THE ETERNAL RETURN: Hallelujah for the Ouroboros

OUROBOROS HALLELUJAH! (image by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for YOUR PRESENCE my dear spiritual art pilgrims! Hallelujah for ETERNALLY RETURNING TO OURSELVES for new beginnings after old beginnings have ended! Hallelujah for the OUROBOROS!

EARLY ALCHEMICAL OUROBOROS (source: Wikipedia)

The OUROBOROS is an ancient symbol for renewal and rebirth, much like the phoenix, a mythical bird which ascends into flight, reborn from the ashes of its fiery death. The OUROBOROS also offers us the meaning of "feeding off of oneself," accepting the idea that we are the prime material with which to work--and play--during the length of our amazing human lives.

"Ouroboros Hallelujah," belongs to my "Protector" image series in which I am dancing with and exploring who my protector is and what her presence in my psyche means. Both figures in the  "Ouroboros Hallelujah" image represent me, Hallelujah, visionary artist. The one on the left is me as the parent and protector. The one on the right is me, the once uncertain child who is gaining confidence in relation to her protector.


The protector wears the "all seeing" and "all knowing" eye on her breast while the child wears a diadem of flowers symbolizing fertile growth and a sense of awe for life. The OUROBOROS embraces us both in a magical circle representing the cycle of life! We are part of the eternal rising and setting of the sun.

As I move forward into my life as an InterPlay Leader in the metro-Atlanta area, I feel all kinds of new spurts of growth and renewal. My protector and I are dialoguing. There are risks to take, and I am requesting the freedom to jump.

I would like permission to easefully fly, fail, succeed, live, and experience the joy of discovery. How sweet is change! Here is a link to my blog about my first offering as an InterPlay leader. How awesome it is to eternally return to ourselves as we grow and change!

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me where you are in the cycle of life and its eternal return!

FLAPS UP--InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul, a Playshop Series

REACHING FOR THE HIGHER SELF. "Flaps Up" is a phrase used in InterPlay to express reaching up to the "big self" as opposed to the "little self." Both big and small selves are equally valid and treasured but different. Perhaps it is our ability to navigate between these selves that is the challenge. Do we know when we are making choices from our smaller, finite selves that dwells in the specifics of every day life and when we are tapping into a higher self that mingles in the great infinite mystery? (Image by me, Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter, titled "Baptism at Sweetwater Creek")

Hallelujah for transformations! Hallelujah for celebrations! Today, I am celebrating the magic of becoming, by acknowledging and marking a transition point in my life.

My dear fellow soul pilgrims! I have stepped out into the arena of my ever expanding life by creating my first InterPlay series of playshops! Hurray for me, Hallelujah Truth, for completing the requirements of my InterPlay training in my Atlanta community!

Here is the flyer I created to announce my playshop series, "InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul":

InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul

Facilitated by Ruth Schowalter

“Learn how to walk in the sweetness of the possession of your own soul.”  -D.H. Lawrence

What is it you alone know and want to express? Are you being called to speak from your soul? Each one of us has a private way of speaking that yearns for support and to be heard in community.

InterPlay allows us to speak to one another in the marvelous flexible languages of movement, voice, story telling, and stillness. But what is InterPlay and how is it alchemical?

InterPlay is an improvisational system that is an active creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body. Devoted to fun, InterPlay integrates body, mind, heart, and spirit in a “sneaky deep” way. It also teaches the language and ethic of play in a powerful way. If you would like to be a “recovering serious person,” InterPlay might be for you. For more information about InterPlay, visit http://www.interplay.org/.

In this eight-week series of Tuesday playshops, “InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul,” we will play around with themes related to the meaning of life--thresholds, “flyingtime,” the little self and higher self, grace, joy, wholeness, health, and more.

InterPlay invites us to create from where we are, and not where we think we should be. At the same time, creating from our embodied souls can transform us in ways that feel magical!

This course is open to both experienced and new InterPlay participants.

Tuesdays 10am to noon

February 3^rd-24^th and

March 3^rd  to 31^st.  

*(March 10th, no class)

Fee 8 classes:  $120.00

Decatur First Christian Church, 601 West Ponce De Leon Ave., Decatur, Georgia, 30030

Contact Ruth Schowalter for further information and for signing up at: RuthTruth@mindspring.com  or   404-580-2392

For more about InterPlay in Atlanta see:

http://atlantainterplay.blogspot.com/

Ruth Schowalter. photo by Lisa Alexander Streib

https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaInterPlay

For more about me, see my blog,

http://coffeewithhallelujah.blogspot.com/

Ahhhh...I am experiencing the sense of wonder at taking my ideas--ones that I have been dancing, singing, drawing, painting, and speaking into the world. My love of celebrating each and every individual's uniquities including my own has manifested into InterPlay Alchemy!

I believe in living vibrant meaningful lives shared in community! How awesome to be able to celebrate this vibrancy through the marvelous languages of movement, voice, story telling and stillness in InterPlay playshops! 

This is a "flaps up" moment for me! Hallelujah!

FLAPS UP ON FACEBOOK! Experiencing my higher self, expanding into the world of friends and new possible friends using the social media of Facebook. This image accompanied my announcement of InterPlay Alchemy on the Facebook page of InterPlay Atlanta.

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share your moments of transition with me! What do you know about your big and little self?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to InterPlay co-founders, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter for giving us what the body wants and ways to access having it all by reuniting the body, mind, heart and soul--at last! Thanks to our ever expanding InterPlay Atlanta community, especially InterPlay Atlanta director Jennifer Denning and soon to be certified InterPlay leader Christine Gautreaux. I am also so grateful to the members of the InterPlay Atlanta performance troupe, whose soulful playing so inspires me. And gratitude to the Reverend James L. Brewer-Calvert, the senior pastor at Decatur First Christian Church, who opened the doors of his church for me to teach my first series of InterPlay play sessions. What an awesome community to be a part of! I also want to acknowledge Callahan Pope McDonough, Lesly Fredman, and Lynn Hesse for helping me shape this new class in words and place.