I have filled so many journals in my lifetime they are amassing like building materials—adobe bricks, packed peat moss, ice blocks for igloos.
I started writing in journals when I was a kid, & began by emulated The Diary of Anne Frank, addressing my journal as she did with “Dear Kitty”.
By the time I did The Artist Way in my 30’s I could check the “morning pages” box right away. Business as usual.
I write every day.
For years I’ve written lists & brainstorms, my dreams and the requisite analysis, or things to say in conversation. I take notes while “the muse” dictates. I sketch designs for floor plans, rituals, or fancy dinner parties.
But last year I did something different.
For a year, I committed to writing poems as my exclusive form of expression. I wrote everyday as usual, but poetry.
I wrote hundreds of poems last year; filled two big sketch books with them.
Writing this way changed my brain.
I think differently now. I have access to another lens.
And wow did I get to know myself.
Like swimming beside the eye of a whale, I gained some endearing proximity to my Self.
In my opinion, this is why to write— to know your Self, gain access to expansive methods of expression, and to change your brain.
The Writer’s Groups are opportunities for this.
With the season & an archetype as inspiration, we “swim beside the eye of the whale” and write about it.
But what if you’re not inclined to write? No problem.
As long as you have some means for expression, you are poised for exploration, truth telling, and running experiments.
How can your chosen means of expression align with the wisdom of The Priestess archetype?
Where can you “dawn” and start something new, or do what you do in a different way? Can you commit to it? Can you hold space for it?
And so, under this Priestess moon, a small poem for you and your creative practice:
Dawn, and I remember that like the day,
“beginning” is something I do.
There’s quiet before
the symphony of pith and pen.
I pause, then write the first word, a sacrament.
Devotional, I am the scribe
recording a conversation between muse, Self, and Divinity.
When I read it later, I will wonder,
who wrote this? Who said this?
Evidenced by my own handwriting, I marvel.
I did.
— by Katie Vie
(The folks in the Priestess Writer’s Group will recognize some of these words, as they were present for the “first sliver of light” of this poetic offering.)
love and new things,
xo
kv & my 8-month-old kitties
