September 15, 2023 • 42 mins
Marlene Seven Bremner shares in her new book, The Hermetic Marriage of Art and Alchemy, how imagination is the foundation of creation.
Marlene Seven Bremner, an artist, discusses the potential of alchemy in unlocking genuine creativity and achieving self-awareness, also known as gnosis. Her insights provide guidance on how to utilize alchemical energies to enhance intuition, gain deeper insights, and express oneself more imaginatively. Furthermore, she explores the complex and symbolic realm of alchemical art.
In her book, Bremner explores the relationship between Surrealism and alchemy while delving into the complex and symbolic art of alchemy. Both Surrealism and alchemy aim to unleash the imagination and blur the lines between reality and dreams, ultimately bridging the gap between the conscious and unconscious mind. Bremner further explains how the three principles (salt, sulfur, and mercury), the four elements, and the seven planets interconnect within the self to facilitate creative alchemy. She offers practical techniques from Hermetic and alchemical practices to help individuals unlock their creative expression, overcome energetic blocks, and tap into their full potential. Additionally, she discusses the timing of creative operations in regards to the zodiac and planets.
The author explains how the stages of alchemical transmutation relate to the creative process. Through this process, the initiate can understand the connection between consciousness and matter, which is the fundamental concept of alchemy. By creating, one can transform spiritual energies through matter and achieve greater self-awareness and enlightenment.
We talk about
- The power of the imagination
- True knowledge and the creative process
- Worrying gives energy to what you do not want
- The powerful Elemental meditation
- How to get to Gnosis
- The four stages of the “Great Work”
Marlene Seven Bremner is a self-taught oil painter, writer, and teacher who has spent more than 20 years exploring esoteric and spiritual traditions, including Hermeticism, alchemy, surrealism, symbolism, tarot, psychology, magic, astrology, shamanism, and mythology. The author of Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy, she developed her career as an artist in the Pacific Northwest and now spends her time painting and writing in the New Mexico desert.
Marlenesevenbremner.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:50):
Welcome to operate the Consciousness Transforming podcastfor Exceptional twenty first century Living. We
have a favorite author of line back. We're going to be speaking today with
Marlene seven Bremner, and we're talkingabout her latest book, The Hermetic Marriage
of Art and Alchemy, Imagination,Creativity and the great work. For those
(01:12):
of you who remember, she wason in January of twenty twenty three,
and if you don't remember, listento that podcast. It was absolutely fabulous
and that's going to belp tail intothis work that she's talking about today.
And folks, if you're looking fora book for the fall in winter,
just to carry you through so youcan leisurely read gain more understanding of yourself
(01:37):
and of others, this book isthe great book to do that. Okay.
She presents it in a style thatis easy to read. Shocked full
of Knowledge will send you down apath of deep thinking. And because you
think deeply and you use your imaginationa little bit, it's gonna bring about
(02:00):
great change. And we're gonna divedelve more into that in a moment.
But it's a great book for yourfall in winter reading list. Now,
the information share, don't get overit uses intuitive and pragmatic insight to help
you shift your consciousness to break throughthe blocks and reduce energy that is no
longer needed. Yes, we're goingto help you let go of the BS
that's been holding you back. Butyou guys know why. I always ask
(02:22):
are you usually ready to? Andby the way, folks, BS is
belief system. A bit about mefor my new listeners Intuigive Sense Birth.
I'm a third generation intuitive with overthree decades of experience supporting people to break
through the blocks along their path.I'm a strategist for personal and professional transformation,
revealing cutting edge information that enables youto prosper and thrive. I spent
(02:46):
twenty five successful years in corporate Americaas an executive sales professional, and I'm
the founder of Healing Vision's Ministries andthe Northern California Children's Education Network, A
five O one C three nonprofit.Magrified Council takes and healings in all areas
of life that heal the mind,body, spirit connection, allowing you to
live your very best life. Myclients say that I keep it real while
(03:08):
providing them with accurate information to asystem along their journey as a spirit living
a human existence. But they alsosay if you really don't want to know,
they want to ask. Monique.My background includes a doctorate metaphysics,
ricky master teacher or day minister,and clinical hypnotherapists. So whether you are
stressed, depressed or a possessed Ican hope to find out more about me
(03:30):
and what I offer. Go tomy website that's moniqu Chapman dot com.
I'm gonna invite you to like andfollow me on Facebook and LinkedIn My guest
today. Marline seven Bremner is aself taught oil painter, author, poet,
and musician exploring esoteric themes arising fromher study and practice of her medicism,
(03:54):
alchemy, magic, astrology, andmythology. Seven developed her painting career
in the Pacific Northwest, showing herart in both group and solo exhibitions along
the West coast and internationally, andshe now resides in the desert of New
Mexico. And you can check herout at her website and that's Marlene seven
(04:18):
Bremnar dot com, m R LE N E S E B E N
b R E m n A rdot com. Welcome seven, Thank you,
Monie, thanks for the lovely introduction. I'm happy to be here.
I guess I should say welcome back. Yeah, thanks for having me back.
(04:38):
Yeah, it's great to have youback. You know, as I
said earlier, I absolutely loved thebook. And folks, she has an
eight page full color insert of herartwork in the middle. And you know,
if this woman can teach herself topaint like this, anybody can do
anything. Okay, it is amazing. Before we get into the nuts and
(05:01):
Bold solved your book, let's talkabout your art for a moment. How
did you develop it so wonderfully?Oh? Well, you know, I
was very artistic as a child,but as I got older, I just
didn't feel like I was good enoughto pursue it as any type of career.
So I kind of from the backburner and just did art as a
hobby for a long time. Andthen I moved up to Olympia, Washington
(05:26):
and was surrounded by other artists thatwere, you know, trying to make
a living with their art music,and I got very inspired. So I
decided to apply myself and try toimprove my skills. And I started with
watercolor pencil, and then I movedto acrylic paint, and then I finally
found oils and kind of consciously decidedthat I didn't want to be too heavily
(05:51):
influenced by other artists and other paintings, so I just, you know,
I got down the basics of likehow to use oil paints, and from
there I just taught myself and itwas just a process of trial and error
over several years before I had anythingthat I was really willing to show anybody.
(06:12):
And this was during a time inmy life when I was also going
through a lot emotionally and mentally anddealing with some unresolved trauma from youth,
you know, and through my earlystudies of alchemy and the beginning process of
(06:32):
learning how to oil paint, thesetwo things got fused together, alchemy and
the creative process, and that reallybecame the foundation for all of the work
that I've done since then, understandingthe creative process as a powerful means of
self transformation and with you know,powerful results as well. Well. Out
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of your twelve plates, I thinkplate plate three is my personal favorite,
and folks, you have to getthe book and see what I'm talking about.
But it's absolutely positively gorgeous. Itreally resonated me so thank you very
much for including that. But let'sstart off by talking about imagination, because
(07:21):
in your introduction you start out talkingabout imagination. When I talk to people
about imagination, just imagine it,you can create it, they're like,
you're right. People don't tend tobelieve that imagination, which is part of
our thought process, starts the wheelsof creation moving. So talk to us
about that. Yeah, well,I always like to talk about how,
(07:48):
you know, the imagination plays sucha pivotal part in all of creation,
the image making powers of the creatoritself, and that every time that we
engage with the imagination and with thecreative act, we're tapping into that original
creative power of the universe. Inthe current paradigm, and especially since the
(08:09):
Enlightenment, the imagination has been sortof cast into the dung heap and considered
to be unreal and something that's notreally that valuable, even though it really
is and it comes into play inso many ways, we just don't tend
to acknowledge it as much. Youknow, even in the scientific method,
like imagination and fantasy plays a bigpart in innovation and coming up with ideas
(08:35):
that are then tested through the scientificmethod. So it's really just a matter
of shifting our perspective around it andinstead of saying, oh, that's just
your imagination, you're imagining things,seeing it as really a divine faculty that
we have and a great power.And when we're doing any sort of spiritual
(08:56):
or magical work, we're using theimagination to connect with higher beings and higher
aspects of the self, and throughvisualization and all of that, we're able
to envision different forms and engage withthem through That means, okay, well,
what do you say to the personwho's been up brought up in a
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strict religious background and I'm talking aboutorganized religion, no matter what flavor,
and they have a certain bias beliefsystem, and they feel that their belief
system doesn't allow for the imagination becauseit's not solid if you will, Yeah,
(09:39):
that's an interesting question. I mean, I feel like that would be
a very limited experience of reality.And I don't really think that we can
fully separate ourselves from the imagination.I think it's always active, whether we're
aware of it or not, andyou know, it's a matter of how
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consciously we use it. So forsomeone like that, if they wanted to
access their imagination, but they werefeeling, you know, conflicted by their
belief system. I would invite theminto the alchemical process itself to kind of
deconstruct that belief system and really getto the core of it and understand,
(10:22):
you know, why, why it'smeaningful for them, and if it's useful
for them, and if there areways that maybe it can be broken down
and restructured to allow for a littlemore imagination and freedom. Well, you
know, to me, when asI was reading the book and contemplating it,
you know, I was thinking thateven those thoughts that go on in
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your head, if they're not ofthe past, or even sometimes a past,
like you have a disagreement with someoneand you start thinking, well,
I could have said this, Ishould have said that, in a sense
that your imagination right, exactly.Yeah, we do it all the time
when we imagine scenarios and we worryabout things, or we replay conversations,
or we project into the future aboutconversations that might happen that haven't happened yet.
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And every time we do that,it's in a way we're casting a
spell, especially if we infuse thosethoughts with a lot of emotional energy.
So one of the things with thealchemical process is purifying the mental realm,
so really becoming self aware and observingour thoughts and catching ourselves when we get
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stuck in these kind of repetitive loops. Because as we get stuck in those
and we infuse them with all ofthis emotional energy, we're actually giving them
power to become manifest in reality.And if these are things that we don't
want to happen, then that canbe a dangerous situation. So the more
we can kind of distill our thoughts, clarify them, and restructure them in
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a way that's actually creating positive,healthy, beautiful scenarios for ourselves and for
others, the more we'll see thatreflected in the external world. Okay,
well, let's back up a littlebit and let's talk about the great work
in alchemy. In the book,you describe four stages of the great work.
(12:22):
Talk to us about them and howwe can integrate them into our lives
today. High level, because folks, this runs deep, so she's going
to give you a high level overview. So the four stage is originally referred
to transformations within the alchemist's vessel,and that might have been a plant material
or a mineral or a metal,and what they observed was a series of
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color changes. And there's slight variationson the color changes, but it's generally
agreed that it moves from black towhite to red. And then in the
older traditions, I think they goback to Heraclitus, there's a yellow stage
between the white and the red.So it's black, white, yellow,
red, And these all have differentsort of alchemical processes that go along with
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them, and the beginning of allof it is in the darkness and the
blackness, and this relates to theprima materia, the first matter of creation,
and so the alchemists were very preoccupiedwith obtaining the prima materia and beginning
the great work. And I relatethe prima materia to that darkness within us,
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that generative place, the unknown andthe mystery, where all of creation
arises from within us, and alsothe unconscious parts of ourselves, the hidden
parts of ourselves that are waiting tobe discovered. And so in a sense,
it's like we go into the depthsof the earth and we extract these
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raw metals that have been just waitingthere for us to find them and call
them out and we submit them todifferent processes of transmutation and refinement and separation
and coabulation, and then we bringthem back together, and all of this
unfolds throughout the four stages of thework, but it begins with that darkness.
And so in one's personal experience,this might just be a time of
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deep reflection. It could be atime of depression, anxiety, or fear.
It could happen in someone's life aftera great loss. It also might
just arise from some unknown place andone kind of feels maybe creatively blocked or
melancholic. And it can also arisethrough a sort of intentional self initiation,
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perhaps through a visionary experience with psychedelicsor something like that, or just through
one's intention to discover what's hidden within. And so that's where the great work
begins. It's in the shadow realmwithin us and confronting these sort of hidden
or dark, mysterious parts of ourselvesand allowing them to be there. And
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it can be a very uncomfortable place, but when you look at it in
the context of it being the beginningof a process, all generation arises from
future faction, and light comes fromdarkness, and then we can sort of
transform our relationship to these times inour life and embrace them in a way
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that is creative and spiritually enriching.And from there, once we kind of
are able to embrace these times andthese experiences, we'll start to see things
shift. And that's when the secondstage of the great work comes in,
and that's called the albato or thewhitening. And this is a very loose
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purifying phase has to do with thewater element and processes of dissolution, where
you know, these bs belief systemsare broken down into the water like a
salt crystal dissolving in water, andwe connect with something greater than ourselves and
we're absorbed into a greater ocean ofawareness and maybe start to see things in
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a deeper, more symbolic way.And during this time we can work with
our dreams. We can get intoa more lunar receptive state of being and
listen to the subtle messages that we'rereceiving through conversations with others from nature and
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interactions with animals from our dreams,and really tap into this other level,
of other layer of reality that's occurringall around us all all of the time,
and through connecting with something beyond ourselves. We start to dissolve limiting belief
structures within us and open up thegreater possibilities, and from there we might
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start to have In the creative process, this might be when we start to
have some real inspired ideas. Andas we move along in the process and
increase the fire under our vessel andthe intensity of our attention and our intention
in the work, these ideas canstart to coagulate and come together and be
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more infused with a solar consciousness,a sort of fermenting agent that develops things
and matures things and brings them along. So in the creative process, this
is when things are really developing andcoming together. And then spiritually we might
be in a process of integration.So we went through a difficult time in
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the first age, we kind ofopened up and maybe got some inspiration and
healing in the second stage, andnow we're integrating it and bringing it into
our physical body, understanding it throughritual and through intentional action or creativity that
helps express what we've learned so farthrough the process. And the final stage
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is called the rubato, and that'sthe reddening, and this is when the
work is brought to completion and alchemically, this is when the opposites within us,
the conscious and the unconscious, themale and female, the inner and
the outer, the above and below, these things are brought together into a
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harmonious union. So we're not overlyapplying the rational cognitive mind, and we're
not overly stuck in the sort ofirrational lunar realms. But these two things
are working in harmony, and weexperience the inner reality, we experience that
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externally as a reflection in the worldaround us, and then we also experience
the world around us as an internalizedinternalization of the cosmos. So yeah,
and in the creative process, thiswould be when your work has come to
completion. You're making the final refinementsand adjustments, and when it's completed,
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then it comes time for that tobe brought out into the world. And
so in the final stage there's thissort of transition from the inner work of
healing and development and union to projectingthat outward in a way that transmits the
spiritual awareness that you've attained through theprocess, through the work that you've produced,
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and allows other people to be touchedand transmuted by it. Therefore,
if you see their light, andyou light their light if you will align
them so to speak. Yeah,yeah, okay. Now, what do
you say to the person right nowwho's really floundering to struggling. I mean,
between all the crap that's going onin the world, whether it's politics
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or war, or the climate changeor climate change deniers, what do you
say to the person who just they'restruggling. They want to wrap their mind
around something positive and moving forward,but they keep getting caught up in the
lower vibrational energy that mass media isputting out there. What would you say
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to them to help them jump backchasms so that they could have more positivity
in their lives. I would say, we need you. We need you
to be fully realized. We needyou to open up and express yourself and
express the unique essence that is youand that it's We need to be aware
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of what's going on, you know, we need to be in touch with
the things that are happening in theworld and in our communities. But if
the awareness of those things is draggingus down to the extent that we're not
able to contribute by being our fullyrealized, authentic, genuine, unique expression
of divine light that we're meant tobe, then we're not doing what we
(21:27):
can to change the situation, becauseI feel like that's really the core of
transmuting the collective reality that we're experiencingis everyone on an individual level getting in
touch with that deeper core essence withinthem and allowing that to unfold and express
itself through everything that you do.And yeah, we need you, We
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need you to be here, fullypresent and engage, so that we have
a chance to turn things around.Do you think it's too late? I
don't. I don't. I haveit may be a hopeful perspective, but
when I think about everything that's goingon in the world, I really feel
like we're in a collective process ofgoing through that first stage of the opus,
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the nigrado or the blackening, andwith social structures, political structures,
all of this is sort of breakingdown and we're dealing with the fallout from
that, and there's a lot ofpolarization, which is another thing that goes
along with that first stage where wekind of feel polarized within ourselves and we're
fealing not on a collective level,but we need to go through that process.
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Things need to die away and bebroken down so that they can be
restructured into new, more coherent formsthat actually support the whole. You know,
interesting that you say that, becausethere's been a lot of earthquakes,
and at the time of this taping, there was a huge earthquake and I
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think I'm a rougho someplace over there, and you know, great devastation.
I mean, a lot of peoplehave perished, and you know, they
agreed on a metaphysical level to comein and have this experience and move on.
And like you said, newness cancome from destruction. But how do
we in a sense destruct or deconstructthings in our lives that we feel are
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holding us back in order to havethat renewal and use the imagination to move
forward. Well, first of all, I think it's a matter of becoming
aware of those things. And becomingaware of those things might require taking some
time and slowing down a little bit, and you know, being in the
(23:52):
uncomfortable space of just looking at theself, observing the self. And anytime
that we feel you know, anxiousor tense, or we're having a difficult
time and a relationship, or there'sconflict arising, you know, in our
work environment or in our personal sperein any way, these are things that
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we can look at and sort ofself reflect and if we see someone else
as embodying something that we don't like, maybe it could be a projection of
ours, you know, And sotaking some time to self reflect and say,
maybe that's something within me, andhow am I acting in that way
or behaving in that way in away that I might not be conscious of.
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So it's really just a process ofself reflection and getting in touch with
the things that might not be obviousto us on the surface. And you
know, this takes work. Ittakes the willingness to sit with uncomfortable feelings
and to acknowledge the darkness within us, to engage with our own shadow and
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kind of embark on that underworld journeyto where we meet that dark twin of
ours, you know, and bringit into the light, so that instead
of it working against us unconsciously andmanifesting in all these sort of unpleasant ways
in our experience, we bring thoseshadows into the light and they become allies
(25:26):
of ours because we understand them,and we can embrace them with love without
giving them the power to hurt usor destroy us. But we embrace them
love and hold space for them sothat they can be an integrated part of
us. Okay, well, youknow since twenty seventeen, there's been a
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lot of I'm going to say,the darker energy coming to the surface,
which I think is a good thingbecause you need to understand everything that's going
on. But how can we getto the point of transmuting the darker,
denser energy for ourselves because we can'tdo it for anybody else, so that
we can as a mass a groupelevate ourselves. It's like, you know,
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I look at this exploration of theshadow self as like the first step
of ascension, where we you know, see it, understand it, and
then move on. What are yourthoughts about that? Yeah, I think
once we get in touch with itand we have an awareness of it,
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then we can begin to break itdown. We can look at maybe where
it originated from. And you know, in therapy this is a big thing.
You look at your childhood and likethe roots of your trauma and that
sort of thing, and that canbe really really beneficial so long as we
don't get stuck in the blame gamewhere we take responsibility in the press as
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a moment for how we can shiftthis and transmut it, so becoming aware
of it, understanding maybe where itcame from, understanding what these shadow parts
of ourselves need in order to benourished, and then making some changes in
our lives to address that. Andyeah, from there, I think engaging
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creatively in some way, or workingin the physical world in some way to
almost like a ritual of integration andacknowledgement for these parts of ourselves. So
in the creative process, whether you'reworking in your garden, making a painting,
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making music, working on a pieceof writing, working on your business,
you can kind of infuse these shadowforms that you're wanting to integrate into
that process and allow it to inspireare you and help you express that in
some way. And once we canget that externalized in some form of expression
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in the outer world, then wecan look at that as a reflection and
it will start to communicate back tous, and this dialogue unfolds between the
inner and outer. And I thinkthat's really where that transmutation happens, is
when we start to understand the relationshipbetween what's happening within us and what's happening
outside of us, and vice versa. So yeah, I think finding some
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way to ritually acknowledge these parts ofourselves and give them a space to be
transmuted. Okay, Well, inyour book you talk about the importance of
dream work, and I'm looking asat that as something that is within.
But you know, you can havethe wonderful dreams where everything is light and
fluffy, and then you can havethe hellish nightmare. How do we integrate
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both both ends of that spectrum andto help ourselves move forward? Well,
I think all dreams, whether they'rescary or really beautiful, have something to
teach us, something to communicate fromthe unconscious side of ourselves, and taking
the time to write them down,to interpret them, and then in the
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same way kind of acknowledge them somehowin our lives by making some sort of
action or change that speaks to ourunconscious and communicates that we're listening and that
we are engaging with it. Andso if we're having like a lot of
nightmares, we might want to talkto those dream figures that are really scary
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to us. And active imagination isa way that we can re engage a
dream with the conscious mind. Andit was a technique developed by Carl Jung
and I'm sure you're of it.But essentially, if you're working with a
dream and you've got a dream figurethat's maybe really intimidating or scary or terrifying,
and you want to ask it,you know what it wants and why
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it's coming to you, you cango into an imaginative state while you're awake
and clear your mind, maybe doa little bit of meditation to just clear
out the distracting thoughts and the chatter, and then make an invitation to the
unconscious to communicate with you, andspecifically to that dream figure. And then
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you wait for it to come toyou, and you might, if you're
good at visualizing, you might seethe figure again, or maybe you just
get a feeling for its presence,and then you can begin a dialogue with
it and ask it questions. Andas you're dialoguing with it, you can
write these questions down that you're askingand write down their responses. So the
(30:57):
way that I like to do itis to go in and out of that
imaginative state. So I'll close myeyes, ask the question, wait for
the response, and then I'll comeout. I'll write down what happened,
and I'll go back in for thenext question, and I'll do that until
I feel complete. And usually there'ssome sort of bargaining that you can do
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with these difficult dream figures, becausethey really they're a part of us that's
asking for attention. You know.If there's some dream figure that's really violent
or scary, they're asking for something, and through this act of imagination,
we can determine what that is andcome to terms with them in a way
that we can give them something thatwill satisfy their needs while also resolving these
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bad dreams that we're having with them. What I gather from what you're saying,
no matter what we do, everythingtruly boils down to the imagination and
how we intend to utilize it.I think so. I think so,
because Yeah, when we're engaging withthese inner parts of the self, we're
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using the imagination. And then whenwe are wanting to manifest something or create
something in our lives, we're engagingwith the imagination. And they're just two
different ways of using the imagination.One is for internal communication and understanding and
learning about the self, and theother is for creating something that we want
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to experience or a desire that wehave and bringing that forth into reality,
and all of this goes along withan intentional use of the imagination, you
know. And of course there's daydreamingand fantasy, and that has its part
too, But I really tried todifferentiate between that and intentional or true imagination
in the book, because when weget stuck in a fantasy or we find
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ourselves day dreaming, this is oftenan unconscious use of the imagination. And
it can be it's totally wonderful,you know. We can go off into
a fantasy and have a wonderful experience, or sometimes maybe we go into a
sort of nightmare fantasy where we startimagining terrible scenarios. But the problem with
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that is that we're doing that unconsciously, and if we're doing it with a
lot of emotional feeling wrapped up init, then it could have problematic results.
Why is it that family members tendto have horrific dreams or sometimes even
thoughts about things happening to other familymembers and it's not I don't think it's
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an intentional thing. Maybe it is, I don't, but I don't think
it's an intentional thing. I justthink the worst is going to happen to
them, where it's an accident orsomething else bad happens to them. Why
do that? Because to me,that's projecting negative energy onto them. Yeah.
I mean, there's a saying.I'm not sure where it comes from,
but worrying is like praying for whatyou don't want. And I think
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that's very true. And we tendto do that. I think because maybe
if we imagine the worst possible scenariosfor a loved one or for ourselves,
then we're somehow preventing it from happening. I think maybe there's some sort of
logic there. But and I usedto do this a lot. Actually,
(34:30):
I would catch myself and just imaginethese horrific things happening and be like,
why am I doing this? Andover time becoming more consciously aware of my
thought patterns and kind of working tochange them to translate one of the things
that I've come to do, becauseyou know, it still happens sometimes where
I'll think about something, where I'llstart worrying about something, but I tend
(34:52):
to catch myself pretty quick and justsay, Nope, that doesn't need to
happen, and then instead I replacethat thought with all of the things that
I would like to see happen andI start engaging with that fantasy, you
know, and allowing that to playout in my mind. Yeah. Yeah.
(35:12):
It truly makes a big different typeleA lot of moms that you know
work with me, and they're alwaysworried about the kids, whether the kid
is two or forty two, andyou know, they're they're so afraid for
the child. And I can understandthat being a mom, but I always
tell them, shift whatever you're afraidof into something positive now and just you
(35:36):
know, let the positivity, youknow, go, and you know,
watch the change. Yeah. Yeah. And I think for a lot of
people, engaging in the imagination inthat way is not a familiar thing.
But once you get into it andyou start imagining all the things that you
would like to experience, that youwould like to see for your loved ones,
(35:57):
that you'd like to see for theworld, it fills you with so
much positive energy and good feeling.And then you're you know, if you
get really into it and you're doingintentional imagination like I describe in the final
chapter of the book, that feelingof just satisfaction and joy and gratitude fills
(36:20):
you up to such a degree thatyou start to just spill it out everywhere
around you, and I don't seeanything bad coming from that. Well,
you know, I'm in the endof your book. It might be in
the appendix. I can't remember.You have a really kick button meditation elemental
meditation. Tell us about that,because I found it to be extremely powerful.
(36:43):
Yeah, I mean, I thinkworking with the elements is just super
basic to any sort of magical orcreative practice and understanding how each of the
four traditional elements really plays out inour lives. And so you know,
we've got Earth and that relates tothe physical world and to structure and routine
(37:05):
and vitality and health, and toour home as well. And then the
water element, which is related tocreativity and to our emotions and our relationships
and to our ability to kind ofgo with the flow and to express our
emotions. And then the fire element, which has to do with our focus
(37:28):
and our action, our energy anddrive, our ambition, also our ego
and our vision. And then theair element, which relates to communication and
the mental realm and thought, andto a feeling of lightness and movement and
(37:50):
clarity. So if we look atall of those elements and we kind of
take an inventory of how they relateto our life, how those elements are
being expressed or experienced in our life. Maybe we start to see that one
of the elements is really deficient,you know, or maybe we start to
(38:13):
see that one is really excessive.You know, if we're like super attached
to our routine and structure and weget thrown off anytime there's any sort of
interruption to our routine and it reallylike just destroys us, then we might
want to look at, you know, breaking down that earth element a little
bit and balancing it out with someair or giving it a little water to
(38:37):
kind of soften up the earth,you know, break it apart. And
so maybe we need to have alittle more lightness and movement in our lives
with the air element, or maybewe need to allow for a little more
spontaneity and flow with the water element. So I think this is just a
really basic way of kind of bringingourselves to balance, and the meditation is
(39:00):
just a way to introduce people toengaging with that level of awareness. And
folks, the Elemental Meditation is worththe price of the book alone. I
mean, you get a ton ofother information, but if nothing else get
the book through that meditation. Ifyou're truly looking to adjust your life,
(39:22):
take that next step in your evolution, this meditation will definitely help you.
Now said it. When we goto your website, what are we going
to see there? Well, I'vegot my art gallery and so you can
see all my paintings in the gallery. I've got information about this book and
where you can find it. It'savailable through all the major booksellers, and
(39:45):
also information on my previous book,which we talked about last time I was
on the show. I've got ashop where you can order prints of most
of my artwork. And then youknow, I've got a list of interviews
that I've done if you want tohear more of more about the book and
other interviews, a newsletter you cansubscribe to, links to my Patreon account
(40:12):
where you can actually subscribe to myblog. And right now I'm doing a
year long walk through the deconds,So I'm doing a post for every one
of the thirty six astrological deconds,so you can join me on Patreon for
that as well as to see sneakpeaks of work that I'm doing behind the
scenes in the studio. And yeah, there's more on the website, but
(40:37):
let's take a look by. Willbe enchanted by what you see, Beer
seven. I've really enjoyed our timetogether and we're at the end. But
give us a prol of wisdom forthe audience. M My prol of wisdom
for today, and this is comingfrom my personal experience, arience of preparing
(41:00):
for leaving town tomorrow and just kindof going into a total virgo crazy mode,
is to slow down, take adeep breath, and trust that everything
is going according to divine timing anddivine planning and that everything will be great.
(41:24):
Trust at that big word, butit's a wonderful word. If we
can you trust ourselves. Thank youvery much for sharing your information today and
sharing about this book, and folks, you know again great fall when to
read the price of the meditation atthe end is worth the price of the
(41:45):
book alone. You will get alot of information that will allow you to
grow if you choose to grow.So I appreciate seven in her time today.
I know the audience does too.On everyone, please remember that the
local important choice that you can makeis what you choose to make important.
Consider making the mass of choice ofdiscovering your imagination and discovering the art and
(42:13):
outoy love a good The blessings mightlove to off
Welcome to operate the Consciousness Transforming podcastfor Exceptional twenty first century Living. We
have a favorite author of line back. We're going to be speaking today with
Marlene seven Bremner, and we're talkingabout her latest book, The Hermetic Marriage
of Art and Alchemy, Imagination,Creativity and the great work. For those
(01:12):
of you who remember, she wason in January of twenty twenty three,
and if you don't remember, listento that podcast. It was absolutely fabulous
and that's going to belp tail intothis work that she's talking about today.
And folks, if you're looking fora book for the fall in winter,
just to carry you through so youcan leisurely read gain more understanding of yourself
(01:37):
and of others, this book isthe great book to do that. Okay.
She presents it in a style thatis easy to read. Shocked full
of Knowledge will send you down apath of deep thinking. And because you
think deeply and you use your imaginationa little bit, it's gonna bring about
(02:00):
great change. And we're gonna divedelve more into that in a moment.
But it's a great book for yourfall in winter reading list. Now,
the information share, don't get overit uses intuitive and pragmatic insight to help
you shift your consciousness to break throughthe blocks and reduce energy that is no
longer needed. Yes, we're goingto help you let go of the BS
that's been holding you back. Butyou guys know why. I always ask
(02:22):
are you usually ready to? Andby the way, folks, BS is
belief system. A bit about mefor my new listeners Intuigive Sense Birth.
I'm a third generation intuitive with overthree decades of experience supporting people to break
through the blocks along their path.I'm a strategist for personal and professional transformation,
revealing cutting edge information that enables youto prosper and thrive. I spent
(02:46):
twenty five successful years in corporate Americaas an executive sales professional, and I'm
the founder of Healing Vision's Ministries andthe Northern California Children's Education Network, A
five O one C three nonprofit.Magrified Council takes and healings in all areas
of life that heal the mind,body, spirit connection, allowing you to
live your very best life. Myclients say that I keep it real while
(03:08):
providing them with accurate information to asystem along their journey as a spirit living
a human existence. But they alsosay if you really don't want to know,
they want to ask. Monique.My background includes a doctorate metaphysics,
ricky master teacher or day minister,and clinical hypnotherapists. So whether you are
stressed, depressed or a possessed Ican hope to find out more about me
(03:30):
and what I offer. Go tomy website that's moniqu Chapman dot com.
I'm gonna invite you to like andfollow me on Facebook and LinkedIn My guest
today. Marline seven Bremner is aself taught oil painter, author, poet,
and musician exploring esoteric themes arising fromher study and practice of her medicism,
(03:54):
alchemy, magic, astrology, andmythology. Seven developed her painting career
in the Pacific Northwest, showing herart in both group and solo exhibitions along
the West coast and internationally, andshe now resides in the desert of New
Mexico. And you can check herout at her website and that's Marlene seven
(04:18):
Bremnar dot com, m R LE N E S E B E N
b R E m n A rdot com. Welcome seven, Thank you,
Monie, thanks for the lovely introduction. I'm happy to be here.
I guess I should say welcome back. Yeah, thanks for having me back.
(04:38):
Yeah, it's great to have youback. You know, as I
said earlier, I absolutely loved thebook. And folks, she has an
eight page full color insert of herartwork in the middle. And you know,
if this woman can teach herself topaint like this, anybody can do
anything. Okay, it is amazing. Before we get into the nuts and
(05:01):
Bold solved your book, let's talkabout your art for a moment. How
did you develop it so wonderfully?Oh? Well, you know, I
was very artistic as a child,but as I got older, I just
didn't feel like I was good enoughto pursue it as any type of career.
So I kind of from the backburner and just did art as a
hobby for a long time. Andthen I moved up to Olympia, Washington
(05:26):
and was surrounded by other artists thatwere, you know, trying to make
a living with their art music,and I got very inspired. So I
decided to apply myself and try toimprove my skills. And I started with
watercolor pencil, and then I movedto acrylic paint, and then I finally
found oils and kind of consciously decidedthat I didn't want to be too heavily
(05:51):
influenced by other artists and other paintings, so I just, you know,
I got down the basics of likehow to use oil paints, and from
there I just taught myself and itwas just a process of trial and error
over several years before I had anythingthat I was really willing to show anybody.
(06:12):
And this was during a time inmy life when I was also going
through a lot emotionally and mentally anddealing with some unresolved trauma from youth,
you know, and through my earlystudies of alchemy and the beginning process of
(06:32):
learning how to oil paint, thesetwo things got fused together, alchemy and
the creative process, and that reallybecame the foundation for all of the work
that I've done since then, understandingthe creative process as a powerful means of
self transformation and with you know,powerful results as well. Well. Out
(07:00):
of your twelve plates, I thinkplate plate three is my personal favorite,
and folks, you have to getthe book and see what I'm talking about.
But it's absolutely positively gorgeous. Itreally resonated me so thank you very
much for including that. But let'sstart off by talking about imagination, because
(07:21):
in your introduction you start out talkingabout imagination. When I talk to people
about imagination, just imagine it,you can create it, they're like,
you're right. People don't tend tobelieve that imagination, which is part of
our thought process, starts the wheelsof creation moving. So talk to us
about that. Yeah, well,I always like to talk about how,
(07:48):
you know, the imagination plays sucha pivotal part in all of creation,
the image making powers of the creatoritself, and that every time that we
engage with the imagination and with thecreative act, we're tapping into that original
creative power of the universe. Inthe current paradigm, and especially since the
(08:09):
Enlightenment, the imagination has been sortof cast into the dung heap and considered
to be unreal and something that's notreally that valuable, even though it really
is and it comes into play inso many ways, we just don't tend
to acknowledge it as much. Youknow, even in the scientific method,
like imagination and fantasy plays a bigpart in innovation and coming up with ideas
(08:35):
that are then tested through the scientificmethod. So it's really just a matter
of shifting our perspective around it andinstead of saying, oh, that's just
your imagination, you're imagining things,seeing it as really a divine faculty that
we have and a great power.And when we're doing any sort of spiritual
(08:56):
or magical work, we're using theimagination to connect with higher beings and higher
aspects of the self, and throughvisualization and all of that, we're able
to envision different forms and engage withthem through That means, okay, well,
what do you say to the personwho's been up brought up in a
(09:18):
strict religious background and I'm talking aboutorganized religion, no matter what flavor,
and they have a certain bias beliefsystem, and they feel that their belief
system doesn't allow for the imagination becauseit's not solid if you will, Yeah,
(09:39):
that's an interesting question. I mean, I feel like that would be
a very limited experience of reality.And I don't really think that we can
fully separate ourselves from the imagination.I think it's always active, whether we're
aware of it or not, andyou know, it's a matter of how
(10:01):
consciously we use it. So forsomeone like that, if they wanted to
access their imagination, but they werefeeling, you know, conflicted by their
belief system. I would invite theminto the alchemical process itself to kind of
deconstruct that belief system and really getto the core of it and understand,
(10:22):
you know, why, why it'smeaningful for them, and if it's useful
for them, and if there areways that maybe it can be broken down
and restructured to allow for a littlemore imagination and freedom. Well, you
know, to me, when asI was reading the book and contemplating it,
you know, I was thinking thateven those thoughts that go on in
(10:45):
your head, if they're not ofthe past, or even sometimes a past,
like you have a disagreement with someoneand you start thinking, well,
I could have said this, Ishould have said that, in a sense
that your imagination right, exactly.Yeah, we do it all the time
when we imagine scenarios and we worryabout things, or we replay conversations,
or we project into the future aboutconversations that might happen that haven't happened yet.
(11:11):
And every time we do that,it's in a way we're casting a
spell, especially if we infuse thosethoughts with a lot of emotional energy.
So one of the things with thealchemical process is purifying the mental realm,
so really becoming self aware and observingour thoughts and catching ourselves when we get
(11:33):
stuck in these kind of repetitive loops. Because as we get stuck in those
and we infuse them with all ofthis emotional energy, we're actually giving them
power to become manifest in reality.And if these are things that we don't
want to happen, then that canbe a dangerous situation. So the more
we can kind of distill our thoughts, clarify them, and restructure them in
(12:00):
a way that's actually creating positive,healthy, beautiful scenarios for ourselves and for
others, the more we'll see thatreflected in the external world. Okay,
well, let's back up a littlebit and let's talk about the great work
in alchemy. In the book,you describe four stages of the great work.
(12:22):
Talk to us about them and howwe can integrate them into our lives
today. High level, because folks, this runs deep, so she's going
to give you a high level overview. So the four stage is originally referred
to transformations within the alchemist's vessel,and that might have been a plant material
or a mineral or a metal,and what they observed was a series of
(12:46):
color changes. And there's slight variationson the color changes, but it's generally
agreed that it moves from black towhite to red. And then in the
older traditions, I think they goback to Heraclitus, there's a yellow stage
between the white and the red.So it's black, white, yellow,
red, And these all have differentsort of alchemical processes that go along with
(13:11):
them, and the beginning of allof it is in the darkness and the
blackness, and this relates to theprima materia, the first matter of creation,
and so the alchemists were very preoccupiedwith obtaining the prima materia and beginning
the great work. And I relatethe prima materia to that darkness within us,
(13:33):
that generative place, the unknown andthe mystery, where all of creation
arises from within us, and alsothe unconscious parts of ourselves, the hidden
parts of ourselves that are waiting tobe discovered. And so in a sense,
it's like we go into the depthsof the earth and we extract these
(13:56):
raw metals that have been just waitingthere for us to find them and call
them out and we submit them todifferent processes of transmutation and refinement and separation
and coabulation, and then we bringthem back together, and all of this
unfolds throughout the four stages of thework, but it begins with that darkness.
And so in one's personal experience,this might just be a time of
(14:22):
deep reflection. It could be atime of depression, anxiety, or fear.
It could happen in someone's life aftera great loss. It also might
just arise from some unknown place andone kind of feels maybe creatively blocked or
melancholic. And it can also arisethrough a sort of intentional self initiation,
(14:50):
perhaps through a visionary experience with psychedelicsor something like that, or just through
one's intention to discover what's hidden within. And so that's where the great work
begins. It's in the shadow realmwithin us and confronting these sort of hidden
or dark, mysterious parts of ourselvesand allowing them to be there. And
(15:13):
it can be a very uncomfortable place, but when you look at it in
the context of it being the beginningof a process, all generation arises from
future faction, and light comes fromdarkness, and then we can sort of
transform our relationship to these times inour life and embrace them in a way
(15:37):
that is creative and spiritually enriching.And from there, once we kind of
are able to embrace these times andthese experiences, we'll start to see things
shift. And that's when the secondstage of the great work comes in,
and that's called the albato or thewhitening. And this is a very loose
(16:00):
purifying phase has to do with thewater element and processes of dissolution, where
you know, these bs belief systemsare broken down into the water like a
salt crystal dissolving in water, andwe connect with something greater than ourselves and
we're absorbed into a greater ocean ofawareness and maybe start to see things in
(16:26):
a deeper, more symbolic way.And during this time we can work with
our dreams. We can get intoa more lunar receptive state of being and
listen to the subtle messages that we'rereceiving through conversations with others from nature and
(16:48):
interactions with animals from our dreams,and really tap into this other level,
of other layer of reality that's occurringall around us all all of the time,
and through connecting with something beyond ourselves. We start to dissolve limiting belief
structures within us and open up thegreater possibilities, and from there we might
(17:15):
start to have In the creative process, this might be when we start to
have some real inspired ideas. Andas we move along in the process and
increase the fire under our vessel andthe intensity of our attention and our intention
in the work, these ideas canstart to coagulate and come together and be
(17:37):
more infused with a solar consciousness,a sort of fermenting agent that develops things
and matures things and brings them along. So in the creative process, this
is when things are really developing andcoming together. And then spiritually we might
be in a process of integration.So we went through a difficult time in
(17:59):
the first age, we kind ofopened up and maybe got some inspiration and
healing in the second stage, andnow we're integrating it and bringing it into
our physical body, understanding it throughritual and through intentional action or creativity that
helps express what we've learned so farthrough the process. And the final stage
(18:23):
is called the rubato, and that'sthe reddening, and this is when the
work is brought to completion and alchemically, this is when the opposites within us,
the conscious and the unconscious, themale and female, the inner and
the outer, the above and below, these things are brought together into a
(18:45):
harmonious union. So we're not overlyapplying the rational cognitive mind, and we're
not overly stuck in the sort ofirrational lunar realms. But these two things
are working in harmony, and weexperience the inner reality, we experience that
(19:07):
externally as a reflection in the worldaround us, and then we also experience
the world around us as an internalizedinternalization of the cosmos. So yeah,
and in the creative process, thiswould be when your work has come to
completion. You're making the final refinementsand adjustments, and when it's completed,
(19:29):
then it comes time for that tobe brought out into the world. And
so in the final stage there's thissort of transition from the inner work of
healing and development and union to projectingthat outward in a way that transmits the
spiritual awareness that you've attained through theprocess, through the work that you've produced,
(19:52):
and allows other people to be touchedand transmuted by it. Therefore,
if you see their light, andyou light their light if you will align
them so to speak. Yeah,yeah, okay. Now, what do
you say to the person right nowwho's really floundering to struggling. I mean,
between all the crap that's going onin the world, whether it's politics
(20:15):
or war, or the climate changeor climate change deniers, what do you
say to the person who just they'restruggling. They want to wrap their mind
around something positive and moving forward,but they keep getting caught up in the
lower vibrational energy that mass media isputting out there. What would you say
(20:37):
to them to help them jump backchasms so that they could have more positivity
in their lives. I would say, we need you. We need you
to be fully realized. We needyou to open up and express yourself and
express the unique essence that is youand that it's We need to be aware
(21:03):
of what's going on, you know, we need to be in touch with
the things that are happening in theworld and in our communities. But if
the awareness of those things is draggingus down to the extent that we're not
able to contribute by being our fullyrealized, authentic, genuine, unique expression
of divine light that we're meant tobe, then we're not doing what we
(21:27):
can to change the situation, becauseI feel like that's really the core of
transmuting the collective reality that we're experiencingis everyone on an individual level getting in
touch with that deeper core essence withinthem and allowing that to unfold and express
itself through everything that you do.And yeah, we need you, We
(21:52):
need you to be here, fullypresent and engage, so that we have
a chance to turn things around.Do you think it's too late? I
don't. I don't. I haveit may be a hopeful perspective, but
when I think about everything that's goingon in the world, I really feel
like we're in a collective process ofgoing through that first stage of the opus,
(22:18):
the nigrado or the blackening, andwith social structures, political structures,
all of this is sort of breakingdown and we're dealing with the fallout from
that, and there's a lot ofpolarization, which is another thing that goes
along with that first stage where wekind of feel polarized within ourselves and we're
fealing not on a collective level,but we need to go through that process.
(22:42):
Things need to die away and bebroken down so that they can be
restructured into new, more coherent formsthat actually support the whole. You know,
interesting that you say that, becausethere's been a lot of earthquakes,
and at the time of this taping, there was a huge earthquake and I
(23:04):
think I'm a rougho someplace over there, and you know, great devastation.
I mean, a lot of peoplehave perished, and you know, they
agreed on a metaphysical level to comein and have this experience and move on.
And like you said, newness cancome from destruction. But how do
we in a sense destruct or deconstructthings in our lives that we feel are
(23:29):
holding us back in order to havethat renewal and use the imagination to move
forward. Well, first of all, I think it's a matter of becoming
aware of those things. And becomingaware of those things might require taking some
time and slowing down a little bit, and you know, being in the
(23:52):
uncomfortable space of just looking at theself, observing the self. And anytime
that we feel you know, anxiousor tense, or we're having a difficult
time and a relationship, or there'sconflict arising, you know, in our
work environment or in our personal sperein any way, these are things that
(24:17):
we can look at and sort ofself reflect and if we see someone else
as embodying something that we don't like, maybe it could be a projection of
ours, you know, And sotaking some time to self reflect and say,
maybe that's something within me, andhow am I acting in that way
or behaving in that way in away that I might not be conscious of.
(24:41):
So it's really just a process ofself reflection and getting in touch with
the things that might not be obviousto us on the surface. And you
know, this takes work. Ittakes the willingness to sit with uncomfortable feelings
and to acknowledge the darkness within us, to engage with our own shadow and
(25:04):
kind of embark on that underworld journeyto where we meet that dark twin of
ours, you know, and bringit into the light, so that instead
of it working against us unconsciously andmanifesting in all these sort of unpleasant ways
in our experience, we bring thoseshadows into the light and they become allies
(25:26):
of ours because we understand them,and we can embrace them with love without
giving them the power to hurt usor destroy us. But we embrace them
love and hold space for them sothat they can be an integrated part of
us. Okay, well, youknow since twenty seventeen, there's been a
(25:47):
lot of I'm going to say,the darker energy coming to the surface,
which I think is a good thingbecause you need to understand everything that's going
on. But how can we getto the point of transmuting the darker,
denser energy for ourselves because we can'tdo it for anybody else, so that
we can as a mass a groupelevate ourselves. It's like, you know,
(26:14):
I look at this exploration of theshadow self as like the first step
of ascension, where we you know, see it, understand it, and
then move on. What are yourthoughts about that? Yeah, I think
once we get in touch with itand we have an awareness of it,
(26:36):
then we can begin to break itdown. We can look at maybe where
it originated from. And you know, in therapy this is a big thing.
You look at your childhood and likethe roots of your trauma and that
sort of thing, and that canbe really really beneficial so long as we
don't get stuck in the blame gamewhere we take responsibility in the press as
(27:00):
a moment for how we can shiftthis and transmut it, so becoming aware
of it, understanding maybe where itcame from, understanding what these shadow parts
of ourselves need in order to benourished, and then making some changes in
our lives to address that. Andyeah, from there, I think engaging
(27:22):
creatively in some way, or workingin the physical world in some way to
almost like a ritual of integration andacknowledgement for these parts of ourselves. So
in the creative process, whether you'reworking in your garden, making a painting,
(27:45):
making music, working on a pieceof writing, working on your business,
you can kind of infuse these shadowforms that you're wanting to integrate into
that process and allow it to inspireare you and help you express that in
some way. And once we canget that externalized in some form of expression
(28:10):
in the outer world, then wecan look at that as a reflection and
it will start to communicate back tous, and this dialogue unfolds between the
inner and outer. And I thinkthat's really where that transmutation happens, is
when we start to understand the relationshipbetween what's happening within us and what's happening
outside of us, and vice versa. So yeah, I think finding some
(28:34):
way to ritually acknowledge these parts ofourselves and give them a space to be
transmuted. Okay, Well, inyour book you talk about the importance of
dream work, and I'm looking asat that as something that is within.
But you know, you can havethe wonderful dreams where everything is light and
fluffy, and then you can havethe hellish nightmare. How do we integrate
(28:59):
both both ends of that spectrum andto help ourselves move forward? Well,
I think all dreams, whether they'rescary or really beautiful, have something to
teach us, something to communicate fromthe unconscious side of ourselves, and taking
the time to write them down,to interpret them, and then in the
(29:22):
same way kind of acknowledge them somehowin our lives by making some sort of
action or change that speaks to ourunconscious and communicates that we're listening and that
we are engaging with it. Andso if we're having like a lot of
nightmares, we might want to talkto those dream figures that are really scary
(29:48):
to us. And active imagination isa way that we can re engage a
dream with the conscious mind. Andit was a technique developed by Carl Jung
and I'm sure you're of it.But essentially, if you're working with a
dream and you've got a dream figurethat's maybe really intimidating or scary or terrifying,
and you want to ask it,you know what it wants and why
(30:11):
it's coming to you, you cango into an imaginative state while you're awake
and clear your mind, maybe doa little bit of meditation to just clear
out the distracting thoughts and the chatter, and then make an invitation to the
unconscious to communicate with you, andspecifically to that dream figure. And then
(30:33):
you wait for it to come toyou, and you might, if you're
good at visualizing, you might seethe figure again, or maybe you just
get a feeling for its presence,and then you can begin a dialogue with
it and ask it questions. Andas you're dialoguing with it, you can
write these questions down that you're askingand write down their responses. So the
(30:57):
way that I like to do itis to go in and out of that
imaginative state. So I'll close myeyes, ask the question, wait for
the response, and then I'll comeout. I'll write down what happened,
and I'll go back in for thenext question, and I'll do that until
I feel complete. And usually there'ssome sort of bargaining that you can do
(31:18):
with these difficult dream figures, becausethey really they're a part of us that's
asking for attention. You know.If there's some dream figure that's really violent
or scary, they're asking for something, and through this act of imagination,
we can determine what that is andcome to terms with them in a way
that we can give them something thatwill satisfy their needs while also resolving these
(31:45):
bad dreams that we're having with them. What I gather from what you're saying,
no matter what we do, everythingtruly boils down to the imagination and
how we intend to utilize it.I think so. I think so,
because Yeah, when we're engaging withthese inner parts of the self, we're
(32:09):
using the imagination. And then whenwe are wanting to manifest something or create
something in our lives, we're engagingwith the imagination. And they're just two
different ways of using the imagination.One is for internal communication and understanding and
learning about the self, and theother is for creating something that we want
(32:35):
to experience or a desire that wehave and bringing that forth into reality,
and all of this goes along withan intentional use of the imagination, you
know. And of course there's daydreamingand fantasy, and that has its part
too, But I really tried todifferentiate between that and intentional or true imagination
in the book, because when weget stuck in a fantasy or we find
(33:00):
ourselves day dreaming, this is oftenan unconscious use of the imagination. And
it can be it's totally wonderful,you know. We can go off into
a fantasy and have a wonderful experience, or sometimes maybe we go into a
sort of nightmare fantasy where we startimagining terrible scenarios. But the problem with
(33:20):
that is that we're doing that unconsciously, and if we're doing it with a
lot of emotional feeling wrapped up init, then it could have problematic results.
Why is it that family members tendto have horrific dreams or sometimes even
thoughts about things happening to other familymembers and it's not I don't think it's
(33:44):
an intentional thing. Maybe it is, I don't, but I don't think
it's an intentional thing. I justthink the worst is going to happen to
them, where it's an accident orsomething else bad happens to them. Why
do that? Because to me,that's projecting negative energy onto them. Yeah.
I mean, there's a saying.I'm not sure where it comes from,
but worrying is like praying for whatyou don't want. And I think
(34:07):
that's very true. And we tendto do that. I think because maybe
if we imagine the worst possible scenariosfor a loved one or for ourselves,
then we're somehow preventing it from happening. I think maybe there's some sort of
logic there. But and I usedto do this a lot. Actually,
(34:30):
I would catch myself and just imaginethese horrific things happening and be like,
why am I doing this? Andover time becoming more consciously aware of my
thought patterns and kind of working tochange them to translate one of the things
that I've come to do, becauseyou know, it still happens sometimes where
I'll think about something, where I'llstart worrying about something, but I tend
(34:52):
to catch myself pretty quick and justsay, Nope, that doesn't need to
happen, and then instead I replacethat thought with all of the things that
I would like to see happen andI start engaging with that fantasy, you
know, and allowing that to playout in my mind. Yeah. Yeah.
(35:12):
It truly makes a big different typeleA lot of moms that you know
work with me, and they're alwaysworried about the kids, whether the kid
is two or forty two, andyou know, they're they're so afraid for
the child. And I can understandthat being a mom, but I always
tell them, shift whatever you're afraidof into something positive now and just you
(35:36):
know, let the positivity, youknow, go, and you know,
watch the change. Yeah. Yeah. And I think for a lot of
people, engaging in the imagination inthat way is not a familiar thing.
But once you get into it andyou start imagining all the things that you
would like to experience, that youwould like to see for your loved ones,
(35:57):
that you'd like to see for theworld, it fills you with so
much positive energy and good feeling.And then you're you know, if you
get really into it and you're doingintentional imagination like I describe in the final
chapter of the book, that feelingof just satisfaction and joy and gratitude fills
(36:20):
you up to such a degree thatyou start to just spill it out everywhere
around you, and I don't seeanything bad coming from that. Well,
you know, I'm in the endof your book. It might be in
the appendix. I can't remember.You have a really kick button meditation elemental
meditation. Tell us about that,because I found it to be extremely powerful.
(36:43):
Yeah, I mean, I thinkworking with the elements is just super
basic to any sort of magical orcreative practice and understanding how each of the
four traditional elements really plays out inour lives. And so you know,
we've got Earth and that relates tothe physical world and to structure and routine
(37:05):
and vitality and health, and toour home as well. And then the
water element, which is related tocreativity and to our emotions and our relationships
and to our ability to kind ofgo with the flow and to express our
emotions. And then the fire element, which has to do with our focus
(37:28):
and our action, our energy anddrive, our ambition, also our ego
and our vision. And then theair element, which relates to communication and
the mental realm and thought, andto a feeling of lightness and movement and
(37:50):
clarity. So if we look atall of those elements and we kind of
take an inventory of how they relateto our life, how those elements are
being expressed or experienced in our life. Maybe we start to see that one
of the elements is really deficient,you know, or maybe we start to
(38:13):
see that one is really excessive.You know, if we're like super attached
to our routine and structure and weget thrown off anytime there's any sort of
interruption to our routine and it reallylike just destroys us, then we might
want to look at, you know, breaking down that earth element a little
bit and balancing it out with someair or giving it a little water to
(38:37):
kind of soften up the earth,you know, break it apart. And
so maybe we need to have alittle more lightness and movement in our lives
with the air element, or maybewe need to allow for a little more
spontaneity and flow with the water element. So I think this is just a
really basic way of kind of bringingourselves to balance, and the meditation is
(39:00):
just a way to introduce people toengaging with that level of awareness. And
folks, the Elemental Meditation is worththe price of the book alone. I
mean, you get a ton ofother information, but if nothing else get
the book through that meditation. Ifyou're truly looking to adjust your life,
(39:22):
take that next step in your evolution, this meditation will definitely help you.
Now said it. When we goto your website, what are we going
to see there? Well, I'vegot my art gallery and so you can
see all my paintings in the gallery. I've got information about this book and
where you can find it. It'savailable through all the major booksellers, and
(39:45):
also information on my previous book,which we talked about last time I was
on the show. I've got ashop where you can order prints of most
of my artwork. And then youknow, I've got a list of interviews
that I've done if you want tohear more of more about the book and
other interviews, a newsletter you cansubscribe to, links to my Patreon account
(40:12):
where you can actually subscribe to myblog. And right now I'm doing a
year long walk through the deconds,So I'm doing a post for every one
of the thirty six astrological deconds,so you can join me on Patreon for
that as well as to see sneakpeaks of work that I'm doing behind the
scenes in the studio. And yeah, there's more on the website, but
(40:37):
let's take a look by. Willbe enchanted by what you see, Beer
seven. I've really enjoyed our timetogether and we're at the end. But
give us a prol of wisdom forthe audience. M My prol of wisdom
for today, and this is comingfrom my personal experience, arience of preparing
(41:00):
for leaving town tomorrow and just kindof going into a total virgo crazy mode,
is to slow down, take adeep breath, and trust that everything
is going according to divine timing anddivine planning and that everything will be great.
(41:24):
Trust at that big word, butit's a wonderful word. If we
can you trust ourselves. Thank youvery much for sharing your information today and
sharing about this book, and folks, you know again great fall when to
read the price of the meditation atthe end is worth the price of the
(41:45):
book alone. You will get alot of information that will allow you to
grow if you choose to grow.So I appreciate seven in her time today.
I know the audience does too.On everyone, please remember that the
local important choice that you can makeis what you choose to make important.
Consider making the mass of choice ofdiscovering your imagination and discovering the art and
(42:13):
outoy love a good The blessings mightlove to off
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