Richard Stuttle

Tag: Creativity

The meaning and value of colour

Why do we like certain colours and what do they mean?
Colours are incredibly important and can offer a deeper insight into our psyche. Many decisions we make are subconscious, this is partly our intuition or instinctual self, guiding us towards what we need within the moment. A great deal of what we do is so natural we are barely aware we are doing it; our bodies are built to survive on mother earth and keep us out of danger, also and importantly to give us information about what we need and the world around us. We can use colour to listen more closely to our body and intuitive self to give our conscious mind and update as to what our intuition is trying to tell us.
Why do we choose a specific colour scheme?
The different art we buy or cushions we choose for our sofa can relate to what we need from the space and a point we have reached in our lives. In general, we could say, softer tones or pastel colours can create a more relaxed feel, open space for us to unwind and indulge in more relaxing and philosophical conversation. Brighter, stronger colours could help to bring more energy into our lives, more direct conversation and a faster pace of life.
Colours in our home, walk around your home with a fresh pair of eyes. Interior design also can offer an insight into our lives and personal development. Looking back through our clothing style and palette, the flowers we chose each week to decorate our home and the art we hung on our walls can give us a snapshot of our evolution from a different perspective, our intuitions point of view. This awareness and understanding offers a starting point to understand more about our higher self and inform us about we may need for our next step.
The foods we buy. Colour and intuition not only has a bearing on our mood but also our body’s health. In the supermarket we are drawn to certain coloured foods, a memory of taste or knowledge of nutrition, something inside says “I just fancied that.”, it’s our intuition guiding our conscious mind to what our body needs.
Better understanding colour for our wellbeing
Looking at colour within the spiritual world you may come across some preconceived choices for what colours mean. Many people are aware of the colours of the chakra system, although the chakras no longer play a role within our body system, the colour meanings could still apply as it is a foundation within our knowledge bank, blue for communication, green for heart, red for root. Looking back at the history of religion yellow represents higher knowledge, gold, the light from the divine, the creator and all knowing. Yellow is also healing and mother earth, the sun and reason for all life on our planet.
The more mainstream views of colour which can be linked to art, graphic design and modern society, red is for love, blue is for freedom and creativity, pink can represent a more feminine or softer outlook. Interior design trends and fashion trends change with the seasons, a move through the palette and can quite often depict the mood of society. A few years ago, grey was the colour of the moment, when we looked at society and design it was all minimal, the mood was dull, creativity stifled. Art, intricate design and flamboyance was frowned upon. Thankfully today we see a move back to mother nature, pastel colours, greens, browns and earthy tones, a nurturing and wellbeing feeling for life.
All these meaning are someone’s truth and representations of what different colours could mean, it is important to realise it is down to your individual interpretation within the moment. A simple example I like to use is, if I am walking arm and arm along the beach with my partner, red means love. If I am driving in my car, red means stop! In workshops or teaching environments when I ask what people what red means when driving I often also get the answer, anger or frustration. When asking a group in general what does red mean I get a variety of answers ranging from passion, power and energy to grounding and mother earth. All these views are correct for the individual within that moment, the point I make is if we allow colour to be the starting point to opening our awareness to information around the energy of here and now. Moving away from having a fixed narrative, red always means this and so on.
Using colour for yourself
Build your knowledge and repertoire, learn the basic meanings of colour by others but also ask yourself what they mean to you. Be aware, the meanings can change from moment to moment, day to day or over time as you evolve and build your understanding of yourself and how you function. By raising your awareness to colour, you will begin to understand more about what other parts of your being is trying to communicate, your conscious mind sees red as passion and action, asking your subconscious mind, maybe the reply is overload and caution. Asking the different parts of your psyche what this colour means now can give you more information about what your body, mind and soul actually needs for full health and wellbeing.
Use colour in an active way to benefit your day, be aware of the different colours in your life. Design your home in a way where you can recognise different spaces, peaceful and tranquil areas of health and recharge, productive spaces with colours that offer clear thinking and energy. Relaxing and unwinding tones in your bedroom. Choose your artwork carefully, make sure the artist, image and colours all speak to you. Art is a window within your space where you can drift away into your own creativity and dreams. Be aware of the colours you wear, what clothes you buy and what you choose to wear each day, if you have picked something up without really thinkings its usually your intuition giving you some feedback as to what its experiencing. Be mindful of food, what colours and foods you are drawn to, your body is talking to you in so many ways and understanding colour is a great way to listen.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Magical moments are there waiting to be discovered

Wherever we are in the world, it is almost certain that someone has been there before. They may have even found a moment of magic, a frequency left at a certain point and time on earth waiting to be rediscovered.
These moments are everywhere, once we begin to see them more and more find their way into our awareness. We then have an opportunity to walk through this life discovering magic and seeing beauty around every corner.
Not feeling the magic? Life is busy and we are constantly trying to catch up with our mind as it races forward into a future that never arrives. It separates us from the rest of our body, our spirit and our emotional self, when this happens it’s easy to feel numb, not ourselves or aligned with who we really are. This means that rather than walking into moments of magic we race forward missing them all together.
Bringing ourselves back in alignment
Why do we miss these moments? The simple answer is that we are not ourselves, meaning we are not in our bodies or even present. Taking a look at the different areas that makes us present, a simple way to understand this is to break it down into four main areas, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. What can happen is that physically we are fatigued, constantly playing catch up with ourselves. Emotionally we are drawn to people who we think need our support, our love and energy given in the wrong way can be incredibly draining on our systems. Mentally we are thinking of tomorrow and all the pressures of our lives, our to do list, the media we consume, our family commitment, friends or our two-week holiday at the end of the year. Also, the past, everything we did wrong, things that didn’t work out. Our mind has many tools to keep us from the present. Spiritually we are saturated, overly experiencing everything with no filter or boundary. Feeling connections with mother earth, people’s energy or psychic connection, the unseen world and spiritual energies. Our own spirit doesn’t know where to find us, we are not present.
The work is around bringing ourselves back into alignment with the present. Physically, feel your body and listen to the feedback it is giving you. You don’t tell your body what to do, you listen to what your body is experiencing and telling you. Emotionally, bring your emotional energy back to you, focus on primarily caring for you resonating in your own love. Mentally, there is only ever the present, the past is only a memory and tomorrow will never arrive, be here now. By bringing these parts of us back into the present we can connect with our spirit or spiritual energy, the spark of light within us. This gives us an opportunity to become more aware of our surroundings, mother earth, the energetic world and unseen realms. The more present we are the more we start to walk in a different frequency and time becoming aware of the magical moments around us.
Becoming aware of these special frequencies and moments
It is only a simple thought away, bringing ourselves into alignment within the present allows us to open to the frequencies around us. We can be more decerning about what’s happening and have more information to process from our mind, emotional state and body feedback. Mother earth, the energy of our ancestors, humanity, society and animal kingdom. All these frequencies within time are available in our present, we can step into the energy and power of these energies at any time. It is always up to us. When we are working within the present moment, we become more of our truth, that deep knowing within us, it’s a space where another part of us activates and life finds a different rhythm. We find time to step into each moment and realise the magic that is there waiting to be discovered.
Locations on Mother Earth
All of these energies are vibrating at slightly different frequencies. Imagine civilisations of the past, our ancestors stopped in certain spaces, felt the resonance of the earth and found special places on the surface of the planet which offered a harmony or space where it’s possible to access greater wisdom or healing. These magical points are openly available for each one of us to stop and share a moment of presence and appreciation. Ancient sites of lost civilisations were chosen for a reason, there are places around the world which have a strong and powerful energy. A source of power which can be used by people to purify and resonate deeper love. Channelling deeper wisdom from higher beings and other densities. When we act and move in the frequency of the present, we begin to feel drawn to these places and spaces, tapping into that energy and feeling. Resonating purity within our bodies and out into the world.
Aligning with the people around us
Our bodies offer fixed coordinates on this planet within this reality, matter within space and time. We can move around the planet gravitating to various locations where are drawn to, becoming a conductor for a specific energy and frequency. Our energetic signature is personal to us. Our connection to people on a psychic level is unique, people on a similar or compatible frequency will gather together, naturally moving to locations where they can interact and become conduits for transforming energy. This energy is communicated on a psychic level passing to other people on our frequency throughout our network. This energy can also manifest through our creativity in this world either through the spoken or written word, musical interpretation and artwork all with the underpinning vibration of healing energy.
Defining moments in time and space for future magic
The history of our planet is something of a mystery, many civilisations forgotten or removed from the history books. Many of these had deeper wisdom and far greater technology, different sources of energy and ways of tapping into refined frequencies for greater knowledge. The magic of our existence is that now within this time we have an opportunity to radiate our inner light, it’s incredible to think we have been born into a world where we can live the life we want and become aware of the wonderment that has resonated on this planet.
There are pockets of energy, resonating points of refined frequency which are there to be explored, enjoyed, experienced and above all shared. When we find ourselves present within our own alignment, we become aware of moments we can step into and reactivate something from another civilisation or a point in space where someone experienced a magical moment in another time. Everything has already been said, every moment experienced in another past whether it be in a different reality or just a dream of one of our ancestors, it is our role and responsibility to find these spaces and reactivate the grid of magical moments and points of pure love on this planet. When we activate these points, we bring a little more magic into this world.
We need more love at this time on our planet. Finding sweetness in the morning air or watching the sun stream through autumn leaves. Taking your loved one by the hand and walking together down a grand staircase in an old country home connecting with the energy in the fabric of the walls. Walking on the earth feeling wet grass beneath your feet or wandering along a white sand beach as turquoise waters lap around your ankles. Take your time, be present, step into the moments of magic and love around every corner. Take every opportunity, resonate pure love throughout your being and out into the world for others to find.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Automatic drawing, Surrealist Automatism and Auragraphs

A painting or work of art often begins with a moment or flash inspiration, from that point creativity can flow. Many artists wait for inspiration to strike before beginning work, once the idea arrives in the mind the artist relies on their skills and talents to bring the idea to life on canvas or paper. This method can be thought of as understanding the ‘creativity within the thinking mind’.
Automatic drawing works differently, allowing the free flowing nature of the conscious mind to happen live on the canvas. Rather than the frequency of thought flowing around the energy of our consciousness its translated into the freedom of movement through the hand of the artist.
Automatic drawing
Automatic drawing works by the artist putting themselves in a state of relaxation in front of their easel and allow the inspiration to happen in the moment of creation. The artist allows the hand to move freely with energy and influence of the feelings they are picking up in the moment. There is no fixed direction for destination for the work, it is just allowed to unfold naturally.
Many artists practiced automatic drawing it became more common in the surrealist movement and the phrase ‘Surrealist automatism’ was created. It was the method of drawing which moved the conscious mind out of the way and allowed the subconscious and unconscious minds to have a greater influence in the work. It became popular in the 1920’s with artists like Andre Benton who produced wonderful drawings without the thinking mind. Hans Arp or more commonly known as Jean Arp was linked with spiritual communities and exhibitions. He produced incredible bronze sculptures and large-scale paintings without the constrictions of seen reality.
It was also thought that artists like Miro and Picasso used a form of automatic drawing when starting some of their later works. After the initial painting was started with automatic drawing, they would bring forward their conscious mind to make decisions on structure and focus, picking out colours and shapes to support a narrative for the work.
Austin Osman Spare was an English artist who gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom. His work took many turns during his career and other influences of the occult which he called magical techniques such as automatic drawing and automatic writing. This was around channelling energy from another source, the questions arose what energy was he channelling, from what source?
Auragraph
The first introduction of the Auragraph was in the 1940’s by a gentleman called Harold Sharp. He was first introduced into Spiritualism in the 1920’s after visiting the Arthur Conan Doyle’s psychic museum and bookshop in Westminster. Over the following years he developed his mediumship, he became aware of his connection with spirit guide Chan Shih.
Chan Shih would influence Mr Sharp when creating drawings. He produced many pieces of art, many of which were within a circle shape and held an Asian style in design and colour.
In 1943 Psychic News published the following account of his work which stated: ‘Harold Sharp has developed a new phase of his mediumship. It is automatic drawing and colouring, the latest stage being the production of graphs of the human aura executed in delicate colouring and intricate but rhythmic designs. These are produced at high speed by the medium who has never had an art lesson and cannot normally draw.’
He used his mediumship to accompany the drawings writing information what came into his mind as well as interpreting the drawings in relation to a sitter or specific person. He produced many drawings which could be used in general for other mediums and intuitive could use the artwork to help unfold and add depth to their spiritual readings. This was another tool for mediums similar to oracle cards or the tarot, each had a specific meaning but also an intuitive meaning.
Mr Sharp was not in trance during these sessions but merely sat quietly with the awareness of his guide and allowing the art to unfold. The starting point for the art was different each time and he allowed the drawings to unfold without having an end result in mind.
The process within art
Every artist follows their own process and may have inspirers in their peers or artists of the past. Painting is unique to the individual but many shares similar thoughts on what makes a great painting or work of art – The moments or brush strokes that make a work shine arrive when the artist is in flow, working without the influence of the conscious mind. A state where inspiration can come in and the artists hand and palette can be guided without the influence of preconception or design.
However you choose to paint or harness your creativity make moments for flow and allow yourself the freedom to feel the energy and world around you.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
What is Spirit Art? Portraits of loved one from beyond the grave

The modern-day term ‘Spirit Art’ has meaning within the religion of Spiritualism, it is linked with Mediumship. A medium is someone who through the unseen senses (Clair-senses) is able to communicate with energies/worlds around the physical realm including the spirit world (the afterlife according to Spiritualism). Mediumship is usually delivered in either a public setting (Divine Service or Spiritual Service) or within a private setting (Private Sitting or Private Reading). Spirit Art is delivered by a medium and artist (Spirit Artist) who has developed the ability to drawing portraits and bring forward verbal evidence from the spirit world of people who have passed over from this life.
We can understand this more deeply by looking at different ways artists and creative people work with inspiration and energy.
Inspired Art
Many artists work with inspiration, moving their conscious mind aside to allow energy and thoughts that aren’t their own to come into their awareness and influence their paintings.
Georgia Houghton
Georgiana Houghton was born in Spain in 1841 and moved to the United Kingdom then to Australia. She grew up as a Christian in Victorian England but moved to become a Spiritualist and medium who worked with her art and creativity creating amazing abstract ‘spirit drawings’. She was largely unknown until more recent years, she worked with watercolours and started with inspired art later moving into automatic drawing. She mainly took inspiration from nature and depicted the natural world but also used her mediumship to channel art from the spirit world. Over 150 of her drawings are available to view in the British Library in London.
She is quoted in saying “What I have striven to prove is that Spiritualism does not come in place of Christianity; for where would have been the gain in casting off that great joy and happiness, only to receive something else in exchange. What I maintain is that it is bestowed as the Crown to all previous knowledge.”
Hilma af Klint
Hilma af Klint was born in Sweden in 1862 and worked manly with abstract art in her later career which became her signature style. She was admitted to the Royal College of Fine Art where she studied landscape and portrait painting. After leaving the Royal College she belonged to a group called ‘The Five’ who were a circle of women who believed in Theosophy, and all held shared belief in the importance of contacting higher masters from the spiritual realms.
After meeting Rudolf Steiner, he went to visit her in Stockholm but was unimpressed with her work. He felt that working with mediumship was akin to the occult and inappropriate for a Theosophist.
Her later works used various inspired artistic methods taking inspiration from Mother Nature and using automatic drawing. Her artwork is on display in Stockholm where over 1200 paintings were left to be managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation.
Automatism
This form of art was adopted by many artists within the Surrealist movement and involves the artist removing the conscious mind as much as possible and allowing their hand or brush to move freely over a canvas or paper in a way that is not directed by the conscious mind.
Andre Masson
Andre Masson was born in 1896 and was interested in Surrealism and Cubism but was a great advocate of Automatism. Making many drawings and working in the altered states of consciousness. This is where his art started to take on different meanings and a new direction. He produced a number of pen and ink drawings but in later years moved into his own style of art as he said painting in a particular style was too restrictive.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali was born in Spain in 1904, his work is world renowned, and he was a pioneer of Surrealist movement. He moved to Madrid and studied at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Dali experimented with many styles of art including Cubism and Automatism. He said that ideas for his paintings often came to him in the semiconscious dream state, it was then his job to bring them to life through artistic talent on canvas.
Psychic Art
Psychic art started to really develop in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20^thcentury. It was thought at the time that a psychic artist would work with a medium. The artist would link in on a psychic level (Psychic or Psychism: a mind-to-mind connection between living people) to bring forward a portrait of someone who has died, and the medium would use their mediumship (Mediumship: a mind-to-mind connection between a living person and a dead person) to bring forward evidence and information from their life on earth.
Frank Leah
Frank Leah was born in 1886, he moved to Ireland and made Dublin his home. He had a successful career as an illustrator and portrait artist. In the 1930’s he started to draw portraits of people he saw in this minds eye. Friends and customers who visited his studio started to recognise the drawings as their loved ones who had died. He began to realise he was working with his clairvoyance (French for Clear seeing). He worked on his art and started to develop his mediumship becoming well known for the accurate drawings of people who had past to the spirit world.
Coral Polge
Coral Polge was born in 1924 and had a career as a portrait artist. She explored an interest in Spiritualism and developed her attunement with the altered states of consciousness to become a successful Psychic Artist. In the 1980’s Coral Polge was working with a gentleman called Gordon Higginson and the pair would demonstrate psychic art and mediumship in Spiritualist Churches around the United Kingdom. They were known for accurate portraits and irrefutable evidence of people’s lives who had died and were related to members of the audience or congregation.
Precipitated Art
This form of art was created entirely from the spirit world or from energy/matter from the unseen world. A group of mediums would sit in a séance with a blank canvas and dimmed light. An image would materialise directly onto the canvas or paper without any physical contact from the mediums. This form or art was predominantly in the United States in the 19^th Century. The art would have no brush strokes, be incredibly detailed look similar to pastel portraits. Many examples of this type of art can be found in Lily Dale, New York State.
The Bangs sisters
Mary and Elizabeth Bangs were born in 1827 and 1832 respectively in Kansas, their mother was a medium, so they were brought up understanding the spirit world and mediumship. In the 1870’s they were in Chicago and performing seances which included physical mediumship like slate writing and moving objects. They became famous for precipitated portraits where they would sit in séance with a number of other sitters and the spirit portraits would appear on the canvas within minutes. They paintings were incredibly detailed, and no brush stokes featured in any of the work. A curious point is that there were no eye lashes on any of the people in featured in the portraits. They lived and worked for many seasons from a house in Lily Dale, New York State.
The Campbell brothers
Allen B Campbell and Charles Shrouds weren’t brothers but worked together for many years in the early 19^thcentury. They had a similar method as the Bangs sisters where the pair would sit in a darkened room with a number of other sisters and the portraits would appear on the canvas. The material which created the paintings came from the etheric world and was likened to the dust from a butterfly’s wing. The portraits were very similar in style and again no brush strokes were present in the work. One of their more famous works was a manifested a painting of Abraham Lincoln, when the painting was analysed traits were found in the portrait that related to ailments that Lincoln had which wasn’t common knowledge.
Spirit Art in today’s world
In today’s world artists have developed their mediumship and mediums have developed their portrait painting. Spirit Artists can work with their mediumship to deliver accurate information about someone who has died as well as a portrait that resembles the person.
Mediumship and art is always developing and will continue to do so, for any spirit artist it is an exciting journey of discovery and development connecting with energy from the unseen and spirit worlds.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
What is the aura?

As living beings, we all have an aura. An energy field that extends outside of our physical body. There are a few important factors to consider when discussing the auric field. Someone who is new to mediumship will already have worked with their aura and the aura of others in a different capacity and will understand it through different terminology.
When discussing the aura with someone new to mediumship I will often try to relate the information to something within their lives that they can relate to. A good starting point is drawing their attention to times they have entered a room as felt a certain way. The energy of a room or place is a good way for people to start to become aware of energy.
We could go on to discuss people, how people can make you feel a certain way.Uplifted or drained for example, some people are very much in control of their energy and how it affects others. If used in the right way these people are generally a pleasure to be around and can leave you feeling uplifted and inspired. Others can drain your energy and leave you feeling down or drained. It’s also worth noting that this sometimes happens subconsciously, and the individual is not aware of their auric field.
The basics of the aura and auric field. Surrounding the physical body are many energy fields. There are many interpretations but in a basic sense working out from the physical self.
We can go a little further in a practical sense. Feeling the energy of others on a one-to-one basis and understanding how that makes you feel. Once you have a feeling, relating that feeling back to yourself as a colour. This is a nice development technique to start understanding energy and emotion as colour or the other way around, colour as energy and emotion. We can then shift our focus to others and pick up the same feeling and emotion, relating that to colour. That colour should appear somewhere is the other persons aura. This is a very simplified approach to understanding the aura and colour but also a very involved technique which can open up development and awareness.
Another way to understanding the aura is looking at the persons likes and interests. I love gardening, green for example could appear in their aura. I have a passion for healing, yellow could appear in their aura. It’s worth remembering that the aura is a fluid as your feelings, it is constantly changing and moving. This way of looking at the aura is a gentle way to open up the awareness of someone looking into auras for the first time.
I would also mention about cameras which can capture auras. If a photo was taken of the person, they could start to understand their own aura, what colours are present and how they relate to themselves. An auragraph is another way to open awareness and access information.
When taking to people who are new to energy or just looking into the aura and auric field, I feel a better approach is through feeling and experience. We can explain the mechanics and different energy fields outside the body, but I have always found the best way to learn and understand is through practical experience.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Another week at the Arthur Findlay College
Who am I? What is the nature of the world around me? I know I am more than the image I see looking back at me in the mirror each morning, just as we all are. I know the world is more wonderous than I can possibly imagine. The Arthur Findlay College has given me the opportunity to explore these questions over the last twenty years.
I have an inquisitive nature and always felt there was more to life and our existence than what I experienced though just my five senses. I recently spent another week at the Arthur Findlay College on a course titled ‘Energy Management and Mediumship’. It is fundamental to understand your own energy and power, to experience energy or frequency within others and the world we live in.
We feel different things around different people, some make us so happy, excited and we feel lifted in their presence. Others can leave us feeling drained. Either way, it is not the fault of the other person but only how we react to their energy. The course went in-depth to help better understand our own energy and becoming more aware of how you use it.
As an artist I spent a lot of time painting. Tapping into the world and people with creativity, understanding what I feel about subjects and capturing that energy on canvas. Another part of my work is on the platform in Spiritualist Churches, delivering addresses and demonstrations of mediumship. The basis of it all is to better understand yourself. Defining your own energy allows you to become more aware of the different energies around you. Through shifting focus a medium can give messages from loved ones in the spirit world. It is the same for art, the artist is creating art from their own source and reacting to the world they see.
Whatever you choose to do in life, understanding our own energy is of the utmost importance. This knowledge is priceless. Once we know how we feel (which changes daily) and our own energetic space, it makes a huge difference in how we react to other people and situations we find ourselves in.
- We realise what are our own feelings and what we are picking up from other people.
- It is possible for us to change our energy to create stronger connections.
- We can better gauge the atmosphere of places and groups of people.
- Creative freedom to flow more freely through us.
- Our confidence increases in seemingly uncomfortable situations.
- We can experience feelings and emotions more deeply.
When working with the spirit world, we shift our focus creating a wider channel to pick up information from different energies around us. A question that is often asked is, “Is it me or is it spirit? “. Knowing what you feel, putting yourself in a space you feel comfortable and neutral allows information from spirit to flow more freely.
Losing yourself in a painting is wonderful. Evoking a flow state when time seems to disappear and inspiration hits is where most artists thrive and wish to be. Allowing feeling and emotions to flow through you without getting entangled in them is when true creativity occurs.
Whichever way you choose to develop and whatever your focus, I can certainly say that life is an incredible ride. For me, time spent at the Arthur Findlay College mixing with likeminded people has really helped me understand more about the nature of our existence and given me a group of friends who are asking the exact same questions as me. I wish you a wonderful journey and constant learning from this moment forward.
Written by Richard Stuttle
January 11, 2025
Mental Health & Wellbeing
The road to recovery can sometimes be longer than you think. It can be frustrating, especially when an injury cannot be seen, but only felt or experienced. It is down to the individual to interpret what’s happening physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Issues with mental health and personal happiness can often be overlooked by others and health care professionals.
Contemplation of death or more importantly contemplation of life. Following an extremely close call with Bacterial Meningitis I am incredibly lucky to be alive.
At the age of forty-four I now understand three things that I really wish I had understood at the beginning. If I was told that it was my choice to be born and my responsibly extended far beyond my behaviour and my family, I might have been able to fully grasp the consequences of my actions and life choices. Not that I regret anything in my life, but I may have chosen to do things with more focus, love, and precision.
1. You get one body – respect it and look after it
2. You are here to learn – embrace every experience in front of you
3. Humanity needs you – work for the good of society and our planet
For others, they consider the physical condition. I look well, I’m moving about and can hold a conversation. I must be back to the person I was before my illness. Friends and family speak to me as if I was the same person as before my experience. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I have certainly changed, and I truly believe these experiences in life happen for a reason. In time I will become a stronger with greater understanding than I had before.
People don’t see the effort it takes to smile, hold a conversation and everything that goes on behind the facade. My head becomes overloaded, I am unable to focus, I struggle to find the right words and can forget things that happened a moment ago or some of the great memories from my past. Simple pleasures are now more difficult and not so enjoyable. I feel emotion in an extremely heightened way. I become overwhelmed easily which makes me want to avoid large groups, noisy environments and anywhere I feel a build-up of unstable or frantic energy.
Time is relative, I will recover and go through things in my own time. Each aspect of life whether it be material or philosophical I now see through different eyes. In my core I am the same, holding the same beliefs and moral compass but the world around me is more intense, more beautiful, and unique.
Issues surrounding mental health
- Confidence and belief in oneself.
- Mood swings and controlling emotion.
- Little things become big things.
- Frustration with people around me but especially myself.
Each experience we have in life changes us ever so slightly. Normally we are robust enough that we do not register the change, or it takes a long time to process through our system and realisations cascade through our body and conscious mind over months or years. A life-threatening illness takes you back to square one and overloads an already fragile mind and body all at once. This can be difficult to handle.
Mental Health & Art
There are so many benefits to allowing space for creativity. It has been proven to make a huge difference to mental health and wellbeing. Although not everyone is creative, allowing freedom of mind is incredibly important. I have painted for many years and know that approaching a blank canvas without a clear direction can be a very scary prospect. In essence this is what we are doing in life. Without goal and vision, we will never have purpose and feel a sense of achievement working towards a goal. The ironic part is that for creativity to thrive and our mind to process we must approach a blank canvas with complete freedom of mind. Without purpose and expectation, but most importantly without judgement.
Even for the most accomplished and creative artist this can be an incredible challenge. Everyone has created a toolkit of beliefs and skills they use to create their image. This can be difficult to break. That is why many artists paintings are instantly recognisable, they have used their tool kits which is comfortable and does not challenge their expectation or ego.
Allow yourself the freedom of expression and complete honesty to yourself without judgment or ego. You may find it an incredibly rewarding experience.
Written by Richard Stuttle
January 11, 2025
The Healing Process through Creativity

I have always had a love for painting, my father, a professional artist, encouraged me to draw and paint since I was a child. I love the arts and how different artists see the world. Through art, the imagination knows no bounds.
Before the pandemic, I was introduced to Hester Ligtvoet, we had briefly met a year or so earlier at the Arthur Findlay College. She is a professional pianist, healer, and energy coach. We were interested in how art and music can be combined with spiritual and energy healing. Working together on a weekly basis, Hester played the piano while I produced charcoal or pastel drawings. We worked with energy and the spirit world to create something focused, healing and unique.
We developed a healing session which brough together a music meditation along with a piece of art. An interesting concept, with weekly development we found that we were perfectly in tune with each other. My hand moving around the paper, perfectly in time with Hester’s inspired notes. We both felt we were led by the spirit world for the good of the individual or intension of our focus. We had both done a lot of development over the years but still were completely shocked how our energy came together and it felt very natural.
I had not wanted to paint or draw since I got ill, I think it was due to the abscess developing on the righthand side of my brain which fed my creativity, and I was left-handed. I hoped I just had to wait. Nearly two months after I was first admitted to hospital I went down to the studio and picked up my paint brushes. I did it with the same intent as I had with Hester, only now the focus was my own healing. Physically, the reduction of the abscess. Mentally, to retrain my focus and my memory. Energetically, to build my energy, realign my chakras and repair my energy fields.
I found it an incredibly interesting process, there was no timeframe and I allowed myself to drift. Each colour and brush stoke was making a different. I tried not to pull anything from my imagination but to go deeper than that. At times I felt like a mechanic covered in oil repairing a huge machine, other times floating and blowing clouds to create various formations and symbols. The art as it had done for many years allowed me to look deeper into the subject matter, I had been a traditional artist in many ways, landscapes, and portraits. Each painting had a purpose, to capture the view or the person in front of me. Of course, all art reflects the artist, but this time there was no subject matter in front of me, my healing was the purpose, and I was the reflection.
For people looking to art to find out more about the healing process I can wholeheartedly say that for me I believe it’s made a difference. Art has always been my creative outlet, allowing me to process my own thoughts. It feels comfortable to draw and to paint without expectation (what I mean by this is to remove all notions of this must be good or thoughts, I am rubbish, a child could do better.) For healing, it is not the final product, but the colours and brush strokes along the way. The act of painting or wherever you choose to engage with your creativity is where the biggest differences can be made. Where the greatest self-healing can take place.
Positive Energy & the Power of Thought
I have always considered myself an optimist, even if it’s just a sprinkling on top of a lifetime of societies negative conditioning. I do try to see the learning opportunity and best possible outcome in most situations.
As I have gotten older, I have learnt more about the power of thought. There is a whole science behind it, like attracts like and the power of visualisation and will. I have experience of how this has worked for me. In my book Chasing Rainbows – The Stolen Future of Caroline Ann Stuttle, I talk about living and working in the mountains and meeting likeminded people who have all naturally gravitated together. The same when I was backpacking around Australia, I met people who had the same enthusiasm for travel and who shared the same lust for life. Where it gets interesting is, for example, out of ten people I met, there would be six who shared multiple interests and similar mindsets. Out of those six, maybe two would share a stronger connection.
At first, I didn’t know why or how this manifested, but through years of learning about energy I could feel the levels of connection, shared vibrations in body, mind and soul. These connections are real, only through experience can we understand how we are affected by people, places and situations.
I am using this understanding to help my healing, my body although healed from a medical point of view I feel incredibly sensitive on every other level. I experience everything on a far deeper level, this manifests physically as every sensation or pain has meaning.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Inspiration from Isolation

All artists paint in an altered state. As soon as they pick up a brush, they move into a different space where freedom and inspiration are intertwined. 2020 has certainly been a year that no one expected, which threw up many challenges. For many, harnessing their creativity during lockdown was a way to mentally escape from the restrictions which were placed upon us.
For me, painting has always been an outlet where I could process information, explore new directions and feel a connection not only with myself and loved ones, but also people in the spirit world. I found myself feeling things that were not always from myself.
My curiosity led me to explore further, around 20 years ago I came across Spiritualism and started to learn about the spirit world. This explained made sense of the sensations I would feel when painting.
Taking up a Challenge
I came across a competition ran by The College of Psychic Studies and thought it a wonderful opportunity to join with other artists who are consciously aware of their connected relationship with art and spirit.
A blank canvas can be somewhat daunting for many artists, but I have always seen the limitless potential of what could happen. Many pictures are already painted in the mind before the artist puts brush to canvas. The daunting part for me was always: do I have the necessary skills to do the work justice?
With a wide brief of Inspiration from Isolation I had no idea what I was going to paint, the image formed over a few days and I soon covered the canvas with a largescale landscape, many points of reference appeared in the work relating to spiritualism and the spirit world. It was something I hadn’t tried in this way before and I found it an interesting experience. I also considered the other artists who were also in their studios working on pictures inspired by the spirit world and following the brief. There was an interesting connection between us all whether we were aware of it or not.
I was very lucky to be a finalist in the competition and had the opportunity to see the incredible work done by other artists. I feel this way of working through art is a beautiful way to connect the spirit world and our world. They say a picture paints a thousand words, but it can also contain a thousand emotions and connections to bring us all closer together.
Spirit Art
When talking about spirit and art, it’s important to mention spirit art in a more traditional sense, drawing accurate and recognisable portraits of loved ones in the spirit world. Firstly, incredibly important to be able to draw, portraits are incredibly difficult, a couple of millimetres can change a face completely. Combining the skills of portrait painting with high level mediumship is a rare combination. We can look at some of the great spirit artists like Frank Leah and Coral Polge. If done to this standard, what incredible proof of the existence of life after mortal death. To be able to offer an evidential communication from a spirit communicator to a recipient, combined with an accurate portrait of the spirit communicator is incredible.
How people choose to develop their art with the spirit world is up to them and for me should always be a combination of inspiration from spirit and hard work. The better tools and skills we have as artists and mediums, the more spirit can use to share love, healing, knowledge and evidential communication.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025