Supporting Artists

Skystone features local artists as part of the First Friday Art Walk each month here in Ellensburg. It's one of the many ways we support our local community, who so beautifully supports us.

In addition to the Art Walk, we also feature regular artists such as Jim Baugh, Sylvia Howard, and Lynda Larsen of Purity Soapworks. It's such a joy to work with these creative folks and to share in the joy they have for the work that they do.

We worked with Lynda recently to create a line of Elemental Escences - lotions which carry the healing essences of Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. We had such fun researching different essential oils for their aromatherapy benefits; mixing and stirring with Lynda to find just the right blend of scents for each element; creating the artwork with Roni Anthony; and pulling the whole thing together with the design of the bottle. They've been quite a hit with clients. Come in and try them yourself soon!

Lynda Wright, one of our practitioners, is also a photographer. Her work is also on display currently. Another practitioner here, Coleen Renee, will be heading into the recording studio this month to record some healing songs and a mediation on the Chakras. You can meet Coleen and hear at the benefit concert and silent auction:

An Evening at Inspiration

October 16th, 5:15 PM

at Inspiration Studios

108 N Main, Ellensburg

For more information on this event go to our website or visit Coleen's site. The event is co-hosted by Skystone Healing Arts and Inspiration Studios.

The featured artists and crafts people we host change frequently. So drop by when you're in the neighborhood, have a cup of tea and browse for gifts or pleasure in our Gifts of Spirit Gallery - open at least 12 -3 PM Tues thru Sat. We look forward to seeing you!

Dreaming, Connections and WOW!

At Skystone we believe strongly in supporting the community and its individuals. We've been happy to sponsor many events over the last year. At the Common Threads Project kick-off last fall, we brought in Kris Steinnes, author of Women of Wisdom:empowering the Dreams & Spirit of Women to speak about empowerment and community. It was a full night including music by the Common Threads Choir.

The Seattle based Women of Wisdom (WOW) organization serves a much wider community. Coleen Renee, a past WOW board member, presenter and contributor to the book, now lives here in Kittitas County. About once a month she runs into someone local who she met at a WOW Conference. WOW creates community connections.

Kris published her book in part to strengthen and build upon those community connections. When the reader opens the book, she/he enters a well of wisdom that comes from over a decade of Conferences and the powerful people who presented and attended. Below is an excerpt that we find particularly inspiring. Enjoy!

WOW Excerpt -- Have You Put Your Dreams on Hold? (Angeles Arrien's chapter)

Each one of us has a great dream and a great calling. Many of us have put our dreams on the back burner. We say, "Someday when I have enough time, when I have enough money; then I'll do what I really want to do, what had fire for me." At this time there is such a wonderful opening in history, in evolution, if we will just come and take our place.

What I've found among many of the indigenous peoples of the world is that they know how important it is to bring our medicine an dour dreams to this world. If we want the earth to get better we need to show up and take our place, not with our shrouds of insufficiency, but with our long tall bodies and our deep, deep roots. The warrior's way or the leaders' way is to show up. And then I can pay attention to what has heart and meaning, which is the healer's way. I can't know what has heart or meaning until I choose to show up, until I choose to be present.

Among the shamanic traditions of the world, if you go to a shaman or a medicine person, and your are dispirited, disheartened, or depressed, many of them will ask you one of four questions: "When in your life did you stop singing? When in your life did you stop dancing? When in your life did you stop being enchanted by stories, and particularly your own life story? And when in your life did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?"

Wherever we stop singing, dancing, being enchanted by stories or deeply comforted by silence, we begin to experience soul loss. There's not a culture in the world that does not have song, or dance, or story, or doesn't recognize that in the sweet territory of silence we connect to the mystery in our contemplative and reflective practices.

I know I'm not at home when I'm in appeasement, weak-heartedness, seduction, drama or exaggeration. I know I"m not at home when I am playing the martyr or the victim and wanting someone else to be responsible for my life and therefore guilt induce others. I'm not at home when I'm controlling, because the opposite of control is trust.

I am at home when I have fire; when I am deeply connected to what has heart and meaning, the heart's fire; when I'm seized by a vision that I want to manifest and bring to the sweet face of Mother Earth. I know I'm on fire when I've lost time through some creativity, and when I've experienced a moment of tender sweetness and intimacy in a relationship that has substance and depth. I know I'm on fire when I've connected to something numinous and extraordinarily beautiful that can only be found when trusting in an unshakable part of myself, in a sacred refuge that I can find in my deep interior.

Women of Wisdom by Kris Steinnes, offered a special beginning on June 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 am. For our friends, this offer is extended, but only on the 24th and 25th. We invite you to go to this page - www.wisewomanpublishing.com/womenofwisdom.html - to access the order page and after you make your purchase, go back to this page to access the bonus page. On the Exclusive Private Invite page, enter you order confirmation code. That will allow you to gain entry to the bonus gifts that are available to people for just a few more hours.

Community Connections

If one sells or buys real estate it's all about location, location, location.
If one offers healing it's all about community, community, community -
and our connections with each other.

The Skystone story begins with and continues along the story of community. How do we connect? Who tells the story we carry in our lives? What role does community play? How do we define community? How do we stay healthy as individuals and as a community?

Skystone (another name for turquoise or any blue/green stone) provides a most fitting name for our healing arts center. The story of how skystone came about teaches us: respect for nature; relationship with Spirit; trusting in abundance; and honoring ourselves and others.

We understand that people are, by nature, community oriented. Our health and wellbeing comes from a balanced sense of community. This holds so many applications. Skystone creates a safe and sacred space for healing your mind, body and spirit.

The Community within Us

The connection between our muscles, fascia, joints, nerves, ..... sometimes needs help in finding balance. Water is key. Water is the vehicle through which nutrients get distributed and waste gets collected and processed. Water lubricates, eases, & transforms. Bodywork (Bowenwork, Massage, BodyListening, Intuitive Healing, Reiki, Sports massage) not only physically and energetically eases tight, sore or adhered tissue - it also helps facilitate hydration and a return to health. (We'll do an entire entry on the importance and beauty of water very soon.)
Different aspects of our lives, our personalities, our dreams and desires create a sort of community. This community of self requires balance. Often we negotiate this balance without much conscious thought. Sometimes we need the assistance of a friend, a class, a professional Healer or simply a walk in a natural setting to get perspective. We're hosting a dream circle in the very near future.

The Community around Us

Looking outside ourselves we find a lot of influences and allies. Whether we look to the Stars, Angels, rivers and/or people. At Skystone we honor all paths and actively support the community in as many ways as we can from being green to supporting local artists.
The First Friday Art Walk (in downtown Ellensburg) allows us to host local artists and craftsmen. Each month we feature a show in our main gallery. Our Gifts of Spirit Gallery offers gifts & treasures year round - including jewelry, leather art, traditional Cherokee art, note cards, photography, collage and more. We also carry Linda Larsen's line of Purity Soapworks (soaps, lotions, salts, lip balm, muscle rub..). Coming soon Skystone's own Elemental Escents. All our items are chosen because they are handmade and in some way - feed the spirit.

Join us at a First Friday Art Walk - next one is June 5th, 5 - around 8PM. We feature musical artists beginning at 6:30 PM. Or just stop by our galleries Tues - Sat 11AM - 4PM. 219 West 3rd Ave, Ellensburg, WA. 509-925-4533.