EartHeart Space

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Anima-gic (and words that can't define the appropriate title of this post)

an ojo de dios in the making by one of my young students during a children's rights and life skills mandala making workshop with children from a conflict affected area last june

I am coming around letting go of a lot of nostalgia and the intensity of inner work as my Vipassana meditation course comes up. Through all these, I am so grateful for a lot of guidance that have been given . This morning, I had a dream of being with a group of dancing women. When I saw a little girl in the group, I felt motivated to join and dance in the middle. The leader then went into trance and drew the full moon and the stars on my forehead.

I wish to honor the special parts of my journey that affirm our deep connection to the sacred and the magic that happens when we are aligned by sharing this post.

Three Saturdays ago, I spent an afternoon with my little friend Genesis from across the street. I engaged her in making an ojo de dios (the eye of God), a yarn mandala craft work from Mexico. It was her last day to live across my house as her family had to move to another place. It was a very symbolic experience rooted from something that moved me to co-create it with her - a special ritual between a 7 year old and a 29 year old at the Diwata Garden.

Came home to a walking ankh on Spring Equinox. On the right  is Genesis drawing  these beautiful symbols on her own on the day I witnessed a miracle and a donor confirmed donating to 3/4 of my funding needs for my Masters in Switzerland.

Genesis, drew me a walking Ankh symbol last Spring Equinox. I have just come home from an origami lotus flower workshop with an interfaith community to express solidarity with Japan and led a ritual of releasing them to the ocean. Did she know about Egyptian mythology and the the timeline of the sun? I don't know. But she and two other girls in my street would dance under the moon and draw spirals outside the gate always in sync with a special time - and a special need.

I have been reflecting about the special power of women and sisterhood lately. It started out last month dreaming about waking up with my sister beside my bed many times. I miss my sister and it wasn't until I came across the movie Practical Magic again after 13 years, that I realized it was also a message about sister-ing my other self and the magical power and roles women have embodied through many lifetimes.

I don't even remember how I came across the movie again. But the story of two "witch" sisters brought me back to many levels of my self. On the surface level, it transported me back to my dream of growing an herb garden and making stuff from natural elements, my own Amas Veritas from a deep dream connection the same year the film came out, and my curiosity about Wicca when I was a teenager.

Myth and stories carry so much power and memory that they awaken so many things in the psyche and soul. So this is not an ordinary movie despite it being a hollywood blockbuster. The impeccable timing of it coming to my laptop screen was an oracle, perhaps of the same magic when Genesis would leave important symbols outside my house.

So many scenes in the movie tapped me into the depth of the sacred feminine which I realized I have been journeying with ever since I made a conscious decision to transition from painful relationships.

The two sisters made me see my two selves and the alchemic process that involves my awareness of the existence of these dualities - the  wild, reckless one and the wise, knowing one. Same blood, yet unique opposites. Seeing these two clearly has been very helpful in my shadow work.


There was a scene in the movie wherein the a coven of 12 women gathered to break the spell and a man's spirit from possessing one of the characters. It made me deeply appreciate the gift given to me by 3 special women who walked with me recently and whom I feel were the allies in life when important tests take place based on Joseph Campbell's hero /heroine's journey.

It made me appreciate the  deep connection I have with these 3 sisters with whom I shared so uncannily- a beautiful healing journey. The similarities, synchronicties, and life lessons were just too familiar that it was such a gift to see my life through their own experiences.   


Since last summer, during a spiritual emptying to fundraise for my Masters, I  have been sharing life stories with my friend Nex who is deeply empowered with her life-work passion in conscious theater  and conscious shifting to align with manifesting dreams. It was this time too that I chanced across the stellar lines with soul sister Erin, a Filipina who grew up in Australia and is an artist practicing ethnobotany and traditional healing arts. Around the same time, I found myself outside a coffee shop at 4 am dream-working the entire evening and dawn away with Juanita, who used to teach at an international school and is planning to promote green living and oneness in school systems.

Autumn Equinox Rainbow at the Pier

Last Autumn Equinox, I brought  Juanita to the pier to ferry off her car filled with all her stuff to live in a conscious earth village in Palawan. Sending her off was an important trail marker for me with a beautiful auspicious rainbow sign from the sky that glimmered across the port.

The strong sacred feminine guidance I tapped into that afternoon inspired me to do a spirit song and a flower ritual with the Echo Yoga community for the equinox meditation. On the same weekend, I led a mandala ritual space making for EarthDance with my friends Janet, Joemar, and Bong. The design was inspired by the seed, egg, flower,and tree of life.

Back at the Alps last July, I made a nest mandala for an evening performance the same day I made a phone call to a wonderful healer who studied under the Native American shamanic traditions and schedule a trip to meet her in Basel. During the equinox weekend last month, I was inspired to re-create this nest with seeded "sunflower eggs" made out of compost and clay molded by children inspired by Fukuoka's natural farming seed ball method (popularly called "seed bombs" by DIY urban gardeners).

On the morning of the event, the ritual leader, Arlene, a native of the Mountain Province saw a vision of an eagle laying and protecting her eggs. Interesting to note that the day before that young Philippine eagles were released into the wild. I believe the depth of the Babaylan indigenous mind and heart revealed an oracle for the mandala to be made that day.

The installation we made from narra and mahogany seedlings turned out to be rooted into the earth's heartbeat too as Nobel Prize awardee and eco-peace advocate Wangari Maathai died that same day. Beautiful things helped shape the event from start to finish up to the release of spirit lanterns to the sky just in time before the rain started to pour. 

Since I started participating in a growing movement to revive the spirit of the Babaylan tradition (1) through the Babaylan Lecture-Ritual Series, my creative process has been in active co-creation with the sacred feminine. There is something I can't name here but in its natural feminine nature, I feel a lot of nurturing guidance.


Recently, I joined a forum featuring key negotiators in the Northern Ireland and South Sudan peace processes which are inspirations to the peace agenda of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front here in the Philippines. It was meaningful to know that they were successful in finding a pact and accord after many years of talks and conflict. I waited until the last opportunity to ask my question whether they took advantage of creative and cultural lines in social engagement for peacebuilding - a question that I felt awkward about after hearing all the legislative and constitution related ones that were thrown at the speakers the entire afternoon. But at the end of the day, the awkwardness didn't matter, because on my way home I remembered my dream the night before, I was asking the same question all over again: "What is the feminine way of peacebuilding that needs to be revived?"

This continues to be my question not just to universe, but to myself. It's not about being a woman this time, but about approaching transformation from the inner, the intangible, and the unseen spirit that all men and women are capable of.

It took me awhile to decide whether I should share these stories or not for sacred stories are usually kept as secrets. Yet part of me feel that we should all normalize miracles and divinations. It is just who we really, truly are when we are always connected with the sacred and truth. Maybe its usually the women who are tapped into these things, I don't know. (Sometimes I wish for once, a man would dream of me. Sometimes, I want to have a good dream without all the secrets like tapping into a lover's affair or a new relationship).

Yes, I still long to co-create with the masculine energy and to bring oneness and union with God through an embodied personal and global journey with other beings and the earth. But for now, maybe its just to run with the wolves alone in the forest.

My friend Yorlene shared that women around the world are tapping into deeper dreams together lately as the earth shifting takes place. Maybe its a retreat into the wild, the hibernation, or winter time as Persephone descends into the underworld - a preparation for rebirthing helping shape the oneness movement through the healing of memory and divides as they remind the people of the prophecies of the shifting times to come.

Perhaps this is a necessary step to union and oneness.

I need to sister this 7 year old in me that never experienced childhood, the 15 year old that had a blood compact with a twin soul in a dream, this young woman bordering youth and adulthood at the cusp of her 3rd decade, learning to get to know and love herself fully.

On the morning of the Japan tsunami, I remembered a dream of myself asking the elders if I am ready to teach a young woman to swim out in the sea... I was doubting if I was capable of teaching and guiding...and in the dream, people were warning me of the danger of sharks which was something unexpected to that place (you know the rest of the story on what happened on March 12.). Looking back, now I know that little girl was also myself.

I believe we can all tap into guidance if we only listen deeply and open up our questions and be open for the universe's messages. Am I now ready to teach this little girl to swim?

An answer came through this video the other day of an Aleut elder who shared about the sacred feminine.
As he was speaking the words of the elder he consulted about trusting the universe, a spider jumped on a spiral drawing I made on my vision board.

And with those beautiful words and oracles, I believe the answer, according to the universe, was to trust and have faith.




(1) Babaylan as defined by the Center for Babaylan Studies:

Philippine indigenous communities recognize a woman (or man) as a Babaylan, someone who has the ability to mediate with the spirit world, has her own spirit guides, and is given gifts of healing, foretelling, and insight. She may also have knowledge of healing therapies such as hilot, arbularyo. She is a ritualist, a chanter, diviner. She has the gift of traveling to the spirit world or non-ordinary states of reality in order to mediate with the spirits. Babaylans are called by other names in the other languages of Philippine indigenous communities: Mombaki, Dawac, Balyan or Balian, Katalonan, Ma-Aram, Mangngallag, Mumbaki, Mambunong. 

*** This post is also dedicated to my beautiful friends Lia, Sigh, and Grace who have always been there for me in my journey.

Mandalas in Nature with the Muslim-Christian Youth Groups in Manila

Mandalas weave communities together!

Last March 12, I was invited to facilitate a community mandala making for the Muslim-Christian youth groups from Tala and Culiat communities in Quezon City. The group was undergoing a grassroots leadership training under the United Religions Initiative Bowes Award grant through the Peacemakers' Circle organized by Orlan de Guzman. Russell Maier of the 1Mandala project co-facilitated with me with his co-creative energy and mandala making expertise.

 

The whole day activity was the first time the youth groups met each other after undergoing trainings in their own communities since October 2010. We celebrated the gathering through learning about mandala making and interconnectedness with nature at the La Mesa Dam Eco Park.

The workshop started with mandalas in creation through a dyad sharing with "divinated" images - they pick out a card that's upside down and discuss what the image is telling them. The images were of mandalas in nature (galaxies, plants, spiderwebs, a mother's womb, etc). Afterwards, they learned about patterns in nature and the elements of mandalas in art making (lines, shapes, color, patterns). Russell guided them in a symmetry exercise connecting them to their mirroring dialogue experience. In the afternoon, I shared about mandalas in sacred symbols from different faith traditions and led them to symbol making by connecting themselves in nature. We didn't have enough time to do a geometric pattern exercise with Islamic stars and arabesques and Christian Rosette windows but I hope to do that some other time. We closed the day with co-creation through a community mandala making with chalk, their personal symbols in nature, and natural found objects. 

That's Alan Berguia, Community Coordinator for Tala and Culiat communities. Photo by Orlan de Guzman

photos of mandalas in creation upside down waiting to send a message across :-) Photo by Orlan de Guzman

Drawing Patterns observed in Nature after a nature walk. Photo by Orlan de Guzman

Russ facilitating a body mirroring symmetry exercise. Photo by Orlan de Guzman

co-creating a mandala in groups

After creating a mandala in groups, the challenge was for them to go back in a wider circle and see how to connect the mandalas into one bigger mandala as one community

We closed the activity with a ritual prayer for the healing of the earth. I asked them to touch the earth and connect their heart beat to its heartbeat and to send good energies to Japan (the workshop was held the day after the quake)
photo by Wilma Busadre

co-creating with russ (sometimes drives me crazy! but all works out in the end)

Here's a video of the mandala making in action:

 

P.S. I had no sleep preparing for the workshop so I made sure I loaded with alkaline water and green smoothies after channeling reiki on them for the whole day adventure of working with 70 young people! I can now attest to the power of live food and energized water!

Star Lanterns for Dreamers

Last December 14, I facilitated two art making activities for 100 streetchildren. Together with the Diwatas (Goddesses/Fairies) of GINHAWA (Growth in Wholeness and Wellness Associates), we crafted an afternoon themed as "Parol ng Pangarap" (Star Lantern of Dreams) for them. The activity was designed for De La Salle College of St. Benilde as they launch their mentorship program with streetchildren and out of school youths in partnership with their Social Action office.

My good friend Weena who organized the event asked me to do a mandala with the children. I reflected on it and figured the best way to theme a mandala for Christmas season would be the traditional Filipino Parol.

The Parol


Inspired by the Mexican pinata and the Chinese Lantern - both influences from pre-colonial and colonial trade exchanges, the Parol is uniquely Filipino in a sense it draws spirituality (both Christianized yet indigenous-ly still at heart for the stars have been giving guidance to the ancients), craftsmanship, and the evolving creative genius together by weaving in the pentagram, a star as the main theme, with indigenous materials - bamboo, paper, fiber etc with unique petal, leaf, and other geometric designs with light.

Every Christmas season, you will see all these beautifully designed star lanterns in each home (almost all homes will have a parol on the window!) and all the streets of the cities around the country. It has become the Filipino "christmas tree." In our case, it is the star of Bethlehem which the Magis saw during Jesus' birth that is at the core of the Christmas tradition.  It also symbolizes the Filipinos' resilience and hope-filled culture - shining light over dark times.

The traditional parol (image from google images)

The modern parol with electric lights (image from clickthecity.com)

The Pentagram as Mandala

At the start we planned to have custom made star shaped bamboo frames for children to design around but it turned out very tasking to prepare 100 frames in a few days. So we opted for a cheap yet beautiful medium - Origami stars. In the middle we used parchment paper as a circle for children to draw their dreams on so lights would shine through either through some neon colored sticks or the sunshine through a window.

Child Testing the artwork with Lorenzo, here using the neon light sticks. We decided to take out the light sticks after for safety reasons. 

The whole afternoon's activities were designed to connect to the theme of dreaming and hope. The children from the streets are also orphans, out of school children, with some who have been sexually abused in the past. Staying in several partner centers and facilities, these children are already being taken off the streets and given proper care and assistance.

Inside my head, I play around with styles for designing mandalas. Everytime I design a workshop, I either go Jungian/Expressive or Geometric/Meditative or a mix of both. For this case, because of the workshop design of expressing hope, I decided to focus more on dreams in the middle of the circle. The children were encouraged to make designs and patterns on the pentacles of the mandala star.

 
The Star Guides the Dreamers

A story and theater play written by Leah Tolentino, Executive Diwata of GINHAWA was a beautiufl weave for the entire afternoon. We acted out the story through lights, projected images, and indigenous music for effect.

Inang Tala (Mother Star), played by Mini, wished to help a child forced to leave home and sleep on the streets because of poverty. Alas because she was so far away, she couldn't be heard by the child who lives in the nosiy and polluted streets of Manila. Asking the guidance of her Creator, she was advised that the only way to reach earth and to help others is to break up into pieces because she is very big and hot for the earth and its beings. And so she did break into pieces out of deep contemplation and compassion for the child. She then became all the many stars we have in the sky.

Are these the alignment of planets? (gives me the shivers)

To prepare the children for drawing, and to connect them to a creation experience, i asked the children to do a non-dominant hand play of colored crayons which they covered with black crayon afterwards for a transformative darkness creation with their pencils. It was only prior to facilitating this activity that I realized they were also drawing the cosmos from within them so I showed them pictures of beautiful nebulas and galacitcal formations taken from the Hubble Telescope. This also connects them to the story of Inang Tala.

The following photos show how the workshop transpired. Step by step we started with a visioning reflection of the meaning of hope and how dreams can be achieved if they believe. Aftewards, we drew dreams on the circular parchment paper so that it can be a transparent suncatcher during the day sans the use of lightsticks for light effect. The last steps were to design patterns on the pentacles and because they were so creative and wanted to play with designs and colors, I did not ask them to do symmetrical patterns which is the usual way mandala making is taught.

Most of the dreams from these children were houses. It tells much of their experiences growing up in the streets

He wants to be a musician

He wants to be a seaman

To close the workshop, we paraded around the college premises which Jonel our volunteer and I led with a jembe drum as we follow Inang Tala around as she asks classroom after classroom to give attention and honor to the dreams of these children.

When we got back to the activity center, we made a mandalic installation with a song by Gary Granada as part of a ritual of commitment from the volunteer mentors (students, staff, etc.) and shelter coordinators in helping foster love and literacy for these children. 

Inang Tala Mini leads the parade around the school

The streetchildren are proud of their dreams

Dreams like a litter of starfish out on the seashore

A mandalic installation to cap off!

click here for more photos !

Tapping the Creative Life Force for the New Year

*I dedicate this post to all the Babaylan angels who have guided me on my healing journey last year

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I closed 2010 with a meditative sunset experience on top of a retreat center in Antipolo where I was asked to document stories and rituals and facilitate art activities during an interfaith peace camp. As I was hiking up the hill in a hurry not to get caught in the dark forest on the way up, I saw the sun setting and realized it was the last sun of the year. Immediately, I left my backpack of fresh new clothes from the city on the ground and walked toward a tree with an awesome view of a cloud formation in the sky that gathered a large circle of light. It was a beautiful experience to see the horizon in orange and red as it blanketed above the urban landscape. Moved by the experience of saying goodbye to my challenging healing year, I just felt I needed to sing to the sun. I offered a spirit song to the sun for having graced me and all with life. It was a good year of healing and love.

That evening, I was spending a great time with the young Filipino and European peace campers singing and playing games for the year ender when I still felt the urge to have space and continue singing. Sneaking out, I went back to the sunset tree and this time sang to the moon, sang with all the fireworks from the city that could never reach the sky. I felt nostaligic saying goodbye to my roller coaster year. While singing, I felt there was something stirring inside me that was not just my own doing. There was this strong weaving experience flowing some hums and hymns with my breath. I knew I was not alone.

This deep connection continued as I took part in a private Talaandig ritual with the young indigenous tribe peace campers while the rest of the youth and the staff headed up the roofdeck to watch the city fireworks at the strike of midnight. The ritual started at 11:45 pm and ended at past 12 to bridge the old year and the new year. I was honored to witness the mandalic offering of betel nuts wrapped in leaves and special paste to Apo Magbabaya (God of the Talaandigs) and the partaking of it afterwards along with voicing out intentions for the year to let Apo and the spirits help manifest them.

The next day, the first day of the year 2011, I spent the day on my own in silence. I decided to make my own ritual. Awake with bright eyes, I was ready to take on the day with a pack of 7 colored candles along with my "vision board" flipbook, art materials, and a good playlist on my mp3 player. It was not long until I disappeared into the beautiful landscaped meditation areas around the retreat center.

I found a bonfire pit where I layed out a simple mandala of flowers and leaves and lighted my rainbow candles around for my intentions (purple for spirit, pink for love, blue for peace, green for money, red for health, yellow for intelligence, and orange for career). I did this meditation and visioning ritual on 11:11 am, 1:11 pm, and 3:33 pm to connect to the good energies of these sacred timings. Oh yes, I also sang with the trees. There again, I felt the moving force of the spirits flowing through me.

Later in the day I did a fruit fast and made a mandala for my new year. It was inspired by my intentions to deepen my understanding and practice of indigenous wisdom and sacred art forms (represented by the local symbols and patterns), to heal and love myself and someone consciously and deeply (the flowers and the open heart and hands), and to polish plans for my backpacking art journey around the world (represented by the four eyes and the directions (North, East, West, South) and four elements (Air, Water, Fire, Earth) of the Earth.)

There was so much beautiful energy in making my intentions for the year that this carried on over the next few days together with the beautiful experiences of interfaith and indigenous rituals and storytelling that took place during the peace camp. Something really opened within me. It was as if I was ready to "to break open or openly break" (a favorite line from a favorite poem entitled This is a Diamond by Em Claire). I started doing my own inner dance meditations at the hidden bamboo groves during workshop breaks and I continued watching the sunsets and the evening stars in my solitude.  I believe something greater was at work. It was as if I felt I was my future granddaughter watching myself as I saw my shadow dancing among the smooth rocks around the trees.After about 30 minutes into dancing, I sat down and gave myself a good cry.

As if it was divine timing, I joined the young people with a beautiful Sufi song and dance to close the weeklong camp on January 5. After having a sunset conversation over the phone with my love Russ at the balcony, I had a conversation about living and learning indigenous wisdom with the Talaandigs in Bukidnon with Bae Liza, a woman elder from the Talaandig tribe. It was beautiful watching the sun setting with her in her full traditional garb. The sun and the moon met as I left the retreat center braving the dark forest to send off a surprise gift to Russ at the bus station. I was a little sad I couldn't make it to Sagada on time for his birthday the next day because of practical things. I also honored where I was on my own sacred journey as a woman, an artist, a healer, and a teacher in the making. I am grateful that we have space for each other for these important matters.

I am now writing here in my room at Bahay GINHAWA, a non profit promoting creative and spiritual transformative therapies and workshops, where I have settled as a transient and some sort of resident artist on January 1 last year to undergo healing and transition from unprocessed trauma. Now a year has passed and I can say I am an entirely different woman in some way or another. I am still in that sacred mode from the new year as I continue to do deep meditation, dancing and fruit fasting. I can truly say I have been blessed with the Babaylan spirits and angels that have given me guidance, sacred art, space and opportunities to channel, share, and most of all learn about my evolving purpose on earth.

I look forward to more life enriching experiences this year!

trusting the invisible weave

This blog is dedicated to 

the ongoing journey of 

becoming a genuine channel on 

the artistic path.

a labyrinth for inner peace for interfaith grassroots leaders in mindanao

These past few days involved a lot of contemplating about the next phase of my life-work. After having my job for a peace ngo placed on hold because of a grant delay, I had lots of free time (despite being broke) to well, think and think and think. I was in a way able to plot out my intention for the backpacking art project.

Oh make that plural--- INTENTIONS!
as all these art ideas are so embedded within so many levels of my life!

Deep breath!

I just finished an interfaith youth camp with young Muslim, Christian, and Indigenous leaders from all over the Philippines. The 3 day facilitator's training workshop was conducted by Binhi ng Kapayapaan Inc. (Seeds of Peace). I had such a wonderful time as an observer, documenter, and a participant as I also learn about their modules in preparation for their international youth camp in December where I was invited to facilitate some art activities in some rituals and reflections.


An oracle or a divination of angel messages along with Christian, Buddhist, Sufi, and Indigenous songs and dances that were part of the activities just really connected me deeply to the the intentions of my upcoming project. The in between breaks sing alongs with the young people, the artmaking processes during the workshops and the deep conversations about peace with the young leaders just truly inspired me to pursue this further.


The truth is, I am writing this as I figure out where I'm going to get my money for rent and my bills this month since there is no certainty if the project that got on hold will push through. I have a short term job that doesn't pay much but it is so meaningful. I get to help design a campaign and run activities for the public for the Mindanao Week of Peace. The Mindanao Week of Peace is an annual event that recognizes and reminds people about the conflict in Mindanao where Christians, Muslims, and Lumads (indigenous) have been trying to live in peace together for many decades despite land and political conflicts and the need for self determination. I am also preparing to head an interactive online magazine that will feature peace stories about Mindanao.I have a bit of hope since a funder is interested but this might take a lot of time to process. But all these are still in the air.

I'm writing this because I want to put out this intention to the world. I want to work for peace and the environment but I really really really want to do my art. I am again feeling this love - hate relationship with my work especially because I'm afraid again that it cannot involve my creative process.

Let me be clear on this first. I love interfaith dialogue. I have been doing this for 3 years now and still am passionate about it. I love doing communication for development.and helping causes communicate their most important messages through campaigns and promotional materials for the past 5 years. I love working on environmental education and advocating renewable energy, organic farming, biodiversity conservation, etc. Heck I have been doing coastal clean ups since I was 16 and sailing with Greenpeace when I was 23 just turned my life around!

I love art too. I am passionately in love with it. I love the way it bridges people with that invisible weave even if we are of different histories, culture, races, languages, religion, and worldviews. I love that it heals from within, how it empowers, unites, affirms, and reconnects us to the sacred, to the source of all things. I have been doing art since like forever. 
 
So who wins? No one wins for this is not a competition. I want to do art for my own personal transformation and for causes I believe in. I have been experimenting this for 7 years now - doing volunteer work as an art teacher, facilitator, collaborator and it has given me a window to the depth and wisdom of becoming a culture bearer, a sacred artist, and a healer.


So let me talk about this upcoming journey that took 2 years to plan. It took awhile for me to express this in words as I have been growing tired of words and thinking for the past 9 months doing lots major project management work for peace.Sometimes I'm afraid that I might be developing dyslexia and ADD because of the lack of creative, right brain process. I can be a total technocrat when it comes to development work if required but it can only last for long if it is imbalanced without my art.


The intention is that for the next few months, I would be learning the indigenous wisdom and art from my own country/ethnicity side by side with a new mandala painting and drawing series inspired by different traditions. 

Having been brought up with so much western art training, I used to look down on traditional art on how it is monotonous with repetition, its bland use of colors, and its seemingly restrained way of expression. My only relevant interest before was more academic in nature. I appreciated my Visual Anthropology and documentary film making class so much that I applied for a minor degree in Cultural Heritage which I didn't eventually complete with a thesis because of the heavy workload prior to graduation. The only cultural experience I truly appreciated as a university student was the night long epic chanting of elders from indigenous tribes that I was required to attend for a class.

But now all this has changed. After leaving work doing art education at a prestigious museum, my journey brought me to work on environmental education. This has then led me to learn about how the indigenous cultures have no word for environment or art for these are embedded to their way of life. And now with interfaith dialogue work, my cosmology is now becoming part of a big weave intertwined in one fabric wrapped around the history and destiny of humankind.

I have been learning how the word kapwa, or shared self/oneness, according to musical anthropologist Felipe de Leon, is integral to our psychology wherein we have this psychic unity with everything - animals, plants, the earth, the rest of humanity and how this is at the core of our inner self  (ubod ng kalooban). He says, that the deeper meaning of kapwa is shared divinity.

The emphasis of the creative process, the participatory engagement of others beyond the self are qualities of many sacred and indigenous art forms. With kapwa comes the continuity of consciousness that permeates beyond the physical that manifests in many of our art and cultural forms. You can experience it in the pitching melismatic slides called hagod in our everyday language and songs; with the drone of drums and instruments in many of the rituals that elevate the brainwaves to the theta level. The dreamweavers like the T'boli of Mindanao entrust their unique design to their dreams. To many of the indigenous art forms of the world, art is a medium to connect to the divine.


As I was learning this, I felt that if I wanted to deepen my artistic process I need to dig deeper to connect to this higher realm of creativity and art.


The Artistic Journey

For the next few months, I am intending to deepen my understanding of the Baybayin, the ancient script, to study pottery and weaving up in the Cordilleras, to learn soil painting with the Talaandigs of the south, learn the okir design of the Muslim Maranaos, the banig weave of the Visayas, or whichever the gods and spirits allow the elders to teach my heart and hands.

a collaborative mandala installation with interfaith youth from mindanao, south east asia and the pacific

Afterwards, I embark on a backpacking journey around Asia  hoping to stay with and work with grassroots interfaith communities of the United Religions Initiative and some friends I have worked with under the UNEP Eco Peace Leadership program who are working for environmental protection and conservation.

Because I have always been inspired by sacred circles - the mandala, labyrinth, Islamic geometric patterns, dreamcatchers, etc, the intention is to learn and share from local artists and wisdom holders about their sacred art forms including their mythologies, cosmology, and faith values in developing a module for interfaith dialogue, ecological healing, and perhaps maybe help develop a social enterprise initiative.

Along the way, I'd also like to continue my training and apply my knowledge and practice with transformative arts and work on arts relief with children who are affected by poverty, conflict, and environmental disasters as an Artist on Call with Buildabridge International. I feel this can be a project I can do with the 1Mandala, a global art project that inspires people around the world to co-create mandala builds and installations out of submitted portraits of oneness. As core team member, I am currently helping develop its social arm through arts relief and other means of support.


Perhaps to have more impact, I can share some of my skills in project management, social media, campaign work, and ICT for peace if needed by the communities so we can bridge their work to the rest of the world.

Another dream is to live in conscious communities who are doing sustainable farming and permaculture so I can learn how to nourish myself and the earth with a conscious lifestyle and share this learning to others I meet along the way.

Oh, so many dreams right? I feel the time of the earth is shifting and my role in it is still emerging as I take one moment at a time to manifest my unfolding through my dreams. I know and have faith this will be a beautiful journey of rediscovering myself, my capacities, as I discover new places, experience the earth through the people, beliefs, art, and the vast expanse of natural wonders I will encounter. I am grateful that I have the chance to live this life and this journey. I hope I can be worthy of these gifts that I am given and be able to share them to others. I am trusting this invisible weave that connects my spirit to the source, to all of us, to the earth, to the consciousness and spirits of all that exists visible or non visible. I intend this now as I learn to surrender with great faith to the Creator, the universe, to the spirits that can help this intention  manifest.

Bathalanawa!