate on goodness, become your most empowered self in three easy steps, say the following mantra- or go to this church or that healer or therapist or guru or buy a journal... we know the story of commodified spirituality well by now. And it isn't that all these things haven't done us some good, certainly they have, but the thing is, for she who dances between the worlds, not one of these things has a sustaining impact. And has brilliant as she is - most of the material out there seems to feed her the message that it is her fault because she cannot stick with the program. With a healthy heap of low self esteem she is soon she is back at the sales counter hoping for a message she can believe - the distances between where she is now and the “balance” that is trying to get to and before she knows it anti-depressants are being recommended... All we have to do is look around at who we know - and the balanced heroes are few among us...because we desire to live out all aspects of ourselves and as we well know this can be dangerous...especially if our wild woman is surpressed for too long...<br /><br />This galaxy wide group who must dance from foot to foot and it is very much about moving with grace and not about sitting still because she cannot live her life sitting down...not that she shouldn't rest more, in fact this journal is about getting the nourishment a woman needs through creativity, through exploring the language of the heart through word and image....<br />If you are still unsure if you are part of the Cosmic Cowgirl Connection,<br />the questions below should help you clarify...<br /><br />When you were growing up did you feel a call toward being a nun --- and an exotic dancer (or a solid gold dancer)?<br />Within the same minute, do you wish you had a home of your own with a garden and a porch swing --- and that you could ride a hot pink harley davidson touring across the world in all-girl rock group called the Love Bandits?<br />When you buy beige because it matches the other things in your life do you secretly put the red slinky dress back and say "What would they think if I..."<br />Do you wonder if God is a woman? And are you willing to find out for yourself even if it means questioning everything you have been told?<br />When you see photographs of wrinkled up medicine women in national geographic with herbs in her pouch and flowers in her hair - do you wish you were her, even more than you wish you where a size 7?<br /><br />Do you have a saviour complex even when you know it won't work?<br />On Halloween do you dress as a. gypsy queen b. a witch with leopard print stockings c. a rhinestone cowgirl or d. the Virgen de Guadalupe or e. any kind of nature spirit, fairy, angel or mythical being f. all of the above in one costume - well, on most days, cosmic cowgirls will embody at one moment or another, like all of the above. If you have answered YES!, or greatly considered by chuckling knowingly to yourself, to more than three, you are not alone. For more information about an upcoming event in your honor, please turn to the inside front cover where you will find a personal invitation to the Rodeo of the Soul. A party where prayer and passion will dance you between the worlds...<br /><br />You are invited to the Rodeo of the Soul<br /><br />What:<br /><br />A Party Where Prayer and Passion Dance!<br />A Journey Where All Parts of YOU Are Included!<br />A Sanctuary For Your ArtistSelf to Create What She Wants!<br /><br />Who: All the cosmic cowgirls and women who dance between two worlds<br />and for those who believe passionate expression unveils the genius within<br /><br />(that labored accuracy constantly reminds us we are not)<br />inner peace is like the eye of the storm<br /><br />Where: This event will be held at the very private, most sought after and and divinely delectable "The Extra Cream Cafe of Un-Broken Dreams"<br /><br />The place where you order up what you want with how much you want and it isn't interrupted by the villons of shoulda coulda woulda - they hang out at the The Saloon of Sorry as where you have been so many times before and will probablly visit again, but not just now.<br /><br />When: NOW.<br /><br />Why: If you are holding this red-hot saucy juice filled action packed samba of an invitation in your hands then you have been chosen by your inner artist to answer the call and get yourself out of the closet and onto the dance floor.<br /><br />What to Wear - Come as you are - pajama are encouraged, as well as painting smocks, and cowboy boots - but at some point during the party you may find yourself in need of some red shoes and or red cowgirl boots - there will be intermissions for the purchase of red shoes during the course of the journey.<br /><br />What to bring: All the essentials are already provided courtesy of you, but for more details, look within for the creations materials list<br /><br />Who will be there: Hopefully, if they followed the map - the parts of you that you don't let others see will show up in all their racous glory or all their meditative splendor or all their unveiled brilliance.<br /><br />Warning: There are no critics on the guest list and so if you have one, no matter how intelligent, please leave them at the door. If any critic attempts to enter, they will be detected immediately by our self-care alert team and will be removed by a very large buff woman with tattoos. If this should occur, please step aside, and do not attempt contact as it could be dangerous to the pleasurable experience awaiting your arrival.<br /><br />You are an Artist. And Artists create, invent, ponder and discover. If when you call yourself and artist you think immediately following, I am not, or so and so is but I haven't really...well I did take a class once...this is all a lie you and "them" have told you to keep yourself from what you really want to create, say, do and dream. Each of is a creator - this is why you must attend this soulful celebration - to explore your artist's self. If you already call yourself an artist and have claimed that identity, then you already know the why of this invitation....<br />Now really is the only time to do what you want. Even if now is carved out in fifteen manageable increments at first...In order to understand what Now means, we have to get it that Now is directly proportional to self-worth - so, if you do not value yourself you do not value taking time for yourself, which ironically is what could just help you to value you.<br />A special note to Mamas: You know what -now- means more than anyone - however it has most likely become the now associated with the needs of everyone else. If possible, let the children wait a little longer - it is better for them to say and see "Mommie is an artist" than just about any other title. It will not only be best for you, but best for them as they develop their own patterns of self-esteem and creative development.<br />Dedicated to two saints and two of my best friends<br /><br />"Decide who you are going to be an do it on purpose" - Dolly Parton<br />A Patron Saint of the Cosmic CowgirlsShiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-18847933557214883552009-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:002009-01-10T07:12:08.392-08:00Flock of Phoenix - A Writing for the Wild Ones<p>A Flock of Phoenix</p> <p>You don’t have to know how to do it.<br />You just have to know you want to do it.<br />This is the time when women and work<br />rise together.<br />A Phoenix all adorned<br />in fire red and diamonds.<br />Ready to fly to her next destination.<br />We have worked the whole time.<br />But we have not always been paid<br />for that time,<br />or recognized for that time<br />We knew our work and words<br />were valuable.<br />Even though we were told<br />it was not. We still knew.<br />And some of us got lost in knowing<br />but not knowing what to do about it.<br />That is finished now.<br />Chapter over.<br />A new chapter has been written<br />by us, of course.<br />A new prophesy is being called out.<br />Women are wealthy.<br />Women are wise.<br />Women stand for each other.<br />Women share fire light.<br />Sometimes we stay in ashes too long.<br />Mourning for all that has been lost.<br />And mourn we should.<br />Because of the crimes. What is happening<br />to sons and daughters in our greater family<br />is unspeakable in the form of this page.<br />My words cannot wrap themselves around<br />the horror (that is another poem)<br />But we know<br />endlessly of the constant press of sad stories.<br />So, we who are able, must rise.<br />And make space for others to rise.<br />We who are able,<br />We who are able,<br />We who are able,<br />must chant our transformation chant.<br />Each of us makes up her own<br />fire rising song.<br />We sing the words out into creation.<br />And watch the sparks begin to fly.<br />Just because fire was used against us.<br />Does not mean we give up fire, no.<br />We have breathed fire and it is our ally.<br />Our legend is not one of only burning.<br />Although we have done that many times.<br />Our legend is one of rising.<br />Of flying.<br />Of taking wing from impossible ashes.<br />Dusting the gray from off of our fire red wings.<br />We extend a shimmering wing<br />And then the next.<br />We raise our heads to the light.<br />And the earth in her wisdom<br />pushes us from underneath.<br />And the air in her understanding<br />pulls us from above.<br />And up we go.<br />Free at last.<br />Leaving gravity to it’s daily chore<br />of holding all things in place.<br />Not us. Not today.<br />And as we soar we feel whole!<br />And to our complete joy,<br />our complete and utter jubilation<br />We find the sky full of radiant phoenixes.<br />Magenta Cobalt Gold and Green Ones<br />Purple Red White and Black Ones<br />Orange and Brown and Aqua Ones<br />A whole flock of Phoenix women.<br />And together we fly<br />on the wisdom of the shared flock.<br />Resurrected birds of glory.<br />Bright and beautiful, Bold and Dangerous.<br />Wild and full of hope. Brave and Abundant.<br />Join us, or watch us fly by.<br />But let us rise bird sisters<br />and claim our skies!<br />Shiloh McCloud ©2007</p>Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-15369488883293062922008-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:002009-01-10T07:12:50.977-08:00My Own Studio<span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Prescription from the Art Doctor!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><div><span style="font-size:100%;">I think every woman must have a studio of her own! Whether painter, poet, potter or whatever medium you use to "create"!</span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />A studio can be from as small a thing as a journal at the cafe - to the converted garage - to the reclaimed guest room - to the shed on a hill. Once we commit to having a studio - we will find that the studio has a mind of her own - and will demand more and more space be dedicated in service to creativity!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;">It does not have to be grand, but it does have to be equipped with materials, hopefully that do not get "put away" but are always kept out so that as SOON as you are ready to go - you can create. Even if it is for 15 minute segments. A lot can be accomplished during little sacred increments! The most important thing - is just to get started, make it a regular part of your life through your commitment and don't let anything get in the way!<br /><br />Once you have the space, all you will need is the equipment. I've listed items that I use to create!! I hope you find it helpful to begin your creative and legendary life!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><div><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ACRYLIC PAINT</span> - Golden Brand if possible</div><div><br /></div><div>You basically only need one shade of each color - but in some cases I have suggested two.</div><div><br /></div>white titanium<div>bone black</div><div>raw umber</div><div>burnt umber</div><div>burnt sienna</div><div>indian yellow</div><div>hansa yellow light</div><div>pyrolle orange</div><div>pyrolle red<br />cadmium red</div><div>quinacridone magenta<div>quinacridone gold</div><div>quinacridone crimson</div><div>phthalo blue</div><div>ultramarine blue</div><div>permanent violet dark</div><div>turquoise thalo</div><div>green gold</div><div>phthalo green</div><div>hookers green</div><div>iridescent copper light</div><div>iridescent copper dark</div><div>iridescent silver</div><div>iridescent bronze</div><div>and whatever else looks GOOD to you!</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-decoration: underline;">BRUSHES</span></div><div><br /></div><div>5-25 assorted sizes </div><div>mostly rounds</div><div>a few big rounds</div><div>a few liners and little ones</div><div>very few flats</div><div>get some bristly ones (scrubbers)</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-decoration: underline;">SURFACES</span></div><div><br /></div><div>gallery wrapped canvas</div><div>140 lb. watercolor paper</div><div>old wood scraps, gessoed</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Additional Supplies:</span></div><div><br /></div><div>CANVAS or RUG for the floor</div><div>LIGHTS - direct and indirect</div><div>TABLE - fold up covered with paper or plastic</div><div>EASLE</div><div>Liquitex Medium</div><div>Tee-shirts/paper towells</div><div>Spray bottle - fine mist</div><div>Several water jars</div><div>A plant or two</div><div>A candle, a mirror, a little altar</div><div><br /></div><div>A nice bin/box, hopefully with handles to hold all of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also provide a kit with most of this stuff, if you want us to provide it for you - it is $350.</div></div></span><br /></div></span>Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-20788727405696006282008-10-29T15:06:00.000-07:002008-10-29T15:08:20.258-07:00Leading A Legendary Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SQjezbiKBeI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/R5CaTVJgP6Q/s1600-h/Enter+The+Heart.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SQjezbiKBeI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/R5CaTVJgP6Q/s400/Enter+The+Heart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262701139728139746" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Leading A Legendary Life<br />Identity as Art and Living Within the Context of Legend<br />By Shiloh Sophia McCloud<br /><br />What does it mean to live a legendary life?<br /><br />Choosing to live a legendary life means giving ourselves permission to be amazing.
We define what ‘amazing’ is for ourselves. It is not the “what” of living, but the “how.” Choosing to be legendary is more than an attitude and more than a way of being. When we choose to be legendary we have decided that we are defining the context in which our lives will be lived and experienced. Do you want vitality? Self expression? Do you want to feel like your life is on purpose? Do you want to live as an artist, with creativity as a central theme? There is a sparkling destiny waiting for you to say YES!<br /><br />The incredible good news is that as soon as you choose - the legend begins to do its teaching.<br />We begin to put in context what has already occurred and what we are creating as a part of the whole design. We are the designer, and our life is the creation. The more we choose to create a life of meaningful relationships and projects, the more we call towards ourselves that which is in alignment with our legendary values. But even before we can define what is legendary for us we have to define our values - what is important to us. When we are clear on that - we then can proceed to invent a way of approaching life that creates it as consistent with our values.<br /><br />To choose to live a legendary life means we are the opposite of the victim, while we are cognizant of our story so far, and we don’t need to get “rid” of it - we learn to use it to create our legend by putting it in context - we claim it and stop resisting it. The ragged story is disempowering us through the our keeping active the suffering of the past. All that we have been through can be used to create our living legend in the present. A life lived this way is a design process, not a reaction process. Therapy only goes so far, then it is time to take responsibility for how we respond to everything that comes from this moment on.<br /><br />For example, a woman who can stay home and raise her children without having to “make a living” can consider herself living a legend of being a full time mama. Now days, this is a luxury. How she thinks about this privilege will define the benefit her and her child and her partner will receive. Another woman may be able to run a big company while raising children with the help of her family - it is up to her to create the context through which she is viewing her experience. Her gratitude and presence of mind and heart towards what is, will empower her to create more of what is possible. She feels like a legendary success because she can “have it all’ and make it work.<br /><br />Another example may be regarding woman who is abused becoming an advocate for abused/disadvantages women. Her own story adding to her ability to tend the wounds of others - therefore, her story, which once oppressed her, can be transformed into a healing legend. On the other hand, a woman who is abused who cannot break the pattern and finds herself continuing to abuse self or others, has not been able to transform her story into a legend. She does not have the proper tools to make the transition. Having access to the proper tools is a privilege. Many people around the world do not even know that others of us have a choice. And even closer to home, many of us just struggle from self esteem which will prevent us from creating a context in which we can thrive, and express our calling. While we may uplift others who endured hardship for their overcoming spirit - we tell ourselves we do not have what it takes, therefore avoiding doing the work of being amazing, first to ourselves and then in the relationship with others. What is your legend about you? How are you holding yourself back from being your most wonderful self? What will it take for your heart to open towards you and others? When our love expands beyond our story, and we begin to create a life that is not limited by the past, but informed by it,<br />healing occurs. Victory is in the making. But how does it happen?<br /><br />An awakened heart is the ground work for being able to transform our legendary life into a life<br />that serves others and becomes a blessing to the world. The true joy of life is found through being a blessing to others. When it is a part our legend to ease suffering, “others” will be not only a focus, but an inspiration to continue to maintain the power of creating ourselves as legendary. We do not become legendary out of a desire to be ‘great’ as in famous - but out of a desire to first be great, as in our own eyes.<br /><br />Practicing self honor is an integral part of creating our legend - and in fact it is the substance of self honor that actually informs the legend itself. To practice self honor is to come from the place of love for oneself - which naturally becomes love for others if we continue to strive for the next chapter in our unfolding legend. We can all find ourselves being stuck, the day in and day out of survival is enough to put us into a stooper - we are aware that life can be stooper inducing we can make a commitment to “RESIST” mediocrity, whatever that is to us.<br /><br />How, we might ask, are we to begin this journey of self invention and the creation of the legendary self? The woman in possession of herself and her identity. The woman who knows what she wants and stands for herself. A woman who does not allow herself to continue in ways of being that enforce self degradation. A woman who is actively and consciously pursuing her life purpose. A woman with a vision!<br /><br />The first step is to make the decision to be legendary. Then begin a series of questions and explorations in your life, asking things like: What makes me feel proud? Happy? In what wasy do I want to express myself as an artist? When have I felt my best? Who are my sheroes/heroes? Who do I want to grow up to be? What have I always wanted to do? What would bring me bliss? What would I be wearing, where would I be going, as my legendary self. Our legendary self is a combination of what is, what is next, and an active imagination. The dictionary describes legend as myth, saga, epic, tale, story, folk tale, folk story, fairy tale, fable, mythos, folklore, lore, mythology, fantasy, oral history, folk tradition; urban myth. You don’t have to share it with others. It does not have to make sense. You just have to practice being legendary in the privacy of your own wild heart.<br /><br />Want to know a secret? You will know it is your legend if it excites you. If the hair on your arms stands up. If you want to dance and you don’t know why. If you smile when you see yourself that way. Creativity is the substance through which your search will occur. Art is the medium that legend is born through. Whether it be a dance, a painting, a poem, a chicken soup, a quilt, a beaded necklace or shawl - bringing FORM to our thoughts creates a shift within us that grants access to the inner workings of the legendary self. Our identity lives inside of our creative soul. We cannot just think it. We have to do it. That is why practicing art will be the most powerful change agent that will inform your process. It does not matter if you are good. If you know how to do it. What matters is that you do it with intention. You approach the canvas, and you invite your legendary self to come forward. What are her colors? Her symbols? Her patterns? Her sounds, shapes, songs and stars. Does she wear a cosmic cloak? Red cowgirl boots? Does she look like shaman? Does she heal? Sing? Dance? Create miracles? What is her role in life. Ask her!<br />
Through contemplative creativity begin searching your life, past, present and future for your legendary woman self. Invite her to tea. Invite her into your journal. Let her out of your closet. Go and buy her a pair of new shoes. Cater to her. Take her to the museum, to the park. Listen for her voice. Listen to your heart. Take notes. This is your official permission slip to begin!<br /><br />Why not be legendary?<br /><br />Did I mention how much more fun life is when you identify as a legend?<br /><br />Self IMAGE - Where have we gone wrong?<br />We have, with the continual prodding of parents, authorities and media joined who we are with a self image perception and made the two, one, which are meant to be two.<br /><br />see yourself as others see you<br /><br /><br />SELF<br /><br />Create yourself based on what you love.<br />Use imagination to “invent” a story about your unfolding life.<br />Recognize that becoming who you are is a continuum not a destination.<br />Begin to recognize your affinity - what comes naturally to you, what you naturally come to .<br />Who you are is not something fixed, you are a combination of what is, and what is possible.<br /><br />PURPOSE<br /><br />Recognize that a life lived with purpose creates a life of meaning.<br />Choose a focus during all times that answers the question: What are you excited about?<br />Know that you do not have to stay with a focus forever, but you need to find one now.<br />You MUST have a focus in order for the next one to make itself available to you.<br />Choose to believe that you have a purpose, and that you ARE on purpose all the time.<br /><br />CHOICE<br /><br />Make a decision to measure all decisions within the context of your legend.<br />About all things, ask: Does it add or take away from my legendary self?<br />Say no to all that is not consistent with your legend.<br />Choose to NEVER not be working on your focus.<br /><br />LOVE<br />
Once you have a transformation or healing regarding an old story - choose to remember<br />that you have already dealt with it.<br /><br />Make a commitment not to let your old stories/patterns take up more than 20% of your thoughts.<br /><br /><br />Move towards that which makes you uncomfortable.<br /><br />Choose design instead of reaction. Be prepared.<br /><br />LIFEWORK
BOUNTIFUL<br />CREATIVITY
SPIRIT<br />OTHERS<br /><br />Invite others to join you in creating a legendary life.<br /><br />Create yourself in words and images for others.<br /><br />Care how you are perceived by others.<br /><br />Make giving and receiving an integral part of your daily practice.<br /><br />Be interested in others. Truly.<br /><br />ORIGIN Middle English (sense 4) : from Old French legende, from medieval Latin legenda ‘things to be read,’ from Latin legere ‘read.’ Sense 1 dates from the early 17th cent.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thesaurus<br /><br />legend<br />noun<br />1 Arthurian legends myth, saga, epic, tale, story, folk tale, folk story, fairy tale, fable, mythos, folklore, lore, mythology, fantasy, oral history, folk tradition; urban myth.<br />2 film legends celebrity, star, superstar, icon, phenomenon, luminary, leading light, giant; informal celeb, megastar.Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-60641555648294381662008-05-27T02:04:00.000-07:002008-05-27T02:55:55.317-07:00Passionate Soul<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SDvaortVkWI/AAAAAAAAAEY/0YUWi3htaU0/s1600-h/Passionate_Soul.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SDvaortVkWI/AAAAAAAAAEY/0YUWi3htaU0/s400/Passionate_Soul.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204994186819244386" /></a><br />Passionate Soul <br />Shiloh Sophia McCloud <br /> <br /><br />Once she found her dream<br />she followed it with all the<br />passion in her soul. <br />She spent considerable time<br />searching<br />calling <br />digging<br />sourcing<br />and<br />praying<br />for her dream to come.<br /> <br />She knew she had one<br />there just seemed to be<br />so much space<br />between it and her.<br />Sometimes she felt it nearby<br />like a cloudy whisp brushing her cheek.<br />Oh, there you are! she would exclaim<br />And it was so familiar that she wondered<br />how she could have ever lost it.<br />But dreams are not ever lost,<br />she thought, <br />just<br />missing<br />forgotten<br />suppressed<br />disregarded<br />feared<br />hidden<br /> <br />And finally she found her dream.<br />Or her dream found her<br />as the case sometimes is. <br />And it was more than a whisp.<br />It felt like a river that flowed through her.<br />Full of life.<br />And it had been there all along. <br />Like a garden that grows within<br />ripe with fruit, flowers and birds.<br />Finding a dream is a light that shines brilliantly<br />and never dims again.<br /> <br />When her dream came to stay <br />she immediately felt joy.<br />Jubilation<br />Ecstasy<br />Bliss <br />Wonder<br />Possibility <br />Then...compassion.<br />For all those<br />who cannot find<br />or follow their own dreams.<br />Then she said,<br />This is my moment! <br />I will focus on my own dream first.<br />Then others.<br />(Like on the airplane, she thought <br />secure your own life vest first.)<br /> <br />Then she felt relieved.<br />Victorious<br />Grateful<br />Blessed<br />Encouraged<br />Transformed<br />Committed<br /> <br />She began to take immediate action<br />on her dreams behalf.<br />For she knew<br />that it was in the fulfillment of dreams<br />that the true miracles emerged.<br /> <br />She is a passionate soul.<br />One of the ones who loves life.<br />One of the ones who will not give up.<br />One of the ones will stand for others,<br />Not To Give Up<br />on their dreams, hopes, desires.<br /> <br />And the greatest thing<br />about her dream come true<br />-that she could possibly imagine-<br />was that her dream<br />was to call others to their dreams.<br />To remind<br />Inspire<br />Encourage<br />Invite<br />Witness<br />Educate <br />Empower<br />Love<br /><br />So she decided<br />that to be unreasonable<br />about things like<br />love and dreams and visions.<br />And she started about her work<br />as the priestess of dreams.<br /> <br />It is not uncommon to find her these days<br />sitting in the garden<br />in a circle of women and children <br />and fathers and grandparents<br />asking them about thier visions,<br />and sharing ideas<br />about how to make them come true. <br /> <br />She is a passionate soul.<br />And passion must be expressed. <br />Soul must be shared.<br />And dreams must be lived.<br />"Live Your Dream Out Loud!"<br />She calls to us from her garden,<br />Can You Hear The Voice of Your Dream?<br /><br />Shiloh Sophia McCloud<br />2008<br /><br /><br />Greetings to you! Well it is almost midnight - which is the time I usually start these newsletters. They may as well be called loveletters. I like the peace and quiet of this hour - the fire crackling, the wind blowing, the kitty snoring softly. I am leaning up against my red velvet coach and a soft light is around me. And a big glass of water. And a heart full of the sharing spirit.<br /> <br />Last time I wrote it was about Grandma Eden. Well she passed into Paradise on May 2. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and warm wishes. I leave tomorrow with my brother and sister (very early) for Seattle for the Celebration Service this weekend. I will take part in the ceremony. And I have ordered a three layer lemon cake with raspberries and fresh flowers.<br /> <br />Hospice spoke of parting gifts. For some time, we wondered just what that would be. There were several, but one in particular I would like to share with you. Grandma showed us how long you could go without food and be strong. To the end, she could hug us hard, squeeze our hand and look us right in the eye. So my Mama and step-Papa and I set about doing a fast and cleanse journey. There was a health issue that needed to be resolved, and so the other two of us said we would get on board the green drink highway to health. It has been 27 days now and we are all still cleansing. I am so inspired that I am planning a five day workshop with painting, walking and green drinks at my studio in Mendocino. I will keep you posted! Grandma gave us the courage, a family member in need gave us the cause, and the desire for wellness continues to encourage us to move forward. By they way - the health issue - which was quite serious - is resolved. It is so amazing how life offers inspiration in the most unusual ways. <br /> <br />I am going to have a tiny piece of Grandma's cake though! I am sure I have told you about cake communion! For those of you who want to read her obituary - my mom wrote it and it describes her legend so well. http://www.cosmiccowgirlsink.com<br /> <br /> When I got home from Port Townsend I painted this painting, Passionate Soul in my Awakened Heart Workshop - and it represents the group soul. You might remember the Bountiful One, that was the one from the last workshop. These paintings are so wonderful for me because they are the demonstration painting that I use to show students what to do next - what is possible!The painting always ends up looking like the energy of the group and it is a testimony to the beauty of working together. And so I dedicate this painting to Jill, Cyndee, Heidi, Marcia, Sue and Carolin. Thank you for the sweetness of your passionate souls!<br /> <br />Each painting represents a transformation in me, as well as my prayers for the world. So when this painting came and was all about the dream - I have allowed it to teach me. I have allowed myself to consider my dreams with a fresh perspective. Especially in the light of the suffering, the hardships from earthquakes to tornadoes to polar bears - our world is feeling the effect of our neglect. Our lack of insight into what was/is needed to sustain a healthy balance. I wonder, how do we go on? When so many are suffering (this is clearly a recurring theme for me) and we have so much? I do what I can do. I share what I can share. I go out of my comfort zone all the time to do work that I love, and that is needed. I believe we can find a balance between the needs of the world, or others, and our own needs.<br /> <br />When I was in seminary in Boulder, CO, I made a parallel between the o-zone and our own energy zone. I remember thinking how hair spray and toxins damage the o-zone - and that damage done by toxins/trauma to our bodies/souls, creates a tear in our own personal energetic o-zone layer. The class was called Subtle Body Anatomy. I was 25 then, I wish I could read that paper now! And the reason I mention this - is because I feel that we can do work to repair those tears. It would be better if we can prevent them all together - but for now - I consider myself a mender of the tears. (I just looked in the dictionary twice to make sure that 'tear' - as crying and tear and is rip - is spelled the same. It is.) And the way I go about that mending - is through unreasonable love, and creativity. <br /> <br />I have seen with my own eyes, a woman wounded by years of personal trauma, be transformed through creativity. I have seen and felt, girls gain instant renewed confidence when using creativity as tool for self discovery. Does this mean "art" will heal everything and now it will all be good? Certainly not.<br />However, it does provide a CONTEXT in which to live our lives.<br />For example, my last paintings were a part of my grieving process for my grandmother. And since her passing my mother has been working on Grandma's scrapbook album. Made with hand-written poetry, photographs, William Morris print paper,<br />greeting cards, birth and death certificates, photos of my great grandmother on a horse. That is one of the things she did with her grief. Tearing and tearing all the way through her work.<br />My sister is writing about it. We create through our pain.<br /> <br />Granted, this does no address the kind of pain that comes from other kinds of trauma, like what is happening all over the world right now. I made CNN my home page and so I am constantly in touch with, one version of news anyway, what is going on. My work is continually informed by the suffering, and the victories of others - folks I do not even know - who live in my heart with me and those I do know.<br /> <br />There are different forms of activism. And I think that those on the front lines of suffering, and those suffering, benefit in some metaphysical way from those us who dance for healing - who paint for transformation - who make chicken soup for family members - who garden to bring healing to the earthy - who do yoga bring world peace. Does it sound -oh-so-california? Well, I don't care - because I believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of the artists and the visionaries keeping the fiber of beauty and possibility flowing through the tears. <br /> <br />In the great shawl of humanity, the wharf is the art and poetry and the woof is the suffering and despair - and together - we make the world. And together we shall heal it. I don't know what that looks like. I think we have some idea. But I imagine a world where there is enough to eat for everyone. And war is no longer an option. And loving kindness is the highest ethic. And art is in every school, every day.<br /> <br />I send you strength for your days<br />I send you rest for you nights<br />I send you abundance for your lives<br />and I send you courage for your dreams.<br /> <br />Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud<br /> <br /> <br />The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... <br /><br /> <br />And he, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,<br /><br /> <br />The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,<br /> <br />To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.<br /> <br />And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.<br /> <br />And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.<br /> <br />And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. <br /><br />Luke 4:16-22<br /> <br />p.s. I am now in Port Townsend - it is time to meet my family for church, it is Sabbath and my mother and step-papa are teaching. I will read the scriptures. Then we will hang Grandma's art show. Forgive the raw un-edited version of this newsletter - but I am off to Celebrate Grandma! The sun is coming up on the Puget Sound and the scent of flowers float in the air. And yes, the birds are singing. And the mermaids are singing too - each to each, and I do think they will sing to me, T.S. Eliot, and to you too.Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-81746354362131937982008-04-26T20:32:00.000-07:002008-04-26T20:34:27.324-07:00What IS A Cosmic Cowgirl? A Cosmic Cowboy?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SBP0LRb3cpI/AAAAAAAAAC8/s9N8fmnQlKU/s1600-h/0453.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/SBP0LRb3cpI/AAAAAAAAAC8/s9N8fmnQlKU/s400/0453.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193763269784334994" /></a><br />A note regarding what a Cosmic Cowgirl is...<br />A Cosmic Cowgirl is a woman who moves between the worlds — She is connected to things divine and etheric (cosmic) and to the earth, the grass roots. She likes to work in the earth with her hands, and she loves to get dressed up and sparkle her magic. She can manage her own ranch and she rides her horse in the "rodeo of the soul." She holds within her the desire to be both Holy Woman and Wild Woman, and have them be not polarized, but integrated. She does not toss away the challenges and suffering of the world as "negative" but uses them for compost from which to grow beauty. She is both fierce and compassionate.<br /><br />Images of cowgirls conjure a woman sitting tall, and inspire fun things like cowgirl boots and hats, music on the back porch with our family and human friends and our animal friends — fun creatures that we can playfully bond with. In researching women and horses, we have come up with amazing stories from all over the world, like cowgirls were among some of America's earliest professional athletes. Tracking the evolution of the horse shows that they have inhabited most of this planet in one form or another at one time or another. We like to imagine that girls and women have always played and worked with them. <br /><br />At our Cosmic Cowgirls Conference we wore hats and boots and vests along with our lace and pearls, and roses and rhinestones. We celebrated our legends. We are reclaiming the land, the range, and the territory for ourselves. Think of women who are in control of their lives and loving it. Women who dare. Women who love hard. Work Hard. Play Hard. Women, like us, who take what belongs to us and use it for good.<br /><br />A Cosmic Cowgirl must decide for herself what this represents for her. It is up to each of us to create our own legends. We are the hero of our own story. We are the ones riding off into the sunset. Let's celebrate! Yahoo!Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-66450208340177348232008-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:002008-02-08T18:52:58.033-08:00Heart of the VISIONARY Wonder Women!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VdlJRdGI/AAAAAAAAAC0/FN4c84CgORQ/s1600-h/Unknown-8.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VdlJRdGI/AAAAAAAAAC0/FN4c84CgORQ/s400/Unknown-8.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164807945595221090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VWlJRdFI/AAAAAAAAACs/s1IfwDxav2g/s1600-h/Unknown.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VWlJRdFI/AAAAAAAAACs/s1IfwDxav2g/s400/Unknown.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164807825336136786" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VPFJRdEI/AAAAAAAAACk/lRiHS6FucbE/s1600-h/Unknown-6.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60VPFJRdEI/AAAAAAAAACk/lRiHS6FucbE/s400/Unknown-6.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164807696487117890" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UtVJRdCI/AAAAAAAAACU/agA-rYaNr3I/s1600-h/Unknown-5.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UtVJRdCI/AAAAAAAAACU/agA-rYaNr3I/s400/Unknown-5.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164807116666532898" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UllJRdBI/AAAAAAAAACM/rPFKv42pYmc/s1600-h/Unknown-2.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UllJRdBI/AAAAAAAAACM/rPFKv42pYmc/s400/Unknown-2.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164806983522546706" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UF1JRc_I/AAAAAAAAAB8/scituwJA_5w/s1600-h/Unknown-1.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R60UF1JRc_I/AAAAAAAAAB8/scituwJA_5w/s400/Unknown-1.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164806438061700082" /></a><br />I am TOTALLY amazed and blessed by the weekend I just shared with about thirty women! It was our first launch of Heart of the Visionary Workshop since the e-book came out on December 12! A total success! The women were so inspiring, so full of fire and power and possibility - and yes PAINT! I was blown away by the paintings the women came up with - each one so unique to them. To see each woman proud and glowing about her work - and sparked about her own creativity - well, it warmed my soul! I think all of us were amazed! And then on the second day - women powered down and powered up on their visions for their life work - many reported break throughs - break downs and break on through to the other sides...<br /><br />This is the kind of shared wisdom space where women are empowered to DO the work they are in the world to do! I was BLESSED (with all capitals) to be in the presence of these gifted beings. And I have not stopped asking myself - what do we do next? Do we have phase two? What about the train the trainer next spring? Where do we go from here to hold each other accountable? I am so excited about the next one in April, because I was so inspired by last weekend! <br /><br />Thank you - all of you - for being a part of this dream come true! <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R6zFOVJRc9I/AAAAAAAAABs/cQ9MebaWkTk/s1600-h/Heart+of+the+Visionary+Web.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R6zFOVJRc9I/AAAAAAAAABs/cQ9MebaWkTk/s400/Heart+of+the+Visionary+Web.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164719722671993810" /></a>Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-16078406435822518522008-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:002008-01-17T21:25:43.790-08:00How The Love MultipliedHow The Love Multiplies<br /><br />When She Opened Her Arms To Love<br />So Much Abundant Love Poured In<br />That She Could Not Hold It All<br />So She Had To Give A Lot Of It Away<br />It wasn’t something she could store<br />for later use or in case she ran out<br />It was like fresh mango<br />That had to be eaten now and shared<br />because it was too good to eat alone<br />No One Could Explain The Magic They Felt<br />When they were in her presence<br />But somehow, they felt more beautiful<br />more interesting, and actually<br />more interested in everything around them<br />They Had To Open Their Hearts To Let It In<br />and when they did <br />they too had to share it.<br />This is how the love multiplies.<br />Shiloh 2004 - 2006Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-27921754489743615102008-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:002008-01-05T18:52:12.850-08:00The Awakened Heart - Excerpt from the Heart of the Visionary Workbook<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R4BCVUl-F_I/AAAAAAAAABk/7qxbHtJKAMM/s1600-h/Lady+Love.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R4BCVUl-F_I/AAAAAAAAABk/7qxbHtJKAMM/s320/Lady+Love.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5152190907784501234" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Waking Up to the World Soul - Part 1 - Divine Fruits</span><br /><br />An Awakened Heart happens when a person is awakened through compassion to an awareness of the collective beauty and suffering of the world soul. The people that compose that world soul, which is all of us, then become a part of the visionary landscape of our individual experience, therefore informing how our love manifests in the world. We are now called to a way of being that includes the lives of not just our immediate circle, but the greater circle that surrounds the whole world. This experience, contains within it the absolute bliss of connectivity, and the crushing pain of our separation from one another and from the Divine. To remain awakened to it - and receive the gifts that come from this kind of profound caring, one must act on behalf of other lives, somehow working to relieve even a small part of the suffering. The reason is not so that someone will be a good and holy person. Rather, to know what is happening in the heart of the world, and not act upon it, can cause an even greater sleep than before. The weight of the knowing causes many to become inspired to their greater life purpose! And it can also be thoroughly depressing and cause one to feel hopeless. And more likely, some combination of both, which is quite appropriate based on the circumstances. The reason is that when such important information is revealed to us, not living into that material, is not an option. When you know, you know. If we choose not to respond, we may become resentful about what appears to be the meaninglessness of our life. The blessings that accompany designing a life that brings healing to the heart of the world are immeasurable in areas of insight, access to information, personal relationships, community action, creative expression and connection to the divine fruits of life. And when one can dedicate their efforts to their life purpose - instead of spending their precious time tending the hazards that have hurt us in the first place, then greater strides towards wholeness can be made. <br /><br />When one can also learn to harness the power and flow of abundance in order to ensure that they can do their work, focusing on thriving instead of just surviving, then it is truly something to celebrate! In the past, and now there have been created beliefs that indicate that ministers of heart work should give their works away for free. While that may be the call of some servants of good, it is certainly not the call of all who are doing the work of Spirit on this earth. The nature of reaping and sowing ensures that the sewer must collect the harvest in order to continue to sow the next season. Some saints may have escaped this process - but generally speaking, most of the folks we know have immediate cares that cannot be neglected in order to pursue a holy vision, and cease to worry about creating actual income. There has also been an insidious collective misunderstanding about our value as visionaries, artists-musicians-poets-healers, agents of change and servants of the Holy One. While the work is considered important, it is still marginalized by the status quo and it is constantly in question regarding how these kinds of positions are to be compensated, if at all.<br /><br />May we all be awakened to the beauty, power and abundance that comes from answering our life calling! Blessed Be!Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-82645725481923125412007-12-29T15:06:00.000-08:002007-12-29T15:08:50.150-08:00The Moon is Her Beauty Mark - A Writing By Shiloh“The Moon is Her Beauty Mark “ A call to remember our Mother<br />By Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud<br /><br />Have you seen our Mother? When she sees all her little children running to her she opens her gigantic arms and gathers us up like chicks. Back in her arms again, worlds appear, disappear, and reappear upon the rise and fall of her breasts. Her honey milk flows and flows and we are nourished. It tastes so sweet.<br /><br />Trees spontaneously spring from her, for she is a tree of life to all those who embrace her. And those who embrace her are blessed indeed. Guardian oaks grow from her shoulders—pillars of strength for her children. Her breasts are orchards full of fruit for every single one of her little ones. Golden apples tumble from her armpits. Delicious fruits fall into our little pink mouths. The rust-red madrone of her calves is as smooth as silk for sliding down from volcano peaks through green and gold hillsides. She laughs brilliant, red, succulent pomegranates and you can see her bright teeth are flowering dogwood. Her womb, our warm red bed. <br /><br />Can you hear our Mother singing? Birds are born upon her song. Redwing black birds, and opal-white doves, and red breasted robins, and purple-sapphire ravens fly right out of her songs! My favorite song is the redwing black bird symphony - all black with flashes of red winging a community of sound. I think seagulls are Mama’s favorite. Children in the midst of cities love their sound—it lets them smell the sea even while playing on a blacktop playground. Mama likes the vultures too—taught them their own sacred song of silence because they are ones willing to be death’s gardeners and fertilize garden earth. Mama much honors those who are willing to clean up after death. There is no where Mama is not.<br /><br />Do you smell the scent of our Mother? That intoxicating scent of cinnamon and gardenia flying from her skirts as she moves upon her sandy shores, leaving footprints of frankincense and myrrh. Aloes spring up in the wake of her footsteps. When it is dark we can still find our way by smelling her trail. Smell the cedar? Smell the pine? Smell the redwood musk? Smell the sea? We are getting closer every second. There! See how her cypress hair blows to one side? And pink rose petals flutter from her ears lobes like shimmering pearl earrings. <br /><br />Do you feel our Mother? She feels so comforting. Let us practice the wonder of living life in tune with the seasons and moons of our Mother’s body. Let us knit dresses of her cherry blossoms and dance again the dance of the unbroken circle. Let us rejoice, and sing again in circle the songs of liberation and freedom! You remember don’t you? How we sang the soil, the seed, the rain, the sun, the harvest? Remember how dragonflies circled our mother’s head in a multi-winged halo? The butterflies made crowns for our heads also, happy to rest there even while we played hide and seek between the worlds. Then we swam in rivers thick with salmon swimming against our thighs. Feeling so good is being a part of our Mother’s world. There is never a time when she is not with us, only seasons when we ourselves are either aware of her or not. But she is always there. <br />Let us celebrate our Mother’s body! And her skin that is every color she ever made. Amazing! Isn’t she? The rainbows and stardust of her skin make me want to cry. Like when her skin shines sky-blue, then new-leaf-green, then sun-yellow, all in the same day? My favorite days are the deep umber brown when her skin glows from the inside out. Most of the time she is as black as black can be. I heard we all used to be as black as she. Her ebony skin is the galaxy, the milky way scattered across the velvet blackness of her back; along her spine, infinite constellations, infinite pathways of wisdom; the moon is her beauty-mark.<br /><br />Remember that time when we thought we were lost, but she gathered up our tribes in her ochre-red body and carried us safely across the abyss? Then came her days of glowing cobalt blue and poppy orange—those days of healing old wounds with her balm of new life. Her flaming heart transformed our fears. Then we praised her and touched her cheeks and hands, and rubbed the souls of all her feet with olive oil. <br /><br />She has other kinds of days too - when we cannot recognize the colors at all - times when she is righting things that are wronged. We know our Mother is made up of love, and we also know she is fierce beyond all imagining. The sea is her medicine bag. Her fault lines her drawing board. Her skies are her tool box. She is the designer of everything. There is much suffering, and she is teaching us how to endure - how to create and sing our way through it. When we act without her guidance, we behave like motherless children. Remember when she got so mad, and told us how we misunderstood and misused her son’s medicine? How we take goodness and find ways to use it for harm? But that is a story for another day. (sigh)<br /><br />Haven’t you felt her presence in the stars of your own bones? She lives in the marrow of the bone, as well as the granite of the stone. You can find her in the nectar of the hummingbird’s beak and in the pollen fuzz on the honey bees’ tiny feet, in the mist over the lake, in the purple of your favorite summer dress, and in the scale of the mermaid. She is in the spiral curl of the fern, the flower in the cracked city sidewalk.<br />She is the wind in our hair when we ride the wild horses of our dreams. She is Our Lady of Everything.<br /><br />We find her image in honor of her everywhere. Those of us who know her, cannot help but make words and art as greetings cards for her. From her cosmic dressing room she emerges, in the colors and shapes and signs of her peoples and lands. Sometimes she has many arms and legs, sometimes she slays the demons, sometimes she beats the drum, sometimes she descends, sometimes she flies, always, she births. Always she loves. Always she forgives. She is the mother of all and of everywhere. She is the Mother of God. She is the Mother of us. Through her, all comes into being and in time we are taken back into her body. We may dream of what she does with us from there, but who really knows? We could say she is one, we could say she is many, we could call her by a hundred million names, or we could just cry out MAMA! She answers to all of her names.<br /><br />When we surrender and let her love into our heart, it often comes in as a wave washing us awake! We can feel our hearts glow with golden sunbeams as our prayers take on form. Our wishes taste sweet in our mouths. She who knows everything there is to know gives us good ideas for our work. Her work. To work in her service is good, the very best. She makes us love folks we don’t even know. She creates in us an unreasonable desire to end all suffering. She teaches us how to set our boundaries by showing us how to honor hers. When she reaches out for us, we choose dancing instead of sleeping. We must acknowledge that it is, was, and ever shall be the milk from the breast of the divine that feeds our souls. And we cannot cease from telling the others about her ways.<br /><br />Come with me, let us go together now to our Mother’s kitchen, her other children are gathering too— she wants to tell us something very important. Let us go! When we get to her casa, she will show us what we need to know for this time, this place. Like how to weave peace shawls out of our chaotic ideas. With her in our lives, we create medicine art. We sing creation songs, dance, paint, pot, bake, play, make love, write, pray and plant orchards. Her fruits become our fruits. Her Wisdom informs our hands and opens our hearts. Through Mother Wisdom’s pathways, we will transform. We are healing. Everything we need to do, is possible. Faith is our practice. There is hope!<br /><br />Smell the smoke from her fire? We are here! Look, there, over the hill! There she is now, seated at her front door, shucking corn for supper. Tapping her brown toes to the blues. Isn’t she magnificent?<br /><br />Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud<br />1-888-385-6866 shiloh@mcn.org<br />www.colorofwoman.comShiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-24118882821874425512007-12-26T07:07:00.000-08:002007-12-26T07:41:46.229-08:00The Heart of the Visionary Weekend Based on our new e-book! With Shiloh McCloud and elizaBeth Benson-Udom<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3J1YEl-F9I/AAAAAAAAABU/A-iopCHyR_U/s1600-h/Heart+of+the+Visionary+Weekend.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3J1YEl-F9I/AAAAAAAAABU/A-iopCHyR_U/s320/Heart+of+the+Visionary+Weekend.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148306380448208850" /></a><br /><br />For Details and sign up got to: <a href="http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com">http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com</a>Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-19334950398287109912007-12-26T06:45:00.000-08:002007-12-26T07:06:56.373-08:00Twas the day after Christmas...Journal Entry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3JttUl-F8I/AAAAAAAAABM/T7Lmd9NzVZU/s1600-h/Mama+Joy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3JttUl-F8I/AAAAAAAAABM/T7Lmd9NzVZU/s320/Mama+Joy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148297949427406786" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3JsMkl-F7I/AAAAAAAAABE/sc8s_460ytQ/s1600-h/sky+strip.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R3JsMkl-F7I/AAAAAAAAABE/sc8s_460ytQ/s320/sky+strip.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148296287275063218" /></a><br /><br />Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, all was quiet and sweet and filled with the warmth of love. Kitty sitting on the red couch. Tea in our cups and and red green and gold lights twinkling. And I am sure, pumpkin pie for breakfast! The ocean is roaring and the light is returning. I think one or two minutes has been given us by the Sun as of this moment.<br /><br />Well this year, we spent the Holy-Days just me and my husband Isaiah. We did things that are hard to do otherwise, like work on our wedding photo album (from 13years ago! - we have little ones but I want a big fancy one) and Isaiah made me six curtains for my gift - they go in my studio. They are light pink, hot pink, pale green and bright yellow - victorian parisian. And I painted on a Jesus Icon with milagros all over the edge,and then I sat by the fire an drew new images for the next edition of Heart of the Visionary. Isaiah made dinner on Christmas, and I made it on Christmas Eve. And Isiah played guitar while I read out loud from the Bible. Our nativity is up all year around, but we lit red candles around them.<br /><br />This is our first year of rebelling from over gifting and over spending and - even being with family. It isn't that we didn't want to be with them, we missed them so much - but we wanted to create days that honor what the spirit of Christ-Mas is about for US. On Christmas Eve we visited a Mary grotto on Harold Street that was just installed - with rock all around, with water flowing down around her into the pool of water, with roses everywhere. Then we prayed in the Catholic church for ourselves, our family and everyone. We drove all over our town and into the woods and over the hills because Isaiah is a real estate agent now (I call him special agent) and we are getting to know this coastal beauty. The gorgeousness of this place is astounding, and I am grateful to live here.<br /><br />I got to talk to a few of my beloved Cosmic Cowgirl sistas and make plans for when we will get together, we have the Workshop in January, and then the Cosmic Cowgirls Conference in March. Due to an overwhelming request, we have decided to make day one of the workshop visionary painting...the changes are coming faster and faster these days...and we have scheduled a new paining weekend in Mendocino!<br /><br />I hope that this day, for all who are returning to work, including me, is blessed. That all feel peace and comfort. That all have experienced gratitude and hope.<br />http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.comShiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-20033664411484421042007-12-22T08:20:00.000-08:002007-12-22T08:56:00.922-08:00Cheif Laughing Cloud Chronicles - Solstice and Kitty Canut<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R21BkEl-F6I/AAAAAAAAAA8/m2aRRD0s-9U/s1600-h/She+Sing+Her+Truth.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R21BkEl-F6I/AAAAAAAAAA8/m2aRRD0s-9U/s320/She+Sing+Her+Truth.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5146842037118441378" /></a><br />Two wonderful folks from Houston, Texas came into the gallery last night with wine in paper cups. They told me they wanted to spend Christmas alone and so came to the village of Mendocino to get away. I saluted their choice. I wished them a Happy Solstice and they asked, What is that? We don't have Solstice in Houston. I laughed and they said that everyone in town and on the radio was talking Solstice and they have never heard of it. I said that Northern Californians think everyone does what we do, he said, I am sure we have that in Texas too...she wanted a print of my painting, between the worlds, and so he joyfully purchased it for her and both commented several times, we have never seen anything like this before (the gallery that is). <br /><br />My days at the gallery are filled with the interesting "stuff of life" conversations all day long. The sacred space makes people cry, laugh and share their stories as if we are life long friends. With the cheer of the people in my town, welled up in my heart - in walks Sue (Bayou Starbutch) with a Christmas tree she has cut fresh of the family land, Terra Sophia. The tree, whom I have named Sadie, is gorgeous and ready for her jewels. We give thanks for her life, AND because the forest needs to be thinned, we feel grateful for her life, and sad too. <br /><br />So we brought her home, and after a big bowl of homemade spaghetti, we put her up into a stump Sue has carved as the base. Sue and I stayed up late into the night putting on her earrings, necklace and glowing little lite shines. I decided I don't want a color coordinated tree - I want every color. I put Indian bells from the gallery and a pink angel nestled in the branches. The ritual of the tree has it's roots in many traditions, and for me, it is a part of honoring the Tree of Life that <br />sustains all of us. I love to sit by the fire on my red velvet couches with my cat, drink tea, bask in the red and green twinkles of Sadie and write or read. Like right now that is what I am doing!<br /><br />I read this morning from a book called Women's Ventures by Shosanna Alexander, about the woman who started the Pendleton Cowgirl Company, Polly Helm. Her story about how she got started is so inspiring that I cried as I read it to Sue. Continually, affirmations about why we do the Cosmic Cowgirls, and why that name, becomes clearer and clearer. She says: "These pioneer cowgirls must have been among the earliest female athletes in this country." Try to link below if you want to read the section, it is on page 61 - otherwise search the book title and you can find it that way. I am new to this kind of media so I don't know how to connect all the dots. And you can see a picture of Kitty Canut, otherwise known as Katy Wilkes, who inspired Polly to get started. And it just so happens...that my mom has had this same image of Kitty framed and mixed in with family photos of my and my sisters and brothers as if she was one of the family. And in some magical way, she was.<br /><br />http://books.google.com/books?id=DE0eqbN3A0gC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=katy+wilkes&source=web&ots=ib4dsCsNPA&sig=QidCwRnQog-0RXhXqcNia_f2-R8#PPP1,M1<br /><br />Each of IS the hero of our own story. There is no other way to look at it - there is no getting out of it. We are the star of our own show - so the only thing is, will we choose to shine - or will we dim our light? Will we show up, or will we show down and let our fears keep us from acting powerfully on our own behalf? Fear has been getting a bad rap - for one thing - there are many things we are right to be afraid of - there are lotsa scary things out there. Fear alerts us. And the other kind of fear that has been on the spiritually unpopular list is also useful. When I feel afriad of something, it alerts me to the power and possibility of that 'whatever it is'. Fear then guides me to the heart of the matter to take a look around. With my little pink flashlight, I search out my fear - and learn and choose. Act or not? It is a power tool. Mostly, I choose to walk towars my fear, or side by side when it comes to my own legend. I know those cowgirls who rode broncos were afraid too - but they saddled up and got on, let their rhinestone cowgirl outfits shimmer and light up the dust of the rodeo with feminine charm. Today, I salute them - and thank my ancestors who were not afraid to ride in a male dominated arena. <br /><br />Publishing independently feels to me, like how those cowgirls must of felt. Exciting. Scared. Willing. Brave. Defiant. Beautiful. You just know sometimes, that you gotta make it happen. And keep on riding in that rodeo of the soul. We fall off, we break down, we break hearts, but we keep on loving and riding into the sunset over and over. What else is there to do? Today I ask that question of you, and of myself - what is there to do, this day, that further and fortifies and magnifies, the legend of who we are?<br /><br />And all the women said:<br /><br />YAHOO!Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-7072760497417869482007-12-20T07:22:00.000-08:002007-12-20T07:27:13.750-08:00a few questions of the heart...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R2qJSkl-F5I/AAAAAAAAAAk/rccjAg_zuDc/s1600-h/Spirit_of_Love.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R2qJSkl-F5I/AAAAAAAAAAk/rccjAg_zuDc/s200/Spirit_of_Love.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5146076476377798546" /></a><br />A few questions of the heart...<br /><br />What are you grateful for today?<br />What sets your heart on fire?<br />Where are you finding peace,<br />that is just for you?<br />What project do you want to start? <br /> What project can you let go of?<br /> What words and images are in your heart?<br /><br />All of us are creative beings, with gifts that long to be tended. I pray that each of us will give more to ourselves in the area of creativity!<br />When we nurture our own dreams, we gain the wisdom and the strength to support others with their dreams. Our dreams give off light, and they help light up the path so others can see more clearly!Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-54790429789899173152007-12-19T08:38:00.000-08:002007-12-19T08:39:14.490-08:00Only You...Only You...<br /><br />Remember that no one can do what you do, the way you do.<br />And that what you do is needed, and wanted.<br />Remember that you have a unique purpose that has always lived within you.<br />And that it will continue to call on you, until you say YES!<br />Remember that saying YES will call upon you to become more than you are.<br />And that this is part of the bliss of life, to become the most YOU that you can.<br />Remember that the key is to keep going no matter what.<br />And that you can start and stop as many times as you need to.<br />Remember that unless you do this, you may always wonder “what if”<br />And that to try live a dream changes how we dream, even if we don’t reach it.<br />Remember that living a dream, is the journey, is the process, is the dream itself.<br />We are not waiting for a destination, but living each moment truly. As we are able.<br />Remember that it will sometimes seem as if forces are against you, they are not.<br />It is just that to get up enough speed to break through, we encounter obstacles.<br />Obstacles are our teachers, and actually train us for what is to come. Make friends with them.<br />Remember that a true vision will have a combination of you, and “them”.<br />It is the “them” that you work with or serve, or both, that will inform your process.<br />Remember that each step leads to another step. So that is why we have to step up!<br />It is more important than we can even know, how each flow, flows into the next.<br />When we move forward in our vision, an energy flows towards us at that moment.<br />And it opens up the next action, the next door, the next opportunity.<br />When we take a leap of faith, new territory opens up that we did not see before.<br />And we have access to information that was not ?previously available.<br />When we risk believing in ourselves, we will be amazed at the support that comes.<br />And we will recognize that doing this work, is what we were born to do.<br />When we remember that a life not lived, is not the life we want, then we choose.<br />And we choose powerfully not to turn back again.<br />We may fail. We may fall. We may even disgrace ourselves.<br />But what if we didn’t?<br />Would we be any more whole?<br />Only YOU can do what you are here to do.<br />This is your invitation from the cosmos.<br />So let us go out now, and live the life we were born to live.<br /><br /><br />Shiloh Sophia McCloud 2007 - Heart of the Visionary - Feel free to copy and share!Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-9579357983233627042007-12-18T10:03:00.000-08:002007-12-18T10:09:49.749-08:00Heart of the Visionary Workshop<h2><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">Heart of the Visionary Workshop Sponsored by Cosmic Cowgirls Ink, LLC</span></span></h2> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">A One Day Workshop for Awakening Entrepreneurs</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>Why:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">From Shiloh McCloud</span>...</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >I am deeply passionate about the process of empowering women to answer the call to their own life work! I have been working with women in and on their businesses for over eight years and have discovered that creating a VISION that is in alignment with our values as women is of the utmost importance to our health--spiritual, mental, physical and financial. In light of this, I am committed to doing whatever I possibly can, to support the dreams of women, becoming their realities.</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Many of us have brilliant ideas, wisdom, passion, direction, drive, and even finances, but are not utlizing certain essential ingredients that will make the whole thing really work. There are tools, that have been developed by "traditional" business models, and adapted by women that shorten the distance between our ideas, and our actions. The new book and workshop, Heart of the Visionary is designed to guide women to MANIFEST - CREATE - VISION - PLAN - ENTER ABUNDANCE and ACT with principles, guidelines and creativity that activate the mighty river of their dreams. These tools allow that river, once flowing, to never ever have to stop again, and provide protection such that nothing and no one can prevent the power and beauty of the mighty woman who calls herself a visionary, an entrepreneur, from being passionately alive in the flow of her creative dreams.</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >We utilize the infinite pathways of right and left brain activity, paired with the heart of the visionary that lives within us to mobilize our access to the language that lives inside. The language that will enable clear, focused articulation of the WORDS that are needed to WRITE our visions and missions onto paper so that they might not only be shared with others, but provide a map for us to follow through the rough terrain of "making it". Our work can be Sacred. Holy. Inspired. Blessed. Especially when we choose for it to be that way, through the power and clarity of our intention.</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >The Heart of the Visionary Workshop intention is to support women to design a LIFE PLAN:</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Create A Foundation For:</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >A Vision Plan</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >A Marketing Plan</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >A Business Plan</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >and</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >A Plan of Action</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > and of course,</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >A Celebration!</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>What:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">The Workshop will be led in a women's learning circle format. Shiloh McCloud will facilitate the group process, and then women will work together in small round table groups to explore and write the foundations for their vision, marketing and business plans. This learning environment will be an opportunity to gather wisdom from the group - as well as to share your wisdom, in an atmosphere of committed others that all benefit from the powerful energy of women working together to fulfill our life purposes! This day is truly about creating an environment in which the seeds for your life work may be firmly planted using the template from the Heart of the Visionary Workbook as a guiding tool. </span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">Who: </span></strong></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">Three of the Heart of the Visionary Authors, Mary Mac Donald, elizaBeth Benson-Udom and Caron McCloud will also be facilitating section modules like: media, niche marketing, clients, pricing, press, mission statement, financials, and be available to assist in the round table heart storming forums. Shiloh McCloud, visionary artist, author and teacher will be facilitating the day, and calling us all to unreasonable love and action on behalf or our own life work.</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">Where: </span></strong><span style="font-size:100%;">Casa Madrona Hotel and Spa 801 Bridgeway, Sausalito 1-800-288-0502 <a href="http://www.casamadrona.com/">www.casamadrona.com</a></span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">Cost to Attend: Workshop + Gourmet Lunch in sumptuous surroundings = $245</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">Since it is a one day workshop, lodging is not necesary, but if you would like to stay and make a spa day of the day you are not in workshop - we encourage you to make arrangements! Lodging for Friday or Saturday night must be orchestrated with the hotel. Tell them you are with the Cosmic Cowgirls group. Nurture yourself!</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>When:</strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">Saturday, January 5 OR Sunday, January 6 - CHOOSE ONE DAY!</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><u><strong>Workshop Schedule 10am-6pm (in-progress):</strong></u></span></span></p> <ul><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > <li><span style="font-size:85%;">9:30 Registration </span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">10:00 Opening Circle and Introductions</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">11:00 Vision Plan</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">12:30-1:30 Marketing Plan</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">1:30 -2:45 Gourmet Lunch</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">3:00 - 4:30 Visionary Business Plan</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">4:45 Presentations of Our Visions</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">5:30 Closing Circle</span></li> <li><span style="font-size:85%;">6:00 Circle Complete!</span></li> </span></ul> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">Additional Directions and details provided upon registration. Questions: 1-888-385-6866</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><a href="mailto:cwoman@mcn.org"><span style="font-size:100%;">cwoman@mcn.org</span></a></span></p>Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2930186662718081382.post-19081694118914141802007-12-17T10:08:00.000-08:002007-12-17T15:56:29.693-08:00HEART OF THE VISIONARY: A New Book from Shiloh McCloud and the Cosmic Cowgirls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R2cMmkl-F4I/AAAAAAAAAAY/IPmDpQjxzMg/s1600-h/Heart+of+the+Visionary.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9atNgVEioWE/R2cMmkl-F4I/AAAAAAAAAAY/IPmDpQjxzMg/s320/Heart+of+the+Visionary.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145094956091578242" border="0" /></a><br />Today is the beginning of Our Cosmic Cowgirls Blog! We just published Heart of the Visionary!<br />Help us tell the world!<br /><br />The work of a woman visionary is to know the past, dream the future and take powerful action in the present. Shiloh McCloud<br />Introducing the HEART OF THE VISIONARY E-Book<br /><br />FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br /><br />Order Information: http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com<br />Contact: elizaBeth Benson (925) 209-3908<br />Mary MacDonald 1-888-385-6866<br />Press e-Mail: bethbenson@mac.com<br />Information email: cwoman@mcn.org<br />Publisher: http://www.palmofherhand.com<br /><br />SHILOH MCCLOUD PARTNERS WITH THIRTEEN WOMEN TO CREATE “HEART OF THE VISIONARY” TO LAUNCH AS AN E-BOOK ON 12/12/2007<br /><br />Finally! A much needed workbook for entrepreneurial women designed to empower women to create and sustain a business in alignment with visionary values.<br /><br />Mendocino, California, December 12, 2007. Innovative artist and author, Reverend Shiloh McCloud, famous for the healing power of her illustrated Color of Woman Journals and her vibrant woman-centric imagery, collaborates with other women to publish 'Heart of the Visionary', a revolutionary interactive workbook that guides women to create a vision plan for manifesting their life work using a right-brain-left-brain approach.<br /><br />The Heart of the Visionary Workbook features inspiring illustrations, poetry, stories and creative practices as a backdrop for learning business basics and writing a visionary business plan. McCloud says the book is an invitation to do business as a creative, and even, a spiritual practice. She and the other authors focus the material on women's ways of doing business, which includes a call to create heart-based sustainable projects, that are strongly rooted in financial principles. She encourages women to make every effort to choose a work life that is in alignment with who they are. She says,"Women are good at creating extreme value, and meeting a need with that value - we are just not always as good at charging for it. This has something to do with how we value ourselves. We can do both - make good money and do good work! This book provides the 'how to' tools that make creating abundance for our works more accessible by providing a template that lessens the gap between 'the idea' and manifesting the idea. I believe that all people are called to a life work that is specific to them. If each of us could answer that call, we would create a profoundly more whole paradigm, not just for business, but for all of life!"<br /><br />The research for this book is based on over a decade of Shiloh’s work and research with thousands of women, inspiring them through her workshops and books to realize their vision for their life work. She saw first hand what it meant to put the tools into the hands of the women, with instructions on how to use them! McCloud was so inspired by this work, and the results it provided that she wanted to make it available to as many women as possible. As part of her own journey, Shiloh McCloud is sharing her visionary business process by inviting women to be member-owners in a company dedicated to empowering independent media, and also by having them write and illustrate and receive compensation for their offerings. In the service of this dream, Shiloh founded Palm of Her Hand, a division of Cosmic Cowgirls Ink, LLC. Palm of Her Hand also published a collaborative card and poster line with Alice Walker and Shiloh McCloud earlier this year.<br /><br />'The Heart of the Visionary' is truly a workbook in the sense that there are fill in the blank templates and journal exercises and creative actions and activities spread all through out the teaching and wisdom sections written by women entrepreneurs. Other topics include a manifestation process, a painting day, budget sheets, writing your personal legend, pricing formulas, how to write a mission statement, a marketing plan, defining your client, niche - or, as the book calls it, -who you serve-, and writings from a former corporate America woman on her journey down from the corporate ladder and her recomendation not to spend all of our creative energy for others gain, while we neglect our own creative selves.<br /><br />“I wanted to create a business know-how workbook for women who are starting or wanting to improve their business,” says Shiloh. “Most of all, I want women to see that they CAN do business, that they CAN do it their way, that they do not need a ton of money, a lot of people, or even a traditional business plan to get started. I am hoping that women will see being an entrepreneur as a vital creative path that can empower us to live a life in alignment with WHO we are. When we are doing what we are here to do, the world becomes a better place for everyone. I define the ‘feminine business paradigm’ as a movement that stands for justice, ecology, beauty, abundance, service, fairness, spirit, uncompromising ethics, compassion based business choices and self inquiry. In this context, all business decisions are based upon wholeness for mind, body, and heart, with every single part of the process in alignment with our values as mothers and guardians of life.”<br /><br />Shiloh McCloud, whose artwork has generated sales in excess of a million dollars, previously published five Color of Woman journal/workbooks, all of which are still in print, widely collected and used by tens of thousands of women as a tool for transformation through creativity. These books, originally conceived as tools for therapists, are being used by cancer survivor groups (Toledo Hospital), in women’s recovery programs (Pine Grove), as curriculum in school programs (New College and Mt. St. Mary’s), Aids Survivor Circles (Foothills Aids Foundation), and Native American Circles (Owen’s Valley Tribal Taniff), in women’s prisons, and girl’s educational programs. The list goes on and on! To see a few of the hundreds of testimonials and for more information about Shiloh’s work go to: http//www.wisdomhousecatalog.com.<br /><br />Shiloh asks “What if the suffering we have experienced could be transformed into medicine and healing for others? What if women were actually able to financially support themselves through their creativity and teach others to do so? What if we have done enough healing work to enable ourselves and others to get on with the work of the visionary within each of us?”<br /><br />Quote from the book:<br />“If you are a woman on a journey, considering possibilities for your life work, this book is for you. If you want to start a new business or if you already have a business you want to refine and improve, this book is for you. If you are a mom who wants to start a day care, or a woman who designs software, this book can reach you where you are. This book does not promise six easy steps to managing your business, or guarantee how to make your first million, but it does make those things more possible! If you are looking for a transformative journey, a creative space in which to define and develop your plans for your life work, 'Heart of the Visionary' is for you.”<br /><br />One dollar from the sale of each book is to be donated to Girls Inc. a national nonprofit youth organization providing vital educational programs to millions of girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas.<img src="file:///Users/shilohmccloud/Desktop/Heart%20of%20the%20Visionary.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />Palm of Her Hand is working with girls at Girls Inc. to create a teen rights of passage book to be released in early spring. Palm of Her Hand is also collaborating with other organizations to create a women's addiction recovery journal, and a Cancer survivor journal. They have plans in process for hundreds of other books in the coming years. McCloud says" Our intention is to create healing opportunities for women to empower and awaken themselves. The books are a guide, a place to start, but the real work happens from the writing and drawing of the women as they journey through the pages.<br /><br />Authors and Illustrators include: Shiloh McCloud, Mary MacDonald, elizaBeth Benson-Udom, Caron McCloud, Shannon McCloud, Caterina Rando, Gennifer Mountain, Julie Lampros, Ama Zenya, Nancy Ballard, Sherri Morris, Nikiah Seeds and Sue Hoya Sellars.<br /><br />Treat yourself, or a person you love, this holiday season and start your new year off with a new endeavor by ordering the e-book HEART OF THE VISIONARY. To learn more, order the e-book or the pre-release hard copy of the book, or sign up for the Heart of the Visionary workshops based on the book go to: http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com or visit the Wisdom House Gallery in Mendocino to see Shiloh McCloud’s art. <br /><br />Heart of the Visionary Workbook Specs: $19.95 - 8.5X11- 244 Pages With Illustrations - Hard copy to follow in Spring 2008, as well as a Spanish version. Get ready to print your book by having a ream of thick white paper and a binder with a clear plastic sleeve for the full color cover.<br /><br />Will you help us by forwarding a link to this blog? We are so very appreciative of folks who are willing to be a part of our grass roots effort to forward this press release onto your community. At this time, none of Shiloh's books are being offered through chain stores, or amazon.com in an effort to support the over 350 stores nationwide that carry her work. So getting the word out happens at a grassroots level. Thank you in advance!<br /><br />May your own life, and life work be blessed! May you take a risk on behalf of what YOU want to do. May you ALWAYS include creativity as a part of your life. May beauty and transformation be guiding lights for your journey.<br /><br />order your copy at http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com/colorofwomanjournals.html<br /><br />This Work of Women by Shiloh McCloud<br /><br />Yes. It is time for a revolution of women and path,<br />women and money, women and business, women and art,<br />women and marketplace.<br />We do not choose to give away<br />our works for nothing.<br />We are not starving or frivolous artists.<br />We are creators whose creations<br />save lives, heal the world, heal wounds.<br />This work of women, priestesses and practitioners of every<br />kind is VISIONARY WORK.<br />Your work is vital. Essential. Needed. This work<br />of women must include creating livelihood. This is<br />not easy, quick, fun nor likely. This is not accepted<br />or encouraged. But this is what we must do:<br />Create and abundance revolution<br />We must create our own path.<br />We must create our own money.<br />We must create art.<br />We must create our own marketplace.<br />We must be compensated.<br />We are creating our own mystical cosmic luminous<br />overflowing BANK.<br />A bank that does not cause,<br />contribute or condone<br />the suffering of others for profit.<br />A women’s bank. Believe it. Create it.<br />Deposit into it. Draw from it.<br />Invite other women into it.<br />Enter the income stream in your little<br />golden boat and dream<br />and work and pray and play<br />and do not stop. Keep going.<br />It will almost always seem impossible.<br />But we will make miracles.<br />Miracle are organizing themselves around our dreams<br />our work, our visions,<br />right now.<br />Let us go out, armed with what matters<br />and the prayers of our grandmothers,<br />shining.<br /><br />By Shiloh Sophia McCloud, 2008 Copyright - The Heart of the Visionary<br /><br /><br />Are You Wondering, Is This Book For Me? This book is for:<br /><br />Women Who<br />are starting a new business<br />are thinking about starting and want to explore<br />visionaries who want to take their project to the next level<br />are creating projects that need to be run like mini-businesses<br />are going to college and want to treat their career like a business now<br />are thinking of leaving a corporate job<br />are in a corporate job and want to create a side business<br />are interested in turning ideas into income<br />want to improve their existing business<br />have been in business for a while and are ready to go to the next level<br />have a side business they know could be more profitable<br />need to create a business plan and want to create a business with heart!<br />desire to create a life work in alignment with their values<br />want to SEE what a business looks like on paper before beginning<br />want to quit their day job, but can’t yet<br />would like to create a vital life work<br />have always known there was a ‘greater work’ for them.<br />are rebellious and wild woman who cannot bear a traditional model.<br /><br />Are you a woman with an idea and a desire to make it happen?<br /><br />Then this book is for you.<br /><br />http://www.palmofherhand.com<br /><br />What is your wish?Shiloh Sophia McCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875113704032911438noreply@blogger.com1