Water Yourself
Somewhere in the rolling, endless days of quarantine I’ve taken to painting out dreams from the last few years. An excuse to explore additional methods and styles, it’s been enlightening to dig through my subconscious spewings and translate into paper (especially as I am also working through Asia Suler’s Intuitive Plant Medicine course again AND reading Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin. Dreams have been heavy on my mind lately).
“Water Yourself” is one such translation. Rendered slowly in watercolor and colored pencil, it tells the story of a dream I had last summer.
I had just started working with Ocotillo, a beautiful red-flowering desert plant, and was napping in the sun during the height of summer. In the sparse desert I shed my human skin in favor of a serpentine form, slithering over rock and sand, deathly parched. At the bottom of a creek bed, in the dappled shade of a blooming ocotillo I gave up and literally rolled over. But ocotillo wouldn’t have that. One stem leant all the way down, fiery red and dewy, and let a single drop of water fall into my mouth
“Water yourself,” Ocotillo told me, echoing across the valley. And I did, scales loosening so the new river could refill the creek and spare me an agonizing dream death (which, if you’ve never experienced yourself is very, very uncomfortable).
Waking from this landscape, jarring myself back into the reality that is summer at the grindstone when managing a vegetable farm and helping manage a vineyard, I dove in and have since then focused on focused on intentionally meeting my needs and allowing myself things that deeply nourish my soul (like making time for art and changing my entire life to explore what really makes me happy).
It’s been hard. And scary sometimes. But also delightful and thrilling and I feel that in the last year I’ve gotten to know myself better than in all 26 of the previous combined; it’s in this vein that I am sharing some journal prompts (which I hope to keep a running thing here) that have spurred action and healing self-reflection in my own life.
Which areas of your life/self have been neglected?
What are some small, actionable steps you can take to really nourish your life/soul/body? (Go down to $5/5min max if you need to)
Is there any area of your life that you are suffering for? Is it worth it?
If you wish, share any revelations in the comments below (I definitely had some uncomfortable realizations when I worked through these questions myself), and keep an eye out @ursus.stellarium on Instagram. I’m preparing to launch not only a Society6 for prints and whatnot, but reopening my Etsy shop to share the first of the quarterly Little Nest in the Big World zine (a digital download for now), as well as some embroidery pieces later in the summer.
Warmly, Sabrina
