Skip to main content

Shadow artists

Week One is about recovering a sense of safety. I become an Initiate in Creative Recovery. It is Tuesday, 13 July 2021, and I glance at the clock as I write this. It is 11:11 A.M.

As I parent my own inner child, I shall respond more to his artistic urges with, "Try it and see what happens."

For many families, a career in the arts exists outside of their social and economic reality. If this is so, I want to borrow a New Age philosophy and look at this with the lens of Law of Attraction. Certainly, I come from such a family--this is one of the reasons I am taking this course.

What can I do to make myself more attractive to the reality of a flourishing creative career that I desire? This, perhaps, is what The Artist's Way will do: trigger the Law of Attraction on my behalf in fulfilling my artistic dreams.

Creator God, this essay is painful for me to read. It is painful because I recognize myself in the description of Shadow Artist, and I feel a sense of sorrow and regret for time and opportunities lost.

Tarot reading

I want to take my creativity more seriously, what deliberate, gentle effort must I undertake to nurture my artist child?

Answer: The Hermit.

The Hermit of the Patch Tarot is meditating, away from the distraction of the city, in his secluded place. He is guarded by a three-headed dog.

I understand that I must seclude myself away from the city by deliberately spending less time on social media. I must devote more time to meditation.

My meditation practice is, like the dog, three-headed. Morning pages (akin to shadow work), vipassana (akin to light work), and yoga (the union of these two). The card is reminding me to keep these practices by my side.

I surround myself with Akashic Light and journey into the card. I approach from behind, through the woods. I obviously have come from the city.

I cannot speak with the Hermit. He is in meditation, and surrounded by his protective bubble.

The three-headed beast approaches me and sniffs at me curiously. Because I have done my morning pages, vipassana sitting, and yoga practice this morning, he doesn't snarl or growl. I am allowed to sit on the soft earth in silence. I notice the Hermit sits on a solid rock, and sits solidly like a rock, undisturbed.

If I am to gain any wisdom from the egg he cradles, or the snake, or the brilliance of this staff, I must prove my worth, pay my dues, and meditate. The lesson here is this: I won't be handed down wisdom willy-nilly. I must prove myself ready to receive wisdom and inspiration.

I ask the energy of the Hermit to manifest for me today. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artist date: The Lord of the Rings

For this week's artist date, I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy on YouTube movies . The extended versions of all three films! YouTube is the only streaming service I could watch them at in my country. We have a new Google TV and I found myself going to it at nine o'clock in the morning to start with The Fellowship of the Ring  and ended a little after ten o'clock at night. I paused somewhere towards the last hour of The Return of the King to shoot some hoops with my wife at the basketball court. It was too dark to see the ring and there was no moonlight, but we enjoyed it. I am grateful I took this break. I was feeling the "performance anxiety" pangs of: Now you've started this blog. Go and Create Something Big Immediately. I'm glad I didn't. I won't turn this into a review blog post for LOTR, and although there are many inspiring moments in the film that are worthy of note, I'm just resting that faculty at the moment. I came to enjoy the film...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy Full Moon in Aquarius

 AstroMatrix  gives us this reading for the Full Moon in Aquarius. The New Moon in Aquarius happened on 11 February this year. What intentions did you send back then? They may be coming into fruition at this time. This Full Moon reveals where we belong and which group is best suited us. This is a good time to release causes, communities, and dreams that no longer serve us or don't feel aligned to us anymore. In the light of the Full Moon, we can see what has and has not worked. We can wipe the slate clean. This is the perfect time to claim our own inner authority, to listen to our inner teacher and innate wisdom. We can find within ourselves a strong resistance to authority. With the Sun in Leo wanting to take center-stage, and the Full Moon in Aquarius wanting to collaborate and cooperate with a team, there is a need for balance in both tensions. Here is a five-card Full Moon in Aquarius spread. How can I balance my needs and those of others? Princess of Disks, reversed. Draw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sharing workshop today

My good friend, Jel Lopez-Flores, has written a screenplay and will direct it. I'm proud of her, and inspired by her. She asked me to help prepare some of her cast by giving them an acting workshop. I agreed. This workshop happened earlier today, 16 July 2021. I will be honest with you. I thought I wouldn't take it too seriously. I thought I'd just share some basic acting exercises, and not the meatier stuff, the juicy, acting theory+practice stuff. But I ended up really wanting to help these young actors. I shared the practice of morning pages with the lead actor. He had lots of questions: How does it work? What's the reason behind it? How does it change you? I said, "I honestly don't know how it works. I just know it does. Frankly, I don't want to find out the science behind it. I like the magic enveloping it, though, so I keep doing it." I have been writing morning pages for close to two decades. I asked the lead actor to keep doing them at least th...
Post a Comment
Read more