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 Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 8/26/2013. Theme, 10 of Cups. Cups is the suit of the heart and all that resides therein, emotions, dreams, intuitions, creativity. As the dog and cat put aside their fighting to lie peacefully before the roaring fire, this week, experience
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse, 8/19/2013 Theme, King of Cups. The King has the power, gets the big picture, makes the plan. To get the big picture on your creative work this week, give yourself some emotional distance on your creative work. Focus, 8 of Cups. Cups is the
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of August 12, 2013 Theme, 10 of Coins. Abundance. An abundance of creative ideas, of creative resources, of creative opportunities. And through your work, others experience abundance as well…an abundance of beauty in real material form. Think “abundance” this week. Focus,
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 8/5/2013 Theme, 8 of Coins. The more your creative work progresses and develops the more you need to pay attention to the practical details of resources, energy, time and money. What plan do you have? Look at your goals and
In the Disneyfied version of the popular fairytale, Cinderella,our heroine is more acted upon (i.e.victim) than acting. Her mother has died and her father has remarried the equivalent of the Wicked Witch of the West, with her two equally mean daughters. What’s a good girl to do? Well, definitely not
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 7/29/2013 Theme, Temperance. The theme this week is one of elevating yourself enough to see clearly and be able to balance your creative passions and desires with your emotions. Creativity requires desire and will to manifest in physical form so
One Christmas, when I was a young girl, my mother’s older sister gave us a collection of fairytales in a large-format book with beautiful German watercolor illustrations. The book had tales from different cultures, more than the popular Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast. Within its pages,
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 7/22/2013. Theme, 7 of Coins. If you want to reap a harvest for those creative seeds/projects you planted, then you have to follow-through on it, with water and food and attention. Whatever projects have been languishing through lack of attention,
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of July 15, 2013 Theme, Page of Wands. The Page is the messenger of the court, carrying messages throughout the court with quickness and energy. Wands is the suit of fire, spirit, creativity career, work. This week, communicate about your creativity
I don’t remember the first time I heard the story of Sleeping Beauty. Some fairytales enter your lexicon and mind before you’re aware of it, and feel like they’ve always been there. I do remember, though, when the fairytale pulled me in to let me see its deeper aspects and
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 7/8/2013. Theme, King of Coins. Get the big picture this week around your resources, i.e. materials and money, related to your creative work. How is income keeping up with outgo? What’s your plan? And what is the creative project that
After almost four years of writing articles for this newsletter, sometimes I’m not sure what to write that won’t seem redundant or unimportant. So this time, I consulted the oracles in the form of Ciro Marchetti’s Legacy of the Divine Tarot. I pulled the first card to represent the subject
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 7/1/2013. Theme, King of Wands. Think of the King as the CEO, the one who has ultimate decision-making power, who controls and manages resources, and who must also keep the big picture of his/her realm so that decisions and resources
I know I’ve emphasized many times here how important making time to get away is for your life and especially for your creativity. But sometimes time, money, family and health prevent traveling to idyllic locales such as the one here in the Catskills where I am holding my retreat. So,
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for week of June 24, 2013. Theme, Ace of Coins. Coins is the element of earth and the Ace is all potential, all possibility. With the Summer Solstice just passed, think of this Ace as a seed waiting to be planted this week. What
This past Sunday was Father’s Day here in the US. But I called my dad on Saturday because I didn’t want to deal with busy phone lines or trying to catch Dad when he was home and not at church or on the phone with one of my other three
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 6/17/2013. Theme, 3 of Coins. Three is the number of growth, change and creativity. So the theme for this week is to make time for focusing on your current creative project, especially in ways that will manifest that project physically,
A Story has emotional power: it brings meaning, hope, and vision together; it connects body and soul. It can be as simple as a saying or as complex as a biography; it can come from a conversation, a newspaper clipping, a movie, or a myth. A Story can bring the
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 6/10/2013. Theme, The High Priestess. This week, be aware of your ability to share your knowledge and wisdom about your creative work. So often, when clients purchase work or services, they also want to have part of the creator. So
I gave birth to three sons who ranged in weight from 7 lbs. 14 oz. to 9 lbs. 3 oz. My three favorite creative projects, I birthed them without medication, so I was very aware of the stages and the process. If you’ve given birth or attended someone who has,
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 6/3/2013. Theme, The Empress. Here is the image of life and creativity in abundance. This week, remember that within you is a wellspring of creative ideas. Allow them to emerge, and even though you may not be ready to work
On a recent vacation, Bob, his friend, Bill, and Bill’s wife, Patty and I walked into an old building in a run-down area of Indianapolis. It was an antique shop called Audrey’s Place. Walking through the back door where stuff was pile high for loading or unloading, a guy who
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 5/27/2013. Theme, Page of Swords. See that fresh, young face? See the two small swords or daggers on the pillow? Swords have to do with thoughts, attitudes, ideas, beliefs, communication. So this week, choose two ways that you can communicate
Whether it’s the image of starving artist in the garret, or the wildly successful artist who lives in a world of constant creation and work, the one thing both of these images have in common is the artist alone. Creatives do need frequent doses of silence and solitude in order
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 5/20/2013. Theme, 4 of Cups. This week, it’s time to finish up those projects you’ve been working on that are near completion so you have room in your schedule and your energy for the new project that is rising up
“Oh dear, oh dear, I shall be too late!” When I work with clients or lead workshops on creativity or writing, I often here the complaint of not having time. So early in the coaching process, I have clients explore establishing a regular time to work on their creative projects,
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse, 5/13/2013. Theme, Queen of Wands. Don’t you love the look of fierce will on her face? This fierce and passionate desire is your theme for the week. Bring that to your creative work, and to how you nurture and help others with your work.
Creative friends and clients often complain that getting connected to their Muses and staying connected is an ongoing challenge, especially when in the middle of a book or project. But once in a while, a client has a Muse who is a Chatty Cathy. Chatty Cathy, a doll that was
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 5/6/2013. Theme, the High Priestess. The High Priestess represents spiritual knowledge (the pomegranate she holds in her hand) and wisdom (the owl and the scroll). She is the gatekeeper between the known and the unknown, the conscious and the unconscious.
The Tarot is divided into two parts, the Major Arcana (Secrets) and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana has 22 cards that are numbered from 0 to 21. Zero, in the Major Arcana, is the Fool. It is the Fool that travels from the number one card, The Magician, to
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 4/29/2013. Theme, The Empress. Now that we are in the sign of Taurus ruled by Venus, we may feel this week that we are filled, pregnant with creative ideas and possibilities. Experience what it means to be the channel for
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for 4/22/2013. Theme, The World. A phase or part of your creative journey has been completed successfully. Time to look at where you are and what you need to do to move your career or your work up into that next level of development
When I teach of group of people how to work with their dreams, I ask each of them to remember a recent sleep dream to practice the process on. “What if I don’t remember my dreams?” is a question that always comes up. Every time. “Think of a recent waking
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse, 4/15/2013. Theme, 9 of Swords. These Swords (thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, communication) are waking you up at night…are they worries or dreams? For this week, prepare yourself for sleep in a way that supports your creative night life. Cleanse your space and your mind. Do
This week is a magical week for me. And I don’t even have to wave a magical wand. Instead, I am waving my purple pen, the color of ink I use when I am writing my book. See, I am on a writer’s retreat in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for Week of 4/8/2013. Theme, The Magician. For this week, be aware of the magic you hold within, the magic that can take an idea and turn it into physical form. How, for you, thoughts definitely become things. Focus, Page of Cups. With that
In my dream, I am away from home, sleeping in a strange bed. During the night, I was frightened, like a child, by the sense of something under the bed. In the light of day, I decide to brave up. I get down on the floor, reclining on my right
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 4/1/2013. Theme, The Fool. Since April 1st is April Fool’s Day here in the US, I decided to pull that card from the deck and make it the theme for the week. So this week, be the Fool for your
Andrew, my grandson, was here for a visit with his parents last week so that we could celebrate his first birthday. We invited some close family friends over to share in the celebration and cake, and they brought Andrew three Mylar balloons. I now have a cherished memory of watching
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the Week of 3/25/2013. Theme, 7 of Swords. This week, it’s time to pay attention to how others’ thoughts, attitudes, and ideas might sabotage your creative work. Are you spending too much time worrying about what they think, how they are using your
Anticipation, anticipation/ Is makin’ me late/Is keepin’ me waitin’ ~ Carly Simon Do you remember being a child excitedly counting down the days until Christmas or some other special holiday? Do you remember the fluttery feeling in your tummy the first time you went out on a date with a
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse, 3/18/2013. Theme, Queen of Coins. Coins is the element of earth, resources in the physical realm. This Queen has the ability to take the resources around her, create something beautiful from them and then use them to nurture others. This is your role for
I get it. I really do. Time is short and passes quickly. You are busy with a hundred and one things. And in today’s world of technology where information sharing and business occurs at the speed of nanoseconds, the oft-times snail-like process of creativity can become extremely frustrating. So we
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the Week of March 11, 2013. Theme, 5 of Coins. Poor woman needs help…and all she has to do is get up, turn around and look at what is available to her behind her. Stop waiting for help for your creative work. Get
I am so delighted to have Jill Badonsky on my blog this week as part of her blog tour to promote her magical book,”The Muse is In: An Owner’s Manual for Your Creativity.” I loved having the opportunity to ask her some questions about creativity. If you’d like to hear
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…” ~John Donne Did you watch the Oscars? Or the Grammys? If you did, you know that winners of those statuettes often get up on stage and thank everyone from
Monday Tarot Message from the Muse for the week of 3/4/2013. Theme, King of Cups. Cups are the element of water, of the heart, of dreams and intuition, of creativity. Creative desires come from the heart and can sometimes overwhelm us, but if you remember to take a few steps
In the dream, I am in my house (not mine in waking reality), a Cape Cod-style in a suburban neighborhood. Dinosaurs threaten the area and homeowners have secured their homes. I am sleeping until suddenly, I wake to the sound of something pounding on the front door. Throwing on a
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for 2/25/2013. Theme, Queen of Wands. Even though the Sun just moved into the sign of watery Pisces, this not the week to go with the flow and be directed by others needs and wants. Instead, this week, be the fiercely confident and creatively
You know the story of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, who is kidnapped by Hades, god of the Underworld. Mad with grief, Demeter, goddess of harvest and crops, causes a famine until her daughter is returned to her. However, since Persephone has eaten a pomegranate seed while in the Underworld she
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse, 2/18/2013. Theme, Temperance. This week be aware of the desire to look at your creative work from a new vantage point. Maybe you need some time away, or maybe you can mentally and emotionally step up and back. See from that new perspective, new
I’m not that tough; I’m not that smart. I need life telling me who I am, showing me my mind constantly. I wouldn’t see it in a cave. Richard Gere Caves are a wonderful thing… If you are a bear…If it is winter… A cave provides solitude and silence, shelter
Monday’s Tarot Message from the Muse for the Week of 2/11/2013. Theme, Page of Swords. This week, keep looking for two ways you can communicate to your community, tribe, audience about your creative work. Maybe the two ways are ones you’ve only dabbled in before but might pay off if
One of the games that my 10-month old grandson loves to play is when I hold him in front of the mirror, pointing first to me and saying, “Grandma” and then to him, saying, “Andrew.” Then I wave at him. “Hi, Andrew!” Big grin. Looks at me, looks at the
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
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