Collaborative works with talented Italian artist Katrina Koltes

“Keepers of Dragons.” (right, started by Katrina and finished by me)

“Druids of the Ancient Magic” (left, started by me and finished by Katrina)

Both are acrylics and oils on paper, framed. Collaborative painting with an incredible Italian artist Katrina Koltes. This special project was born couple of year ago with the idea of each one of us starting a paining of one of our shared past lives, completing only one face, leaving the rest in progress. Then posting it to each other, to Italy and South Africa respectively, finishing each other’s paintings on the other side. No rules, anything can be changed in the flow, only one original painted face remains untouched, for the purpose of recognizing both artists style in the painting. Can you tell which face was painted by Katrina?

Work in progress, sent to me by Katrina

Please see above wip that I received from Katrina, the past life she tapped into felt very angelic, or elvish to me. Then it went into direction of fairies and dragons, something of Atlantean times. I have sent to Katrina an earthy and tribal past life of magick and ritual. Both of these collaborative works are now available and looking for home in our duo auction on 29-31 July. Please search HeArtful Soul AC Auction Group on Facebook, request to be added and see all the art offered there. You comments on the listings are also very much appreciated.

Ayahuasca experience in the Amazon Rainforest

Well, I have to start with the statement that 2 weeks in the Amazon jungle is not for the faint hearted. Humidity and heat are next level relentless, hot air stands still from 6 am until 12 midnight, it gets slightly cooler after that, but not much. There are horseflies that bite, and of cause a very simple dieta of eggs, rice, potatoes and 3 types of vegetables, without salt, spices or oils. But I think heat was my main issue though.

6 ceremonies were absolutely incredible. Everyone experiences were very different, some went through more of a shadow work and ancestral clearing, and some had healing of current life traumas. Since I have had already about 30 ceremonies before, that type of work was in the past for me.

This time, Ayahuasca have taken me to Upper Realms, where I met and spoke with ascended masters, was shown history of human migration and humankind in general, creation of the world, first humans of earth. I spoke to Abraham, Jesus, Adam and Eve and saw the Heaven on Earth through Adam and Eve eyes. Seeing and speaking to original ancestors was revelational. I spoke to Creator as well. My journey was unexpectedly “Biblical”, which is strange, because I don’t read or fixate on Bible or religions.

I was shown who Abraham was before he found God, how his family lived and all that ancient history have had a stunning detail and meaning. I saw Universe with all it’s worlds and galaxies, flew as a Condor across fields and was shown how he hunts and lives. I was shown a vision for my future and steps to take in personal life and career. Many more magical moments have happened in my journeys.

I must say when I just started going to Ayahuasca, my initial journeys had many more tough moments, with a lot of ancestral clearing, healing of old wounds, relationships with parents, moments of birth and being in the womb of my mother. In those journeys, I have had fear and grief pass through me, and I cried many times. I had a lot to clear, on behalf of my ancestors, healing of my DNA, and getting rid of heavy energies that I carried. There was a point in those journeys where I thought this kind of work would never end. But beginning of this year - it did, and my journeys changed to light, hope and vision.

I have been integrating at home these past 3 weeks, while doing crafts, mainly sowing and beadwork. It is quite challenging to integrate 6 ceremonies at once, but I think I am getting there bit by bit.

If you ever thought of trying Ayahuasca - do, it will change your life for the better, you will drop and load of baggage and grow spiritually tremendously.

Ayahuasca vine, growing around a tree in the Amazon Rainforest.

Traveling to Peruvian Amazon 1-14 November for 6 Ayahuasca ceremonies.

My earlier painting “Medicine” - a tribute to Ayahuasca plant medicine

By now, I must have had attended over 25 Ayahuasca ceremonies over the 5 years. I have sat in ceremonies with other plants as well, but she remains my primary plant teacher that calls me into ceremony regularly.

What makes me come back? Profound healing I experience on so many levels, improved quality of life, health, emotional wellbeing and maturity, streamlining of goals and purpose in life, strong connection to the Creator/ Great Spirit of Life. Opening up of psychic vision and intuition.

Journeying with Ayahuasca was a life changing experience. For most people only one or few ceremonies are needed, then they take years to integrate. Ayahuasca ceremonies are a hard work, they are not some fun party trips. You don’t get addicted to that, and I never planned to have that many.

Not many people are being called to sit with medicine this many times. I am not saying this to make me look special or different. I just seem to be needing deeper healing. I seemed to be doing healing of all my ancestral lines on behalf of my whole family, down to 7 generations back. Grief, anger, fear, struggles of WWII, loss, illnesses, generational depression on several bloodlines. My mother’s and fathers early deaths from illnesses, being in my mother’s womb, trauma of birth, even some past lives issues. The plant kept calling me back, there was more work to be done.

Then, my voice have opened up. I started singing and writing medicine songs. I started singing Shipibo Icaros. I memorized about 10. The plant called me to the Jungle.

I am going with another friend, who have had similar journey and perhaps sat in even more ceremonies. She will probably serve medicine some day.

In the long run, I hope this experience would enrich my life as an artist and makes me even better intuitive healer through Akashic Records. And I get to see the Jungle, and perhaps even a jaguar.

I will be back with another blog post on my experince after return.

21 day water fast completed!

I have just completed 21 day water fast. I drank only water for 3 weeks.

I have never done one before.

My main objective was to detox my brain, as I have recently felt foggy, unfocused and forgetful. And to detox whole digestive system. It’s been 4 years since I did a proper cleanse (that time it was 40 day grape and lemon fast.)

I must say water fast is easier than most of us think. I imagined I would be lying in bed for 3 weeks half dead, but I actually was extremely productive and busy, had energy, slept like a baby, had great clarity of mind and all my brain fog is gone. I also was in a very even, good mood, able to cook for family without feeling hungry and drove around running errands, including collecting tons of heavy driftwood on the beach. I had occasional spells of fatigue, were I had to lie down for 30 minutes and rest, but I was never dizzy, nor did I have any headaches or other health issues. First week there was some back/ kidneys and digestive mild discomfort, but it was quickly gone.

If you would like to attempt something like this, please do a proper research, it has to be done right. It’s not just drinking water. It’s spring water, sugar free electrolytes, herbal tinctures drops to support kidneys, liver and gut, and few enemas. Also important what you eat few days before and after.

Below I will share my protocol, based on my research online and I how I felt it should be done safely.

First of all, there are a lot of information and testimonials on various Facebook groups, for example Water Fasting. Please search and join a few. You may even find a fasting buddy there.

Second, please watch for Dr Berg video on water fasting HERE.

1. 5 days before starting the fast I stopped coffee, sugar, meat, dairy, grains.

2. 2 days prior to fast I went on raw pressed juices.

3. Every day of water fast I took these tinctures in a bit of water, morning and evening, to support: kidneys, liver, gut, and one not to have headaches. Please buy equivalents in your area, it doesn’t have to be same exact ones:

   Phyto-Force: Gut Soothe

   A. Vogel: Nephrosolid (kidney and bladder)

   Phyto-Force: Feverfew (headaches and migraines)

   A. Vogel: Boldocynara (liver and gallbladder)

4. I have had occasionally some hot water with mint leaves, and hot water with ginger pieces for digestive discomfort, on a first week.

5. I drank water with electrolytes half of the times, and other half plain water. Important to source them without sugar or additives. I tried one with Stevia for a week, it created hormonal disbalance and gave me some bleeding as side effect. Do not get one with Stevia. Sugar free only.

6. I did enemas every 2-3 days for the first 10 days. Some do it every day of the fast, but I felt it was unnesesary. If you feel too much discomfort in the bowels and completely exhausted - time to do an enema, it will make you feel better almost immediately. Not with plain water! With the one you buy at a chemist. I tried one enema with plain boiled water, the water just absorbed itself into the lining of my bowels and nothing came out. That was weird. So in total I may have done 5 enemas.

7. Expect some detox symptoms and don’t be afraid. Every body is diferent. I had lower back pain and occasionally kidneys discomfort, you might have migranes or even skin rush. This is good, it means the body is expelling toxins. If you feel dizzy or fainted, rather visit GP to consult. I did not have severe side effects. Rest for 30 min once or twice a day - it’s important.

8. Every now and then, once a day, I had a pinch of salt on my tongue. I craved it and I knew my body needed it.

9. After I have done fasting, I planned to do 2 days on fresh fruit juices, 2 days on smoothies, then transition to soft foods, like scrumbled eggs and liquidized soups. But on day 1 after fasting my body rejected fruit. Raw apple juice felt too strong and too sweet, I was nauseous all the time. I craved soup. So on day 2 after fast I made myself soup stock out of fresh salmon and drank it. I felt immediately better. Later in the day I ate 2 soft boiled eggs, chewing very well, and was totally fine. Maybe juices transition would work for you, you have to try. I needed warm and salty foods, so soup and eggs worked better for me.

10. I lost a total of 8 kg in 3 weeks. Other people loose as much as 10-11 kg. I plan to maintain weight with strict Keto diet for a while.

I hope I covered it up, please let me know if any questions. :)

One year long art course: a way to exhaust yourself or an important commitment?

If you are an aspiring/ beginner or intermediate artist who is wandering whether a one year long art course is too much of a commitment, here are my thoughts on how it can help you on your artistic journey.

There are several one year long art workshops that have been around for years, 3 of which I have participated on as a collaborative teacher: PYHAS (Paint Your Heart & Soul) - contemporary art on variety of subjects, styles and medium, Life Book - a lot of illustrative and story art, and Let’s Face it - painting faces in variety of ways.

First of all, what is the concept behind one year long art workshops? In few words it’s 30-40 online art teachers are pulled together, to make 2 video classes each. Starting from first week of January, students are beginning to receive by email link to different class each week.

So, why I personally love being a part of one year long art workshops as a teacher and why do I feel that participants are benefiting from them?

1. You can go at your own pace, open these classes any time, view videos, paint. You can do all of them or only those that you like. You can give it an hour daily, or only couple of hours on weekend - it’s up to you and how busy you are. Any amount of time spent making art is worth it. There are no strict requirements on how deeply you engage with the material.

2. You have lifetime access.

3. You can participate from any country from the comfort of your home.

4. Discovery of your art style and preferences is made easy, because of variety of instructors and their respective styles during the year. By end of the year you know what you love and what you don’t love, and your signature style begin to emerge.

5. You discover artists/ teachers that you love and can now follow directly.

6. Large community of other students like you will share art and support you in private FB group. By sharing your art and engaging you create art friends for life. I myself made friends in online art workshops 10 years ago, and still friends with them today, few I even travel to meet in US all the way from South Africa.

7. Teachers offer their support and encouragement on the same FB group.

8. It’s extremely affordable, when you take yearly amount of registration and divide into an amount of weeks per year (or amount of classes), it works out as something like $2 per class.

If you are thinking to give it a try, PYHAS-2024 have already opened registration for next year. I will be among teachers there 8th year in a row! In 2024 I will be teaching a story art with elements of collage, mixed media and acrylics, as you see in example below.

Even if you see this post later in the year of 2024, you can still sign up, gain access to whole year material and catch up with others. Sign up any time, go at your own pace, share if you want, ask for support, and enjoy dicovering your style.

I wish you much joy and success in your artistic journey!

“Light above me” - mixed media. (Original is sold, prints are available here.)