"The Enchanted Naked Goddess - who is she?" I hear you ask.

She's you and she's me. 

Over the past 10 months, as you know, I have been focusing my art on Soul Portraits, encouraging women to take the first step to heal the way they see themselves, and their body.  (Men, I will be coming to get you soon). 

I know from working very in depth with clients and from my own experiences, that women struggle daily with a negative self image and self concept.

The bitchy self talk and critical barrage to any passing mirror is usually proof of this.  

We only have to take a look at this video below to see one of causes.  However this is not totally about external pressure.

This is internal pressure. And Lots Of It.

Soul Portraits are the first step in seeing yourself as a muse, a divine inspiration. 
Soul Portraits are totems to remind you that you are beautiful, just as you are.
Soul Portraits are healing talismans for visioning, journaling and creating.
Soul Portraits are daily reminders to be gentle to yourself.
Soul Portraits reflect back the light of your spirit.

They show you that you really are enough, beautiful enough, without nip, tucking, slicing, covering up or feeling shameful about revealing your body in public, at the swimming paths, on the beach, or in the bedroom.

So here's the thing.......

Since June, I have been taking photographs of my naked upper body and within the safe and confidential confines of a facebook group, I have been posting these images, whilst standing witness to other women sharing theirs.

This group has been transformative for me.  We initially participated in an online programme over a year ago and very soon it became a tribe of brave sisters.  

I never realised that such strong bonds could be born online, but I know, for a fact, that they are real, they are here and when you meet in person, it feels just like coming home (thank you Mary♥)

Something incredible happened during this time of revealing; something that I would never have realised in all the time I have dealt with big booby issues, or big bottom dramas, large thighs and upper arm dilemmas.

And this is a major revelation.

Revealing my photographs and being seen, I began to see that I didn't look the way I thought I did in my head.  

I was being told differently.

Being seen by these women proved to me that, we all have visions of our bodies in our minds that don't meet with actual reality.  

Did you hear that.... "that don't meet with actual reality."

I was seeing women, real women, of all shapes and sizes, slim, curvy, shapely. 

All with deeply held troubles and beliefs about their butt/boobs/legs/bum/thighs/chin/ankles/knees etc

And really, what was I seeing?

I was seeing BEAUTIFUL GODDESSY WOMEN.

All of them were Just Adorable.  

Every shape, curve and size.  

What I was seeing was delectable, delicious, curvy, beauty full and I suddenly knew, in that moment, what men find attractive about women, and women find attractive about women.

They see the form, the shape, the soul, the beauty, the bounce and the gentle folds. 

There and then I realised something profound.

Being in that group and developing my own life drawing practice has added another dimension to my art and I know it's another way that healing can happen for women.  

I had drawn 75 Soul Portraits back in June, which you can see here Soul Portraits: A Healing Story

And it has taken me a while to get to this point of revealing again, but here it is.

It is time now for The Enchanted Naked Goddess to be born and I released this yesterday in my ETSY SHOP. 

I truly know that we are all where we are meant to be ... and for some, this may not resonate, but for others it will.

Whatever it does for you, it is meant for growth and to elevate the magical enchanted goddess that you are.

I have hesitated to reveal this wonderful addition to my work because of fear.  

Fear to step forward, expose the work and to have it misinterpreted.

But I know, hand on heart, that this is beautifully tasteful, healing, releasing, daring, caressing, energising, delightful and sensual.  

It is all of the above and nothing else.  

The Enchanted Naked Goddess is born, accompanied by an affirmation, intention, word, to support your journey.

There's no coincidence here that my journey over the past 6 months, the co-writing of a new online course, with Burnt Umber (Fay), You As Life Model, has helped to take my life drawing practice, journalling to a higher level and it seems so incredibly natural to be here, in this place, right now.  

You As Life Model, will show you how you can develop your own Life Drawing Practice, delving much deeper into revealing the connection between art, life drawing and body love, helping you to re-engage with and heal the relationship you have with your shape and form.  You will be learning how to draw yourself and become your own Life Model.

So it has taken me a long while to step up and share all of this... 

Here it is.

Me in all my glory.

Have a truly sweet week and I'll catch you next week.

Much Love
Jules xxxx

When I begin to create a Soul Portrait, I spend time immersed in the photographs you have sent me... I thoroughly enjoy this process because I can have some quiet time to soak in a sense of who you are and what your soul is telling me.  

Recently I had the honour of creating a Soul Portrait for Kate Beddow.  Kate is the founder of Growing Spirit Kids, a company promoting natural healing, relaxation and creativity to help keep children happy, healthy and balanced. She has written a range of ebooks and meditations and writes regularly for a range of magazines and online publications.  

Everything that Kate puts out *sparkles* and she has such authenticity in all she does.  I was really delighted that I could do this for her.  She decided on a Soul Portrait and also a DigiWallpaper with a chinese proverb "the soul is healed by being with children," which is very apt considering the nature of her work.

When I begin sketching, I just love to follow the lines of your form. There's a point when I just know that I have found an essence and reflection of your divine self and it is then I'll stop and begin to add the colour. This sketching and illustration phase takes me about 90 minutes from start to finish.

From the very beginning, I am channelling Reiki symbols and weaving them into your image.  Symbols for emotional well being, healing past hurts and balancing any present issues that are impacting how you feel about your self and the way look at your body.


Soul Portraits guide you to heal the way you see yourself.

When I began to create DigiWallpapers, I fell in love with digital software - it takes things to a new dimension for me and I feel it enhances and adds to my illustrations.  I use picmonkeypro editor, to create my DW's because I haven't yet got round to teaching myself photoshop!! (it's on my list of to do's).

What I love... is the collaboration between my original image, made using pencils, pens, the digital software and channelling Reiki into the image.


It's a real magical package.

Kate wrote: "I love how Jules has captured me. I can’t quite explain how I feel about the portrait but it really moves me on a very deep level, it opens my heart chakra and balances me. I journalled about my appearance before Jules sent me the portrait and I realised what a changeable relationship I have had with my appearance because of teenage self confidence issues, pregnancy, my illness and more. However, I have finally made peace with my looks and accept myself completely for who I am. I love my body with all its quirks and wibbles because it serves me well. It has protected and grown two babies and it carries me and enables me to do (nearly) all the things I want to do, which not so long ago seemed like an impossibility.  I will be framing my beautiful portrait and keeping it on my desk so it serves as a permanent reminder of who I truly am and I can revisit that feeling of love and contentment."

Thank you so much Kate.

You can find Kate on Facebook Here

I was truly delighted to finish this one for Kate and I hope you like it too.  If you'd like to see the Creation of a Soul Portrait, I have quite a few for you to look at here on You Tube.

Till next week,
have a great week.

Jules xxx

PS For those of you who were so lovely about me losing data and images from my external hard drive, the IT guy has recovered some of it from the original hard drive - It has taught me a valuable lesson! I'm slowly gathering together my art again.  

If you're familiar in reading my blog posts, you'll know that I like to name my months ... 

Words to guide me.

Words that the month calls forth.

I gave October the word of Release.  

Why Release?  Well, I finally released my first e-journey, Birthday Beautiful.

I was releasing old patterns of working and releasing the negative critic. I wanted her gone.  I didn't want her to keep me small and contained. 

Yesterday was a day that made me realise that we have to choose our words very carefully.

The past month, my laptop, (named mac)  has been running very slow, he's 4 years old and is finally coming to the end of his memory.  His hard drive life and internal memory need extending.

I have been preparing and trying to speed him up by taking all my files and putting them on to a separate external hard drive (EHD), which I only bought in April.

When I had done this, I deleted all the files from my mac, in the hope of giving me extra space and therefore extra time.  

On Monday night, I plugged in my EHD, and ....

Nothing.

It wasn't recognised

What??

Nothing there.   

No files.

In a state of numbness I tried it on a a windows laptop to see if it recognised it.

No.

On going to the IT shop near me, he checked it with special software and no, nothing,

So it appears, I have lost a huge amount of my life (well the last 4 years).

Word documents, presentations, accounts, invoices, images, potential stories, plans, saved files.... et cetera et cetera et cetera.

I know.

Gulp. 

It is quite huge.  

So 'IT man' said he can try to retrieve files from my mac; files that have been deleted, but we are not sure what will be retrieved. [btw this is the same software the police use to scan the hard drive].  

Yep, our hard drives on our computers have memories, even when files are deleted.

In the quiet time I wondered if this was a huge lesson about Release and Surrender?

An opportunity to start afresh, with a blank canvas?

I do have art work and writing out there, published and available. So I have something.

But am I being given the chance to recreate and start from scratch, without old files hat I have been carting around since I worked full time?

Is it giving me the chance to let go?
To realise that it is just not important?

To figure out that the only thing important is this present moment.

The Now.

I have lost images for my business, headers, footers, signatures, but I have all the originals so I can start again.  I just have to get design savvy. 


I do still have original images in iPhoto, which is a real GRATEFUL, plus I have an email trail as I tend to email myself images, which is another GRATEFUL.


However it seems really quite a huge let go and I'm tired from the technical worries from this week.  I am creating a healing art business and I want to take myself seriously, so I have to start to double & triple back up my work.  

The work that is so important to me.

My words and my healing art. 

This is the lesson of Surrender and Release. 

I am detaching and trying to see this in a bigger picture sort of way

This week, I am allowing it all to sink in.  I know I have to extend my mac hard drive and give him the attention so I have to now prepare the ground again for it to be handed in.

If you would like to follow my journey, please do sign up and let me connect with you via my newsletter. 

I have no fancy image right now.

Just me.

Jules xxxx


PS when have you had to Release and Surrender? Give me some hope that there is method in this madness...... please share below.

Please go and check out Lori, she'd love to see you.

www.loriportka.com

We had a giggle doing this filming, hope you enjoy it too.

Yesterday was a big day for me as I released my first ever e-course Birthday Beautiful.  Back in July, I ran the class in real time with 20 women and I knew in that moment that I wanted to bring all of the prompts, videos and birthday soul work in one place so that any woman could follow the journey to create a birthday she loves. 

Do you often give birthday responsibility to family and friends? Thinking, they should plan something for you?  

Do you sometimes feel there's an anti-climax around your birthday? For instance, you think you may go out for the day, but you don't know where? 

Do you feel sad about a previous birthday and it just hangs over you?  

Are you reaching a milestone and feeling a little discombobulated? 
(I just love that word - it means confused or disconcerted.)

Our birthday is our responsibility and Birthday Beautiful is going to give you some time to think about how you actually want to celebrate, with 10 prompts leading up to your actual birth day. 

We have to discover how we want to feel. Right?

Birthday's are not about big bashes and spending lots of money, it's about creating our own ritual.   At least that's what I wanted, and those of you who have already taken it, want ritual too. 

Through this course, I will introduce you to my own creative healing toolkit; tapping, (EFT), journalling, non-dominant hand work, expressive art, vision cards, introducing you to bringing together your own birthday altar. We will take a trip down memory lane and think about the birthdays we want to remember and release birthdays that we wish to forget. 

You will be able to follow me through videos that I recorded during the lead up to my birthday as I create my own Birthday Beautiful!

I decided to start 10 days prior to my birthday, which I believe really helped me to redefine my day and how I wanted to feel.  

Take a look at the different days and the themes:-

Day 1: Releasing Past Birthdays 
Day 2: Birthday Stories 
Day 3: Birthday Poem 
Day 4: Ideal Birthday 
Day 5: Birthday Body 
Day 6: If Music Be The Food Of Love 
Day 7: Birthday Clothes 
Day 8: Birthday Food 
Day 9: Authentic Gift To Self 
Day 10: It's your Birthday!!

Throughout the 54 page e-journey, you'll find my feel-good soul portrait digiwallpapers, some you may recognise and quite a few new ones that will only have been available to those lovely people signed up to my newsletter - they receive a new one every New Moon (p.s. and that's this weekend, so far they have over 20 to download and keep).

It is very colourful and with links to all the videos on You Tube

I have spent countless hours designing this journey, plus you will also be able to have access to The Birthday Tent, a private Facebook Group to share your insights, revelations and plans.  It has an introductory price of £20 and you can download it instantly from my Etsy Shop.  

This is so exciting for me.  After years of teaching in class, I can now teach online and I am so thrilled to be able to communicate with you all over the world.  

I look forward to welcoming more of you inside The Birthday Tent.  Isn't the greatest gift you can give be a gift to yourself to create a Birthday you Love?! 

Have a great week,
Jules xxx