One of the main reasons I have a daily writing practice is to hear myself.
Not because I’m in any way muted.
I write to see what’s going on deeply, to give voice to my subconscious and my soul.
These “voices” reveal a lot — wisdom, buried pain ready for healing, guidance, desire — all just waiting for me to slow down and listen.
Once I listen, I understand.
Then I can take action and make decisions from a place of clarity.
In the Core class last week, I offered a writing prompt to help us understand Fire element, this season’s elemental study.
The prompt was to describe fire using a certain sense and the voice of the year-long archetype.
My year-long archetype is the Girl Child, and I was assigned smell.
Once I had my assignment, I took a long inhalation of The Girl Child oil, anointed the space between my brow, and imagined smelling a campfire.
Here’s how the “Girl Child voice” of my psyche sounds, describing fire:
Fire smells like a secret. When I smell a fire, I know we’ll gather around it and feel safe. When I smell it, I feel like an earthling, ancient and primal. I want to paint my face with charcoal and listen to the wild wisdom and the weirdest ways of my friends. Fire smells outrageously fun, an invitation to be my wild self, innocent and untamed, controlled by no one. Smokey, like incense, fire invites me into my imagination, into times before electricity and wild adventures far away from home, living in the land of fireflies.
This quick writing exercise revealed how this archetypal wisdom shows up for me and through me and tells me how to harness it.
By giving her a voice, I understand that when I wanna find the fun in something, know what feels safe, remember how to connect with friends, or what invokes my imagination, I can call on the archetypal wisdom of the Girl Child and look through her lens.
Furthermore, I understand how I use the archetypal wisdom of Fire element. I can see that it helps me connect to the earth and other humans; I can feel my feral innocence.
When we write, we give voice.
When we listen to that voice and honor what it’s saying, we access deep reservoirs of wisdom, clarity, and guidance.
We write to know the way.
To take our own advice.
To reveal our own wisdom.
Wanna give it a shot?
Here’s a prompt:
- Anoint with or smell your favorite archetype anointing oil and invite that “voice” to speak.
- Bring to mind a problem you’re having, somewhere you’re stuck or confused.
- Then, ask the archetype: what would you do about this?
- And write out her answer.
How did it go?
Did you excavate some good advice? Some clarity?
Do you have some marching orders now?
If not, let the writing sit for 2 days or a week. Then read it aloud. You’ll hear the advice then.
Now, all you have to do is muster the bravery to follow your very own wisdom.
love and writing,
xo
kv
