As we get closer to the end of the zodiac things start to get a little weird. And Aquarius is the harbinger of that weirdness. We’re no longer in the land of the tried and true. And this is exactly the place where Aquarius most likes to play. Aquarians are genius...
Creative Juices Arts Blog
Welcome to my blog page! I love writing about the healing power of the creative process. Here you will find a collection of all of my writing from all the way back to 2005! Enjoy!
Most Recent
Most Popular
Archives
Chris Zydel
A Brief and Rousing History Of The Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program
Eleven years ago I opened the doors to my very first Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program. To say I was completely terrified would have been an understatement. But there was something greater at work than just terror as I made the announcement to the...
Some Things I Learned About Letting Go, Creating More and Allowing Change in 2018
Greetings to all you wondrous creatives, We have dipped our toes into the waters of 2019 with a whole new year spreading out before us like a blank canvas of magical possibility. But I often forget that at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere we are still...
Wild Heart Teacher Spotlight: Monica Garcia
The process has helped me to be more present with myself, to feel what I need to feel, and to be free to cast off who I thought I should be to become who I truly am. This influence has informed my parenting, my relationships, my business—truly every part of my life.
Some New Year Wishes From My Heart To Yours
Happy New Year to all my friends of the heart, spirit comrades, creative compatriots, alchemical allies, glitter artists, sacred fools for love, soul magicians and just all around amazing human beings. Thanks for making 2018 so very full of wonder and laughter and...
Some Wishes And Prayers For You During This Season Of Darkness And Light
Holidays are always such a mixed bag for folks. Especially this one where we’re supposed to be all merry and cheery. And if you ARE genuinely feeling merry and cheery I party with you joyfully! But maybe today is no big deal and if that’s the case,...
Astro Wisdom: Capricorn as Wise Manifesting Elder
When Capricorn appears on the scene it's time to get to work. Capricorn is the archetype associated with a driveness to make an indelible mark on the world. Capricorn knows that this third dimension is wholly malleable to the power of intention and focus. That we can...
Trusting Our Way Through The Dark
I recently spent a week feeling pretty bad. I was extremely depressed. And had zero energy. In trying to make sense about where this onslaught of misery was coming from, there were a number of things I could point to. It’s been a crazy intense year. Lots of...
Let’s Talk About Shadow Work
My dear friend Andrea Schroeder of Creative Dream Incubator fame and I are offering an online workshop next Tuesday, December 4th entitled Gifts Of The Shadow. Wild Creative Momentum. And since she is HERE with me at my studio this week ( YAY) we decided to make a...
Shadow, Shame and Reclaiming Your Creative Self
As promised from my last post I wanted to explore the TYPES of things that we put in our shadow box. The truth of it is that it can be ANYTHING. But one thing that all residents of the box have in common is that they are a result of feeling shamed. Which is how they...
Astro Wisdom: Sagittarius As Fiery Adventurer Into Truth
As we move even further into the deep dark of the year ( at least in the Northern Hemisphere) we need a sizzling source of blazing light. And spirited Sagittarius is here to lead the way. Sagittarius is the sign of the freedom loving adventuress. She is infused...
Inner Shadow Work and The Hunger For Approval
I’ve devoted my life ... both personally and professionally... to spiritual, psychological and creative healing. And I’ve learned a thing or two over many long years about what it means to heal and what it TAKES to heal. What I mean by healing is engaging in the...
Astro Wisdom: Scorpio As Transformational Shadow Diver
Among the many professional hats that I wear... Wild Heart Queen, Wild Heart Painting Facilitator, Mentor, Creativity Soul Guide, Writer, Artist, Teacher, Creative Entrepreneur... I am also an Evolutionary Astrologer. And one of the aspects of my work that brings me...
Finding Your Creative Medicine
Medicine. Whenever I think of that word, my first association is with something that tastes incredibly nasty, like castor oil ( yes, I’m old enough to remember castor oil) or the cringe in my mouth when I accidentally bite down on an antibiotic pill. I have...
It’s really OK to simply let something shitty be shitty
I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks for so many of us on an emotional level. So I just wanted to offer you a bit of handholding, a lot of commiseration and some virtual pie. It's really OK to simply let something shitty be shitty. Crappy things don't...
Sacred Rage: Reclaiming Our Primal Power To Speak Our Emotional Truth
Earlier this week I sat in circle with 5 other women at my Creative Juices Arts studio. And everyone spoke to the feelings of rage that were being unearthed because of Christine Blasey Fords testimony about her sexual assault at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh. One...
Astro Wisdom: Libra As Relationship Artist And Beauty Creatrix
Among the many professional hats that I wear... Wild Heart Queen, Wild Heart Painting Facilitator, Mentor, Creativity Soul Guide, Writer, Artist, Teacher, Creative Entrepreneur... I am also an Evolutionary Astrologer. And one of the aspects of my work that...
Finding The Creative Courage To Enter Into Our Own Personal Underworld
It takes a lot of bravery to explore our inner underworld. Those places inside our souls and psyches that harbor our shame and our pain and our most difficult emotions. It’s scary down there in those dark recesses of what we have tried for so long to keep hidden. Even...
The Sacred Pact
Once you are truly committed to a path of radical transformation, you are in for life. You can SAY fuck it all you want when you hit the hard spots... and there WILL be hard spots. Guaranteed. In fact it can feel really good to say fuck it once in...
It Doesn’t Matter…
It doesn't matter if you made some choices that did not turn out the way you expected them too. If you ended up feeling disappointed. Or like you failed. It doesn't matter if you promised yourself that you would stop doing something or start. And then you didn't. Or...
Astro Wisdom: Virgo As High Priestess Of Divine Order
The Sun recently went into the sign of Virgo... one of my favorite signs since I AM a Virgo. And right now I think we need ALL the Virgo energy we can get. It’s a sign that is often misunderstood. So I want to take a few moments to talk about the deeper more esoteric...
The True Meaning Of Transformation… and Why It Always Feels SO Hard To Make Those Shifts
I’ve got transformation on the brain since I just got back from week two of my AMAZING teacher training program with some of the most incredibly bad ass, creatively alive women on the planet. My teacher training is divided up into four in-person retreats. And every...
Why You Should NEVER Believe Someone Telling You That You Are Too Much
I was recently having a conversation with one of my beloved students when she stopped me in my tracks with a lovely acknowledgement. She said to me: “You know the reason that I chose you for my teacher is that you REALLY mean it when you say that you support me 100%...
Why The Inner Critic Does What It Does
It has always seemed so unfair that opening to my creative muse immediately whips my judging mind into a frenzy of activity. For a long while it was a puzzle to me. It didn’t make any sense as to why I would be so crippled by fear and doubt whenever I was inspired to...
How To Welcome A True Spiritual ( and creative) Breakthrough
When a true spiritual breakthrough is imminent, our soul will let us know that it is time through an experience of suffering. We will find ourselves in a place of distress that often has no discernible source. We just know that we’re miserable, hurting and...
Celebrating Our Superpowers
Recently, in one of my sacred creativity circles, a women shared about how flabbergasted she was when she heard me nonchalantly talk about my superpowers without apology, justification or disclaimer and without it being a big deal. Like it was the most natural...
Creativity Lives In The Body
Perfectionism lives in the mind. The place of creative refuge is always in our body. When perfectionism comes on the scene frustration is not far behind. If you find yourself spinning out into mental anxiety around creating the RIGHT way, simply breathe your...