Talking with Five Artist Intuitives
The list of Masters in Intuition Medicine graduates from the Academy of Intuition Medicine is full of artists working in all sorts of media. Five Artist-Intuitives recently shared how they use intuition in their creative work.
Mary Swanson, MIM 1994 | Poet, Actress and Editor
“I used to torment myself to create. I’d worry the thing to death, trying to have it figured out before I even started making it. I’d have to get myself all jacked up on caffeine and nicotine and make everybody leave me alone so I could throw myself into my work. But now, I can work anytime, anywhere. I just ground and come into present time and ask myself ‘what wants to come into creation?’ And I always get an answer.”
Mary outlined a specific set of steps she takes to get in the groove. “I ground, get into my intuitive center, and tune into what I’m working on. My heart opens and I begin a dance with what’s being created; I’m staying grounded but moving into a deeper and deeper trance state as I work. Whether I’m carving or painting, the heart chakra is the one I’m the most aware of, though I know my sixth, fifth and second chakras are wide open too.”
Mary has some specific advice for anyone who performs. “I never felt comfortable onstage until I learned to ground and close my second chakra. The first time I did that before going onstage, I had a great experience! I felt so comfortable with the audience, and I was so relaxed that I could have stayed onstage for hours.”
Barbara Higbie, MIM 1991 | Concert Pianist, Composer
Barbara says she used to take an entire audience’s energy home with her in her seventh chakra “inducing a grand headache” before learning to stay separate. “Since I used to perform 10 months out of the year, that took quite a toll. Now I can leave them all at the performance hall and go home alone.”
Barbara also uses her Academy training when writing music. “Right now, I’m working on a solo piano project. When I start, I ground the project. And when I get an idea, I focus on the original essence-energy of the idea, visualize a picture of it, and then intuitively monitor the picture to make sure its energy remains strong. I’m always adding new things when I create music, so whenever I add something I make sure that its original essence-energy is harmonious with the project.”
“I think all pieces of art have their own personal essence energies, whether it’s music or a novel or painting — anything. So when I write a new piece, I try to let it have its own life rather than get in the way. One piece of mine (“A Simple Birth,” on Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice Five Collection) has been really successful, and I think it’s because the essence energy message is so clear.”
Marilyn Pope, MIM 1996 | Painter
Marilyn stresses the importance of getting into a quiet space when conceiving artwork. She particularly likes to use Buddha-Christ energy. “If I keep myself ‘meditated up,’ as opposed to ‘medicated up,’ I’ll experience a very rich lightness. I try never to take it for granted. And I always thank it.”
Marilyn tries to keep the energy pure in her creative work. “When I’m doing a piece, I’ll often go through a few drafts before I get one that I know is right. The right one has purity, clarity of energy, and it has a frequency that’s special to the piece. People really respond to these.”
Marilyn also clairvoyantly sees energy in the works of other artists, including the masters. “When I go to a gallery to see something like a Monet or a Rembrandt, my chakras respond depending on the piece. For example, the reds of a Rembrandt are lower chakra colors, they pick up the richness of being grounded and courageous. And Monet painted with lots of sky blues, which communicates through the heart and throat chakras. His pieces communicate calm feelings, enlightenment, purity, opening to sharing.”
Marie Seger, MIM 1995 | Painter, Intuitive Consultant
Marie agrees about the importance of being in quiet, centered state. “I get grounded, settle deep into my body. Then I prepare myself as if I’m going to be doing an intuitive consultation. And the canvas is the client. So this involves calibrating my seven major chakras, and my hand and feet chakras. When I do a consultation or a painting, I want to be in a tranquil place, an open and listening place.”
Katie Van Horne, MIM 1989 | Portrait Painter
Katie strives to pay attention to psychometry in her hands when portrait painting. “I take notice of how much the forces of energy want to assist us. For instance, great pastels and paint colors will just be right there, right at my hand. And they’re not the ones I would have chosen with my rational mind.”
“Just yesterday, there was a specific color I wanted for the sweater of a child I was painting. I had gone to great lengths to get this paint, but I couldn’t find it when it came time to paint him. So I ad-libbed using psychometry; I didn’t think, I was just open to intuition. Now I wouldn’t have planned the color that resulted if you paid me. But sometimes the drawing draws itself, and the results can be incredible. An artist friend of mine was absorbed with the sweater, and he is usually very critical. He kept saying “how did you think to do that?’ The clients also loved it. So the psychometry of my hand takes over; my hand knows what to do.”
Katie also works at maintaining objectivity while painting portraits. “Portrait painting is an intimate experience, so I keep both of our emotional spaces clear. In my portraits, I want to bring out the characteristics that make their lives happy and whole, and that means standing back and drawing them from a clear and neutral space. The more I can let them be who they are by not interfering, the better.”
By John Brobst. John graduated in 2002, with MIM Class 14, and currently lives on the East Coast with his wife and MIM classmate, Ann.