Come enjoy community, excellent refreshments, and my own art at Gaines Group Architects! An added bonus will be a raffle for an hour Hot/Chilled Stone Medicine treatment session worth $70!
"The Elephant in the Room" Art Opening of First Friday Downtown Harrisonburg
September 6, 5-7pm
Gaines Group Architects at 141 W. Bruce St. Suite 201, Harrisonburg VA 22801
So, what’s the connection between Stone Medicine and art? Well, the main connection as far as this event, is that I am both a visual artist and work in the healing arts field. These two professions seem very unrelated right? But to quote a popular saying in Asia where I lived for a time…..“Same, Same, But Different”
For me there has always been a strong connection! For me art and Stone Medicine are both avenues to wellness. Since being a kid, I’ve found making art helps me make sense of the world, process my emotions, experiences and even my trauma. For me the act of creating art, is itself healing. There are several professions, among them art therapy and expressive arts therapy which formally recognize this connection and use creative expression as a tool for emotional growth and healing. Can art also heal the collective? The community and even a society? I believe it can and does, and am not alone!
I got to spend time in a Mayan village last summer and was delighted to learn that “The word for ‘artist’ is the same as the word for ‘healer’ in Tz’utujil, the Mayan language spoken in San Juan La Laguna on the shores of Guatemala’s breathtaking Lake Atitlán.
The town’s young artists paint murals to promote Tz’utujil identity and philosophy. Artist Diego Ixtamer explains, “We’re losing a lot of our culture, and we’re living in a way that damages our culture and damages our Mother Earth. That’s why with our art, we try to cure people, to cure the community.” According to Rich Brown writing for Culture Trip.*
This is a mural in the town of San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, where our family studied Spanish and lived with a host family. The first time I passed the mural I was confused and a bit disturbed! The second time, was after we had learned about a traditional Mayan healing art involving stones to set and heal broken bones. A member of our host family had an broken arm treated traditionally and successfully years ago and told us the story! Then this mural made a whole lot more sense!!!
I had completely forgotten, until I picked up my Stone Medicine text book recently and re-read a section on the origins of Stone Medicine, that the traditions I practice are known to have been influenced by healing traditions from Central and South America hundreds of years ago when refugees of the collapsing empires of those regions (Mayan included) arrived to the Great Lakes region and were welcomed by the Santee Dakota people of the Sioux Nation. What an incredible connection!
Somehow, since this time, despite a painful history of war, removal and forced assimilation of the Sioux Nation, these Stone Medicine traditions have survived to the present day. Even more incredible is that this wellness practice has been gifted by elders and Tribal leaders who collectively decided that it should be taught outside of the tribe and traditional family and clan lineage and is available for you to receive! What an incomprehensible gift!.... Truly one that has the power to heal not only each person who receives treatment but, I believe, has power to heal our society's epidemic of loneliness, imbalance and disconnection from the rest of creation. This was the hope of Sioux elders who extended this gift by sharing the Stone Medicine traditions with us. May we make it so.
*Check out the town's other murals in Rich Brown's great article on Culture Trip https://theculturetrip.com/central-america/guatemala/articles/the-stunning-mayan-murals-of-san-juan-la-laguna-guatemala
I am so pleased to learn the background of Stone Medicine