Creative Spark Igniting

The Enchanted Map oracle cards by Colette Baron Reid

From the guide book:

You are a clear channel for Divine creativity.

There is a spark of creativity in you, and you have every reason to move forward with optimism and hope. Open yourself to inspiration and allow life to show you its beauty and your part in co-crating it. This is the perfect time to give birth to an idea, start a new relationship or job, or begin any endeavour. Attraction is high as you connect with others who can co-create joyous experiences and join with you in expressing the finer aspects of life. Watching a spark turn to a flame and stoking that fire is a gratifying activity.






In my journeys of the past two weeks, as I drew from this deck of 54 cards daily, this particular card showed up three times. I shuffled each time. My traveling companion also shuffled and drew cards. Still, on three different days, twice as a single draw and once as part of a patterned layout, Spark turned up. It was the only card that showed up 3x.

Significant? Certainly, to me. "There is a spark of creativity in you." The voice inside my head responded, "No duh." I write: in blogs, as a freelancer, in book reviews. I do crafts that I give as presents, use as exchanges for other work, or sell outright. I compose and tell stories online and in videos. All of these take creative energy.

Yet this card arrived in my hand three times. Why?

Maybe because even though I know these things, even though there is actual evidence that the creative spark glows within me, I deny it. Or I find ways to diminish or discount it.
"Anyone could do this."
"But her story is so much better!"
"There's nothing original about my work."
No need to go on ~ my creativity abounds in my denials!

As I return to work ~ and to the routines that bind me to that work, I plan to maintain the essence and the memory of that card: Spark. At times, it may feel overwhelming to remember ~ and I may forget for a while ~ the joy of creativity. I promise myself: I will remember!

How do you diminish your own creative spark? What is one joyous way you can help yourself remember it? If something shows up in your life 3x in fairly rapid succession, what do you think? how do you choose to respond to it? What is your next step on your creative path?

Emotional Flow

Oracle of the Dragonfae by Lucy Cavendish

From the guide book:

"... From time to time, I have found my own sadness overflow, and it is at those times that I need to return to water, to commune with that element's wisdom until I am calmed, soothed, and refreshed. ... Know that simply by going to a body of water, this can be your bath, a lake, river, pond, puddle or even oceanic majesty, you will be soothed. ... Your life swirls and flows like water...keep moving too, to avoid stagnation in sadness. Sensitivity is yours for this lifetime, ...allow your sensitivity to flow,..."





After a healing session with a friend, I drew this card from the Oracle of the Dragonfae deck. The commentary, from Andelle's point of view, aligned well with the healing session. Sometimes I am, if not precisely sad, certainly out of kilter with my most centered, calm and productive self. At these times, I find myself drawn to bodies of water ~ from hot tubs and soaks in claw-footed bathtubs to Lakes Michigan, Trillium and Union to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Sometimes even a walk in the rain is calming. Having always been sensitive, even to the point of empathetic, I have learned to use the water to assist in allowing for, as the card suggests, emotional flow.

Since recently returning from a trip to the Ocean, I feel more in that flow than before I left. I feel more awake to my own emotions, more aware of the subtlety of actions and reactions in others, more alive.

Much of what I do in my life involves supporting and listening to others. Setting personal boundaries and protecting myself from being emotionally hijacked by their lives, actions and stories, is vital to my own health and well-being. I am grateful for healing sessions with friends as well as for the diversity of divination decks that remind me of the importance of balance and flow.

What do you do to keep your emotional flow balanced? How do you recognize when you need to readjust yourself? How often do you need to realign? Is it a constant timeline (for example, every other month or daily) or is it fluid, triggered by specific or particular events? What assistance reminds you to be grateful?

July 2015 Aquarius Blue Moon

July 31st is the second Full Moon of the month which makes it a Blue Moon. This Moon is eight degrees Aquarius and with the Sun in Leo, there is opportunity for choice: open to the group or detach and go solo. Or find the balance between independence and interdependence.

This Full Moon is also alive with vision and new horizons. Like a TV dish, it draws insights from the ether. Because of its capacity to focus on the future, it has trouble in the present. Create the ideal and keep the feet firmly planted on Mother Earth. Be sure the foundation is solid and be willing to illuminate whatever fears, tensions or apprehensions show up. Deal with them. Feel them. Face them. Upgrade those feelings. Breathe through any changes or breakthroughs. And be ready for any 'ahas' that may show up, for any radical upgrades in thinking, organizing, perceptions of reality.

What are you feeling as this Full Moon lights up the sky? How can you open yourself to changes? What is the Full Moon lighting up within you? How solid is your foundation? What can you do to shore it up?

Am I a Writer?

Words repeat inside my head:
If you want to be a writer, you have to write.
And:
Waiting until you feel inspired, may keep you waiting forever to write.

The questions arise again. Those internal insecurities about being good enough... creative... about having something to say... about someone wanting to read what I write.

What do I need to write? Not very much. Stories float around inside my head. Questions, curiosities, challenges all start my thoughts forming characters, places, quests. An image of a rope tumbled on the beach begins here:
He grabbed hold of the rope and tugged, checking the tension, feeling the strength. It held fast. He put his hands, one ahead of the other, on the rope, set his left foot against the rock face at knee level and pulled himself up. His right foot found purchase on the rock face, and he was off. Hand over hand, feet moving up the rocks.....

This is one of the adventures floating through from that image. Where will it go from here? The stories crowd inside me, looking for passage from one world to the next. The only require a pinhole to find their way out.

I need time, a computer or tablet, paper and pen or pencil. The first often is the most fragile, the slipperiest to reach. Now on to use mine differently.

What do you desire to create? How strong is your desire? How do you define yourself? How do you want to define yourself? What will you do to make your best definition come true?

Cancer New Moon ~ 2015

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/nh-charon.jpg

Today's sky reveals ~ or does not reveal ~ the Cancer New Moon. However, it's also the day that reveals the New Horizon's images of Charon, the largest of Pluto's moons, up close and personal. What a remarkable event!

The Cancer New Moon is all about emotional fulfillment... finding what sparks your deepest love and most expansive passion. It may refer to partnerships. I'd say look beyond those because even partnerships are sparked by something within your heart. Be aware that this New Moon may bring with it more intense and rapidly changing emotions, perhaps creating some raw and exposed feelings. Breathe through them. Continue to love yourself and honor all parts of who you are.

The images from Pluto ~ and its moon Charon ~ arrive in perfect timing. In mythology, Charon is the ferryman who carries the souls of mortals into the Underworld, Pluto's realm. Since Pluto is the symbol of the hidden, of what seeks to be revealed, of the deeper darkness within, the New Moon is the most auspicious time to be in the presence of Charon, the guide into that Underworld.

What passion is bursting forth in your life right now? How is the hidden part of you peaking through and showing itself? What is the coinage you will use to pay Charon to cross into  the Underworld? What will you bring back?

Relaxed Mind

I began my day today with a cup of tea ~ which provided this lovely Teabag Tarot comment. Reflecting on several recent discussions, I chuckled and shook my head when I saw it... that relaxed, creative mind also calls forth these quotes or images. It's as though the mind, given the space and the stillness, creates what it most needs to thrive.

One friend would refer to it as the Law of Attraction. Relaxing my mind, reaching for the higher vibration, attracts the flow which, for me, shows up as creativity. For someone else, it may show up differently. I want to attract creativity. I like the feeling of that creative flow. So here I am, writing about it.

When I feel tense (as in distracted, upset, stressed, or overwhelmed, to name a few sources of tension) my brain and being shift closer to or into survival mode. At that point, creativity is not bubbling forth as an option. I am into protecting myself. Everything is focused on that end. Even though creativity and rational thinking may be great allies, they are difficult to access. If I'm fortunate enough to recognize that I've gone reptilian, I take a minute or two or more to refocus, to shift. I breathe deeply. Or I stretch my limbs. Or I go outside, change the scenery. It generally doesn't take long.

After my breath returns to its normal, less constricted pace, and my muscles find movement comfortable, I can pick up a pen or sit at a keyboard and write or grab a brush and paint or look for images in a magazine. Anything to keep myself balanced and relaxed. Then even the muscles of my face relax into a smile and I find centered space and joy.

Understanding that creativity finds many forms, what does your mind create when its relaxed? What activities keep you centered? What clues does your system give to let you know you're tense? How do you shift from tense to relaxed?

Capricorn Full Moon ~ July 2015

Another Full Moon is upon us! If you're lucky and you've looked up in the night sky over the past few days, the moon has been delightfully and wonderfully growing into its fullness. As its grown fuller, its moved away from two very bright spots in the night sky, Jupiter, and the brighter spot, Venus. Gorgeous!

With Pluto being the Ruler of the Underworld, there is much hidden, darkly emotional movement happening at this time. It opposes the warrior Mars and squares the Nodes, making another Cardinal Cross ~ which always carries a whallop.

In the Earth sign of Capricorn, the place of material manifestation, this Full Moon queries: What are your values? This Full Moon wants you to be grounded, to focus on commitments that run deep into your soul. How can you balance those values with your daily world?

The question of balance goes even further because of the Cardinal Cross: Be aware that you may feel needy and reactive (South Node in Aries). Let that neediness and reactivity settle down before taking any actions (North Node in Libra) and moving forward.

Opportunities may show up with a sense of duality: work or family/personal; right or wrong; miscommunication or healing; crisis or opportunity. Breathe through them. Take your time with decisions. Work on self-affirming habits. Adapt to demands of the times.

What is this Full Moon revealing to you? What is the light at the end of the tunnel? What is the buried treasure that you are uncovering? What do you value?