Ep 455: The Power of Art + Expression

Everyone has an inherent capacity for art and expression and every artist is a mystic in their own way. In this episode, we dive into the joy, pleasure, and interconnected nature of art and creative expression and encourage you to explore your unique form of creativity, be it through storytelling, painting, embroidery, dancing, or any other medium.

We also explore the role of The Sacred Creatress archetype in motivating you to embrace your creative potential and surrender to the flow of inspiration. We share how to allow yourself the freedom to create without any inhibitions, and stress that art and expression are not only forms of embodiment practice but also present opportunities for connection and shared experiences.

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In episode 455 of the Embodied Podcast we discuss:

(2:51) An invitation to embody your creativity and seek connection through art and expression
(6:03) How my book, Dark Healing Order of Secret Priestesses, blends elements of romance, erotica, and magical realism to explore themes of love, relationships, and inner healing
(10:11) The interconnectedness of the mystical archetypes in creativity
(13:15) The beauty in unique expressions of universal feelings and ideas
(17:37) How various expressions of art often weave together
(22:37) The Creatress archetype in the context of the Wild Soul Archetypes
(26:16) A prayer for surrender and trust in yourself and the creative process

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Quotes from this Week’s Episode of the Embodied Podcast:

There is beauty beckoning us all the time wanting to be played with, explored, and expressed through us.

Expression allows us to be moved by the scope of human capacity, talent, creativity, capability, and genius. When we’re witnessing art, we’re witnessing mysticism in action.

All artists are mystics on a level regardless of what they believe in.

Art as an expression also gives us opportunities to remember that no matter how we may differ for some people, we also share things. We share taste, we share experience, we share love for things, and we truly all are interconnected despite all of our differences.

How was this episode for you?

Was this episode helpful for you today? I’d love to know what quote or lesson touched your soul. Let me know in the comments below OR share the episode on Instagram, tag me your stories @elizabethdialto, or send me a DM!

About the Embodied Podcast with Elizabeth DiAlto

Since 2013 I’ve been developing a body of work that helps women embody self-love, healing, and wholeness. We do this by focusing on the four levels of consciousness – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

In practical terms, this looks like exploring tools and practices to help you tune into the deep wisdom of the body and the knowing of the heart, which I believe are gateways to our souls. Then we cultivate a new relationship with our minds that allows the mind to serve this wisdom and knowledge and soul connection, rather than override it, which is what many of us were taught.

If you’ve been doing self-help or spiritual development work for a while, these are the types of foundational things that often people overlook in pursuit of fancier concepts that often aren’t practical or sustainable. Here, we will focus on building these strong foundations so you can honestly and thoroughly embody self-love. If you’re feeling it, subscribe to the show, and leave us a review wherever you listen from. You can also keep up with show updates and community discussions on Instagram here.

Transcript for Episode 455 “The Power of Art + Expression“:

Elizabeth DiAlto 00:00

I kind of imagined when I started writing fiction that some new fiction author aspect of myself would emerge. But instead, I watched as I couldn’t help, but we even synthesize the nuances of life and love and magic into something useful, fun, and highly relatable. And of course, because it’s fiction, I was able to do all of that in a way that, again, is a bit more provocative than real life allows for. And that was really my favorite part.

Elizabeth DiAlto 00:33

Hello, everybody, welcome to episode number 455 of the Embodied podcast, I am your host, Elizabeth DiAlto. And today we’re getting into the power of art and expression. And you do not need to be an artist to get something out of this episode, meaning like a formal one. There really is a level on which all of us have the capacity for art, all of us have things that are meant to be expressed and come through us. And I’m really going in on this in this episode, I even re listened to the sermon, which you’ll hear in a little while this morning, before recording this to reflect on what to go deeper into. And what I landed on was some aspects of the sacred Creatress archetype that fuel are an expression that allow whatever art or expression that want to come through you to be valid, sufficient and meaningful, separate from any financial gain recognition, awards, accomplishments or achievements. Because in our western capitalistic society, so much is regarded as valuable, only if it’s productive in some way. And productivity is more often than not linked to careers to work to generating a livelihood or a profit. But what about the wealth, abundance and prosperity that just come from using our gifts, tending to them, strengthening those muscles and harvesting the joy, pleasure delight, spiritual connection, intimate connections, community and simply allowing ourselves to be used to be vessels for God experiencing itself through us, which some mystics believe is the whole point of this shenanigan that we call life. So one of the things that’s a sacred Creatress reminds us of which you’ll hear this in the sermon portion of this episode, where I read the description of the sacred Creatress is that beauty and creativity he’ll period, there’s a phenomenon that happens when something has to make money. So even if your art is part of your work, if your expression is part of your worth, it’s worth it to pursue creative things aren’t an expression. Also, just for fun, to let them feed and fuel and nourish you, without any pressure to perform or provide.

Elizabeth DiAlto 02:51

This is something I’ve always loved about salsa dancing, just letting it be a hobby, letting it sole responsibility in my life be to bring me joy. And even though you know, I do embodiment, I teach movement classes, I have dance parties as part of my work sometimes. And people have asked me and if thought about it at times, I was a Zumba instructor back in my 20s, it would be so easy for me to teach Latin dance classes as part of what we do in the School of sacred embodiment. But I’ve always resisted and I’ve always avoided it. Because that would be attaching or reattaching, right, because I used to be a Zumba instructor in my 20s that will be re attaching the need to produce or create livelihood to something that for the last 15 years. For the majority of those years, I have simply allowed to be a source of pleasure and play and fun and joy and connection and happiness and expression. So there are certain aspects of my dancing. You know, here’s the other fun thing about it, when it doesn’t need to perform. When you’re not being ranked when you’re not being looked at when you’re not being evaluated. You’re just enjoying yourself. Just doing something for the mental, emotional, relational health benefits, that you don’t have to work on it. You know, there are things in my dancing that I haven’t really worked on for 15 years that I don’t care if I ever improve, because I don’t need to reach any particular status or skill set in order to feel worthy or to call myself a dancer. spending hundreds, maybe even 1000s of hours on dance floors all over the world over the years is why I call myself a dancer. So what’s your salsa dancing? What’s your thing? Or what are your things most of us are so much more creative than we could possibly imagine? There is beauty beckoning us all the time wanting to be played with explored and expressed through us. And this can be a form of rest and play and fun enjoy that everyone is worthy and capable of whatever time you can give it. Let yourself be open to it. And I’m sure some of you are listening like yes da of course because you do This, you know, I’m sure you’re thinking if I didn’t do insert whatever is the thing that your hobby, knitting, calligraphy painting, singing, you know, I know I have friends who are in choirs that just performed but just, you know, not for money. They’re not touring. It’s not competitive. It’s literally just for fun. And I’m sure some of you know that you would like wither up and die, or maybe something less dramatic than that, if you didn’t do those things. So with all of our creative power, as spiritual beings having human experiences, especially in this miraculous, overflowing with possibility world, none of us should ever be bored. And all of us should always be seeking joy in this way, especially amidst things that spark and see it or rage or grief, or disconnection. art and expression and creativity allow us to connect. And so many of us need to be connecting in ways that we aren’t even aware of until we let ourselves do it. And we give ourselves the time, space and energy and attention to do it.

Elizabeth DiAlto 06:03

With all of that said, I’m excited to announce and by the way, I did not plan this this way, which is it’s a little bit of a you can’t make the Shut up moment which some of you know I friggin love those. The power of synchronicity. My book is out. My book is officially out. It’s been out in the world for five days at the time this podcast goes live. It is called Dark healing. Speaking of art and creative expression, this is my first fiction book in a series I plan to continue writing many more in as with a lot of things I do, it’s hard to describe the book as it doesn’t just fit into one category, or two or like the suggested three that Amazon gives you in a nice and tidy way. And I mentioned this on substack. Last week, a friend of mine was asking me, How do I describe it for people do i Call It Romance? Do I call it erotica? And I’ve been thinking about it. You know, I might need to make up my own like hybrid genre, urban magical realism with any erotic vibe, some humor and themes many women will find relatable, or mystical erotica meets magical realism with a bit of spice and humor. Who knows, maybe once people start posting the reviews, I’ll see it more clearly through how they choose to describe it. Either way, as I wrote this book, I realized that I am who I am, no matter what I’m doing, it’s unavoidable. I’m a mystic and a medicine woman and through and through. I love nuance. I love complexity and love sacred weaving. I kind of imagined when I started writing fiction that like some new fiction author aspect of myself would emerge. But instead, I watched as I couldn’t help but weave and synthesize the nuances of life and love and magic into something useful fun. And some of our early readers are already telling me like so relatable. There’s just so many aspects of detailing these women’s experiences with men, and even just their own experiences in their bodies, or connecting and being out in the world that are highly relatable. And of course, because it’s fiction, I did all of those things, the weaving the nuances, bringing love and magic and relatable aspects of dating and relationships, and sex and stories. I was able to do all of that in a way that again, is a bit more provocative than real life allows for. And that was really my favorite part to get to explore some darker impulses, or some people might call it the inner bad girl. Because it’s just a book in a made up world, right? It’s not, this isn’t nonfiction. This isn’t self help. I’m not saying that people go out and do this. You know, in fact, in the author’s note, I tell people, I would never do shit like this in the real world. So you can find the book on Amazon under its name, dark healing order of secret pieces, his book one or my pen name, which is Maddy, Saul X Divina. And next week, we’ll be exploring the sovereign Queen archetype. And getting into themes around true prosperity and wealth, owning our power, and a few other things related, so have fun listening to the sermon. I’m not going to add a sign off to this episode, since I basically just did it there. Today’s episode will end with the prayer and I hope that hope that feeds you, fuels you nourishes you, hits you someplace within yourself that needed it today, maybe in ways you knew you needed, maybe in ways you didn’t. So today, we’re getting into the power of art and expression. Let’s talk about art first, both creating and consuming. There are so many dots that can connect feelings that can be sparked felt integrated and illuminated by looking at listening to collaborating on creating and expressing things, working with or using your hands or your body in a way that is art. And what’s really cool art and expression our embodiment practices they have to be because we use our body for it. And because ultimately there needs to be some kind of physical, mental, emotional, and I’m all it is spiritual connection. I’ll put an asterix on that. Because I know some people who identify as artists might not orient a spiritual, but I have an opinion about that, that I’ll share in a little while. So

Elizabeth DiAlto 10:11

what actually is art? Right? What does it do for us? What are the feelings we feel in the presence of amazing art, chills, goosebump, or joy, delight, pleasure relief. Sometimes the relief of experiencing some truth, or being seemed through somebody else’s expression that touches on or articulates or expresses something that maybe you have felt but haven’t been able to, like, name it, art does that for us. We can feel see we can feel understood, we can feel heard. Often we can feel complete in ways we feel like things are possible, maybe that we’ve given up on maybe that we hadn’t even considered before are an expression allow us to be moved by the scope of human capacity, talent, creativity, capability, genius. And what we’re witnessing, or we’re witnessing any kind of art is mysticism and action. The sacred creators archetype is a mystical archetype. And one of the things that I’ve been really feeling into lately is how, in the three different types of archetypes in the wild so archetypes, the fierce ones, which are the sovereign queen in the warrior goddess, the loving ones, which are the erotic priestess and the Divine Mother. And then the mystical ones, which are the medicine woman and the sacred Creatress. In my mind, I see this as like, the medicine woman and the sacred creators are kind of like in this infinity loop, because they’re really woven through everything with the others, you know, and we might be embodying or more deeply expressing a sovereign queen or warrior goddess, but there are always elements of either one or both of the mystical archetypes. Because that’s what inspiration is, inspiration comes from the mystical realm. All artists are mystics on a level regardless of what they believe in. And listen, it doesn’t matter if people call themselves a mystic identify, but like, what do they think that forces? Where do they think the field of ideas comes from, you know, because no one? No one can explain it. A lot of people try. But I was reading back in December, Stephen King wrote a book on writing. And he talks about that a lot, how everyone always asks writers where their ideas come from, and no one knows, like, no one can explain it, people are more able to explain where inspiration comes from, or where they look for inspiration or how they find inspiration. But the actual ideas themselves, like where do they really come from, is a source of great mystery. Elizabeth Gilbert has a whole famous book called Big Magic that people really love. Because it it talks about how there’s this field of ideas and things land or they jump, or they they do or they don’t. I was even talking to a friend recently this week, who was saying she has this creative thing that happens with a particular person that she knows who’s like, publishing things, writing books, creating courses. And more than one occasion. She’s looked at this woman stuff and been like, Oh, my God, like, I had that idea. I just hadn’t done it yet. And I’ve heard about that happening, like, all the time, over the years.

Elizabeth DiAlto 13:15

And I’ve also had experiences where specifically I was remembering There’s a woman named Randy Buckley, who does incredible boundary work. And I know Randy from back in the day from a program called B school, we were never like, close or anything like that. But most of you know, like, I love boundaries. So I have a lot of respect for Randy’s work. But I never went too deep into it, because I talk about boundaries all the time. And there’s a lot of things that I don’t look at or I don’t follow, because I don’t want the creative distraction. And I posted something on Instagram one day, this was probably like two years ago about boundaries. And some woman who is familiar with Randy’s work comes up in my posts. And it’s like, this is Randy Buckley’s work. Randy says this, and I’m like, Hi. Like, I’m going to receive this as a compliment, that you think I took this from Randy because that means it’s quite brilliant, because I know she’s brilliant around boundaries. But no, this is me like I wrote this. I know what Randy says about this. But you know, we live on a planet with billions of people. And there’s a shared field of intelligence of thought of creativity, of ideas. You know, there’s, it’s called the Akashic field, you know. So there can be all kinds of creative overlap. Things don’t need competitive, be competitive, things don’t need to be possessive. I think it’s so amazing. I think it’s so amazing when I was having a thought and then I see someone else wrote about it. I’m like, Ah, I feel like that’s validating to how the idea wants to be out in the world and expressed and might need numerous people to be expressing and putting their own twist on it and stuff like that. And I love this because it just means we can be inspired by things rather than feeling intimidated by things or see that someone else has done something and not feel like well, it’s already been done. I can’t because each of us has a unique fields, a unique channel a unique instrument for something thing to come through. Even yesterday, I was at this concert. There’s this cool Chamber Orchestra here in Miami called New Deco. And they do arrangements for all kinds of pop music. And they were celebrating 50 years of hip hop. And they arranged with an orchestra, all these little clips, like sections, and then wove together from all these incredible hip hop songs from, you know, over the last 50 years of hip hop, and it was so freakin cool. And can you imagine if those people who made those arrangements had been like, well, no these songs already exists, we can’t put our own flavor or twist on it, or rearrange it or pay homage in a different way than like the over 100 people. However, many of us were in that room that had this incredible shared experience through this creative way of putting a new spin on something that already exists. Could it have had this incredible experience, art and expression and creativity are really also forms of magic. So art is so powerful, it’s so mystical, It’s so wild. So healing, so connected and also multifaceted. Because 1000s, millions of people can look at the same thing, and feel or think differently about it. And there’s no right interpretation. Just because an artist might intend something to mean or represent something specific. That does not mean or guarantee that that’s how people will receive it. And that’s part of the beauty. And the genius of it all. You know, it’s like that quote, beauties in the eye of the beholder, or the famous a nice name, quote, we don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are, which is so cool.

Elizabeth DiAlto 16:40

Some of you know, I think like penis art, or like penis drawings and stuff, it’s one of my favorite, I just love it. So much phallic stuff cracks me up. And whenever you see these compilations of drawings that parents have submitted or posted online, where their kid thought they were drawing all kinds of things, and it looks like a penis. And the kid doesn’t have context that it looks like a penis, they were just drawn a rocket ship, or drawn a pair of scissors or something, or drawn a tree, or a fish or, you know, whatever it was, or a whale. But then it looks like a penis. And it’s hysterical to us. Because we do have context for that, right. There’s also a beautiful like innocence, we can learn so much about people, by seeing and knowing and experiencing what they see when they look at the same thing that we do, and see something completely different. Right? So there’s again, wonder, odd joy. It’s so amazing. So genius,

Elizabeth DiAlto 17:37

then there’s the expression piece, doesn’t matter how good you are the thing, whether anyone will ever see it, whether it will ever be monetized, whether it ends up in the trash or on someone’s refrigerator, or wall or displayed somewhere, the joy of expression, the necessity of expression is so real. And it’s a service to so many things, right? To your soul, to your health to your loved ones to the collective. As we all tap into our creative genius, and to the things that we make into art, we’re using our potential in ways it’s meant to be used. And we’re not allowing these parts of ourselves that are so exquisite and precious, and rare and unique. But also not unique, right, because some people do things similarly to the same, but we’re allowing all this stuff to be alive to come alive. And for that aliveness, to be out in the world in some kind of way, even if it’s just that it came out of our own mouth, in our own car, or in our own shower, or in our own living room or at karaoke night with our friends, or whatever it is, in so many ways, right? I want to go back to this new deco thing yesterday, because I played a couple of instruments growing up, I played the piano, I took piano lessons for a couple years, I never got super super into the piano. But I did get really into the clarinet, I started playing the clarinet, in the fifth grade all the way up to my senior year of high school, I was the first clarinet, I took a lot of lessons for that and I got to be in a band. And the cool thing about being in like the band at school, is you get to see how all the different parts work together, all the different instruments and the different cues and the things you notice and the way that different instruments support each other. And this one does that part and that one does this part, and how separately it doesn’t sound like much but together, it makes this incredible arrangement, this incredible piece of music. That blows my mind was when I was watching this orchestra yesterday. And for the different people in the orchestra were also the people who made the arrangements and I was thinking what amazing an expression or skill set that is right to know to be able to see to have the vision to have the ear to have the understanding of how each instrument goes with another to create these amazing sounds or harmonies all the things right or and I used to love watching the show The Voice. And always my favorite part of the voice was always the coaching was always how these like seasoned famous, very successful artists would be able to help these newer people with their craft and be like, oh,

Elizabeth DiAlto 20:01

you know, we need a little more instrument on that a little less on that, turn this up, shift this pitch. And it’s again, it’s just so amazing, right? So someone’s writing something here, they said, This is so great. I was just listening to an Aquarius season workshop. And there’s such similar themes around sharing your unique gifts. I love that. But some of you know this about me. I’m not always like super up on the astrology. I like know what’s going on. But I don’t understand like the deep nuances of it. But somehow, like my field is always or often we’re like talking about things that are relevant in the current astrological weather, which is kind of cool. And even the weaving the sacred weaving the threads. Like I’m saying, there are about 100 people in the room. It was a small venue, this concert, but it wove us together. And we were having a shared experience, how at certain moments, we were singing and rapping certain lyrics that we all knew, because someone else had created those over our lifetimes. And how those lyrics and beats and rhythms thread us into memories, places and times. It’s so freaking cool. So someone else here is saying this resonates. I’m a writer who stops creating due to mental health, but creation, one of the most powerful things I can think of doing, yeah, right. And I know, one of our wild souls here, took up painting a couple of years ago. And I know that’s been something she’s been doing for mental health. So there’s even things that are just self soothing. There’s just so many reasons to express ourselves, and to do art, that don’t require us to like, try to monetize it, or try to make a career out of it. But also we could write, I think about the little school art projects we all probably did at some point or another growing up, or the things your kids or kids in your life make for you, or the young people that you might work with, or whatever it is, I draw from my niece, my niece, always, I always have a running list of my phone’s drawings for Ruby, because she lives far away. So while I make these doodles for her, and I draw these, like intricate, she’ll have me she’ll give me a list of like 30 things, and I’ll see how many I can fit on one piece of paper. And that always reminds me of those, Where were those magazines called when we wrote highlights magazines, where you had to find the stuff and it was like hidden. And again, Joy fun aren’t an expression bonds us, they give us things to connect on they give us we can create memories, we can remember things that are sparked by art and expression. They create togetherness. And you know how this is you have a bond with someone just because you like the same song, like simply is random. Like the grocery store, you’re in line and a song comes on. And you’re like, ah, that is the jam and someone else is like Yes. And then you’re just you’re having a moment with a stranger.

Elizabeth DiAlto 22:37

And what’s cool is that are an expression also give us opportunities to remember that no matter how we may differ for some people, we also share things. We share taste, we share experience, we share love for things, and we truly all are interconnected for all of our differences. And for all the ways the world feels separate and divided for so many reasons. It’s impossible. If you pay attention to art and expression and if you allow yourself to create art and express yourself to ever fully forget that we absolutely 100% are all interconnected. It doesn’t mean we have to like everyone doesn’t mean we have to like pretend to be okay with people that we’re not. But it just reminds us that those freaking threads are there. That’s the sermon today, I was obviously so excited to talk about this. So don’t sleep on arts in all of its forms, don’t inhibit your needs, your desires, your primal urges and instincts to express yourself regardless of any outcome. Okay, so now I’m going to read you the description for the sacred Creatress I mean, those of you that might not be familiar, I created about three and a half years ago, the wild soul archetypes which are essentially sub archetypes for the wild woman archetype and the sacred Creatress is one of the mystical archetypes. Take a breath. I know I was a little hype this morning. So if I got you all riled up, like, take a moment to like relax, relax your shoulders, your heart, feel your seat, feel your feet on the ground, if your feet are on the ground, take a couple breaths, and let this close your eyes if you’re in a place where you want to, and you can close your eyes. Just really hear feel this description of the sacred Creatress either wash over you or land for you in a way like listen for the part that’s like really for you today, whether you’re here with me live or you’re listening in a recording, or you’ve heard this before. What I love about these descriptions, is there’s always some kind of like medicine or some thread for you that is like any given day that will stand out and be like the thing you maybe knew you needed or maybe didn’t know you needed. So here you go. The sacred Creatress connects us to the mystical energy within all of us that reminds us that we are in this world but not of it. She knows that beauty and creativity here and she helps you find your voice express yourself and hone in on sacred patterns and details. untrained eyes and ears often miss She is the master crafter and connector of signs, symbols and meaning a consummate wild dreamer. She is the healing medicine to reach for when you need to step out of your comfort zone, take a risk, access your souls visions, and allow yourself or your creations to be seen in a new light, a translator of deep feeling, insight and mystery. She is the embodiment of resourcefulness, artistry, and originality. Helping you bring your passion to life. She is the one who infused your path with appreciation for nature, beauty and sensual delight. So I want to make a note for those of you that have ongoing access to our Sunday service recordings, whether because you’re a relief member, or wildsnow, sacred body member, I did one I don’t remember what the date was. But it’s in the archives in the member portals on creative choice, that that really dovetails really nicely into this one. Because that one, which I don’t have time to get into today, gets into how anything can be art. And there’s so much opportunity to exercise creative choice in our lives. So just wanted to mention that for people who like to synthesize and connect to the things.

Elizabeth DiAlto 26:16

So with all of that, before we get into movement today, let us pray. There’s also a prayer for the sacred Creatress Divine Mother Goddess, use me move me and make me a channel for your infinite and creative grace, fill me with the creative energy to shift my life, my art, my love, my relationships, myself, and anything else that life would like to transform through me and with me at this time, helped me to surrender and trust that all is well. And what wants to be created, always shows me when I pay attention, helped me to be courageous enough to take the steps to create what is being asked of me, helped me to take my time when I want to rush to pause and listen, when I want to jump to conclusions, to release expectations and conditions that have been programmed into me that don’t align with my creative soul. May I be connected to and inspired by beauty, via wonder and awe always, may always stay grateful and forever be falling in love with this beautiful life of mine, even when it’s hard. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.