"Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing."   ~ Julia Cameron from her book The Artist's Way.

Born from the mists of time the healing power of art, music and creative expression have always been intuitively known. Ancient tribal cultures used dance, music, costume and storytelling to invoke or release specific energies (spirit) for healing. Whether these rituals were used to purify the tribesman before the hunt or invite the blessings of spirit, all tribal people essentially believed that there was a healing energy or spirit that could be released from an individual by going into the sacred space of music or art and fully participating in the experience.

 
Art as a healing modality was at first intuitive and then became a conscious intention of tribal people as they created sacred ceremonial rituals involving music, dance, costumes, art and other forms of visual expression to connect to and invoke the unseen energies of spirit.  The methods of utilizing art as a healing modality may have changed over the centuries, but it's capacity to invoke healing, transformation and change within a single individual or an entire society remains as powerful as ever as creative inspiration taps into an infinite energetic reservoir of possibility.

If you would like to read more about the history of art as a healing practice and how it has evolved over time, please click on the following link:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23942-LA-Alternative-Medicine-Examiner~y2009m11d12-The-healing-power-of-art

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