Sacred Art – Sensing the Night, Bat and Monochromatic Painting

Like most of the animals we work with in our Sacred Art classes, bats are found all over the world and are seen to hold deep magic and powerful messages everywhere. Bats spoke to all of our ancestors.
Since bats are creatures of the night, most who fear the dark, fear bats and their messages. However, these creatures couldn’t be more misunderstood. They give birth to and nurse their young. Family groups cuddle and they have the magical ability to find and return to their babes even in caves of tens of thousands of individuals. They are intuitive and navigate by sensory means. They trust the night. It is in the silence and solitude of the night sky that they are safest and strongest. So, we, who so often fear silence, solitude and darkness, can learn much from Bat. The only flying mammals, bats wing joints are very similar to our fingers. They capture the night and its messages with their wings and we, as artists, can attempt to do the same with our hands.

This class will be somewhat different in that for much of it we will be working in silence and low light. After discussing Bat magic we will retreat into our work in a very meditative way allowing our hands to gather messages as we paint.

Properly worn masks are required.

Michelle VanderHouwen is the owner of Oak and Hawthorn and provides the plant babies for Ritualcravt’s annual plant sale.

Throughout all her years, she has studied art as a window into Spirit and the psyche, and Nature has been her church. Michelle believes that our hands are magnificent communicators. When we let them dig, sculpt, draw, scrape, tie and sew, we are sending messages to and from Heart Center. Our hands, full of sensation but devoid of reasoning, can create pure, honest prayer. In Michelle’s classes she teaches, with a variety of tools, different ways of accessing Spirit using our hands and hearts. Her goal is to help us all access the knowing we had at birth. Michelle is deeply knowledgeable about the spiritual wisdom of nature, studied Shamanic Herbalism with Darcey Blue, and walks with the soul of a Witch. Discover her creations at www.etsy.com/shop/OakandHawthorn and connect with Michelle via Instagram @oakandhawthorn