I'm taking a very short hiatus from The Artist's Way posts for the moment because there is some other stuff I wanted to write about. And in the world of blogging when you find something you want to blog about, you go with it.

This past Sunday, I spoke at Hestia, a day-long women's retreat on Vashon Island. Just so you're clear and if you haven't already figured out through my blog already, Vashon is a vortex of powerful psychic energy that attracts psychics and artists and healers by the bucketful. I can't think of a better place to have a women's retreat. All that gooey divine womanhood stuff.The event was to raise money for a fledgling non-profit whose goal it is to build an actual, physical women's-only retreat on Vashon Island. A lofty dream and I have to admire the passion and tenacity of the women who are making it happen.As I waited my turn to speak, I listened to some of the other speakers and I was particularly intrigued by one, partly because our names were so similar. Her name was Aimée Cartier. Although I didn't have a chance to meet her, I felt a kinship. And then I was inspired by her talk. She described herself as an "intuitive" and speaks, does psychic readings and provides tools for "inspired living" through her website www.spreadingblessings.com.

Her talk was about ways to use your intuition and she has broken down her method into incredibly simple steps. We have all heard that notion that if there is something we are desiring, we need to put our intentions out into the "Universe" (you are welcome to replace the word "Universe" with whatever word you use to invoke the divine). So in your head, you might say something like: "I would like..." or "I desire..." which is all well and fine, but Aimée implores us to go a step further to clarify our intentions by turning them into clear questions. To use her example: "How can I get a job I love with health benefits?" (Indeed this may be a perplexing question to all you Canadians out there). By being clear and stating our intentions in question form, we are more likely to get and understand the "responses" we receive. It may be in the form of a book that finds its way into our hands and someone who helps us, or a talk or performance that we see.

Of course the trick is being attuned to these tidbits of guidance and being willing to accept the path that our answers may take us in. That takes courage.Of course, I've way over-simplified. I'm still in the process of reading Aimée's book, Getting Answers: Using Your Intuition to Discover Your Best Life and am so far impressed with the simplicity with which she lays out her thoughts on using intuition. A great guide for anyone who feels stuck and is interested in "living a more 'Awakened' life."