The Inspired Heart: An Artist's Journey of Transformation
Jerry Wennstrom is a rare and courageous individual, with an unusual talent for deeply inspiring others and expanding the sense of what is possible. A master storyteller and a brilliant visionary artist, Jerry weaves a powerful alchemical magic into his mythic creations. Jerry's faith and openness to the cyclical rhythm of life has brought him a bounty of spiritual wealth and ancient wisdom that he is eager to share.The Inspired Heartis a wise and precious document, revealing the timeless secrets of simplicity and holy revelation. Your perspective of the world and yourself will be forever changed after you read this beautifully-crafted, shamanically-transformative book.(David Jay Brown)A needed true to life mythic story—Jerry Wennstrom's narrative is piercing and irresistible. His courageous quest for spirit and meaning in a world blinded by consumerism is a modern fairytale to find the source of art and inspiration. His stories invite the fearless heart to open.(Laura Simms)This artist's thoughts and experiences of living on the edge will expand and challenge your vision of life's possibilities. The book is full of daring incidents and fascinating characters, and exemplifies why the spiritual life can be stranger than fiction. Travel along in the 'now' as Wennstrom surfs the waves of life and carries the most colorful people with him.(Joe Kulin, publisher, Parabola Magazine)We have in Jerry Wennstrom's work something that is very needed for our current times: a life placed in service of the soul's depth. This surrender to a deeper calling and the conviction necessary to craft a life that supports such a response is medicine for our troubled times. If we could all dip into the wellpsring of creative faith that Jerry has manifested then our world would be a better place. Jerry is an artist that shows us how to have the courage to bring healing to our world. This is one of the highest callings any of can have and we owe a debt to Jerry for helping to guide us on our collective journey.(David La Chapelle, author of Navigating the Tides of Change)If you have the patience or the tolerance to listen to what Jerry has shared with us you will know how our wisest healers deal with the people in our world. Each person needs someone to 'listen' to them. Jerry has brought us to the inside of listening. Thank you Jerry for your compassion and your true and generous gift of listening and allowing us to eavesdrop. Dahadubul, you have honored each of us with the words shared in this book. These words express your beautiful gift of honoring life in all of its forms.(Vi Hilbert, Salish Elder; author of Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound)In giving up everything—possessions, attachments, even speech and food—Jerry Wennstrom found his true self, and something more: the wellspring of human nature.The Inspired Heartchronicles his journey and the Holy Fools he met along the way. His art reflects that deep level of knowing that links each of us to the part of our nature which is eternal.(Deloris Tarzan Ament, author of Iridescent Light: the Emergence of Northwest Art)Jerry Wennstrom's life is his art, and his art is his life, a seamless flow from inner to outer expression of light and dark, multileveled, joyously humored and lit with authentic experience of being in service to its Source. This artist has learned to listen to the language of a larger life as it wishes to be lived through him in all its joy, creativity, reverence—and as healing power for our time.(Claire Dunne, author of Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul)I'm sure that many people will find comfort and inspiration in this book. Jerry is able to describe a spiritual journey outside of any ancient tradition or modern system, and I trust that originality. He avoids the many hollow words that sometimes enter contemporary spiritual thought and embodies the idea that you can be fully spiritual and fully secular at the same time. Jerry's experience shows that simply by being receptive to deep intuition and living intelligently from the heart, you can achieve a degree of holiness.(Thomas Moore, Author, Care of the Soul)Few of us have emptied our cup as completely as Jerry Wennstrom did when he destroyed his art in 1979, and therefore few have experienced as deep a reawakening to the subtle stirrings of the divine in everyday life. It's hard for me to convey how deeply I respect what Jerry shares with us in his book,The Inspired Heart, in his art, and above all in his person. Here is a completely genuine voice of creative spirit.(Christopher Bache)A heart shaped stone. A memory wafted in the scent of a summer breeze. A tune you hum without thinking. These are just some of the mystical ways Jerry's stories carry themselves. Jerry speaks from the place where the magical and holy intersect with the practical and everyday. The name of that intersection? It is, 'transformation.'(Mary Anne Radmacher, author of Live Boldly)Jerry Wennstrom is an artist who has found the courage to base his life on following the truth of his creative spirit. Through surviving the natural cycle of death and rebirth of his creative vision Jerry has been initiated into a place of mystery that is reflected in his artwork—a place where he touches the vast complexities of the collective unconscious. His stories of the synchronicities that surround his work are remarkable. I have been honored to have him speak to many of my classes at Pacifica Graduate Institute over the last three years. His lectures are always received with a deep appreciation for how he so naturally embodies much of the theory that we discuss in the realm of depth psychology. The students always find Jerry’s talks refreshing in that they are centered in the lived experience first and the analysis of that second—if at all. He is humble and humorous, brilliant and inspiring all at once!--Ana Mozol,Ph.D., Pacifica Graduate Institute, Adjunct Faculty; Adler School of professional Psychology, Core Faculty(Ana Mozol, Pacifica Graduate Institute, adjunct faculty; Adler School of professional Psychology, core faculty)