Resources for Exceptional Creative Writing
Soul Writing: Conversing with your Higher Self, by Joanne DiMaggio
and
Illuminara: Intuitive Journal with Cards, by Elaine Clayton
Reviewed by Henry Reed
Sometimes we need another perspective on things. Ever find yourself sitting on a
mountain top, a high hill, or making looking down from a plane, and you notice a
grander point of view? There's something about elevation that provides a larger
perspective, something that often helps us with our smaller concerns.
From whence do we gain our inspiration? From the clouds? Sometimes. The notion
that there exists a greater self is almost universal. There is an inner
intuition regarding a consciousness or awareness that has a reach beyond our
eyes, a wisdom beyond our understanding. If we could only get out of our own
way! Our habit thoughts block the passage of the inspirational flow. How can we
reach the mountain top of our awareness?
Dreams have been perhaps the most famous of channels for inspiration. One
advantage they have is that we are asleep when the dreams bring forth
inspirations and it is difficult for us to block their appearance. But what
about deliberate, intentional attempts to access the inspirational domain?
Concoctions, dances, trances -- all of these methods and more have been tried in
the attempt to sedate the talkative ego so that the more subtle inspirational
realm can be accessed.
And once prepared, how do these inspirations appear? In what medium do they feel
most at home? For some, visionary experiences are the preferred theater of
inspiration. For others, art work. Others find it through their mouths, talking
or singing out the flow of inspiration. And a significant number of folks use
writing to draw out the inspiration and record it simultaneously. Some form of
spontaneous writing, material emanating directly from the unconscious mind of
the writer and being recorded as it appears, has provided mankind with some of
its most influential sources of inspiration. I'm thinking of such classics as
The Koran, The Prophet, The Urantia Book, Johnathan Livingston Seagull, and most
recently, Conversations with God.
In my book,
Edgar Cayce on Channeling Your Higher Self, I describe a general rubric
for bringing forth inspiration from one's higher self: It is to get tuned in,
and then let go. What do we mean by being tuned in? I'm referring to the
preparation stage. It begins with setting an intention. What kind of inspiration
is being sought, and for what purpose? Tuning in then continues by some
activity, ritual performance, or other type of mental preparation. Meditation,
for example, might begin with a brief prayer that states the intention for
seeking inspiration, and then the person would begin to focus on some
affirmation that would help to relax thought and induce an empathic alignment
with some "uplifting feeling," that would open the passage of inspiration. The
writer would then beging to write while in that meditative state, conscious of
what is being written, but not inventing the writing -- watching it unfold
instead. I have practiced this type of writing for many purposes, and have
explored many forms of preparation. I find inspirational writing to be an
invaluable resource and avenue of both discovery and expression. I want to
introduce you to two new books that provide very effective methods for learning
and developing this skill.
The first is
Soul Writing: Conversing with your Higher Self, by Joanne DiMaggio. This
book is a good resource for learning about the history of this medium and the
various types of literature it has produced. It is worth noting that many of
these works have had a tremendous influence in history -- a testament to the
power of this approach to inspiration and guidance. The author has a long
personal history of using inspirational writing for her own purposes. She
received her Master's Degree in Transpersonal Studies by doing a study involving
teaching people how to give birth to inspirational writing, and her book shows
evidence of all she's learned teaching others how to get "into the zone," as
some call it. This applied aspect of her book is a quite valuable contribution
to the study of how this skill can be taught.
From her work with others, she is sensitive to the difficulties folks have in
getting past their internal noise, or learning how to disregard it in favor of
more subtle trains of thought. Thus her book has a lot of instruction, guidance
and hand holding about the preparation stage. To become a conscious channel of
inspiration requires of us two, usually contradictory, tasks: first, to be
inwardly alert and aware, and two, to be completely relaxed and in a state of
letting go. In my own work, I've found an amusing way for folks to realize the
challenge and its paradoxical simplicity. What I do is to ask folks to notice
their breathing. After a few moments of silence, I ask for a show of hands from
folks who, upon noticing their breathing, did something to modify or improve it.
Most hands go up. I remind folks that I asked only to notice the breathing, not
to touch or change it, but that we find it so hard to be inwardly attentive like
that without inserting ourselves into it. Even though we know breathing can go
on automatically without our help, that it is a part of nature; even though we
realize that obvious truth, the fact of the matter is, when we confront our
breathing, it is hard to let it go. It requires a certain patient practice to
discover that fine balance of alert awareness combined with a relaxed attitude:
"I can be aware of my breathing and let it be, and I'm learning how to let go
and let inspiration breathe me."
DiMaggio's approach to this challenge is compassionate, supportive, and
instructive. One of the side benefits of practicing inspirational writing, or
any form of improvised creativity that is harnessed for an intentional purpose,
is that it builds trust in oneself. We are so trained to look outwardly for
information, it comes as a surprise to some folks to discover just how wise they
already are.
While some proponents of spontaneous writing focus on the magical quality of it,
DiMaggio is mindful of the general spiritual benefit and shapes her supportive
guidance accordingly. Other writers may suggest tricks that can evade the
interfering ego, but DiMaggio realizes the value of training the ego in becoming
the silent witness. She realizes the value simply in developing the
inspirational mode, independent of any product that might ensue. She frequently
reminds us of the importance and value of being in communion with our souls,
with our inner desires and motivations, our deepest thoughts and notions. For
her, inspirational writing is not so much for show and tell as it is for our own
growth, and for our ongoing need to be connected to the source of life, which is
within us. DiMaggio's book is perhaps the best source available on this fine art
of applied spirituality for she combines both a great instructional manual with
the Yogi's sense of spiritual purpose that understands why the practice itself
is the goal.
Whereas DiMaggio's book might be the best resource for learning inspirational
writing, I find
Illuminara: Intuitive Journal with Cards to be perhaps the most unique
approach to it. The author, Elaine Clayton, is a professional artist, book
illustrator, and intuitive consultant. Her personal skills thus embrace both
verbal and imagistic forms of improvisation leading to inspiration. But while
DiMaggio was growing up using journal writing to keep herself company and
connected with Source, Clayton was using doodles. She has made videos of her
doodle process and you can see them on her website, Illuminara.com.
Clayton's Illuminara set is both book
and cards. At first, one is tempted to place this product on the shelf with all
the other "Tarot" cards and other divinatory systems. There is a divinatory
aspect to Clayton's cards, which we'll discuss momentarily, as it adds another
dimension to the inspirational writing arrangement. Actually, however, what
Clayton intends is not so much a divinatory tool, as a support structure for
inspirational writing. To use looking at pictures as the starting point for
inspirational writing is a unique approach that I've not encountered elsewhere,
and some experimentation with it has proven its surprising value.
The written part is a booklet that explains how to use the picture cards. Once
the process is understood from these instructions, it is the cards themselves
that provide the action. Right away, here is one difference between the
Illuminara cards and divinatory
decks: in divinatory decks, there is a manual that gives interpretations for
each card. The Illuminara cards do
not have such a manual, for the intent is that the reader herself will respond
to the card and provide the necessary meaning -- through inspirational writing!
I need to describe the picture cards a bit to better explain the process and why
this product is so unique. There are 40 cards, each one is an illustration by
Clayton. There are images of everyday scenes and fantasy images. Clayton used a
variety of of artistic styles and art media for the pictures. Some are quite
straightforward in their representation, while others are reminiscent of the
freedom of Chagall's scenes.
The Illuminara process begins with
you deciding upon an intent -- what is your concern, your purpose for engaging
in this process? Perhaps you are troubled by something and wish a creative
perspective, then that would be your intent. Given that intent, you then pick a
random card from the pile. When you turn it over to look at it, you do so with
the expectation that you are going to see something in the picture that will
trigger some thought related to your intent. Of course, when you actually do
turn the picture over and look at the picture card, there is a moment of
surprise. What Clayton suggests is that you look at the card and begin writing
about what you see in the picture and then let the writing continue to see where
it takes you. Here enters both an element of synchronicity (from the card
choice) as well as the mystery surrounding how it is that we see what we see in
something that appears before us.
When I first looked at the Illuminara picture cards, I was reminded of the
Thematic Apperception Test, developed decades ago by Henry Murray. Intended as
an alternative to the old inkblot test, the Rorschach. The T.A.T. (as it was
usually called) was a series of black and white picture cards displaying
realistic scenes that were nevertheless somewhat ambiguous as to what folks
might be feeling and so on. The person being "tested" was to make up stories to
go along with these pictures. The idea behind this "projective test" was that
the person's unconscious stirrings would reveal themselves in the stories the
person would invent for these pictures. When I viewed the
Illuminara cards from the perspective
of my past association with the T.A.T. cards, I wondered at how they might
stimulate inspiration rather than reflection. The difference, of course, lies
with the intent, and here, the intent has a practical value, to connect the
people with their own natural intuition regarding issues in life. The
Illuminara cards are not intended to
help a third part diagnose what's on the mind of a client; instead, the cards
are intended to promote self-empowered intuition, to demonstrate that we have
within us what we need to provide our own connection to inspiration and
guidance. I'm all for that and wanted to experience it in action.
When I began to use the cards, I chose as my first "question," how I could best
make a connection with the cards given my background. The card I pulled was what
looks like an oil painting of colorful clouds in a blue sky. The sky fills most
of the picture. The land is low, a small house is visible. Along the bottom of
the picture is a line of telephone poles. It might be a scene from the prairie.
My first reaction is to see the clouds and recall an experiment with children
doing creative writing after laying on the ground and looking up at the sky and
clouds for a few minutes and how inspiring that was. As I continue to write
about my own cloud gazing and ideas that come in my outdoor bathtub, the
depiction of the telephone wires, appearing and disappearing as they travel
between poles reminded me of the intermittent nature of the "connection," even
as I write. I realize, also, that I'm being affected by the style of the
painting, not just the content. One might wonder if 40 cards are sufficient to
stimulate us toward inner wisdom concerning the infinite number of issues life
presents. Well, a traditional card deck has 52 cards, a number that has
significance, and is not much greater than 40, another number with some
spiritual connotations. Yet I come to realize that 40 is the number of pictures.
But there must be at least 20 different styles of representation, which adds
even more variability. Both the artistic style and the content of the pictures
are operative to stimulate insight.
I've had a lot of experience with inspirational writing. I've mostly prepared by
meditating. That is the approach I use most when my intent is to use the method
to create some writing that I can incorporate into my work. There are other
times when I'm more experimental. Moving to music is a favored preparation, as
well as chanting. I was curious to see how the
Illuminara process would work with
its more subtle, yet in-your-face, type of preparation and stimulation. Can an
image set you off to conduct inspirational writing? I've found that the answer
is yes! This discovery suggests what makes Clayton's approach to inspirational
writing so unique: it uses a visual stimulus! We're already familiar with using
synchronicity as a prompt to our intuition. Manuals accompanying Tarot decks
often suggest looking at the details in the card for more ideas, yet the
theoretical, archetypal structure underlying the Tarot dominates the
interpretive process. In Clayton's cards, it's all visual.
I worked the Illluminara process
again to gain some idea about the specific value of the visual stimulus to
inspirational writing. This time, the card that "came to me," was a picture of a
man playing a cello. There's a hint of another musical instrument being handled
behind him. I begin my inspirational writing, "playing around, the music is
playing, music of the spheres, music which creates the patterns of life, these
things are so well integrated, we cannot think of all the ways in which life is
connected to itself, and so a picture is worth a thousand words. As I prepare
myself for inspiration, I may release my breathing, I may begin to cultivate
feelings of peace, beauty, joy, truth. I "reach" for that place from which
inspiration flows. I know the feeling. Seeing the cello I'm reminded of the free
flow of jazz music and the soulfulness that gave rise to it. I can almost "see"
the notes spurting out like fireworks of colorful sound. The eyes naturally
explore and while they do, I'm motivated by my intent, my curiosity, my
receptivity to new ideas, new understandings, and the picture invites my eyes to
move in unexpected ways and I am surprised that I'm guided to notice things that
bring ideas to me. I find myself wondering what might be a universal image that
would inspire all that is the best within. Yet that image might be boring to
another. I understand now that these pictures become very personal places,where
what you see is who you are, and that is where the intuition comes in to play."
I could go on and on, but this one session with Illuminara inspired me about the
value of the image as a starting point for inspirational writing, a method I had
not previously considered. To me, this makes the Illuminara product quite
thrilling. I realize that my years of practice makes the process immediately
accessible to me. If I were a newcomer to the process, I would want to have the
DiMaggio book to help me learn the art. And I know me, that I would always want
to have available an open ended approach to inspirational writing, and
DiMaggio's book would be my Bible. But I also know me, that I always want
something that takes me to new directions I'd never consider myself. That's a
hard tool to find. But I've found it in
Illuminara, as it has led to some surprising sessions of inspirational
writing. There's really no need to compare the two, as each speaks to a
different sensibility. I want both approaches in my repertoire. I'm so pleased
that there exist such accessible tools for both. I recommend them.