Writing or creativity of any kind is a mysterious process, a journey into deep and unchartered waters. What you need is a compass… the Tarot.
Monday Message from the Muse for the week of 2/4/2013. Theme, Ace of Wands. Are you feeling a restless kind of energy? Perhaps a new creative project is waiting to emerge. Time to bring it into the light and get started on it. It’s one that has a lot of
This week I watched one of those videos that gets passed around on FaceBook because of its emotional impact. It’s about a young man with autism who loved basketball and attended a high school in upstate New York. He joined his high school basketball team, not as a player, but
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse, 1/28/2013. Theme, 4 of Swords. Sometimes the mind just won’t stop…ideas, worries, plans keep running through our brains. But to receive the message from the Muse, those divine insights and inspirations, we have to make space to receive. Think about how you can take
“Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance. As powerful as is our soul’s call to realization, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it.” ~ Steven Pressfield I have a confession… Several agents are interested in my current work-in-progress, a somewhat dark fantasy romance. You’d
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 1/21/2013. Theme for the week, King of Wands. Tending the fires of your creative work takes energy and commitment. As with a king ruling his kingdom, it helps if you have the big picture. This week, what is the big
Snow falls softly but steadily, piles up in drifts and deep carpets, changing the landscape. Our small pine tree that Bob draped with white bee lights before the holidays looks magical with the lights gleaming through the pine’s cloak of snow. Because we live in the country and have a
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 1/14/2013. Theme, Ace of Wands. It’s all about that new creative project this week. The one that has the fire in your belly raring to go, eager to get started. So start with energy and excitement… Focus, Ace of Cups.
Over the holidays, I did something that Bob and I used to do before the time pressures of kids and careers. I made a number of Christmas gifts. This year, I reclaimed the craft of knitting. Before I became a professional weaver, I used to do a lot of knitting.
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 1/7/2013. Theme, The Chariot: This card is often understood as speed with success. BUT, to achieve that, you have to know where you want your chariot to go. What is the destination you are heading toward? The clearer you are
Keeping busy” is the remedy for all the ills in America. It’s also the means by which the creative impulse is destroyed. ? Joyce Carol Oates It’s a New Year and like many other creative and spiritual entrepreneurs, I am creating this year’s plan for my business. Having a plan
Creating a business plan for the 2013 is important and necessary if you want to be successful whether you are a professional writer, artist, performer, coach, or healer. But, planning for your business and/or your creative work has to start from within. Clarity about your Inner Vision gives you clarity
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the Week of 12/31/2012. Theme, King of Wands–This week, as we end the old year and begin the new, look at how you are tending the fires of your creative work. Are you looking at the big picture and planning for a successful
In the many visits this year to Virginia to see my grandson, my son and daughter-in-law have gotten me hooked on a couple of TV shows. One is Chopped. Chopped is a half hour cooking game show on the Food channel. Four professional chefs from across the country compete before
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 12/17/12. Theme for the week, 9 of Wands. We may have fought the good fight with our current creative project…and others are waiting to see it, to receive it. But first, what are the final steps that need to be
Recently, I had a Tea and Scones party and sale. That is, I intended to have one. I sent out invitations to friends and neighbors in our village environs. With hubby’s help, I cleaned, baked, decorated, and wove scarves. I served three kinds of scones and vanilla and cinnamon sugared
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 12/10/2012. Theme for the week, 7 of Wands: This is not a time to hide but a time to stand out…to claim authority and expertise…to risk the heat of the spotlight and prepare to move into the next new environment
Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal, underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh There is a wilder solitude in winter/When every sense is pricked alive and keen. ~May Sarton Can you feel it? Even in
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 12/3/12. Theme for the Week, The Fool. How willing are you to take creative risks? To leap out into that space not knowing where you are going or even where you will end up? Every new creative project takes a
Raising children is like baking bread: it has to be a slow process or you end up with an overdone crust and an underdone interior. ~ Madeline Cox Last week, I spent hours every day on my feet, in a chair, but mostly on the floor trying to come up
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for Nov 26, 2012. Theme for the Week, 10 of Wands. Even though this was the theme two weeks ago, obviously its an issue that isn’t complete. If you are still belly to the ground with too many projects, striving to make them perfect,
While the United States’ Thanksgiving didn’t become an official holiday until Lincoln declared it such in 1863, the idea of being grateful and giving thanks as a community goes back to the early settlers of our country and that several days of feasting by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag in
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for week of 11/19/2012. Theme, Queen of Cups. This Queen is all about helping others feel good, nurturing their dreams, their love of beauty. She’s Venus/Aphrodite rising from the sea. You are the Queen, bearer of creativity and beauty. Through your own creative confidence
I begin to sing about Pallas Athena, renowned goddess, with bright eyes, quick mind, and inflexible heart, chaste and mighty virgin…” Homeric Hymn In a coaching session with a client this past week, and then in an email dialogue with a writer, Athena came up as an active image or
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 11/12/2012. Theme for the week, 10 of Wands. Wands is the element of Fire, of spirit, creativity, career, work… Don’t you feel sorry for that poor guy, crawling along on his belly with that load on his back. What about
There is often in people to whom “the worst” has happened an almost transcendent freedom, for they have faced “the worst” and survived it. ~ Carol Pearson Like me, you’ve probably seen numerous people going about daily life from the seat of a wheel chair, or the back of a
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 11/5/2012. Theme for the week, 5 of Cups: See how the woman sits with her back against the wall, her knees drawn up and her arms crossed about her body protectively? See how she holds tightly to those two remaining
Many people pray and receive the answer to their prayers, but ignore them—or deny them, because the answers didn’t come in the expected form. ~ Sophy Burnham Answers that don’t come in the expected form are something I warn people about all the time when I am teaching them how
Before there was Halloween, there was Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), a Celtic holiday celebrating the new year. Samhain is the second oldest unbroken holiday in the European World, approximately 6,000 years old. This ancient holiday marked the changing of the seasons and was a time to honor the ancestors and to
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse. 10/29/2012. Theme for the week, Knight of Wands. Ready to do battle? Put on the armor of your passion for your work, then ride out to use your creative work to serve others. Your passion for what you do fuels the passions of others
Autumn…makes a double demand. It asks that we prepare for the future—that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness. ~Bonaro W. Overstreet It is deep autumn here in the Northeast. Most of
Monday Message from the Muse for the week of 10/22/2012. Theme for the week is the Four of Wands. Wands is the suit of creativity, the creativity that is passionate, active, focused, intentional. Four is the number of stability. For me this card is about the importance of commitment. When
Creativity comes with adrenaline and fear. ~ Mary Jo Putney, author At the romance writers conference that I attended last weekend, I sat in on a seminar given by Mary Jo Putney. Putney, a published romance writer of more than 30 books, has made all of the national bestseller lists
Monday Message from the Muse for the week of 10/15/2012, The Theme for this week is the King of Coins. He was the theme several weeks ago and he’s shown up again, so obviously an important energy right now. The theme this week is managing expenditures and income, both monetarily
If you’ve ever been to a taping for a television show like Dancing with the Stars, you know that they have a warm-up comic whose sole job is to keep the audience excited and enthused about the performances during the taping. He works to get you on your feet, yelling
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 10/8/2012. The Theme for this week is the 5 of Cups. Notice how unhappy the woman is and how she sits with her back against the wall. Is this you? Are you letting past disappointments and failures in your creative work
As creatives and creative entrepreneurs, we all want to be celebrities. We want to be recognized for who we are and what we do. For creatives, celebrities act as cultural icons. We love hearing stories like J.K.Rowling’s—you know, the one where she submitted her manuscript hundreds of times, receiving rejection
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 10/1/2012. The Theme for this week is the Eight of Swords. Swords is the suit of Air, having to do with the mind, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. You can see that this woman looks really bound up by her situation. But
I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around… We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible. ~ Sue Grafton Bob’s and I make a fall mecca to our local apple orchard this time of year. It is our way of honoring
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 9/24/2012. The theme for this week is a King, the King of Coins. Think Oprah, Donald Trump, etc. These are people who know how to manage their resources. Oprah, especially, knows how to manage her creative resources. Her creative products and
The year is almost over; only a little over three months before we celebrate a New Year with new goals. What about this year’s goals? Was one of your goals to write that non-fiction book you’ve had rattling around in your brain forever? Did you get it written? Did you
No argument can persuade me to like oysters if I do not like them. In other words, the disturbing thing about matters of taste is that they are not communicable. ~ Hannah Arendt This week, I watched Andrew, my 5-month-old grandson, explore his world with his eyes…and his mouth. Bob
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 9/17/2012. The theme for this week is another Queen, the Queen of Cups, comfortable and confident in her watery realm of feelings, intuitions, dreams and the creativity that arises from love, the heart. Practice your creative work this week with a
Time was a river, not a log to be sawed into lengths. ~ Margaret A. Robinson, author In the past five weeks, Bob and I marked our 39th wedding anniversary, and I marked my 60th birthday. Milestones to be sure. So, obviously, the passage of time has been a dominant
Monday’s Message from the Muse. 9/10/12. The theme for the week is being the Goddess of creative abundance, the source from which beauty and life flows. The Empress card is like last week’s 9 of Coins card amplified a thousand-fold. Be aware this week of the beauty, magic and abundance
Many people are inventive, sometimes cleverly so. But real creativity begins with the drive to work on and on and on. ~ Margueritte Harmon Bro, author “I love this story, and I love when it the writing surprises me, but sitting down to write is such hard work!” I complained
Monday Message from the Muse. 9/3/12. The theme for this week, 9 of Coins, is creating beauty in the world for yourself and others through your creative work–whether you write, paint, sing, coach, heal–you create beauty for others and, through that, for yourself. So focus first on how your own
Change is inevitable. Change allows you to stay ahead of competition and imitators. Change allows your work to grow and evolve as you grow. If you think about it, you can’t create anything without also creating change. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I love being a creative
Tarot Action, 3 of Swords 8/31/12. Today is the time to let go of the past, of whatever didn’t work, or was rejected or panned or criticized. Have a good cry. Then burn those rejection letters and negative reviews. Or write down all the things you heard people say that
Tarot Gift, The Emperor 8/30/12. Look today for someone in your environment who is a get-it-done kind of person, who has expertise and authority in your field of creative work, who can provide advice, support or even that kick in the butt to get you and your work moving into
Tarot Focus, Knight of Wands. 8/29/12. Do you have the creative resources, equipment and tools you need to go out into the world with your creative work? Do you have the passion and energy you need? What about your confidence and determination? Hard to get out there and be of
Tarot Action, The Moon 8/28/12. We have a Blue Moon coming up in three days but you may be feeling the effects of it already. A Blue Moon is a second full moon in the same month. It is a Pisces Full Moon as well, so it is time to
Tarot Focus, Temperance. 8/27/12. How do you connect with your Muse to bring a balance of creative passion and creative dreaming together? How do both passion and dream make your creative work and life stronger?
Tarot Gift, The Lovers. 8/24/12. Look for those moments today, when you become the clear channel for your Muse, for divine inspiration. By both receiving and then acting on those inspirations, you empower you creative work or business. The more you open to your Muse, the more ideas and insights
All of us have seen the news reports on TV and the internet about the warmest driest summer on record that the US has experienced. When rain is in short supply, many species of grass will go dormant, turning brown and looking like it died. In fact, grass survives six
In the 2007 movie, “You Kill Me.” Ben Kingsley stars as a Polish alcoholic hitman from Buffalo whose drinking causes his mob boss to send him to San Francisco to dry out, with interesting consequences for everyone. In the opening scene, it is winter in Buffalo (i.e. snow up to
It never fails. Whether you travel for the pleasure of it or to lead or attend a conference or retreat, you will inevitably encounter the Yes-but. You’ve seen the little beasties. They have very thick hoofs for digging their feet in. Their ears are small and frequently flop down making
What is ROI? Return On Investment. In the broadest sense, for bankers, angel investors and financiers, ROI is the measure of profitability of an investment, and the definition of profitability can vary depending on the goals of the investor. Add Creative to the front of that and you have CROI,
Do You Take Your Creative Work Out for Dinner and a Dance? I witnessed part of an interesting ritual the other night. No, it wasn’t on the History Channel or in the National Geographic. It was in a restaurant near my aunt’s home where I am staying while helping out
Sometimes the biggest challenge to our ability to function creatively and enjoy the process, is the high level of expectations we put on ourselves and the creative project. If you are in the process of birthing and raising a creative project and you’ve set your expectations high: Acknowledge that perfection
If you write only about the things that are safe, about the emotions that are happy and easy, then your story will lack the authenticity and power that readers hunger for. Thursday, I had the privilege and fun of being interviewed by coach, author, colleague and friend, Adela Rubio. I
Here is a great quote for your weekend. If you aren’t a writer, the principle still applies. The Internet has changed publishing. The growing pains are fierce. But they are not your growing pains. Publish however you think best suits you. Don’t rush it. Take your time writing and editing,
A reader recently asked me a few questions that I often receive from other readers and viewers of my 3-card tarot readings, so, here are my answers… These cards are lovely, do you have a favorite deck that you use?They are lovely, aren’t they? I just love the use of
Most of us say we want to write and sell the book, or be cast in a film, or perform on stage, or coach a client and even take a few steps toward the dream. But when fear rises, time becomes the scapegoat. We tell ourselves, we just don’t have
Tarot Gift for March 5, 2012. It’s so interesting to have this card in the gift position. The man certainly doesn’t look like he wants to give you anything. But if you are the man on the card…and the Universe wants to give you a gift, a reward for all
I am so pleased and excited to welcome you to my newly redesigned website and blog. For many reasons, this has been a year-long process, but as the site developed so did my clarity around what I do well, how I do it and whom I do it for… So
Friday night, Bob and I watched the movie, “The King’s Speech.” In spite of several important historical misrepresentations, the movie is a powerful story about King George VI’s struggle to conquer his stammer at a time when the popularity of radio was changing how governments communicated with their populace. One
This past weekend, I sat at lunch with some tarot friends and colleagues, listening to a discussion about the evergreen issue of overwhelm and time management. One woman mentioned that she’s developed a practice of taking one day a week to do nothing, not even get dressed or engage with
Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question. ~ e. e. cummings During a writers retreat that I hosted recently, I was talking about my writing and work, including the People Magazine piece, one of the writers asked me… “Do you want fame or fortune?” For a few
So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it. ~Krishnamurti Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we
When I started talking about the branding and name for my business, Divining the Muse, some people argued against it, suggesting that most people would not recognize what a Muse is. While I agreed that some might not, I also insisted that most people who work in the creative arts