The story of how a creative project is born

I am holding in my hand a book, not just any book but a book that came from the remembrance of a voice that used to speak to an adult woman when she was a little girl, a voice she had long since forgotten but was desperate to be heard because she was the voice of this woman’s inner longing, her true work in the world, her passion and her calling.

The only way this voice was able to be heard by this woman, a woman with an MBA and 20+ years of success in corporate financial services, was because when she found herself in a pivotal moment of her life where she knew she needed to move into the work her soul longed for, she gave herself the time, space and right place to be able to slow down and listen. And most crucially, the permission to trust what the voice was telling her.

Where this story takes place

She decided to attend an intuitive painting and embodiment retreat where she was guided by her teacher to listen to her intuition, her inner voice of knowing and to paint what wanted to come through.

Then she picked up a paintbrush and painted what this voice looked like. And what emerged was a little girl with a heart-shaped face and cat whiskers and wide open green eyes and rosy red pigtails and a pink smile with an aura that surrounded her.

And this girl looked nothing like what we typically think a person should look like. Her heart-shaped head was bigger than her body. Her hands were tiny and her arms were long.

The woman thought she was done with the painting once the heart-shaped face girl had been painted. But no, the heart-shaped face girl wanted other things in the painting with her so soon other heart-shaped headed beings showed up along with the sun and a magic door and someone with a halo up in the clouds and a pyramid and flowers and stars. And another piece of paper had to be added to the painting below her because the heart-shaped face girl knew exactly what she needed as she was assembling her world.

And then it was like she was ALIVE and all LOOK I’M HERE and I WANT A NAME and I HAVE THINGS TO SAY and IMPORTANT WORK TO DO WITH YOU and YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO ME. There she was in all her radiance announcing her presence to the world. And that’s where her story and how she wanted it told began.

Her name is Cosmic Kitty and she’s the voice of my dear friend Shan Gill who painted her during my first intuitive painting retreat. Since then Cosmic Kitty has been Shan’s constant companion, guiding her toward writing a book for kids about the story of Cosmic Kitty and her message about energy, healing and different levels of consciousness which is now in the hands of kids who need to read her story.

Cosmic Kitty found her voice when she came out during a Soul Sensuality painting retreat, facilitated by Julie Stuart in summer of 2015. Painting and finally naming Cosmic Kitty, or CK, triggered a floodgate of knowledge and creativity. It was also the first time CK had ever been drawn in color and with an aura around her. Thank you for helping me remember and bring back my inner child so that CK could speak her voice again. I could not properly hear her until I painted her in that retreat, through pushing me to pull out her story. From that point, I knew she needed to be a book. Thank you Julie! ~~ Shan Gill

This is what can happen when you give your imaginative longing time to emerge without judgement and let it do its thing. This is what can happen when you put yourself in the hands of a teacher you trust to do this work with you. Then all you need to do is listen and move your hand where it’s telling you to.

But this is often hard for us to do alone or consistently so we must seek out places where we feel safe and seen and held, like a child, and given permission to simply play.

Miracles like this happen every time at my retreats to those committed to their own creative exploration and development. It can happen to you.