Liv: Kimberly, your art feels like it streamed in from the higher realms with so much love, beauty, and lightness of essence. I experience the Sacred essence very much in the aliveness of these divine Goddesses. Have you always been connected with the Otherworld?

Kim: Thank you so much, Liv, for seeing my art in this way and inviting me to speak with you and the Kontomblè. It melts my heart with gratitude that it’s seen this way. I feel like an artisan soul who has wandered into the priestess village, and now we have so much to discuss and share from our mutual villages!

In my ceremony work with you, I used to feel that I was “just” an artist and not so much a priestess, but now I see that I am a sort of priestess with the image. Art, when done with sacred or innocent intent, does indeed stream the higher realms of pure essence and natural Being, what you call the Otherworld. I suspect it may even be a portal to it, not just a mirror or a symbol. And thank goodness! There have been so many times in my life where I would have been lost without the lightning rod of art to connect me and remind me of these realms.

When I deeply behold a fresh flower with honoring, I am taken to the Otherworld of pure beauty as well. Beauty is certainly a gateway. So, to combine inspiration from nature, the energetic intelligences of color, and the actual materials of nature, like wood and pigments, brings me deep soul fulfillment and anchors this alchemy into space and time. My favorite part of creating is towards the end of the piece when the Muse will arrive to add her extremely unique signatures, final touches, as well as synchronicities with the lyrics of music that I am listening to while I create. It’s wild and special when that happens.

To answer the final part of your question, I will admit I had to go through many layers of sadness, confusion, and guilt to get enough clarity. I grew up in Texas in the 60s and 70s in a land of strip malls and dense actual and vibrational ugliness. Just seeing a pale lilac buttercup in my backyard could be enough to help me “hold on,” but the truth is most of my life has been dealing with the programming, conditioning, and false systems that seemed to be doing everything to keep me distracted and busy from connecting with the Otherworld.

It is sobering to realize how much of my time and energy has been spent in what has been called “the reel estate” instead of the “real estate”, but it has been a worthy journey because I now know how to distinguish the difference consciously. It only took me to age 57! It is so easy to forget and get lost, this world can be freakin’ crazy! Your question has renewed my determination to “stream" so much more because there is so much more to come.

Liv: Wow, Kim, I feel incredibly moved by what you've shared and the depths of beautiful honesty that you source from!

I love what you've shared here in this statement. "Art, when done with sacred or innocent intent, does indeed stream the higher realms of pure essence and natural Being, what you call the Otherworld. I suspect it may even be a portal to it, not just a mirror or a symbol." What I feel as I sense into your expression is that perhaps you're bringing into physical expression an alive Goddess who is also a portal to the realm that she embodies from. That's incredible! I experience you as a Priestess as well.

Do you experience these Goddesses as Goddesses that are already known in the physical world or are they entering into this physical realm newly through your sacred artistic process?

Kim: Thank you, Liv! Well, you’ve done it again. You’ve asked a koan question that makes my mind melt, and now I must reach deep to answer...
Goddess, goddess, deep in me, please reveal your truth to me!

The goddess “myths" have always given me great strength. My first oil painting was a portrait of Persephone. (I have included a pic of me painting her in Prague in 1992 below). I absolutely loved that she made the journey from what was certainly a trauma to becoming the Queen of the Underworld. No one but these myths told me that this was an option for my life. In this painting, she is complete with the process; she is Whole, and she’s holding the “hole” portal, as well as proudly displaying the symbolic seeds that originally led to her “fall” to the Underworld. She wears a fiery crown, she seems to be standing in the ocean, the oak leaves shield her face, her hair flows in the wind; she stands with all the Elements. Is the Persephone portaling through? I think She is!

I do feel part of my role as a soul here is to update the archetypes for the times we are in now. Simultaneously I feel the goddesses themselves want this evolution as well as the updated symbols or representations. When I say “updating the archetype” I mean I'm evolving, I have to evolve. No goddess or archetype wants to stay static; we are the flowing life outside of all duality.

Recently, my husband and I watched a new show called Kaos, that shows Greek characters in a contemporary setting. Persephone is shown as a dedicated bureaucrat in the underworld and devoted to her husband, Hades. I loved that the Greek characters were making a return to our culture. But Persephone wasn’t at all like how I had always pictured her; regal in beautiful clothes and a shining integrated Queen. I did love that she had a voice to state that she wasn’t a victim and truly loved Hades. But with this said, her character lacked any sense of the sacred and was shown to be somewhat compliant in imprisoning and (continued)

(continued from above) zombifying human souls. Was this show accurately showing the dark/matrix version of the False Gods? Where was the Real, sacred, Otherworld Persephone that I have so often painted?

I mention this show because I feel it’s important to remember that there are imposters impersonating the sacred Feminine, images are flooding our world which invert Otherworld beauty and essence, and societal ideologies and programming further complicate this situation. It’s all very interesting, and it’s certainly not all black and white, but “Girl boss” isn’t going to cut it for who we are becoming.

“To bring into physical expression an alive Goddess who is also a portal to the realm she embodies from.”
Liv, this is such a beautiful weaving of words. Is this not what our Cosmic Mother is always demonstrating for us via Nature, and is this not what we truly are as well? We are the portals when we restore our ability to purely bring the Otherworld and its wisdom into this world. The Otherworld is literally inside of us, heaven is inside of us, and when art is done in a sacred manner, I do believe we open the gateways in whatever we are creating.

Liv: Kim, thank you so much for sharing of your depths with Persephone. With tears streaming down my cheeks, my heart feels expanded into the otherworldly realms from all that you've so beautifully shared. I love your love for Persephone and the ways you understand her. I feel she's portaling through as well!

I love that you're following this calling to update the archetypes and their sacred architecture in a whole, living, breathing, loving way. That's what I experienced with Persephone as I'm introduced to her through your heart and your living relationship with her. I imagine she really appreciates your ability to express her heart's true beauty.

And yes wow, a show called Kaos... I imagine the seeds that are being sewn live in the name Kaos. Kaos looks to me like chaos. When I look up the meaning of chaos:

chaos: a state of utter confusion

It seems it's being spelled out. I agree with you about the impersonation of the Sacred Feminine. It feels like medicine to my heart to experience Persephone through your gaze.

I love your depths, Kim, and the ways your questions are like doorway portals, inviting us into a more mystical understanding. What is your experience of this time of prophecy that we’re all living into currently? I understand that’s a vast question. The kontomblè are nudging me to ask you, in your mythological gaze, what are you seeing about these now times that are pulsing and expressing?

Kim: Thank you so much, Liv, for standing by my side to see how I see. I had a thought after answering your last question that maybe these archetypes are portaling and streaming from our future selves. And to conclude Persephone is just one of so many, they are treasure troves of beings waiting for us.

Ok, another awe-inspiring question with so much room to roam! Funny that when you asked me this question, I was in deep initiation from experiencing Hurricane Helene directly. On the day after the hurricane, when the floods were at their peak, my husband and I stood on a bridge above the river while huge torrents of water and debris rushed by. We were in the company of many others, talking, seeing, and filming this spectacle. I didn’t know at the time that my own studio complex was being flooded like a fish bowl just a 1/2 mile upstream. By then, cell, water, and internet service were already gone, yet on that sunny day, there was a great vibe of community since no one could bury their head into a phone.

I bring up this experience because later, these same videos were broadcast showing the immensity of this event, used simultaneously as confirmation of climate change, biblical prophecy, or geoengineering, and summarizing the great tragedy of the event as a whole. My experience on the bridge, though, was nothing like what I later saw on the screens as they were compiled into videos of doom. In the next few days, this same community rose up in the most beautiful outpouring of helping each other as we waited for help from the outside world.

Truly, I felt that this was just the start of a new template of community that functioned without money, media, government, or polarization. And although this event was certainly a tragedy for some who lost everything, it was also a conduit of blessings that no one expected. I certainly lost precisely the things I needed to lose and gained (if I am totally honest) precisely what I wanted in my heart. As an example, losing my studio that was open to the public gave me full permission to be at my home studio so that I can do the work I am supposed to be doing. I am sure I gained many years that I would have lost to distraction and fragmenting.

I am a great believer in the individual and strengthening the humanity and unique needs of the individual in every situation. To put it another way, mass events are for and from the screen but can’t possibly convey the weaving of healing and fresh resets into each person’s experience of that event. Paradoxically, the times are coming in, that each precious human will have every opportunity to blossom despite what looks dire on a screen. Communities will grow not to be a faceless tyrannical blob but to support the stunning gifts of each soul. If you find yourself in any level of these events, I hope you remember my words and take strength from them, because in the moment, it can be scary and overwhelming for sure, but there is nothing to fear, ever!

Why are there so many dystopian books, shows, and films but hardly any utopias? Each dystopia has at its core a theme of the decimation of the individual, and they are programming HARD for this outcome! Each moment for me is like being in a train station where both the utopian and dystopian trains are barreling through our now and dropping their little seeds from their respective pasts as they speed to their future destinations.

Perhaps as eternal beings, we got bored, so the profound limitations of a dystopian destination seemed novel and were promised to be entertaining. I have seen and sensed these futures and now regard them as traps and the machinations of sorcerers; no bueno!

From the same place that my art comes from, I heard, “In the seeing, I do the weaving”. We forget that as we hear a prophecy that has great weight, foreboding or repeating that it is going to happen or happen in a way that we will suffer. It is so important that we do not take these (usually negative) suggestive scripts and stories as the absolute reality of our futures. In the case of the hurricane, I could not avoid that particular “script," but in the end, it felt like a supernatural reminder or reality check of the importance of weaving my own conscious future and that of my community and never slipping into "default programming."

The one thing I/we can count on is creativity, and it always works in every time and every space. Any sincere action I take that comes from my visions anchors in that future and takes my soul closer to the visionary destination I want to be in. It’s the ultimate spell breaker!

When I was at university, I loved to spend my evenings in the many libraries of that campus. I loved learning and was in heaven. Somehow, I remember being a young girl hundreds of years ago who longed to go to school. Her wishes came true indeed, and my dreams for an even better future continue.

As I gaze deeper into my (and maybe your?) future, I am a traveler discovering that each village or town I visit is so unique that it is a thrill just to be there. Nature, the home, and the community environment have found a way to harmonize together that is cozy, human scale, and totally beautiful. Mono or sterile culture is gone. Animals and children are deeply treasured, and everyone lives much longer. The deep communication we lost with the stars, the elements, the trees, and the Otherworld has been restored. Families are sources of so much fun, support, freedom, and contentment. There is so much dancing to be had and discovery of what bodies really are.

Around every bend is a new experience to share that have left the bounds of commerce but are balanced in energy exchange. Somehow someway our society has figured out “money" in a way that is highly transparent. Clothes once again embellish the human in dignity unique to each person. Over and over, what I see can best be described as cozy, the way a steaming cup of tea in a handmade mug feels as opposed to gas station coffee in a styrofoam cup! Life is still an adventure and has its dramas, but it is just somehow more earthy and just the way our cosmic mother always envisioned as well. By some miracle we evolved our way out of governments, things of that nature are at a much smaller scale, positions of service are voluntary.

Each human being knows that they are magic and has access to their powers to lovingly create what their soul knows is true. Happiness has depth, and life is as interesting as ever, and I KNOW we get there in the most interesting of ways! (Tolkien really got it right when Gollum got the ring in the end and destroyed himself in the process.)

Liv: Thank you so much for all the incredibly beautiful wisdom and deep insight that you’re streaming! I honor your multidimensional medicine that is so dynamic and potent! I honor your unique way of seeing that makes way for shifts and changes. And this...

"The one thing I/we can count on is creativity and it always works in every time and every space. Any sincere action I take that comes from my visions anchors in that future and takes my soul closer to the visionary destination I want to be in. It’s the ultimate spell breaker!"

I love this! Kim, the kontomblè ask me to ask you, do you believe that the paintbrush is simultaneously a magical time-traveling wand?

Kim: I had a big hearty laugh when I read question #4, and I appreciate the lightness Liv and Kontomble; I am delighted to answer your question! From quantum mechanics to quantum organics, I believe entire civilizations, systems, and cultures can be dismantled and made again by wielding the powers of the humble paintbrush.

The Kontomble are quite specific with their tool reference. The brush is held by the human hand. Although many brushes are now made with synthetic hairs for a long time they were made with varied animal hairs or quills. Just as different music is brought through different materials such as wood and brass and string, perhaps different visions and creations are brought through different animal hair brushes?

The paintbrush is loaded with paints, which are in turn made of colors, which are intelligences in addition to being made of all the elements, elementals, and stardust. To create a vision or art with a paintbrush is to channel all of that through your body to bring it to this realm. It is a different experience than creating something on a screen or writing with words. You are actually working with real materials, and in addition to the intangibles, I find this calming and grounding to my nervous system.

I have referenced art and beauty as portals. In contemplating this question, I had further insight into how creation happens when our precious heart is invited as part of the process. My heart speaks or translates soul essence and then acts as a “heart lantern” that literally lights up the colors in the ethers with light. The colors are then activated as broadcasters and receivers; they love to be fluid and move. As they dance together and find their scale and appropriate blending with each other, an image, creation, or vision is born into our realm.

I have included two archetypal goddesses below. One is receiving some star medicine in her vessel as she climbs, and another lively lady is busy doing something with portals inside and outside her body. I include them both because they are both demonstrating something beautiful, but look at the potency of the colored one!

The actual act of creating through your body in this way overrides default programming and is the portal to the real. I love to fill my biofield with different colors each day in just the amounts of what I need. All of my to-do lists and journaling are done in notebooks. I love living the analog life as much as possible. Because I’m Gen X and was raised to be fluent in analog, I forget that the digital and the phone have begun to override the creative process through the body.

The screen spell sirens are really really intensifying lately and appear so mesmerizing and potent in their attempts to “show" us what reality it and what scripts and curriculums we are supposed to follow. This is such an important time to take our future into our own hands, literally! The pen and the brush are always there for us, and I hope people experience the difference. This leads me to the magic time traveling magic part; I have a few "past to future" and "future to past" traveling tales to share.

In my early twenties, I had just graduated from university and was concluding a summer internship at the Omega Institute. Fall was coming, and I was about to be kicked into the “real” world. I was absolutely penniless and deeply anxious; I literally had nothing! I made a drawing showing a snowy evening where I was happily creating on a potter’s wheel, I had all the tools and equipment I needed in my little drawn studio. A handsome companion was drinking some tea and conversing with me; all was well in this world. At that time in the early nineties, the economy was quite bad, and I had NO IDEA how this scene would ever be possible.

I’m afraid this drawing was lost to the hurricane floods, but I can affirm that every bit of this drawing became “true"(including the adoring husband!) Somehow vision boards glued up with magazine photos or elaborate business plans have never been as powerful as drawing and painting my future with images.

From future to past, my painting “Raise the Mountain” was done at least a year before the hurricane and floods arrived here in Asheville. When I made it, I had no idea that it was portending the floods as part of the message from my future. The drawing was transmitted quickly, and even before it was painted with color, it sent me a deep strength and a knowing of what is inside of me when I raise a mountain. Images are so powerful in the way they can hold so many levels. On the bigger picture this Mother raises a mountain and the waters come from her body, something entirely new and cleansing is born for the next stage. It’s an inner and outer story for sure here in our dreamtime, thank you time traveling paintbrush!

I will close with this little poem that would like to be shared, however corny it may appear it is heartfelt from the muses and me to you.

When the eyes are entranced 

It’s the hands that can dance 

To dispel the great spell

The wand is the well

When the colors are clear
 

I know it is near

 And if by chance you know how to dance 

Then your life will be lived in great cheer!

Liv: Once again, Kim, I'm experiencing such strong chills as I feel your multidimensional medicine. Wow! This feels like such an important and potent message...

“The screen spell sirens are really really intensifying lately and appear so mesmerizing and potent in their attempts to “show" us what reality it and what scripts and curriculums we are supposed to follow. This is such an important time to take our future into our own hands, literally! The pen and the brush are always there for us and I hope people experience the difference.”

I’m also feeling inspired by how you speak about your experience of creation. I feel called to pick up a paintbrush now, and I imagine others will feel the same! I love that you’ve essentially painted your future! That feels so magical. Do you have some words of inspiration for those reading this who feel called to paint their future but perhaps feel intimidated by the idea of painting?

Kim: Thank you again, Liv, for this opportunity to share; it’s amazing to me how much I have deepened my relationship with the Otherworld and the Muses and how much has changed since we started this process in the late summer. I most definitely have words of inspiration for those endeavoring to paint their heart essence dreams right into this reality!

I love that initial feeling of the spark of inspiration. It comes like a feeling of excitement or a pulse of life force; whether that’s something I want to create or something I’d like to happen. The inspiration or little spark surfaces in my being- the excitement of what can be- and then resistance or doubt is right there too.

Not to start on a downer note, but for me it’s part of the creative process that resistance, procrastination, and inner voices arrive on the scene to downplay the necessity or validity of doing what my heart endeavors. So before I even start, I anticipate my little shadow or adversary will be there too. Why does there have to be a part of me or this game whose entire job is to make sure I don’t do what I am truly supposed to do? As I write this, it’s hilarious, but it’s actually quite serious that you can live your whole life not doing what your soul came here to do. The paradoxical solution is to ground into this earth and make it all not so serious while we enter into relationship with the Muses and creativity.

I take some deep breaths and calm myself. When I am doing anything out of my comfort range it’s always challenging and a lot of feelings and somatic sensations get stirred up. To stream intangibles, dreams, and mysteries from deep inside of ourselves is no small thing, so let’s give ourselves a break.

I’d like to share one process of pen and paint, but this should not necessarily be thought of as Art with a capital A. We are using these tools to give our heart and ancient past and future selves a voice and a portal here. My heart doesn’t speak in words, but she is fluent in image and all the levels and symbols and nuances it can convey.

On a practical level, I recommend 5 things: a pen and/or pencil, a blank sketchbook, a watercolor set, 1-4 brushes, and some freezer paper and tape. Art supply stores still overwhelm me, but I try to think of them as a place that has all the ingredients and elements my soul needs to communicate with me. I have included below the interview some specific suggestions.

So the pen comes first. Just start drawing what comes out of you and stay as neutral as possible. There is so much mystery in this process and there is absolutely no right or wrong, that’s the whole point. I asked the Muses what they want me to share with you about this part and they say you are precious, you are starlight, you are all beautiful shining humans and what comes out has great value. There is nothing wrong with your inner Psyche, let her speak! The paper, pen, and paint await and are your new direct line to soul, which will help you bypass the confusion of words.

Maybe you draw the scene of your ideal life or maybe you draw a labyrinth or mandala of all the facets of you. Maybe the big ball of yarn of emotions inside wants to be drawn and seen as symbols, as botanical collections, or as animals, almost like Jungian sandplay but in your notebook. The important thing is to just keep practicing this streaming and open up those lines. The doubt and the perfectionism just come with the territory.

Once you have some images that speak to you and you want to “potentize” them that is where I bring in the color. I see Color coming in to integrate with our beings much more in the future. They are cleansers, uplifters, inspirers, blenders, protectors, and guides in ways that are hard for me to explain with words. They have been a bit ham-stringed in the past by concepts that regiment them such as the color wheel, or assign them meaning such as "red is anger" or the base chakra. It’s kind of like we’ve been stuck with a 12 crayon set all our lives and now we’re about to be gifted with a 1000 crayon set. Woo-hoo!

Very often in the painting process, you may find yourself laying down a base color you don’t like, but later, another color will be added on top that makes sense for the whole painting. The “ugly” base color was always needed to make the top accents shine. The colors emerge, sometimes it all comes out fast and sometimes it’s a very slow process. Your mind will never figure it all out before you begin, but it wants to so badly! It can be uncomfortable to not know what will happen on the paper. Let the colors speak to you and flow with your soul! Colors and images help transition your dreams from the unmanifest ethers to the physical, and they imprint the importance of your desires to your subconscious.

Now you have a new language to speak in. When your inner world meets and mirrors/materializes in your outer world, then Life begins to Live. The screens will just be entertainment now and then; you may find with surprise how they lied to your eyes and how much power those spells had! I know I have been dissing the screens alot, they have their place yet I humbly offer a counter balancing to them with more art, more nature, more humanity. Music, drama, singing, and the rest of the other crafts also await your connection with them.

Thank you SO MUCH Liv and Kontomble for inviting me to do this with you. It has been so meaningful to visit your lovely priestess village and I hope my words offered something of value for you all. It is truly an honor and a privilege; I needed to be reminded of all of this as well. Much love to everyone and I hope you feel free to share with me the drawings or paintings that come out of your process!

Some specific art supply suggestions:

The pretty periwinkle blue grey Sharpie S-gels are my favorite pens right now. The size of your sketchbook doesn’t have to be huge but remember you’re drawing your soul here; maybe not too small either! A 11” x 14” or 12” x 18” is a good size. Ideally you’d have 4 brush sizes; a 20/0 liner, a #1. #3, a #8. There are lots of super bad (continued)

(continued) brushes out there and they can be frustrating if they don’t have a nice clear tip. Watercolor sets range in price, so buy the one you can afford, and that speaks to you; it will last forever, so it’s worth the investment. Daniel Smith watercolors have the most vibrancy, I suggest watercolor sets over paint tubes if you have no experience or alot of room to create. Oil paints and their accompanying varnishes, textures, and glazes provide a world of astounding beauty to experiment with. It took me a long time to realize I didn’t need the expensive palette papers; you just need freezer paper and tape.

Liv: Thank you so much, Kim! Thank you from the depths of my heart and soul for sharing your medicine so genuinely and so generously. You’re amazing!!!

For those feeling sparked to look more deeply into Kim and her beautiful art, her info can be found below!

Email: kim@kimberlyhodges.com

Bio:

Kimberly Hodges Stevens has been a full time artist and product designer since 1995. Her career has had many twists and turns from self taught folk artist to product designer and back to artist illustrator again. Trained in ceramics, painting, and wood, her studio combines these practices to create unique home accents and sculptures that are collected around the world. Married to the British puppeteer Robin Stevens, their next creative adventures are focused on creating modern fairy tales in video. They live in Asheville, North Carolina.