Creating and The Divine

Every month or so, my teacher Adhi Two Owls gives her apprentices homework outside our regular work of rattling, dreamwork, listening, divination, and working with our Burden Tree. This month, we’ve been tasked with creating something with plants and stones, listening to their individual energies, and mediating between them to create something synergetic. While this is a fun project for me (I’m thinking that an amulet is in order for this particular piece of homework), it touches on something bigger. It works with the Divine nature of creative expression.

Before she started her journey as a Shaman, Adhi went to art school. She often talks about the connection between her work as an artist and her work as a Shaman. In order to quote her correctly, I asked her to give me a quote that I could use on my blog about the relationship between the creative process and the work of the Shaman. This is what she gave me:

“The creative process is the one thing we do as humans that most reflects the Divine nature of the Universe. The Universe is in a constant state of creation and expression... There is no particular goal only the meandering exploration, binding, destroying, churning of energies and matter. The Universe is defined by the nature of its unfolding and mutating creating worlds... elements.... stars... etc...

Art and the creative process for us humans is the same. We imagine and muck about with the skills, materials and challenges. We go into relationship with the process and it brings us to greater understanding.... And if we are lucky something beautiful or useful. As the process unfolds we engaged and a participate and we create each other... In a sense no inside or outside... Oneness... "

The creative process as an extension of Divine work fascinates and resonates with me. There are moments in artistic creation (whether it be through paint, sculpture, music, or verse) where a disassociation can be felt, as if you’re channelling more than creating. This is a magical moment, and your work can seem bigger than you.

It’s something that can make the Sacred tangible, as well. Music is a magical thing that can have amazing effects on us. Art can move us in ways we didn’t think possible. Poetry can speak to your heart where nothing else could. This is the magic of inspired creation.

Adhi is not the first person who I have heard this from, though. The creative experience plays a large role in Revival Druidry. They refer to it as Awen, a Welsh word for poetic inspiration. In Druidry, it is much more than that. It is inspiration itself, the draughts of Cerridwen’s Cauldron of Wisdom. It is the current of intuition. It is the individual purpose of being that each of us carry. It is what drives us to create and change.

Awen is such an important concept in Revival Druidry that it finds its way into most of their ceremony and work. The word itself is treated as sacred. To them, the creative process is the expression of the Divine. Creativity is an important part to crafting magic and communing with nature.

The healing and magical nature of the creative process is something that is a joy to explore. So, my suggestion to you this week: Try creating something that has sacred meaning to you. It can be simple as a quick dry clay pentacle, or something as ornate as prayer beads to honor a deity you’re fond of. Maybe you want to create something ugly to represent a heavy emotional response that no longer serves you and your process, then destroy it. Or perhaps write something that carries that emotion, then burn it. The creative process can be a great venue for release, as well as a way to bring beauty into the world.

And with that, I’m going to get something creative done myself.

Until next week…

-The Green Mountain Mage