How the Flower-Hatted Otters Collage Came to Be

In March 2011, my friend Ellen Jaffe and I facilitated an art workshop called “Collage Your Animal Spirit Guide” at Fermata’s Music Therapy Centre in Hamilton. Using the animal oracle deck pictured above, each of the participants selected a card without looking at the illustrated side. Then we took turns reading the teachings of the animals whose cards we’d chosen.

My animal guide for the day was the otter. According to Carr-Gomm’s explanatory booklet, otter “invites us to play, to ‘go with the flow’ of life and experience — to become a child again” (32).

Trying to capture the idea of flow and movement, I found some swirling fish and active grasses. For playfulness, I gave the otters and their fish friend some red flower hats.

And that’s the story of how the Flower-Hatted Otters came to be!