Author: Catherine

Ukraine, Knot Dolls and Luba’s Story

Ukraine is on my heart. Even before I set up altars around the house as focal points for my peace prayers, there were Ukrainian artifacts in every room but the bathroom. I have been to Ukraine ten times since 1989. In the living room, red and black lacquered plates decorate one wall while the shelves hold a collection of lacquered boxes illustrating enchanting fairy tales. In the kitchen, Matryoshka (nesting) dolls watch over my kitchen table which is covered by a simple Ukrainian tablecloth. In the bedroom, an embroidered rushnyk (ceremonial cloth) festooned with blue and purple flowers covers one table, and in my office, a beribboned headdress reminds me of Ukrainian friends far away.

Ukrainian knotted dolls were important symbols of protection for the home and family.

Victoria and John escaped to Poland and are trying to decide whether to return. Lidiia and her son have found refuge in Berlin where he celebrated his 6th birthday today. Lesya went to Lviv for emergency surgery but has returned home to Cherkasy, southeast of Kyiv. Irina was in the U.S. when the war broke out but flew to Poland to take medical supplies for the refugees. Yulia and her nine-year old son are in western Ukraine with relatives while sons, husbands and fathers fight in the war. Much of my news comes from Ukrainian Facebook posts of horror, friends missing, tips for helping people through panic attacks and fierce determination.

Continue reading “Ukraine, Knot Dolls and Luba’s Story”

Be Kind to Your Future Self

I am finding that if I imagine being kind to my future self, I make more good-for-me choices.

A few months ago, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear. The author has studied the behavioral science behind how to break bad habits and encourage good habits. The “atomic” in the title suggests his approach—that making tiny (atomic) changes to our routines can pay off in big rewards later as the impact of those changes accumulate. It’s like the magic of saving modest amounts of money over time. He points out that many of us know the things that are good for us such as eating better, losing weight, exercising and putting money aside for retirement. Unfortunately, though, because the payoff is in the future, it’s hard to get motivated.

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Writing to the Soul of the Work

photo of soul of the work journal, candle and laptop
This is my second Soul of the Work Journal

Yesterday I listened to a presentation by Nicole Costerus about how to connect with the soul of my business. Nicole supports women to grow their gifts as intuitive, soul-based leaders. She led us in a visualization to connect with our free and alive selves as well as with either the soul of our business or our personal mission.

This focus on conscious connection reminded me that I have been doing a similar process in the writing of my upcoming book, Called by the Horse: Women, Horses and Consciousness.

Continue reading “Writing to the Soul of the Work”

Called to the Horse Through Dreams and Art

Some women are called to horses through art and dreams, like Kim McElroy in this description of a potent horse dream that she had as a girl.

pastel drawing of three horses by catherine held
Pastel Horses, April 2021 by Catherine Held

Recently, I pulled out Kim McElroy’s Secrets of Drawing Horses dvd given to me by the artist when we met at her home in the Pacific Northwest in 2014. On vacation with my daughter, I had spotted prints of some of her pastel horse paintings. When I picked up the first image, I was delighted to find that among the white clouds were hidden horses. After generously inviting me to her home, I interviewed her for my forthcoming book, Called by the Horse: Women, Horses and Consciousness.

Kim has since made the workshop available for free online. It begins with The Girl Who Wanted to be a Horse. In it Kim describes her girlhood love of horses and her frustration while trying to capture the movement of horses in her drawings. When she imagined herself as a horse, though, the drawings came easily. Afterwards, she fell asleep in her friend’s hayloft where a white winged horse came to her in her dreams to tell her she could tune into the magical power of horses through her imagination and art and affirmed her path as an artist.

Following prompts from the DVD, I listened to Kim’s meditation. I imagined myself as a horse in a sea of horses and picked up chalk pastels to draw the feelings evoked in the drawing shown here.

I believe that women are called to horses in many ways, including, as in Kim’s experience, through dreams and art as well as to living, breathing horses. My curiosity about the call to the horse experienced by so many women has preoccupied me for almost twenty years. Why now? What does it mean? How shall we respond? These are questions I have wrestled with in the book. As I prepare the manuscript for publication, the answers are clearer. Ultimately, I have come to believe that horses are calling women—and some men—to empower us into greater leadership and partnership for the sake of our precious Earth and all of her inhabitants.

Celebrate the Equine Equinox Tonight

Primo in July 2019

Since 2004, I have been celebrating the “Equine Equinox.” The purpose of this simple ritual is to celebrate horses past and present with gratitude for their remarkable contributions to humankind. Equinox means “equal night;” twice a year, day and night are approximately equal, lasting twelve hours each. I see this as a time of planetary balance, which is something that is sorely needed at this time amidst a worldwide pandemic. Horses themselves are models of balance—they are sensitive and powerful, graceful and strong, and come together with a one mind consciousness and flexible leadership style when faced with a threat.

In January, I said goodbye to my Peruvian Paso companion, Primo, who is now one of the Horse Ancestors. Tonight at 8:49 pm. Pacific Standard Time, I invite you to join me. I will create a simple altar, light a candle, and give prayers of gratitude for Primo and all the horses who have contributed to humankind throughout the millennia. I will also ask for their forgiveness for ways in which they have been mistreated by humans. It is my intention that this ritual will help restore balance in our relationships with the natural world.

If the Equine Equinox resonates with you, feel free to create your own simple ritual to honor our equine friends and invite greater harmony and balance into your life.

How Horses Teach Us to Lead

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I am excited to share that my article, “How Horses Teach Us to Lead,” was published in the Winter 2020 edition of the Sonoma County Horse Council’s Horse Journal. I have shared it with you below. To read the complete journal or learn more about the Horse Council, click here.

Horses Teach Us To Lead

To download a copy of my article, you can right click on the pdf and “Save Image As.”

Handing Over the Reins

Black Beauty, horses, healing, women, vintage toys, Catherine Held
The Modern Consumer–1950s Product and Style Exhibit, Girls’ Toys Display, SFO United Terminal, April 2019; Photo by Catherine Held

A few weeks ago on my way to Tucson, an interesting museum exhibit in the United Terminal at SFO caught my eye. It had artifacts from the consumer culture that arose in the 1950s. One glass case profiled girls’ toys, while another profiled the toys marketed to boys. Not surprisingly, the boys’ toys are futuristic and space-themed. 

Black Beauty, horses, healing, women, vintage toys, Catherine Held
The Modern Consumer–1950s Product and Style, Boys’ Toys Display, SFO United Terminal, April 2019; Photo by Catherine Held

It was the case with the girls’ toys, though, that caught my eye. Along with a jump rope, a dress designing kit, a Barbie and Ken doll set and a gum-wrapper chain was a gem. Produced in 1958 by the Transogram Company was the “Game of Black Beauty.”

Black Beauty, of course, was the 1877 children’s classic by Anna Sewell. For more than one hundred years, the book has remained one of the most beloved children’s books ever written. There have been numerous film versions and adaptations recounting the trials of the black horse. Written from the stallion’s perspective, Anna Sewell hoped that it would open eyes to the poor treatment of horses. Housebound due to illness at the end of her life, she died just five months after completing her only novel. The author never lived to see her book called the “Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the Horse,” or to be used as a call to action for the protection of horses and other animals.

Black Beauty, women, healing, horses, vintage toys, Catherine Held
The Modern Consumer–1950s Product and Style Exhibit, Vintage Black Beauty Board Game, SFO United Terminal, April 2019; Photo by Catherine Held

A close look at the box shows children dressed in clothes of the time period. (I remember wearing bobby socks!) My surprise is that it is a boy holding the reins to Black Beauty, while one girl sits and the other girl stands nearby. This was a toy marketed to girls, yet the boy is the one shown in the active role with the horse.

This time capsule look at girls’ games shows that times and gender roles sure have changed. By 1958, advertisers and marketing departments recognized that the game would appeal to girls, but on the box top, the reins of the horse still remained in the hands of boys and men.

Sixty years after the game came out, girls and women now dominate virtually every endeavor related to horses except for horse racing. Since the early 2000’s I have been tracking the shift in the culture that has brought horses out of the hands of men and into the domain of girls and women. I wrote my Ph.D. in Depth Psychology about what that might mean for the culture, and am currently completing my book, Called by the Horse: Women, Horses and Consciousness to present some of my findings.

Move over boys, the girls are holding the reins now.

For more about how Black Beauty impacted the ethical treatment of horses and other animals:

http://westbynorthwest.org/artman/publish/printer_1177.shtml

Petaluma Travel Journal Workshop!

Combine travel journal making with a touristy treasure hunt in the heart of historic downtown Petaluma!

I’m excited to announce I’ll be hosting a Travel Journal Workshop on April 26, 2019, in Downtown Petaluma! Please check out the flyer below and share with anyone who might be interested in joining. Click here for more info about the workshop and to register. Space is limited, so please be sure to R.S.V.P. Hope to see you there!

Travel Journal Workshop_Catherine Anne Held

To download a copy of the flyer, click here.

Meet “Dr.” Peyo: A Horse Who Heals With His Heart

cheval-de-coeurSome of the most interesting science behind equine therapy and equine facilitated learning focuses on the measurable heart connection between horses and humans. But science alone cannot adequately explain how horses heal humans or the sense of wonder it evokes. Recently, as I was writing a chapter in my book about horses and healing, I watched some videos of a very special French stallion named Peyo from the Dijon region of France. In the video, Peyo and his person, Hassen Bouchakour, visit Ehpad des Orchards of Chartreuse de Dijon, a convalescent hospital serving people with Alzheimer’s and other end-of-life issues. After backing out of his horse trailer and negotiating the elevator, Peyo chooses which room to enter. He invariably seeks out people that are very, very sick or close to dying, and his healing presence brings great joy to the suffering. Though the video is in French, no translation is needed to witness the healing power of Peyo’s generous heart.

Peyo originally came to Hassen Bouchakour as a dressage horse. Dressage, sometimes described as horse ballet, requires exquisite wordless communication and trust between horse and rider. Apparently, at first, Bouchakour, a world champion in artistic dressage, and Peyo did not click. In fact, at one point, Bouchakour was ready to give up on Peyo and put him up for sale. However, one day, something shifted between the two and everything changed. It was at dressage shows that Bouchakour first noticed Peyo’s propensity toward tending to the ill. The oft-fiery stallion would instinctively move toward the disabled members of the audience where he appeared tender and docile to their touch.

Bouchakour embarked on a three-year journey preparing Peyo to visit the ill and aged. He worked diligently to help the horse grow used to noise and different levels of flooring so that Peyo would be more comfortable inside of hospitals and convalescent homes.

Tremendous care goes into prepping Peyo for the actual visits. His body is covered in antiseptic lotion and a blanket. His mane and tail are tightly braided, and Hassen stays close to him at all times. Medical staff and patients alike appear astonished by the incredible results Peyo achieves simply from his soothing presence: patients who no longer talk, speak; those who don’t move, walk. The handsome stallion’s loving, gentle presence seems to evoke love from those he visits and helps to remind us that healing is always possible. As we move into spring, the time of new beginnings, may we, too, have generous hearts and deep heart connections. Enjoy Peyo’s special message of hope and healing in this article and the videos below.

Peyo and Hassen Visit Ehpad des Orchards of Chartreuse de Dijon:

Check Out Peyo’s Dressage Moves Here!

Tend and Befriend: The Casserole Brigade

Campbell’s Soup Casserole Ad Published Redbook, May 1977, Vol. 149, No. 1 by Classic Film licensed under CC BY 2.0

I am currently writing a chapter about trauma, and how horses help heal trauma for my forthcoming book, Called by the Horse: Women, Horses, and Consciousness. In writing about how trauma affects women differently than men, I took a fresh look at the research that Shelley E. Taylor and her colleagues published in 2000 in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Review.

Essentially, the article reveals that because of gender bias, previous studies related to the biological results of stress were done on men and male animals. The prevailing idea of “Fight or Flight” from the 1930s came from studying men and male laboratory animals, not female subjects. The research from Taylor’s team showed that while the biological Fight or Flight responses applied to men and women, in women there was a different hormonal response that kicked in: the “Tend and Befriend” response.

“Feel good” and bonding hormones such as oxytocin (found in breastfeeding, giving birth and orgasm) are released in women under stress. Oxytocin is also released in mutual grooming activities like grooming a horse or petting a cat. The hormones cause a biological drive to take care of each other (tend) and to gather with others (especially women) for support, to gather resources and for protection (befriend).

I checked out Taylor’s book, The Tending Instinct. The book is great, but I was disappointed to learn that the genesis of this groundbreaking research came from a lecture that Taylor attended with her graduate students on the amygdala, the part of the brain responding to threats. The bias towards using male subjects in stress research was so obvious that it triggered the drive to study how stress affects women.

My Version: The Casserole Brigade

I was disappointed in Taylor’s version because I had heard a different story about how she and her team chose to study women and stress that was much more relatable. Years ago, I heard the story that Taylor and some of her women research colleagues noticed that when work was especially stressful, the men tended to disappear back to their desks (flight), while the women brought goodies to share and gathered in the work kitchen to eat and commiserate together (tend and befriend).

I recognize the urge to gather and share food; when there is a serious illness or death in a family, women are often the first responders, arriving with casseroles and sweets to share. In September, when my neighbor heard that my beloved cat died, she immediately brought chocolate.

Tend and Befriend as an Evolutionary Advantage

While I prefer my origin story, what is more important is that this research has an interesting hypothesis and important implications. During the million or so years our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, there were evolutionary advantages to the biology of stress; faced with the threat of dangerous animals or human attackers, men were more likely to flee or fight.

It is theorized that women, on the other hand, especially of childbearing age, had to stand their ground in order to take care of babies and small children. They were probably also taking care of the sick and elderly. Fleeing would be more of a threat to themselves and their vulnerable dependents. Women’s biological Tend and Befriend programming encouraged nurturing and banding together with other women, thus protecting their small groups and ultimately the human species.

Why is this important and what does it have to do with horses? Women’s Tend and Befriend instinct shows an evolutionary advantage toward cooperation rather than the competitive and brutal assumptions we have of the survival of the fittest as “natural.”

Horses are one of the oldest surviving species on the planet, probably because they recognize mares as leaders. It’s time to come together and take our place as leaders as we just saw with the U.S. 2018 midterm elections. We need to access the cooperative herd consciousness and leadership skills that come naturally to horses—and are hardwired in women—for the survival of our own species.

Bring on the Casserole Brigade.