Friday thing/what's good : vision board[ing]
Notes from a mystic misfit
I like the idea of creating and sometimes I do make visual art on purpose1 but as a practical Virgo, I want my stuff to Have A Physical Function so I’ve long resisted making something as esoteric as a vision board. Though I have many examples of folders & notebooks & journals from junior high through college covered with images and youthful exclamations cut from magazines, I neglected at those times to do any real reflection or (this feels very woowoo white lady to say out loud) manifestation exercises; I mainly chose pictures of beaches and Parisian alleys and Daniel Day Lewis. Which, to be clear, never manifested into my daily life.
However, now that I find myself in an increasingly, and frankly irritating, despondent mood about house-hunting, I decided making a vision board might help provide focus for my new-home dream [and also keep me from refreshing Redfin every 15 minutes then rage-weeping over the disappointing results]. But I needed to find an author who could provide sensible, satisfying creative direction, and who didn’t embarrass me to tears in the process. Luckily, I found CanDace Johnson’s book early in my search. Even though she uses that dreaded M-word in her subtitle, her bio ends with “When not hustling for women's wellness, gardening, studying the Universe, or traveling the world, you can find CanDace in Detroit hanging with her husband, stepdaughter, three ducks, and two dogs” so I knew I was dealing with a pro who wasn’t going to make me cringe for endless candle-filled2 hours.
Though I call myself practical and am generally a dutiful rule-follower, I also will skip steps sometimes when I think I know enough/better.3 Since I had plenty of time to myself this week, I read every page and did [most of]4 the prep work.
For exploring5 my intentions and recording guide words, I used a notebook my daughter bought for me in Japan and a cool French pencil. Then I ripped out all the book’s pictures that seemed pertinent and arranged them into categorized piles. After that, I made myself stop thinking too hard about a plan and let myself do what felt interesting. I started with a title page using a quote cut from an old book glued in the center, surrounded by my own free-hand squiggly lines that I spent 30 minutes carefully coloring a muted goldenrod shade. It was oddly, hypnotically gratifying. I wrote my guide words around the loops in tiny print and, at the risk of again sounding woowoo white lady, actually envisioned what those things would look like at my eventual new home.
Next, I used the other sets of guide words to choose related images. My strongest feelings come from access to the natural world; even though I’m not a lover of camping or spending much time outdoors in general, I am refreshed by squirrel/bird/raccoon sightings and brisk morning air on my porch. As we look at moving from this neighborhood, I want a place where I can still see a little wildlife daily along with a mountain or two and some water, so I put that onto the paper. And I composed an accompanying haiku [that likely sent the soul of Bashō spinning in despair]:
Seeking home with views
Mountains, water, flowers, birds
Also trees and sky
My next page will be about me…definitely still in progress.
In creation: Obviously Johnson’s book is instrumental here - she has 30 pages of helpful/not too woowoo/just the right amount of witch-adjacent energy: “Use words as spells” instructions & tips followed by about 100 pages of images to cut out.
My candle of choice for the vision board experience is the Virgo (obviously) from Malicious Women Co., a small woman-owned company near my hometown. They have a broad collection of themes & scents (my husband also got me All the Fucks and MENOPAUSE [it really is printed in all caps, appropriately]) plus they sell jewelry, apparel, and cosmetics though I haven’t yet tried any of those products. Purchases previously supported the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in honor of the founder’s best friend; they have now pivoted to donating a portion of sales to NARAL in response to the unfortunate state of our nation.
On the first day of my designing, I drank a full pot of Tom-brewed Georgia Peaches tea from Just Add Honey, then Republic of Tea’s Blackberry Sage on day 2, and on the third day switched to Stauf’s Black Mango.
While in manifesting (HOPEFULLY) mode, my soundtrack included songs from beabadoobee - a charming young Filipino-British woman who, a la influences like The Smiths and Smashing Pumpkins, sings sweetly about things often much deeper and/or darker than they seem on the surface - and Khruangbin, a glorious Texan trio that plays mesmerizing pieces blending sounds from Thai, Afghan, and Iranian music with American soul & rock. Properly inspiring.
With things like meditation, I tend to get in my own way when attempting to be still and let the Universe speak to me. As a teacher/parent/aunt, I think I do a fair job of waiting & listening, but with myself I am all the things I want to throat-punch: toe-tapping, eye-rolling, groaning, fidgeting, sighing. But when channeling CanDace and her guiding prompts + reminders to not judge (!!?),6 to get comfortable with a bath and tea or wine (which she calls “fancy”), to notice abundance and practice gratitude, I found myself feeling open & ready to let creation happen. And I’m pleased with the results so far.
Taking photos on my iPhone and printing pics on tiny Sprocket stickers for notecards; découpaging collages onto old clipboards for friends; making Valentines with words from old romance magazines…
Meaning, always. Hi.
I didn’t answer ALL of the journaling prompts; there were A LOT. I had visions to get to!
That was really hard.
Your vision board pages are truly lovely!