She is that which lives within, the curious whisper
“Now we begin again”, oh how I missed her
Heading into the space between the end of winter and the beginning of spring marks the passage of transformation. Indeed, if we look hard enough, listen well enough, and use our tactile feeling sense, there are already indications of change on various levels within us and all around. Through the process of opening ourselves to the changes, we invite in the alignment required to connect with our Muse. It is possible that you have already encountered her, but don’t fully recognize her call.
Herein lies the challenge
How do we recognize her call? How can we connect with our own inner Muse that would guide us forward? What is the ‘Muse’ exactly?
The Muse
The Muse has many names: Divine connection, our Holy Guardian Angel, our sacred voice, our Genius. The one thing I have come to appreciate is that the Muse is our connection to our will and inspiration to create. Our creativity. Our inspiration.
Have you ever noticed it?
In Big Magic (2016), Elizabeth Gilbert tells the story of American Poet Ruth Stone who could hear a poem coming her way like “a galloping horse” and she would have to run for paper lest it pass her by and be lost forever. In his foreword in The War of Art (2002), Robert McKee describes our creative connection and inspiration, where our ideas flow from, as our unconscious mind. Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art (2002), also calls the divine creative connection his Muse. Whatever name we give it, we find inspiration and we continue to create even when the ideas come from “nowhere”.
Maybe you notice that you are filled with ideas during this time of year too. As the wheel of the year continues to turn, many of us find ourselves in a sort of gestational period ~ not unlike the Earth during this time.
Recognizing The Muse
We can recognize her in ideas that come from nowhere or songs that get stuck in our head. Themes and thoughts that pop up over and over for us or even things we find ourselves daydreaming about can be her signature. It is her call. Be curious. Pay attention.
Our Muse is creative even in getting our attention.
We may even find her call more pronounced during certain times, for example, upon waking. There are mornings that I climb out of bed and before I can even pour my coffee it is like lightning: the ideas flow down and I am scribbling frantically in a journal to make sure I have captured the essence of what she is throwing me. Some of my greatest work and magic has come to me before I have washed my face, brushed my teeth, and sometimes before I have managed to crawl out of bed. Maybe for others it is in that space between awake and asleep, when we have slowed down.
Connecting to The Muse
Our ability to connect to our Muse does require a bit of slowing down. Getting into that space allows us to open our cognitive gating factors a little further. Have you ever noticed it? Right before falling asleep, we may allow our thoughts to simply come and go without latching onto them and falling down a rabbit hole of other thoughts. It is in this space that our awareness is wide open and those things that we unconsciously filter out are allowed entry into the senses.
Like our breath.
Breathing just happens, we are not aware of it until we slow down and focus on it. The information unconsciously available can be made conscious in these spaces and the Muse loves to show up during those times.
A Prayer to The Muse
There are historical references to invocations or prayers to the Muse (such as Homer and Virgil), but here the power of prayer is simply to call her forth. Ask for her presence in the work you are doing, the work you want to be doing, or just to begin the relationship with her by becoming aware of her presence.
I am seeking my Muse
She who walks with my creativity
Pregnant with the eternal ability to birth through humanity
The greatest arts, songs, healers, and teachers
I call to you and now I listen
When She Speaks
A part of the reason that prayers and invocations are powerful is because we set the intention of calling to something. In fact, we unconsciously know exactly what it is we are tuning into when we do this. We begin to slow down and to vibrate at that higher level, to tune in, to connect. With practice, we tune into that higher vibration more easily and we hear her speak more often. We find doors open, we find creative insights and powerful motivation, and we find that when she speaks she inspires action. May she guide you passionately forward this Spring!
A candle and a key,
Kaycee
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Feature Image Credit: via Pexels
References
Gilbert, E. (2016). Big Magic. Riverhead Books.
Pressfield, S. (2002). The War of Art. Black Irish Entertainment LLC.