I am participating in a two-week a Origami Vision Board class led by my friend, Liane Wakabayashi from Genesis Art, https://www.genesiscards.com/
I was already in the process of doing a vision board in my usual way using a feng shui grid when this class fell into my lap. Not wanting to start over from scratch, I decided to color outside the lines of Liane’s instructions and combine the techniques.
So on top of the 9 square grid I had already made, I summarised my list of actions and desires and assigned them a color snipped off a piece of origami paper. Then for each action snip, I pulled one of the Genesis cards to give me more insight.
My grid instantly became more colorful and deeply meaningful. I journalled about these actions and how the cards enhance my understanding of them. Read on for a lot of inner thoughts. 🙂
Feng Shui: Abundance/Wealth
My Action: Gardening
Card: Harvest – 22
What I Think About This: This land has a wealth of garden resources. I have plans to add to what is here and to find ways to harvest and use the materials at my fingertips. From bamboo to turmeric to citrus fruits that are already here to the herbs and vegetables I’d like to grow, 555 is prime territory for abundance. Harvest is the completion of the cycle, the goal for this action.
Feng Shui: Reputation/Fame
My Action: Event Leadership
Card: The Garden – 17
What I Think About This: I have a rocky relationship with reputation and fame. I get bored easily and building a reputation has been challenging – as soon as word gets out (or even before) I have moved on to another focus. I definitely don’t have the charisma to be a famous person. And this pains me a little bit because I want to be well-regarded and known for positive things. But if I reframe reputation like it’s a garden, then I can see that there are seasons of growth, harvest and rest. That makes my unease with fame and reputation easier to accept. I think some of my other actions this year will nourish the garden of my reputation.
Feng Shui: Relationships/Love
My Action: Join Community
Card: Home – 25
What I think About This: I am eager to become a productive member of my neighborhood community. Now that we have settled here with a new house, I want to do my part to cut grass, clean drains and all of those shared community chores because this is HOME for real now. I want to build connections here and to know and care for my neighbors. I hope they will know and care for me, too.
Feng Shui: Health
My Action: Increase Stamina
Card: Frog Prince – 16
What I Think About This: The Frog Prince is a story of transformation – the enspelled prince being released from his amphibian form. My health goal for this year is to improve my stamina. After six months of being sick, I am recovering my energy, but it fades away rather quickly. I would like to break the spell of exhaustion and increase my daily activity so that I can accomplish all of these goals and actions!
Feng Shui: Home/Good Fortune
My Action: Exterior Improvements
Card: Zooming Along – 44
What I Think About This: “Zooming Along” is the last card in the Genesis deck and that fits the 555 Project. We reached a milestone when we moved in and now we will be zooming along the path of life here. I have plans to put in a patio and other hardscaping through this year (including a literal path or two) , as well as managing the garden and all the greenery. I’ll be enjoying each moment on the journey.
Feng Shui: Creativity
My Action: Commit to Art
Card: Conception – 8
What I Think About This: What a strong message to me here. I go on and off about calling myself an artist. I don’t sell my art; I didn’t go to art school; I haven’t shown my art in decades. So what kind of artist can I possibly be? The Conception card is all about birthing creativity. My action for 2024 is to commit to my art. Be an Artist. I think my art will find itself in real life though many of these actions as well as traditional paint on canvas.
Feng Shui: Education/Wisdom
My Action: 日本語
Card: Gift of Three – 19
What I Think About This: My Japanese is an embarrassment. I have motivation to improve it as I join more deeply into the community. My interpretation of the card is that there are three people who will help me through this learning process – maybe conversation partners or teachers, maybe a textbook author, or perhaps neighbors who are willing to struggle along with my bad grammar. I will get there and this year will be a leap forward thanks to them.
Feng Shui: Work/Career
My Action: Seek Design Clients
Card: Body Language – 5
What I Think About This: Graphic design work is often about making shapes and finding balance in a design. The yoga work that I do is much the same – strike a pose, find balance. Does that indicate a connection between those two realms in my life? Or do I need to be more flexible in my client selection? It’s hard to say; I need to let my intuition develop a bit longer on this topic.
Feng Shui: External Influences
My Action: Collaborate
Card: Fantasy – 14
What I Think About This: When I turned over Fantasy here, my first reaction was “collaboration is a fantasy; Kristen does not play well with others” but then I read the prompts in the Genesis guidebook. The card is more about allowing access to my vivid fantasy. And in that sense, fantasy and collaboration go hand in hand. That is a nice message to keep in mind.
The Origami Vision Board workshop doesn’t end with this exercise. Now I get to cut up the rest of the origami paper to build a collage for deeper insight. And then the collage is used as inspiration to create a painting. All along the way, we refer to the Genesis cards to give us ideas, inspiration, and additional guidance into our own intuitive art.
It’s a fun process; Liane’s been teaching intuitive art for decades now and her cards are available as an app (Genesis Art Cards) so you can try them, too.
