Back from the dead

Well... it certainly has been a while... there are no really good excuses, but plenty of bad ones, so let's just move on to an update, shall we?

My growth as an artist and my growth as a spiritual being are inseparably linked. Two years ago, when I first joined the meditation circle that would change my life, I soon after embarked on a path to unblock myself creatively, a 12 week course called The Artist's Way. I cannot even begin to fully explain how that book/course/journey changed me and my life for the better. Since then, I have left the meditation circle and, together with Sarah and some friends, formed an active neopagan/spiritual circle that meets for Sabbats and has temporarily filled the void of the circle. But it lacks the oomph that the circle had- the sacred weekly routine, the energy, the constant facing of dreams and fears and perpetual self-discovery. I have missed that.

I have continued to grow as a writer, however. Every day I am amazed at the patterns in myself and other authors that I recognize, the obstacles we create and maneuver around, the mystery of creativity. Looking at my art as an act of worship, I have been unable to remain blocked for very long, and the blocks I do encounter are transparent or ludicrous (I don't know if she should have red hair or brown hair. How can I write the rest of this novel if I don't know what my main character looks like? ::whine::). I am grateful for my growth.

But, as you've noticed a lack of entries here, in a shared blog of two spiritual adventurers, I've been missing out on the sacredness of this life- outside of writing. Last weekend we held an open Litha ritual that was the most wonderful, powerful ritual yet, and I touched Divinity once again that afternoon, fingers running through soft, familiar grasses, shoulders drenched in sunlight. I am stable as a writer once again, passionate and creative, at the height of my strength like the height of the sun that day, but a balance must constantly be striven for. True, writing is my life, but I am much more than that. I am a daughter, friend, sister, student, warrior, and lover as well as an artist, and one day I hope to consider myself a priestess.

Prayer, an act that once seemed laughable and foolish to me in my too-cool-for-school youth, has been begging at my lips for a voice. I am teeming with unspoken gratitude, love, and compassion that I have become desperate to share with Divinity. On the downswing of the wheel of the year I am reaffirming my beliefs, setting my feet firmly upon my path, and, slow and steady like the Bull I am, discovering myself, Spirit, and all the Gods amidst the magic and mayhem of our irrational world.

~Madeline

Ars Cultus

A new path has unfolded before me, one that has been taking shape for the past two years. I have always believed that an act of creation, anything that involves using the talents that you have been given, especially to make art, is like an act of worship. The gods create, the Universe creates, and so to imitate the Divine is the surest way to flatter it. Offering your work to the divine energy that inspired it is far more powerful than offering sacrifices. Why would this Universe, showering perpetual blessings upon us, while we must deal with our own problems... why would it ever ask for a sacrifice? What use do the cosmos have for physical things?

Art transcends its physical representation. It is inspired by and appreciated by the higher self. This is why art and all acts of creation are my way of living my faith, of worshiping without sacrifice, but yet still pouring my heart out and crafting beautiful things for the divine grace that offers their shapes to me.

The Art of Worship.

I am excited, now that I have fully awakened this sleepy idea inside of me, to see how I live it.

~Madeline