Healing is an art, and art is healing. You can harness the power of many art forms to support your well-being. Today I’ll share one method I taught my students during the 25 years when I offered a college course on Expressive Arts Therapies. The technique we’ll explore is creating a “self-soothing image book”. Let’s see how this art process can be used within a Wiccan ritual, resulting in pagan art therapy! Follow these instructions and you’ll have your own magical tool to help reduce the stress of physical or mental health symptoms.
Choose Your Healing Ally
Begin your preparations by deciding which Goddess or God you wish to invite along on this healing journey. You may already have some deities you work with regularly. If one is a healing deity, you might find comfort in the familiarity of working with her or him. On the other hand, you could choose a new ally, thus bringing some fresh energy into your life. One good list of healing Gods and Goddesses is on the Learn Religions website. These are the deities they list:
Goddesses: Airmed (Celtic), Aja (Yoruba), Artemis (Greek), Bona Dea (Roman), Brighid (Celtic), Eir (Norse), Febris (Roman), Heka (Egyptian), Hygieia (Greek), Isis (Egyptian), Panacaea (Greek), Sirona (Celtic)
Gods: Asclepius (Greek), Apollo (Greek), Babalu Aye (Yoruba), Maponus (Celtic), Vejovis (Roman)
You might choose a deity you feel a kinship with. Or, you might select a deity related to your health concerns. Some deities have specialties. For example, Bona Dea is a Goddess of reproductive health. Another option is to let the fates decide, and pick an ally at random. This can be a good option if you’re doing this ceremony with a group and there isn’t time for each participant to research the various choices.
If you know of other Goddesses and Gods of healing, please share your knowledge in the comments section. Because illness is an inevitable part of the human experience, I would guess every pantheistic culture has a deity that can be called upon for healing.
Gather your materials
For this project, you’ll need:
- 2 sheets of construction paper or other heavy paper a little larger than 8 ½ by 11 inches. If you don’t have art paper handy, you can cut up a paper bag.
- A stack of varied magazines to cut collage images from
- About 5 sheets of ordinary printer paper or other 8 ½ x 11 inch paper
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Hole punch (if not available, you can use the scissors)
- Yarn or string
- Music that is healing-themed or relaxing. Most music services have playlists for meditation—these work well. If you create a playlist yourself, consider including the Crow Women tracks Healing Circle Song, Deep Well Woman and Circle of Healing. If you have other recommendations for healing music, please share your ideas in the comments section.
- Magic tools and supplies for creating sacred space, such as lavender water, vanilla incense and a flower or feather (see next section).
Create Sacred Space
Turn on your background music.
Cast your pagan art therapy circle using the most soothing methods possible. You might sprinkle the space with water scented with an essential oil that you find calming, like lavender oil. If you use incense, choose a tranquil fragrance, such as vanilla or chamomile. Draw your magic circle with something gentle, like a feather or a flower. If you call the directions, be sure to invite them in their soothing aspects. For example, in the east you could call upon relaxed, easy breathing. In the south, you could invite eyes sparkling with health. In the west, you might summon the healing waters, and in the north, the powers of healing herbs.
Next, call upon your Healing Ally to be with you. Ask him or her to make sacred the process of fashioning your healing tool. Meditate for a while until you feel the presence of your ally with you.
Now you can begin making your self-soothing healing book.
Craft Your Book
The art therapy method you’ll use is my adaptation of a technique from The Art Therapy Sourcebook by Cathy Malchiodi. It was one of the textbooks I assigned for my Expressive Arts Therapies course. I recommend it; she describes many therapeutic practices that can be used by anyone. I think it’s an interesting read, too.
Step 1: Introspection
Consider the sorts of things you find soothing. What environments, sounds, tastes, scents, experiences, animals, people and things calm you and make you feel better? You’ll be creating a book of soothing images, so thinking about what would soothe you will help focus you for the next step. Depending on your preferences, you could ponder this or write down your ideas. If you’re doing this ceremony with a group, people could pair up and talk about this for a few minutes with a partner.
Step 2: Image Selection
Go through the magazines, cutting out images that appeal to you. They don’t have to be from your step 1 list. Follow your instincts. If you’re doing this in a group, you can let people offer pictures to one another. Sometimes I find an image that I think someone else will like. It’s fun to give and receive a few of your images. I suggest you set a time limit on the selection process, as many people will happily go on indefinitely looking for pictures. It’s also a good idea to ask groups to limit talking—let others enjoy the meditation of the image hunt. Playing calm music will help keep the mood.
Step 3: Make the pages.
If you use both sides of your paper, you’ll have up to 10 sides to fill. You can categorize the pictures if you like. Often the images will group naturally into themes. My book has animals pages, a forest page and a joy page, among others. Or, you might have compositions without a particular theme—the images just fit together in a way that pleases you. If you’re working in a group, you are free to include or not include pictures others have offered you, and you don’t have to use every image you cut out. I like to arrange a group of images and then glue them to the paper with a glue stick, then go on to the next page. Some pages may have many images, others just one or two. The main thing is to design pages that make you feel relaxed and positive when you look at them.
Step 4: Assemble your book
Place your finished pages into a pleasing order. Put your back cover under the stack of pages and your front cover on top. With everything aligned, use the hole punch or scissors to make three holes on the left edge. Next, use the yarn or string to bind the book together. Voila! You have completed a magical act of self-nurturing.
Bless Your Self-Soothing Image Book
Call upon your Healing Ally to bless your book. Ask her or him to lay a hand upon your book, infusing it with healing energy. Visualize this soft, sweet soothing energy radiating from your book.
If you are working in a group, you might also bless one another’s books. If it’s a small group of people who know and trust one another, you can pass around the books and each person can add some magical energy to every book.
Release the circle
When your magic is complete, you can thank your Healing Ally and release him or her from the circle. Bid farewell to the directions, then uncast the circle by walking around it with your feather or flower, visualizing the circle dissipating back into ordinary reality.
Snack and Share
After you’re all done, have a healthy snack and enjoy going through your book, savoring what you have created. Honor yourself for caring for yourself in this way. If you’re working in a group, you can play “self-soothing image book” show and tell. Those who feel comfortable can show off their book with a partner. Or, if your group is small, each person could take a turn showing her or his book to everyone.
Use Your Book!
Now that you have made this gentle little book, it is a resource for you. Be sure to keep it where you’ll remember to use it—maybe on your altar or someplace else where it’s handy. When you feel upset, stressed or anxious, or when you have symptoms of illness that get you down—take out your book. Gaze at the pages and let the images that you have gifted yourself calm you. Feel the blessings that permeate it soothe you.
Your book can change over time. You might keep a folder on your desk for collecting images to put in the book. Feel free to add or delete pages. If you’re in a group that really liked this ritual, you could repeat it every once in a while, adding more to the self-soothing books.
Be sure to leave a comment if you do this healing ritual. Let us know how it worked for you. If you have suggestions, I hope you’ll share them with our other readers.
May you be tranquil, may you be happy, may you be well.
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