Welcome to the Creative Altar.
My name is Julianne. I’m a licensed experienced Acupuncturist with training in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Alchemical Healing, a senior yoga teacher with 25 years teaching experience, a Reiki practitoner, mother and a visual artist.
The Creative Altar is a space to connect to the sacredness of our lives and the inherent healing contained in our intuition, our bodies and our connection with the earth, moon and stars. I’m passionate about providing a nurturing healing space and supporting you in finding balance and reconnecting with your own cycles. Whether you are a caregiver, healer, a creative or are someone looking for support to regulate your nervous system, recover from burnout, reconnect to our own vitality and creativity, or to move meaningfully through life transitions, this is a space for you. I use Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese medicine Diagnosis, Reiki, Essential oils, body work and the ability to listen deeply and provide an empathic and revitalizing approach to support your on your healing journey or for maintaining balance and health as preventative medicine.
More about me.
Commitment to Learning
I’ve been immersed in the world of energetic medicine since 2001 when I completed a 300 hour Chakra Yoga Teacher Training at the Chakra Yoga Centre in Victoria BC. I began practicing Reiki in the same year. In 2012 I graduated from AIM Acupuncture Institute in Toronto with a diploma in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine and became a registered member of the CTCMPAO. I’ve been involved in professional mentorship with Lorie Dechar since 2012 (author of Five Spirits: Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing) and am currently involved in the Advance Clinical Integration in Alchemical Acupuncture program. I’m currently offering online series combining Yin Yoga with creative ritual on the global healing practitioners platform A New Possibility. I have studied meditation with Sarah and Ty Powers, Michael Stone and Vipasana.
Woven alongside my lifelong journey into the world of healing and energetic medicine has been my immersion into the world of the arts. I grew up in a family of musicians and visual artists, and I have followed along this family legacy. I studied Painting and Drawing at Concordia University where I received my BFA and have been creating abstract art inspired by the metaphysical and spiritual realms. I received my MFA at OCADU in the Interdisciplinary Arts, Media and Design Program. My thesis involved research into my Sephardic Ancestry and textile practices. It took me on a journey of ancestral healing, and learning about intergenerational trauma, resilience and recovery. I create abstract paintings, mixed media textiles and create and perform music. My EP Lifeline is an ambient re-imagining of Sephardic lullabies against the melodies of creeks and rivers.
Creativity & Depth
Professional Experience
I have been practicing Acupuncture since 2012 and I’m a registered member with the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario (CTCMPAO). I was the founder and director of Gallery 555, a multidisciplinary healing arts and contemporary art gallery in the Annex, Toronto and I have taught and practiced at spaces including H2Om, Six Degrees Community Acupuncture, Spirit Wind Centre and McGill Medical School. Within my private practice and I have treated and supported hundreds of patients with fertility, pregnancy, menopause, life transitions, creative block, emotional regulation, stress, anxiety and many other health conditions.
What is the Creative Altar
The Creative Altar was born out of many years of clinical experience running an acupuncture practice, a yoga studio, a contemporary art gallery and being an interdisciplinary artist investigating the alchemical, ancestral and metaphysical realms. Part of my own alchemical healing and prima materia has been finding threads of connection between healing arts and creative practice. I’ve come to see that these threads are interwoven and mutually beneficial. As a life long artist, I have also come to see the many ways in which creative practice, seasonal cycles and holistic healing overlap. Underlying my work is the importance of staying connected with the psyche, the wisdom of the body, our five senses and the natural world.
Combining years of education, experience and intuition. Sessions are supported by my life long commitment to continued learning, meditation, spirituality, creativity, earth based ritual, self study and holistic wellness.
Alchemical Healing begins with arriving in the present moment. Working with the breath, the body, open awareness, intuition, compassion and humour, together we create a safe vessel for presence and connection. Through community, mindfulness and following the cycles of the season, the phases of the moon and our body’s internal energetic pathways, each session is a journey through our spiritual anatomy using the energetic maps from the Chakra system and the Meridian system. This work is an energetic interweaving of Traditional Yoga with Traditional Chinese Medicine, 5 Elements, Mindfulness Meditation, Taoist Alchemy, Earth based wisdom traditions, intuition and creativity