I thought I would write a little blog post to share with you how ‘The Purple Thread & The Lighthouse’ came about recently.
Last week I had the pleasure of working 1:1, alongside a gorgeous lady who had requested a day with me creating together. I had put together a personalised workshop programme designed specifically for her involving what she was wanting to explore and creatively get out of the day. The focus was on my ‘Find Your Inner Artist’ Art Journaling Programme as well as playing/exploring inks on various substrates.
During the art journaling and after she shared a little about her past and life story, she commented how she was very drawn to Lighthouses. We had been exploring and discussing the importance of using Universal Symbols in our journals and how to apply them.
Over the past couple of months, I had seen on and off, the words ‘The Red Thread’ in my newsfeed on Facebook from posts by the beautiful Shiloh Sophia. Whilst I hadn’t delved into it and fully explored or knew what ‘The Red Thread’ really symbolised; in the back of my mind I was aware of this ‘entity’…The Red Thread.
So as my client and I talked, I played word ~ mind association between Lighthouses…the colour red…a red thread. And voila! An inspired idea appeared, to help guide this woman out of the darkness of heavy thoughts when exploring themes, experiences and emotions in her art journal. A way to help her back out…a life line for the emotions if you will.
So first I googled ‘The Red Thread’ on the computer. And found…according to Wikipedia, that in Greek mythology, “Theseus rescued himself out of the labyrinth of Minotaur by following a red thread, given to him by Ariadne”
But then I wondered, whether a red coloured thread was the right colour?
Perhaps there was another colour…more representative of the themes we were exploring in the soul excavation journey within the journal?
So I did a little more research until eventually I decided to change it from a red thread to a purple thread. Purple is one of the colours (along with Aqua) of the ribbons to help awareness for Depression.
So…THEN, I decided to google ‘The Purple Thread‘ & found this site and video! (Having had personal experience with both domestic violence and depression, this resonated very deeply with me also.)
>>> http://www.thepurplethread.com/about/
In it, Danielle mentions the Chinese Proverb of the Red String of Fate! AND…this then led me back to & relates beautifully with the ‘The Red Thread’ movement that Shiloh Sophia shares with the world…SO serendipitous & circular!!! *****
But back to my client, the Lighthouse…and now, ‘The Purple Thread‘!…
(Oh…the magical weaves and wefts of an artists mind. Down the rabbit hole indeed!)
Again, with a little mind ~ word play, I conceived that in relation to Art Journaling, we could symbolically take a thread on a ‘journey’ or exploration with us in our journal. So, I suggested to my client that perhaps she could draw a lighthouse on the inside cover of her journal and then either just mentally or physically place one end of the thread at the top of the lighthouse, close the pages then open up a new journal spread and bring the other end with her on her journey into soul discovery and healing. I told her that she could just leave the thread hanging visible out of the journal and then draw a purple line on her journal pages to represent it. Furthermore, that at any time, if she felt she was going too deep in her creative writing or drawings and her emotions became a bit overwhelming; that she could mentally & physically follow the thread back to the lighthouse or even close the journal spread she is working on and spend time reflecting on her lighthouse and coming back into the light. It’s a symbolic way of helping people to not get stuck in the deeper yucky feelings that can come up in their expression and exploration in the journal.
And that is how this technique to help you move into and through the painful, the sad, the heavier emotions when we explore and excavate our inner worlds in our art journal, was born!
My client was delighted with the technique and is looking forward to using it (as am I).
Given that each fortnight I have to upload a new arty mini tutorial video in my private Curious Creatives Living Artfully private FB group, I decided that the Lighthouse & The Purple Thread would be this fortnight’s video, so members could also benefit from the technique!
I have also decided that this tool/technique would potentially be very helpful for a lot of artists/art journalers out there, so I am sharing the full video here also. In the following video I create a journal page which explains the symbolism of the Lighthouse and the purple thread and how to use it as a tool when exploring self, in the art journal.
A gentle and symbolic way to not get stuck there in the ‘icky’ feelings and giving us the confidence to trust our ability to navigate our way back to the light…to the lighthouse, via The Purple Thread.
x Tanya
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