In Roman mythology, Vesta was the virgin goddess of purity, home, and hearth. She was represented by a sacred fire which Vestal priestesses tended to night and day in her temple. As long as this vital fire was kept lit, the people were protected under Vesta’s guardianship.
The Romans externalized this potent creative force as an eternal flame, but it can also symbolize the light we carry within each of us ~ our passion, ‘muse’ or inspiration. And like the Vestal flame, we need to tend to our own sacred fires with respect and awareness.
There are times when inspiration comes effortlessly, ideas flowing in a stream of consciousness we have only to follow. But sometimes we struggle for ideas and the more we try to control the process and demand things work our way, the more we are met with silence, a blank page, or wasted efforts.
Often, inspiration finds us when we are not actively engaged in solving problems or working on our craft ~ it can catch us off guard while we’re taking a shower, on a long walk, waiting in line… and sometimes, it comes to us in our dreams. It’s not that we are powerless to the ‘muse’ as something external to ourselves, but rather that we have yet to learn how to recognize that spark as something within us.
9. INSPIRATION ~ The Inner Fire
by Katarzyna Vedah. April 1, 2019
Tending to our fire can mean respecting our creative cycles, regulating our energy, and moderating periods of control, discipline and conscious mastery with rest, play and unconscious wandering.
We experience our lives using both sides of the brain ~ with logic and emotion, structure and flow, objective and subjective reality ~ and what we call inspiration may be said to live between the two, facilitating the connection. When one side tries to dominate the other, extremes may erupt in an attempt to compensate for the imbalance.
If, in the heat of creative overdrive, we neglect our physical needs, balance, and routine self-care, the surge of energy can finally burn up, leaving us depleted and depressed.
Or, after a time of repressing our needs and natural self-expression, the energy may eventually burst through, flooding our senses and overloading us with overactive or grandiose thoughts.
If we are caught in such extreme energetic compensations and cycles of highs and lows for too long, learning to live in the ‘middle’ can end up feeling a bit numb while our system takes the time to adjust to the subtle nuances of day-to-day life again.
Creative inspiration need not lead to such extremes, however. With patience, practice, and awareness, we can learn to respect the natural cycle of our creative lives while tending to our sacred flames.
Sometimes, working with inspiration means translating our private pains and personal desires into something more universal and publicly accessible. Such creative acts can move beyond the confines of immediate time and space and become something the world can connect to and participate in ~ inspiring others to their own sacred temples and inner flames.
RESOURCES:
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Who Decides What Art Means?
Hayley Levitt , TED-Ed
Art – History of Ideas
School of Life
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Aesthetic Appreciation
Crash Course Philosophy
Creativity & The Pursuit of Excellence Academy of Ideas
DOCUMENTARY: (YouTube) – Trailer
RIPPLE EFFECT
PASSION PROJECTS FROM THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY

THE FLAME THAT BURNS
FILM: (YouTube) - Trailer
Bright Star (Jane Campion)
Ruby Sparks (Faris & Dayton)
AUDIO-VISUAL / VIDEO: (Vimeo)
Five Knights - Visual Reel
MUSIC / VIDEO: (YouTube)
DANCE / VIDEO: (YouTube)
Tree of Codes (Creator’s Project)
Charity & Andres (NBC World of Dance)
VIDEO: (YouTube) – Blank on Blank
Gene Wilder on the Truth
David Bowie on Stardust
VLOG / VIDEO: (YouTube) – Sean Tucker
Sean Tucker – Channel Trailer
Create when You're Just Not 'Feeling It'
Best Creative Ideas in the Shower
HEALTHY M.O.
PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL BALANCE

CHANNELLING
THE
BLANK
PAGE
VIDEO: (YouTube) - Rollo May
Mystery - Rollo May (Our Amazing World)
Learning to Face Boredom (Impro Supreme)
VIDEO: (YouTube) – TED Talk
Doodlers, Unite! – Sunni Brown
The Value of Boredom – Genevieve Bell
The Benefits of Boredom – Cindy Foley
VIDEO: (YouTube) – Emotion Dynamics
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Golden Child Syndrome (School of Life)
Myth of the Tortured Artist (Art Assignment)
Bipolar Disorders (Crash Course Psychology)
VIDEO: (YouTube) - Dr. Tracey Marks
Gluten Sensitivity Can Look Like Depression
How to Manage Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar vs Borderline Personality Disorder
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Unlock Your Mind – Joe Dispenza (Tom Bilyeu)
PROCESS
PRACTICAL REINFORCEMENT FOR DAY-TO-DAY LIVING

CREATIVE
CYCLES
VIDEO:/ INTERVIEW / SPEECH: Neil Gaiman
Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?
Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts
VIDEO: (YouTube)
How To Be Creative (PBS Off Book)
Nature of Creativity (Academy of Ideas)
Habits of Highly Effective Artists (Blender)
Creative People – Tina Seelig (99U)
VIDEO: (YouTube)
How an Artist Turns Pro (Storytellers)
VIDEO (YouTube) – Brian Johnson - PNTV
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon
WEB ARTICLE: Medium.com
“Stop Sabotaging Your Creativity”
By Jack Preston King
BOOK:
The Creative Fire: Myths and Stories on the Cycles of Creativity. Clarissa Pinkola Estés
SHIFT GEARS
CHANGING THE TEMPLATE

THE INNER MUSE
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Every Story is the Same (Will Schoder)
The Psychology of Myth -
(Crash Course World Mythology)
VIDEO: (YouTube) – Transition21
Anima Projection – Carl Jung
BLOG / ARTICLE: Matrignosis
“Muse, Anima, Or Soul?” By Jean Raffa.
VIDEO: (YouTube)
The Fantasy Bond (PsychAlive)
OVERLAY (Teal Swan)
VIDEO: (YouTube)
Anima & Animus (The Diamond Net)
Sexuality & Spirituality Intertwined (Liana)
VIDEO: (YouTube) – Teal Swan