Elizabeth Mae Renfrew

How do I communicate a sensation that IS the in-between spaces and within every cell of my being? There are no words for this… feeling… that swims undulating through my energetic body and informs my physical being. There is no way to describe what happens when I open my eyes, breathe in the life force of air, or feel the earth under my feet… my hands… my head… suddenly, I’m everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Connected to everything in space and a sovereign natural body on this physical plane… I try to communicate this in the divine feminine power of creative arts.

I am an intuitive artist, allowing creative energy to flow through me into everything I do. My impermanent art of sustaining life is seen only by my children… the plants that give us oxygen; the space that is aesthetically pleasing and provides comfort, nurturance and restoration; the meals that literally fuel our bodies into becoming; the homemade lotions; the constant endeavor to provide plant based alternatives to the harsh chemical fabrication of care. This too, is an art form.

In my practice with clay, I integrate the power of embodiment practices through breath, body movements and postures and energy transmutation. I begin seated and breathing, noticing the energy of my body, the energy of the land I am sitting on, the energy of the world around me… and I feel, sensations…. that feel like resistance, tension, energy stuck in my body… and I get curious about this place…. what am I holding here? What message or visual do I get when I feel into that sensation… then I begin to ask this space what it needs to release this…. sometimes, it is just acknowledgement that it exists and holding it in my awareness while the breath comes into that space and goes out. I can imagine the breath carrying particles of this tension out of my body into the air where the plants and trees will recycle this into fresh oxygen. Sometimes, I feel the need to move through specific yoga poses to move the stagnant energy… and sometimes this looks like flailing about and reaching for the euphoric feeling of satisfying a stretch after a long period of immobility…sometimes dance is needed...

and then when my body is stretched and visualizations have come forth from the recesses through inquiring deep within I touch the clay, hold the clay, feel the earth, feel the coolness from the water in relationship with the elements of the earth that create this plastic, forgiving medium of creative potential. Even when crafting utilitarian objects, although necessary for the thing it is created for is deeply satisfying to labor through all parts of the process to create a vessel from clay.

After reading the work of Dr. Masuru Emoto and realizing the power of not only spoken word, but the energy of intention… I seed into my pieces love and gratitude. I breathe into them while moving in synchronicity with creation and leave the intention of this healing power of love and gratitude in each molecule of the clay. For different emotions that come up at different I can put different energy into my pieces and with this transference of energy out of my body, I truly transmute…. alchemizing things that caused pain into pieces that invoke a sensation of wonder, can be held and used.

I noticed this is what I was doing years after my practice began…. I noticed the depth with which I cared for my body after yoga training, I noticed that I used my energy in powerful ways creating pieces of art before I learned about Reiki.

I graduated with Bachelor’s in Art Education (PA K-12) with a specialization in ceramics and minor in Psychology from Carlow University in 2013. I worked 13 years in non-profit behavioral health as administrator and director. I deepened my yoga practice with a Raja Yoga Teacher Training in 2017-2018 with Yoga Roots on Location and founder, Felicia Savage Friedman M.ed. E-RYT 500 who focuses on collective liberation. In 2023 and 2024 I learned about Reiki Healing Energy and how my personal spiritual practice with clay was aligned with this practice and went through Reiki level I and level II training. After high school and during college I worked in the restaurant industry holding every position over 14 years. I also spent several years providing nanny services to families before I gave birth to my own three amazing children. My personal and professional education and endeavors have always been in service to humans. I seek to share what I have learned because I believe in the power that comes from moving through challenging times, grief and leaning into joy with others. When we can see ourselves in other humans we can love and lift each other up instead of isolating and being in competition with one another.