mental health – Raw Nature Spirit

A wild something screams out of the flesh, released for all to see
The fear, horror, hopelessness
With only one desire – not to exist

The uncontrollable despair comparable only to deep dark sorrow
Once you experience sorrow, someone said, the depth is done, for it is sorrow that defines the darkest of darkness
How does one continue after such exposure, sorrow repeated over and over?

But it continues… how, I don’t know
What saves one?
Logic, sense, love, meaning of some sort; all the things that can not be grasped at in moments of being stripped of all flesh

But it subsides, comes back into itself beaten, broken and bare yet somewhat whole
Pierced with holes and stained with blood of a battle just passed
But living, catching breath, continuing

I heard a whisper between sobs and spiky mess of the ravaged mind
‘Keep looking out’
For I was surrounded by mountains on one side and by a forest of the other
Keep looking, seeing, let it be in elemental presence
Oh how I tried to see with no vision and feel through the cracks of broken flesh. I tried yet failed

Another day came and the whisper persisted
‘Keep trying,’ it said and like a mother the vast landscape filled with light opened its arms
To which it drew me in embrace
And I was home again
The fog lifted off my senses as mist released the water off its hold
Revealing space, an openness, hope, a chance to take flight again, to take another breath

Here I would like to share some examples of spontaneous drawings with you to access unconscious and release whatever needs to be seen. No interpretation is often needed, just drawing something out literally can help with feeling lighter, happier, emotional, but releasing. If in personal therapy you can ask your client to interpret through asking questions about each colour, image, shape and size, anything that stands out and how they feel when engaging with their drawing. Non-interpretive and interpretive technique is used in Art therapy with mental health patients, with children in psychotherapy, within transpersonal psychotherapy practice. I use this technique in my practice. It is one of my favourite ways to work and it is always wonderful to see shifts happening and insights coming out of clients’ drawings. I, myself, in my own therapy, experienced huge shifts and transformations through using creative imagination technique and drawings.

It is also used in magic very often, as it is very powerful in ways of accessing material otherwise unseen and unknown/unconscious. It can reveal so much about you and the way you see things, your desires and needs, obstacles and dislikes.

Call it magic, call it therapy or healing whatever it is used for it works wonders for the psyche. I wrote a post earlier on the Fire spell HERE where you can use this technique to release what is no longer wanted. I did the spell myself using a list where I put on paper in words what I wanted to be released and I also did a drawing in a spontaneous way, not a pre-determined way (you can do it that way too), i.e. drawing what you wrote. I just went with the flow without engaging thinking and letting my hand express on paper what is within me having set an intention to release all that needs to go.

Interesting observation was that when I did as list I was surprised that there didn’t seem to be that many things that I needed to release. Words didn’t appear easily, I had to think about what to put. Here is the difference with the drawing, which was so rich in colours and imagery it filled the whole space. You see when your thinking is engaged it blocks the emotional flow of the body, it blocks all the important energetic stuff connected to feelings and memories stored in the body. When drawing spontaneously all that material that needs to come out does flow very freely and in contrast to writing a list one can see just how much is inside and just how much needed to be released. If one stopped at just a list, the job would only be half-done. I hope this explains the power and value of incorporating this technique in your magical workings, personal healing and work with clients.

Here are some of my examples: