Hey Pinkies! Joy here, excited to tell you about the incredible Pink workshop that took place this past weekend.

Owning Your Power: Create a Home Altar and Manifest Your Authentic Life

On Saturday, seven mojo-seeking Pinkies gathered to create living, breathing, powerful manifestations of our highest selves. Under the leadership of Pink Goddess altar builder and laughter yoga instructor Carmela Carlyle, and Pink Doctor of Mojo Lissa Rankin, we released what no longer served, called in what we wished to manifest, and created exquisite home altars.

Letting Go

At the outset of the workshop, Carmela invited us to let go. Just … let go. The concept is perhaps best summed up by a poem she read by Ernest Holmes:

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the 'right' reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn't ask anyone for advice. She didn't read a book on how to let go... She didn't search the scriptures. She just let go. She let go of all of the memories that held her back. She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn't promise to let go. She didn't journal about it. She didn't write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn't check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go.

She didn't analyze whether she should let go. She didn't call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn't do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn't call the prayer line. She didn't utter one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn't good and it wasn't bad. It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be. A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

At this point, we were positively rearing to let go. Privately, we wrote down a sentence or two about what it was we wanted to jettison from our beings for the remainder of the day – if not our lives – in order to make space about that which we hoped to invite in with our altars. Mine had to do with ego – my sense of separation from other humans, in the interest of inviting compassion in. Once our statements were written, we were invited to crumple them into balls, throw them into a basket and be rid of them once and for all.

We then were invited to let go of something physical. Each Pinkie had been asked to bring an item from home – something that had served us in the past and was no longer necessary to us to move forward. I brought a postcard that I had picked up several years ago in an art gallery in Sausalito – one with a quote by Thoreau reminding me to “live the life I imagined.” For years, it served as a beacon to me – it was on that trip that I came to know that one day I’d live an impossible seeming dream life in the bay area. Each time I looked at the card, I felt it calling me home. Now that I am living here, doing work that fills my heart every day, I thought I’d pass it on to someone else who needed the message in their own lives. There were small statues of powerful warrior woman, a harmonica to remind us not to take things too seriously, art work and other creations, talismans … all passed in a circle so that each Pinkie could love and honor each object, and then thrown into the basket to be used by someone else in the room on their altar.

What the Heck is a Home Altar, Anyway?

Despite our eager presence at the workshop, many of us weren’t quite sure what exactly we were doing there. (“Home altar! Yes! Wait, what is that?”) Prior to her current incarnation as a laughter yoga instructor, Carmela had helped others build home altars professionally for decades. She shared the meaning of the word “altar,” which is from the Latin “altare,” or, “to place on high.” Altars are about honoring that which we value in both our inner and outer worlds. They are not about religion, necessarily, nor are they exclusively spiritual. At their essence, they are a representation of parts of us that we wish to elevate, to develop, and to honor. Check out this video taken by Pink Giggle Coach Christa Scalies for more on how home altars work.
 

A Work in Progress

Since altars are alive, just like us, they're never finished. Though we would each be leaving that day with an altar in our possession, it was going to be something that we’d always be adding to, changing, embellishing, decorating, feeding, watering, and interacting with. One Pinkie breathed a huge sigh of relief – she had planned to come and simply observe – she didn’t want to create an altar because she knew there was no way she could build a perfect one. With a new sense of freedom and increased enthusiasm, we moved from our circle and into the studio space.

Getting to Work

Now that space had been made in our souls, it was time to call in our powerful higher selves to be represented on our altars through objects of our choosing. Carmela and her friend, assemblage artist Liz Vaughn, had mojo-loads of beautiful, weird, and wonderful objects that we could purchase for our altars. There were vessels of all shapes and sizes made of glass, metal, stone, and shell; vintage costume jewelry; cards; dice; Buddhas; glass eggs; boxes; candles, and lots more. Also for our use was a plethora of paints, fabrics, stickers, glitter, beads, markers, decals … this was a serious spiritual playdate! We dove in, painting and bejeweling and ribboning and decorating the altar bases that had been built for us by Matt, Lissa’s Pink God of a husband. We reached into the basket of items our fellow Pinkies had surrendered, letting our intuition guide us to the perfect Pink object. I received a small metal pendant with the word “dance” cut out of it. For me, this object was a reminder that this life – my trip on this planet – is about having fun, being fascinated, being childlike, being free. I glued it on the top of my altar, front and center.

Time to Breathe

Despite repeated reminders from Carmela that altars are NEVER done (to get our altar “right” in the few hours we had to create it would be like saying we’d done everything we’d ever wanted to do in life, flawlessly, within the space of a year. Impossible!), we were so engrossed in getting our altars decorated just the way we wanted that there was a general sense of dismay when we were told that it was time to take a break. Reluctantly, we were sent outside for a twenty minute silent walking meditation. We wandered silently and en masse around beautiful downtown Mill Valley. Carmela had invited us to retrieve an object from nature to include on our altars to acknowledge the turning of the seasons.

The Finishing (or Beginning!) Touches

We returned to Clear Center with fresh air in our lungs and fresh eyes with which to view our altars. Having been less than satisfied with my altar prior to heading outdoors, I was actually quite pleased with what I saw when I got back. There was even a perfect place between the two spirals I had painted on which to place the red, green, and yellow leaves I had gathered outside. We then set to work placing and arranging the power items we had received from each other, brought from home, and purchased from Carmela and Liz upon our altars. In what seemed like no time, what began as seven stark white mini-tables had become seven works of gorgeous, rich, complex and highly spiritual art. But (thankfully!) there was still a long way to go.

Bringing the Altars to Life

It is important that altars have the four elements represented on them: fire, water, salt to signify earth, and a feather to signify air. Also, we were invited to bring a food offering to our altar (things that are alive of course need to be fed) – nuts, fruit, chocolate, and tea were among the offerings Pinkies fed their altars. Carmela introduced her home made essential oil sprays to involve scent in the ritual, and burned sage – each of us taking turns “smudging” our altar space and cleansing ourselves with the smoke.

Dedication and Closing

Then, in the Pink spirit of community, we each spent a moment in front of each altar, giving love to and receiving energy from the altar, acknowledging and honoring it. Each altar thusly blessed, we gathered around a pile of goddess cards. Guided by our intuition, we selected a goddess with a message that tied into what the day and our altar meant to us. With my eyes shut tightly, I chose Isolt, the goddess of undying love. I had dedicated the day to my grandmother, whose birthday it was. She’d passed eight years ago, and I know that the person I am now would have been great friends with the person she always was. Isolt reminded me that the love is there, and the relationship is still growing and developing, despite the fact that Gram and I are now on different sides of the border to the spirit world. Incidentally, Lissa chose the card of Mary Magdalene, goddess of unconditional love. The two of us were sitting at the head and foot of the table, sort of book-ending the moment with the representations of our Pink love.

Finally, with affirmations, blessings, and thanks given to the universe, our minds full of possibility and bodies full of newfound mojo, we packed our altars and headed back to our separate worlds.

Tempted to Make a Home Altar?

What about you, Pinkies? Are you inspired? I have to say I haven’t stopped thinking about my altar since the workshop. Every object I see is now a candidate to sit on my altar, next to the soapstone elephant and in front of the purple glass bud vase. The existence of the altar compels me to look at every object I see in terms of its symbolism in my life. But you don’t need a bevy of assemblage items, art supplies, and pre-made altar bases to have your altar building day. Start gathering things from your home, from your friends, from nature. Grab a cardboard box, some glitter, and some acrylic paints. Items representing the four elements can be found anywhere, and the important thing to remember is your intention for your altar. What are you ready to release? What would you like to manifest? How can a home altar help you manifest your desires, and Own your Power?
 

The altar at Owning Pink headquarters

Big Pink thanks to altar goddess Carmela, to Liz for her phenomenal altar goodies, to Christa for taking the video, to Pink God Matt, and of course to the Pink Doctor of Mojo, and to all the Pinkies who brought their spirits and creativity to make the day so rich, so colorful, and so complete.

Blessed be,

Joy