SEASON OF REST & RENEWAL

December 21, 2022 – February 5, 2023

  

 

Spirit Hears Women Singing to Pine Trees

 LiDoña Wagner 2022

 

From the Winter Solstice 

marking the incremental return of the light

to the conclusion of the Lantern Festival 

celebrating the Lunar New Year,

I declare as my personal season of rest and renewal.

 A time of appreciating the darkness 

while Simultaneously 

welcoming the lengthening of daylight hours

 

Patiently awaiting 

new potentials now hidden from view

Trusting resurrection 

from old, outdated patterns and beliefs

 

I am Nature 

And Nature is Me

 

PEACE and JOY TO YOU!

 

 

READ IT!

SOLITO A Memoir by Javier Zamora touched me as no other book has since THE TRANSLATOR by Daoud Hari. 

 

From El Salvador to Guatemala to Mexico
 to the Sonoran Desert to La USA.

Zamora’s retelling of his unimaginably horrific migration journey to the United States as a nine-year-old exposes heroes and villains. I include myself as a villain - an unaware and self-absorbed bystander. 

Read it to relive your own sources of despair and courage. 

His writing brought to the surface a painful experience of being bullied and uprooted at the age of 8. It opened my wound from a devastating encounter with US Customs at an airport in Hawaii. Still, my frightening experiences while traveling alone in India and Italy were trivial beside Javier's life-threatening dangers. 

Read it to expand your compassion for coyotes, all immigrants, and Dreamers. 

Read it!

 

 

PLAY SPACE

Where is your imaginative play space? 

We all like and need to play. A runner or hiker puts on shoes or boots and makes a bee line for the door. Rock climbers gather their gear and head for the mountains. Bikers jump on a bike and ride. Ballerinas grab a duffle bag of leotards and slippers and dance their way to a studio. A chef gathers up veggies and herbs in a well-equipped kitchen. An artist keeps colors and marking tools close at hand.

My play space requires surfaces at differing heights to allow 
for various forms of play and for having fun with others. 

All around lighting and comprehensive space utilization
enhance my play time. 

Playing requires equipment and designated spaces. A musician without an instrument feels bereft of a beloved companion. Play connects us to our body and its senses of hearing, sight, sensation, smelling, taste, and hearing. More importantly, play opens us up to that which is beyond our current experience and expertise. 

 

Cutting boards on top of a paper storage unit allow collage
 opportunities at the same time as being involved in a writing project.

Are you stretching your imagination muscles? 

Imaginative play is about pure potential. Do you have a space for daydreaming, journaling and making personal notes? Or for recording your dreams and inquiring about their messages? Do you doodle as you think about possible ventures or while talking on the phone? Do you keep your doodles and expand on them? Are markers, pens, pencils, and paper ready at hand when an idea floats at the edge of awareness? 

Keeping track of files and having a closet filled with
multiple project options makes me happy. 
 

As an experimental artist,
I require a variety of materials.

When I decided to record my experiences in oppressed communities around the world, I got a laptop computer and claimed an unoccupied room on the top floor of the former nunnery where I was living. Later I moved to an island that unleashed my visual imagination, so I began taking art classes. Soon my apartment kitchen had two folding shelves to hold my materials. Returning to the mainland, I graduated to a table and cabinet in the one-bedroom place I rented. Only when I bought my little townhouse was there a room that could become a full-on art studio. 

My original bedroom cabinet stores paints, pens,
 crayons, markers and all sorts of gluing and sealing materials

Because nature sparks my imagination, my creative 
play spaces must have windows.

If you don’t have a designated imaginative play space, where could you make one? In the closet under the stairs? By removing an irrelevant piece of furniture?

Autumn leaves keep me grounded despite the mess my studio becomes 
when I'm in the middle of a project, or two or even three.

Are you ready for some imaginative play?

REINVENT YOURSELF 

with Dreaming & Artful Play

 A Workbook

Available at the sale price of $39.95 

from October 23 through December 2022 

 

Layout by Katherine Getta of Gettadesign

Send an email to lidonaw@gmail.com to order your downloadable pdf.

REINVENT YOURSELF

LIDOÑA WAGNER 

 announces the upcoming release of

REINVENT YOURSELF 

with Dreaming & Artful Play

 A Workbook

Available at the sale price of $39.95 

from October 23 through December 2022 

 

Layout by Katherine Getta of Gettadesign

Learn to Become … 

A storyteller of hope and positive change 

with the tool of discovery writing.

Gray Lady Nancy Golden 2022

The architect of a meaningful and fulfilling life

through the process of dream inquiry.

Life Keys Barbara Lang 2022

An expressive creator of human joy and delight 

with exercises that release your uniquely personal imagination.

Dancing Caterpillar Judy Newman 2022

An embodiment of trusting and responsive community

by sharing these methods with others.

Burst of Joy LiDoña Wagner 2022

 

 Send an email to

lidonaw@gmail.com

to preorder a downloadable pdf 

of this life-changing workbook designed 

for use by an individual or in a group

at the bargain price of $39.95.

     

LIDOÑA WAGNER has taught dreamwork, artful play and discovery writing for over twenty-five years – methods that guided her through leaving a difficult marriage, exiting stifling work situations, and reinventing her life after cancer and the death of her only child. Trained as a teacher and writer, she became a consultant in Dr. Ira Progoff’s Intensive Journal Process, learned dream inquiry with Jungian analyst Milene Baron in Brussels, Belgium, and developed artful play with master artists in Victoria, BC. 

Tree Nursery Update

GARDENS ARE ALWAYS CHANGING 

Baby trees I showed you months ago were moved to pots with room to grow, becoming beautiful assets to my front entry. 

Seeing the struggling Maidenhead fern in front,
 I decided to give it one more chance by planting it
in the ground in my back yard. 

REPOTTING DAY

As a container gardener, I have to be on the lookout for plants becoming root-bound and beginning to die. Repotting days require forethought. An inventory of my plants tells me which are ready to die, need a bigger pot, or need different sunlight. Rather than run out and buy new pots, I strategize. If I let go of the yellowing spiky plant, that black ceramic pot will be perfect for the three-year old Japanese Maple whose pot would be perfect for the one-year old Japanese Maple, whose pot could be home for one of the thriving Oak seedlings, etc. 

 

I replaced the Maidenhead fern with a chrysanthemum for fall.
The Japanese Maples are harder to see, but each received
a pot double the size of its previous home. 

The carpark hosts six pots with three or more baby trees in each. 

PROPAGATING BELOVED PLANTS 

Perennial Hydrangias are close to my heart and easy to propagate. Just stick a healthy stalk in the dirt and give it lots of water.

The leafing stem in front is a start from a Hydrangia.
Behind it is an Oak seedling; can you see its curly stem near the dirt? 
Maybe it's a result of my moving it from pot to pot as it grew.

 

I put two more Hydrangia starts (left side) in another pot with Maple seedlings.

On the other side of the carpark is one big pot with several 
seedlings. This Hydrangia start and Maple seedling are flourishing.

I'm not sure if my Pine seedlings will make it. 
The largest one may, but the two little ones in front
are struggling. Three other babies turned brown.

ENJOYING THE VIEW

Plants mature and flower at different times, focusing our eyes first in one area and then in another. This repotting day provided me with more stunning views of my Japanese Maples, volunteers from a friend's garden. I'm in love with the enhanced view that repotting and moving them around provides.

Looking at the tree nursery from my front door,
notice a lovely branch of the three-year old Japanese Maple.
You can barely see the one-year old Japanese Maple two pots down.

Viewing the Japanese Maples from the second floor is pure delight.
Their delicate leaves blend together into a lovely pattern.

Plants mature and flower at different times, focusing our eyes first in one area and then in another. This winter it will be my Citrus Pine and shade loving plants that will come out to delight my senses.

Hope Agency Dignity

Recently I read an article about how journalism had lost its way during the chaos and ignominy of the previous administration, resorting to more and more stories of anger and catastrophe.

The author suggested that for journalism to regain its social role it needs to tell stories of hope, agency, and dignity. 

The Mexican Lilies in my garden represent such a story. These lilies bloom for one day only, revealing that there is more to life than showing off.

HOPE

This bud reaching toward the sky exudes the hope of growth and renewal.

Here we see it beginning to unfold into a blossom.

This one looks as though it's yawning.
Do I really want to see what's around me?

Here we are in all our outrageous beauty!

AGENCY

Producing pollen for bees, butterflies, and significant others.

Moving on. As new lilies bloom, older ones are ready to let go of their youth. 

On the same stalk, one lily is ready to move on
while two buds prepare to bloom tomorrow.

DIGNITY

Blossoms closing; preparing for what comes next.

Stagers of release.

This mature plant had four blossoms.
Each blossom left behind a seed pod.
After the pods dry out, seeds will be released for new lilies to grow.  

WATCHING 

All the while Buddha and I are paying attention.

 COMING SOON

Where am I now that everything has changed? What comes next in life? How will I get there? When will I finally get to live the life I’ve always wanted for myself?

If you’re a woman facing retirement, an empty nest, loss of a life partner, or another dramatic life change, you may be asking yourself these questions. Losing your primary life purpose or identity and looking for a new start can be daunting, if not downright scary!

When author LiDoña Wagner faced the possibility of leaving a thirty-year career, she turned to Jungian psychology and dream analysis to help her find a new path in life. After her own transformation into the professional artist and writer she’d always wanted to be, she began leading workshops to help other retirement-age women use dream analysis to cope with change and make art to express and learn more about themselves. Now, this groundbreaking approach is accessible to all who need it.

 

In Reinvent Yourself with Dreaming & Artful Play, you will learn:

• how to break out of old patterns and discover a new direction for your life 
• how to free your boundless potential for growth and change
• how to heal old wounds, let go of pent-up anger, and find joy
• how to discover the real you hiding within your unconscious
• how to give yourself permission to be who you’ve always wanted to be

Reinvent Yourself is a unique workbook filled with dream exploration exercises and art projects proven to help women just like you unlock your unconscious and learn the truth about who you are. By following LiDoña’s process, you will become stronger and more focused as you take on the uncertainties that many mature women face. As you work through the chapters, you will examine your dreams to discover what they are telling you about your inner self, create art projects inspired by your dream exploration and the new you that is forming, and write reflective notes about what you learn to help you process your transformation.

After a lifetime of serving others, isn’t it your turn? Are you ready to make a fresh start or at least discover what fresh start is waiting for you when you are ready? You can find your purpose. You can be confident and powerful. You can be creative, joyful, and alive. It’s never too late to reinvent yourself!

One Step Kitchen Garden

Like me, you may have often heard mention of kitchen gardens. But it wasn't until we began our community garden last year that I began to ponder the convenience of being able to take one step out the door to clip veggies for my salads.  

Last year one member of the community garden
added this five-tiered plastic container for salad greens.

This year she put a raised bed right next to her patio.

She inspired me to give the one step kitchen garden a shot. Not wanting to encourage sales of plastic, I figured out how to use pots I already had to make a three-tiered veggie garden one step out my patio door.

Two weeks ago it was looking promising.

However, when I tried to share starts of the most prominent veggie, I discovered that what I had assumed was Russian Kale was really a prolific weed. After two community garden members told me "I don't think that's Russian Kale," I finally did my own research and learned that they were right. This embarrassing episode woke me to how disinformation can spread from a false assumption; in this case, my own.

Another community garden member's version of a patio veggie garden.

Spice garden outside the front door of a community 
garden member whose patio is in the shade.

Three-tiered garden today.

While the three-tiered garden looks a bit sad, there is real Sow Easy Kale growing in the right front corner, real cilantro, and seeds germinating for three kinds of Kale. And not all my experiments disclose my gardening ignorance. 

So far, my patio tomato plant seems to be doing okay.

Second year for patio Lemon Tree.

Last year I started Basil and a Lemon Tree on my patio. The Basil shriveled up and died but by late summer the Lemon Tree had five blossoms. One blossom fell off, but by fall there were four teeny baby lemons. When it started getting cold, I brought the tree inside and the lemons continued to grow. I harvested four lemons in the last two weeks just before returning the tree to the patio. Now that lends some authenticity to my fledgling One Step Kitchen Garden.

Miniature Tree Nursery

 After watching a presentation on a Japanese rapid reforestation method being used in India, I decided maybe I could have my own indigenous tree nursery for people here in Eugene who love planting trees.

Look closely at the black pot.
On Earth Day I rescued three tree starts
from the community garden.

Squirrels started an Oak tree by bringing an acorn
into this pot where I am regenerating a Hydrangea by 
taking a cutting from another one.  

This Maple is in its second year.

Four Pine trees and a Maple share this pot. 
The Pines are transplanted twice. First from between 
rocks in my yard and then from another pot that had 
too many baby trees.

If you look closely around the edges and in the center 
of this pot you will find four baby Maples.

Before I moved them, the four Pine starts 
 were in with the four Maples.
That's too many as they all start to grow.  

It will be a while before I know which trees will make it and why. But that's okey. Already I have over a dozen baby trees to nurture and learn about.