There once was a girl, who lived in the woods, in a nest on the tallest of treetops…
Through parable and environmental sculpture, Girl in the Woods is an ongoing body of work that explores my personal journey through the lens of yoga philosophy and nature-based art. Central to the story is a woodland character named Timberella. In Parable 6, she meets the Stag— symbolizing divinity—who teaches her how to connect with her Inner Wisdom through art and creativity. The sculpture Timberella 3 is also revealed
The Stag | Jodi Rose Gonzales
In the opening scene, Timberella is a young girl who is blown from her nest during a great storm. She awakens on the forest floor: frightened, lost, and naive.
Timberella is used to the view from the treetops, and the forest is an entirely new scene. She begins to wander, interacting with various forest creatures who impart their wisdom teachings.
In Parable Six, she meets the Stag.
Parable SIX: Inner Wisdom & Creativity
One day the girl realized she was very tired from her journey. She sat beside a small pond. Looking into her reflection, she realized that she also looked sad.
And then, in her reflection, the face of a giant stag loomed over her shoulder.
“Hello, Mr. Deer!” she exclaimed. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. We share many of the same paths. I see your footprints often. But yet, I have never seen you.”
“Hello, dear girl,” the stag said. “It is nice to meet you, too. I, also, have observed your many footprints. I appear to you today because I notice you are sad.”
“I am tired,” the girl said. “I guess I’m a bit sad because I feel so alone.”
“You see, I am the Keeper of Rosewood Forest, and with that comes great responsibility. I am honored and inspired by that. But, today I feel tired. And I am lonely, wishing there was someone here to help me.
“You must know that you are never alone,” the great deer said. It placed its head down and drank from the water before speaking again. The water made smooth ripples.
“I appear today as a symbol of your divinity. I represent your inner wisdom, your gifts, your connection to all things including the divine—a spiritual consciousness that is far greater than yourself.
“Collectively I represent all that the birds have been sharing with you.”
“It is completely normal to tire as you walk the path of leader, learner, and keeper of the forest. It is completely normal to feel sad, or alone.
“Be loving and compassionate with yourself. Let your sadness and exhaustion be what it is. Allow yourself rest, but accept this also as a source of information. If you look inside, deep inside, what information are you missing? What is draining your batteries so?”
The girl gazed into her reflection.
“I am constantly moving,” she said. “Constantly doing. I have come to know myself, and understand my roles. I am at peace with my past and with who I am. But still, I am working, searching, walking again and again on the same path.”
“Ah,” said the deer. “You are walking in circles. What is it that you are missing? What is it that you do not see, that you need to see along the Path?”
The girl considered the questions.
“I don’t know about what I am not seeing,” she finally said. “I think it has more to do with what I’m not hearing.
You see, I have had many conversations with the creatures of the forest. I have gained knowledge and wisdom from their information. What I have not learned is how to listen to myself.”
The deer placed his head beside her.
“This is the lesson you must learn from our conversation today,” he said.
“The voice that you must learn to listen to is that of your higher self. Some people call this your Inner Voice. Others call this intuition.”
“How do I hear this voice?” the girl asked.
“People access this voice in different ways,” the deer said. “Some through prayer and religion. Others, through stillness and meditation. For you, I suggest the acts of creativity and reflection.
“You see, creativity is the expression of your inner wisdom. The forest is your home. Use materials from nature that stand out to you. Use them to make things that are beautiful. Use them to express what you feel.
“Each piece that you create is a direct reflection of you, of some aspect of your inner knowledge. As these artworks appear, you can converse with them in much the same way as you have with the creatures of the forest. The difference is that the artwork is an expression of your inner wisdom, and therefore the voice that is expressed is not from another…it is yours.
“It offers the voice of your inner wisdom,” he concluded.
“That’s pretty wild,” the girl said. “I never thought of such a thing before. I never thought of myself as having an inner voice that’s separate from my regular thoughts and emotions. And I never considered that anything I create could hold such wisdom.”
Kindly, the deer nuzzled her shoulder.
“It is so,” he said. “And more, you will find this knowledge to be ever present, and always available for you when you use your creativity to listen.”
“Your inner wisdom is like this pond, which is fed by a spring. The pond is never empty, because the water always flows.
“Your creative knowledge, and your inner wisdom, is always available. It is like the water from this wellspring. It is always available. Connect with it, act on it, and you will never feel alone.”
And with that, he placed his head again to the spring, taking deep drinks of water, and was gone.
The girl realized that in his departure he had left more footprints, and also a covering—a blanket, really, of glittering snow.
Gazing around her, the girl picked up a stick and started drawing circles in the snow. She added a few twigs and pebbles. Then, from her satchel, she withdrew a journal and pencil. Using writing, she started to talk to her nature-doodle.
“Dear nature-doodle, thank you for appearing to me today. The great stag said that you symbolize my inner wisdom. Is this for real? How can this be so?”
She gazed at the shapes, textures, and composition of her creation, and suddenly words began to flow.
“Yes, this is so,” said the artwork. “I offer you symbols and metaphors and the expression of ideas that aren’t yet fully formed in your conscious mind.”
“I also offer solutions, ways to solve problems, that are beyond your patterned ways of thinking.
“In other words, I help you think outside of the box,” it concluded.
“How often do I do this?” The girl wrote. “This feels very weird,” she added.
“Yes, this will feel foreign at first,” the nature-doodle said. “As do many experiences that are new.”
“It is best to make these creations regularly, so you get used to it. Create your doodles when you experience strong emotions. Create them when you feel confused, or lonely. Create them when you seek insight about an idea you want to pursue. Create them when you are tired.
“The most important thing is to act on the wisdom that your doodles share with you.
“You see, you are learning to connect with the voice of your Inner Wisdom. When you act on what your hear, you are ultimately learning to live your life as an expression of this—you learn to live intentionally, as the expression of the divine…of the divine expressed to you, through you.
“It is not enough just to create and converse through your journal,” the artwork repeated. “You must act on what your creations tell you to do.”
The girl sat back and considered this. It still seemed, to her, very weird: make doodles and artworks out of nature? Act on what her nature-doodles told her to do?
On the other hand, she felt lonely, and she felt sad. This is what the stag, and now her nature-doodle, were telling her to do.
Who was she to get in the way of this process?
What did she have to lose?
Timeberella 3 | Jodi Rose Gonzales
Timberella 3 is made from jewels, seed pods, and prickly pear cactus skeleton.
Inside the 8 Keys mini-course you’ll find audio meditations, fourteen art prompts, a practice guide, and additional resources to support your art-based mindfulness practice. The 8 Keys is FREE and housed inside Jodi’s app, True Natured Creatives. Available in your Apple or Google Play stores, or explore it online here.
Jodi Rose Gonzales ATR, NCC, ERYT, YACEP was recently celebrated in Times Square as the International Association of Top Professional’s Global Impact Artist of the Year. She an artist, art therapist, author and yoga teacher who inspires her audiences through art and teachings intended to spread more hope and healing throughout the world. Get her free mini-course called Creative Freedom: Eight Essential Keys to Inspiration, HERE.