Join our collective of quiet creatives
The Lucia Collective is an inspired monthly subscription to invite more intuition, beauty and voice to your heart work.
Hello!
I’m Laura Lowery, founder and editor of Lucia. The Lucia Collective is a loosely-held community of creatives who value and celebrate beauty, interiority and holding space for the heart.
I started The Lucia Collective in March 2021 as a way to connect more often with those who read and follow Lucia.
With everything going on the world, last spring I made an intention to spend more time immersed in beauty. The way morning sun pours through a window. Patterns of waves on the lake near my home. Unfurling dinnerplate dahlias, reaching for light. The sound of a good friend’s voice. The scent of the sea. The sight of pristine forest from the crest of a mountain. A clean window.
I believe beauty can be a balm if we look for it, make room for it, and soften our focus each day. When we make an intention to see what is beautiful first, before all else, it shapes the way our lives unfold. In finding the beauty, we make a beautiful life.
Spending more time immersed in beauty remains my intention. But as September and a whole new season arrives, I am also inviting two new practices, which I will be sharing with the collective over the next six months: attention & mischief.
Attention is basically magic. Our attention is valuable, it’s what everyone wants from us. And, we can choose what we pay attention to—it can be a choice. We get so many distractions with instant messages, emails, slacks, news, social media, text messages—we often go through the day with our mental energy dispersed in too many places. I want to practice focusing attention where I want to place it, because this is powerful—this is good mental health.
Mischief is necessary! The trickster archetype breaks the rules of the natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis. She does this by creating a little mischief. As we do the necessary work to regenerate our lives and our world post-pandemic, I want to find ways to practice inviting regular doses of nonsense, silliness, monkey business, shenanigans, lighthearted trickery and play. The mischief that makes life beautiful.
“I feel like part of a really good secret, a whisper network. Thank you for making it!”
The Lucia Collective is a loosely held collective of beauty-seeking creatives who value interiority and hold space for the quiet — yet essential — work of listening to the heart.
Our heart work is so important. I know I’m not alone in sensing intuitively that what comes from this space is meaningful and can inspire, encourage, bring light, heal—but as I sit at home with my screen glowing and journal open, self-doubt and distraction can also creep in. Connecting with other heart-centered creatives online encourages me but I find traditional social media quickly becomes over-stimulating and distracting.
I created The Lucia Collective as a calm space, and as a connective offering grounded in the tangible—consistent and helpful for those who subscribe.
The Lucia Collective invites self-exploration and lighthearted yet meaningful conversation.
The feedback I received after the first six months was so lovely I knew we were on to something good. I asked our members, “What is not here that you would be delighted by?” and the nearly universal response was “more opportunities and ways to connect with others in the collective."
I feel this way too. I’m delighted to introduce two new offerings beginning in September: The Conversation and The Journal.
Membership in The Lucia Collective now includes:
Notebooks written by hand with intention and heart, delivered digitally each month. Print them at home or through your local print shop. Filled with inspiration, questions, ideas, words and tools to help you attend to your creative life and see beauty every day.
The Conversation (new!) every-other-month live hosted audio conversations for members of the collective to connect, explore a juicy question, peek into each other’s creative lives, encourage and inspire.
Creative Meditations & Voice Notes monthly short meditations to tune out the noise and tune into yourself; and every-other-month longer audio hellos from me. You can listen to both for calm and inspiration.
Slow Social Media a private place (not on Facebook) where we can chat and share our work, words, photos, videos and audios with each other at the presence pace.
The Journal (new!) an opportunity to contribute to an interactive online journal—to be published in March 2022—with writing, poetry, artwork and voices from collective members, centered around one creative theme.
The Lucia Collective exists online—which means that while it begins here in my home in Seattle, it will also wind through and inhabit our collective living rooms, kitchens, studios. A gentle blend of shared inspiration, invited ritual and space held just for ourselves—this offering is designed to support you and your heart work, your creative life.
The Lucia Collective will give you a reason to check in with yourself and your heart each month and be reminded of the sparkling light that glows there.
You may find yourself carrying your camera more often, taking long walks, growing dahlias, establishing new rituals and muses, focusing more on the things you want to pay attention to, noticing what the light is doing, running out of ink as your journals fill with words, closing your eyes and resting in gentle restorative yoga poses, and creating some (good-hearted) mischief in your world.
Or simply listening in, drinking and drawing inspiration from whatever the offerings spark for you.
However you arrive, this light, space and beauty is here for you to inhabit.
Sign up below to join us! We start again September 19, 2021.
“Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”
— Alice Walker
how does it work?
The Notebooks.
Each month, you’ll receive an email from me with a link to download a PDF of a new themed notebook. Each has a feature essay with reflections, encouragement and optimism. Fresh journal prompts are followed by ample space to write or doodle. Light-filled photographs are dropped in to tickle your vision, along with ideas, words and tools to consider and play with. It’s all designed to support you in listening to your intuition, noticing beauty, and using your voice.
The first Notebook of our second season will arrive September 19!
The Conversation. NEW!
Every other month (October, December, February) join me for a live 60-90 minute hosted audio conversation. We will connect using Zoom (with video off) to explore juicy questions, peek into each other’s creative lives, encourage and inspire.
I’ll be leaning into conversational principles and guidelines from The Circle Way, by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, including structuring our conversation around a thoughtful question related to our theme, sharing details in advance and ensuring everyone has an opportunity to contribute. I selected dates and times that (I hope) can work for our members across the U.S. and in Europe! If Australia or Asia join, we may need to re-think a bit or add a fourth conversation. For now, mark your calendar:
Sunday, October 17, 2021, 9am PDT (10am MDT / 11am CDT / 12noon EDT / 6pm CEST, 7pm EEST)
Saturday, December 18, 2021, 9am PST (10am MST / 11am CST / 12noon EST / 6pm CET / 7pm EET)
Sunday, February, 20, 2022, 9am PST (10am MST / 11am CST / 12noon EST / 6pm CET / 7pm EET)
Voice Notes & Creative Meditations.
Each month, you’ll also receive a link to a creative meditation I record exclusively for The Lucia Collective. It’s an invitation to tune out the noise and tune in to yourself.
Every other month (September, November, January) you’ll receive a second email later in the month with a longer audio voice note, more like a podcast, with perspectives on our theme, light dispatches and notes from the collective.
The Journal. NEW!
You will be invited to contribute to a new interactive online journal to be published in March 2022.
The theme is Mischief! We will spend time in the months leading to March exploring how inviting regular doses of nonsense, silliness, monkey business, shenanigans, lighthearted trickery and play can support us in our creative lives—and make the world a better place.
I’m excited to co-create this journal—giving voice to the heart (and play) alongside each of you We will loosely follow the style tenets of Lucia Journal, they can be found here. You’re invited to contribute written essays, poems, photography, artwork, short film or audio pieces. All submissions will be due no later than February 1, 2022, to leave ample time for editing, design and layout.
The Lucia Collective’s Journal will be published as an interactive online source of inspiration, free and available to all. You will be credited as a contributor with a short bio including optional links to your website or social media handle. You will retain copyright of your contribution(s) and agree to grant Lucia the right to publish your piece first and exclusively for one year.
Slow Social Media.
You will have access to our light, beautiful online space where members of The Lucia Collective chat and share our work, words, photos, videos and audios with each other. It is completely 100% private to us and not on Facebook. Get cozy, light some candles, curl your fingers around a warm coffee mug and come meet us in the calm space. Here we connect slowly, at the pace of presence. Once a month, every other week, or at whatever cadence works for you, drop in to share beauty, say hello, and listen to other hearts who are part of The Lucia Collective.
Who is this for?
If you would like to bring more attention, beauty and heart (plus—this season—mischief!) to your life and your creative work, this is for you.
Whether you are a full-time creative, a moonlighter, or a dreamer envisioning your next move, this offering will give you a reason to check in with your heart each month.
Sensitive souls, empaths, introverts, HSPs, and beauty hunters of all kinds are welcome—you will find kindred spirits here.
You’ll also find practical and imaginative support for listening inwardly, seeking beauty each day and weaving it through your life and work. There is inspiration, encouragement and space to connect at a slower pace.
What members Are Saying
“Once I figured out how to get my notebook printed out, filling it in became a beautiful present moment. Listening to the Voice Notes on walks has also been lovely. The social space, for me, is partly a place to let out thoughts that I feel like I could write about in more length later—so a bit of testing ground for creative ideas.”
“I love that almost no one in the collective knows me outside of it. How cool to feel supported by people creatively who don’t even know you. It allows me to be braver to share. I really enjoy all the parts of it. I don’t normally actually write the prompts, but let the theme inspire other writing and thinking. I feel like part of a really good secret, a whisper network. Thank you for making it!”
“Love being part of a group that enjoys reflection, pause, meditation and appreciating all beautiful things.”
“A reminder to make time and space for creativity and beauty. A feeling that there are other sensitive and empathetic people out there navigating the same challenges.”
Ready?
Monthly / $12
Monthly recurring subscription.
Six Months / $60
Six-month recurring subscription.
“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
— Mary Oliver
About Laura
Hello! I’m Laura. I’m a creative writer, photographer and corporate communications advisor who has been giving voice to her heart for many years. In my work, I help people communicate more effectively, come to know themselves more intimately and give voice to the heart. I share practices and tools that have helped me heal and follow my heart to a more light-filled, curious, creative life.
I’m also the founder and editor of Lucia, an independent print journal that is published annually (and sometimes biannually). Lucia’s mission—and my own—is to inspire and enlighten the world by giving voice to the heart and celebrating true beauty. I created the publication in 2015 to bring more of the heart’s voice into the world of women’s media.
My vision for The Lucia Collective also started then, but it would take time before I was ready to bring it to life.
I believe that when we listen with curiosity, trust and reverence—then go on to write, speak and create from this place—the world really does change for the better.
When The Lucia Collective launched in March 2021, I really hoped with all my heart it wouldn’t flop! I asked the cosmos if there could please be as many as 10 people sign up so that I would be able to create, share and do this without worrying that everyone might think the collective was too small.
When in the first week more than 30 joined from around the country and the world, I felt joy and then a jolt of recognition. I realized this offering taps into something much larger than me—there is a chord our sensitive, intuitive, creative sides long for and need to hear. Even if I cannot articulate it quite clearly yet, it feels like connection, inspiration, validation and acknowledgement of the light we carry and are here in this life to let shine.
At the same time, I am approaching it all with a light heart. For now, continuing to offer and expand The Lucia Collective feels right. While a few people graciously bowed out for now, new members have already joined for the next six months! This energy of coming and going feels exciting, alive and just right.
March, April and onward this year felt like a slow and hopeful re-emergence from the strange, isolating experiences of 2020 and the pandemic. Reaching out and listening to kindred spirits within our collective each month was sanity supporting. Inviting beauty, exploring intuition and voice while connecting in lighthearted ways after a year of so much solo time was refreshing. I’m so grateful for everyone who has been part of this collective.
It still seems we are not “in the clear” as the Delta variant spreads but I believe things will look up. Perhaps not in the ways we expect, but silver linings are bound to appear. Let’s watch for them.
I’d like to spend the next six months holding more space for creative connection and conversation.
Even as we head toward the darker months (in the northern hemisphere), shorter days and an instinct to burrow beneath blankets—my hope and plan is to keep a proverbial candle burning at the kitchen table for all who wish to gather around.
The Lucia Collective’s monthly offerings from September 2021-February 2022 will focus on three main themes—attention, beauty and mischief—because these are things I wish to invite more of in my own life right now.
Attention is basically magic. Our attention is so valuable, it’s what everyone wants from us. It is powerful. And, we can choose what we pay attention to—it can be a choice. I need practice focusing my attention on where I want to place it, because this is powerful, this is good mental health.
Beauty is a balm. I believe it heals our wounds and inspires us to cherish and care for each other and this world.
Mischief is a necessary element! Let’s shake things up a bit. Quietly creative mischief? The very best kind. Stirring the pot is what makes the soup.
I look so forward to this! I hope you’ll join me.
Questions and Answers
How does the subscription work?
You’ll receive two emails from me every month. The first includes a link to download the month’s new PDF notebook and recorded meditation. The second email comes later in the month with either a link to download and listen to the Voice Note or an invitation to RSVP for The Conversation. Each month has different creative theme, and the notebooks and recordings include prompts and ideas designed to support you in practicing presence, noticing beauty, and creating a little mischief. You’ll also receive access to The Lucia Collective’s private online “slow social network” — it’s a space for connecting where you can say hello, listen and share your words, images, videos or voice notes.
When does my subscription start?
The Lucia Collective begins again on Sunday, September 19, 2021! I encourage you to sign up early to not miss a thing.
I can’t join now - will registration be open again?
Yes. If you join after September 19, 2021, don’t worry, you can still choose the “monthly recurring” subscription option and will only be charged for the months you actually receive. I’m committing to a second six months of The Lucia Collective (September 2021-February 2022). If it goes well, then I’ll decide by February 2022 whether to continue for another six months. Only at that point (February 2022) will the six-month recurring subscription option become available again.
Do I have to be online at certain times?
If you wish to participate in The Conversation, then you will need to be online during the times listed above. Otherwise, no! That’s the beauty of the subscription and online collective—all of the other offerings can be opened, read, listened to, or worked through in your own time and space. It’s perfect for introverts and high-sensitive creatives! Connection, but without the pressure or overstimulation of being in a classroom or on a Zoom chat. The private online space where our conversations can take place slowly is open for you to visit 24/7.
Will I be able to connect with you (Laura) directly?
Yes and I am so excited about it. I’ll be hanging out in the private online space each month to listen, ask and answer questions, and share inspiration.
How much time does this take?
It can take as much or as little time as you feel like devoting. The notebooks include journal prompts designed to take up to a couple of hours, if you wish to really dig in and explore. They can also be read and worked through in smaller 10-30 minute chunks—a really nice way to take break from a work day, or ease into an evening or weekend. The meditations are about 8-10 minutes long. The longer podcast-like voice notes are about 20-30 minutes long. The Conversation is 60-90 minutes depending on how many people join and how our conversation flows. But again, the amount of time you spend and how much you decide to read, listen to, or share is entirely up to you!
Do you accept payment from outside the U.S. in other currencies?
Yes. At checkout you can convert your payment option to dollars, euros, pounds, etc. One thing I’m very excited about is being able to connect more meaningfully with Lucia’s readers in other countries. Shipping our physical print journal internationally can get expensive, but The Lucia Collective is a way we can connect and share no matter where we are in the world.
Do you offer refunds?
No, sorry, I’m not able to offer refunds. Please choose your subscription option with this in mind.