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Each
month, Dana Reynolds shares her life-transforming
thoughts, ideas, and sacred imagination based around our
"theme of the month." Dana is a visionary Spiritual Midwife, who
devotes herself to helping women birth their creative
gifts into the world.
Invoking Your Muse
Immersing yourself in the waters of the sacred
imagination is a way to enter the flow of life. The
sacred imagination is that blessed internal place where
one goes to co-create with the spark of Divine
inspiration. It is there where you dive into the spring
of creativity.
In the waters of the sacred imagination you connect
with the Muses who set the heart and soul on fire with
passion for your ideas and projects while giving you the
energy to birth them. Your Muses anoint you with the
waters from their spring; this is a sweet initiation
into the flow of life. They spark your journey with
synchronistic happenings to guide you on your path as
you discover your hidden gifts and talents.
In ancient Greece or Rome if you were called upon to
write a poem or compose music or share wisdom with
others and you needed inspiration you would have known
how to call for it. You would have raised your head and
beckoned the Muses, the personification of inspiration.
The Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus, the king
of the Gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. They were
born after Zeus and his companion gods had won a great
battle against the Titans. His friends wanted to
celebrate so they asked Zeus to create goddesses to
bless them with singing and dancing. The Muses were born
and their voices combined to sing the most beautiful
music the heavens had ever heard.
Each Muse was named and assigned a certain area of
the arts and science; Clio, the Muse of History;
Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry; Melpomene, the Muse
of Tragedy; Euterpe, the Muse of Lyric Poetry; Erato,
The Muse of Love Poetry; Terpsichore, the Muse of Choral
Dance and Song; Polyhymnia, the Muse of Sacred Song;
Urania, the Muse of Astronomy; and Thalia, the Muse of
Comedy.
It is told that when Perseus severed the snake-
infested head of the great gorgon, Medussa, from her
body a winged horse flew from her insides. This magical
creature was Pegasus, representing the transformation of
chaos into creativity.
Pegasus soared into the sky and when he returned to
earth on Mount Helicon his hoof plunged into the soil
releasing an underground stream, the Hippocrene. The
water gushed forth and soon the nine Muses appeared as
inspiration from a hidden inner source.
The Muses are a composite of the strength and power
of their father who was known for hurling thunderbolts
with his bare hands, and their mother’s more
contemplative and reflective ways of remembering.
Creativity is born from both reflection and action. The
Muses shine their light on those parts of ourselves that
we may not be conscious of. This is the true source of
our inspiration.
There are few stories attached to the Muses. For the
most part, their lives were centered in patience as they
awaited the call to serve the mortals on earth.
Each of the nine Muses has her own particular area of
emphasis pertaining to the arts and sciences.
Collectively, they seem to blend together and are often
referred to in a singular way as, "The Muse."
How do we twenty-first century mortals connect with
our Muse(s)? Before we begin a task or creative endeavor
how can we engage in the flow and synchronicities that
will lead us to fruition?
Creating ritual before engaging in creative activity
offers a connection to your inner resources, the sacred
imagination, and your Muses. Sometimes the ritual is as
simple as going for a walk to a favorite place in nature
or lighting a candle and offering a prayer for guidance
before turning on the computer.
Ritual is a pipeline to the Muses. In order to
connect to the flow of creative and inventive energy and
to be open to the possibility of synchronicity in our
lives, we must first make a shift in consciousness.
Creativity and flow are not the act of "doing"
but rather a state of "being."
In order to receive inner guidance from your Muses
(Higher consciousness) you must be in a receptive mode.
In order to receive you must become still. Only then can
you become the vessel ready to be filled with the waters
of the Hippocrene.
I invite you to begin calling on your Muse(s). Who
are the Muses in your life? Muses can take many forms; a
fourth grade teacher who encouraged you to color outside
the lines or your calico cat who gently purrs a tune
into your head.
You may want to create an altar to your Muse(s) in
your workspace. Place a photo or image to represent the
Muses you have known. Add a symbol to represent the
daughter of Zeus who most reflects your particular
creative emphasis; a tablet or pen (Calliope); a flute (Euterpe);
a scroll (Clio); a tragic mask (Melpomene); a veil (Polyhymnia);
a globe (Urania), a lyre (Terpsichore and Erato); a
comic mask (Thalia). Write an invocation and record it
to memory as your call to your Muses.
Inviting your Muses to co-create with you calls for
you to open your eyes to the symbolism of everyday life.
Pay close attention to books that seem to fall open to
certain pages. Be careful to not throw away what at
first glance appears to be junk mail and is actually an
announcement for an upcoming workshop that will offer
guidance for your project or interest. Working with your
Muses calls forth your powers of observation and
awareness.
September is the harbinger of autumn. The light of
summer is diminishing. It is a time to begin moving
inward. As you circumnavigate the spiral of the seasons,
let this be a time to enter that deep place of memory
and discovery. This is the place where you will
encounter your Muses and in the process awaken your soul
to new possibility.
You are
invited to submit your story and accompanying
photos to be considered as a feature for the Sacred
Imagination column. E-mail me at dana@sacredimagination.com
for details.
Copyright© 2001 Dana
Reynolds.
Read
Dana's Past "Sacred Imagination" Columns:
August
2001 - The Blessings of Daily Bread
July
2001 - Entertaining the Dream Visitor
May
2001 - Embracing the Whole:
Choices for Conscious Living
April
2001 "Nourishing the Souls of the Children"
March
2001 "Opening the Senses to Beauty"
February
2001 "The Eyes of Love"
January
2001 "Patterns of Authenticity"
December
2000 "Finding Peace in the Fields of Time"
November
2000 "Cultivating Gratitude: Heart-Hugs and Prayer
Leaves"
October
2000 "Journey to the Center - The Sacred Mystery of
the Labyrinth"
September
2000 "The Heart and Craft of Healing"
August
2000 "Transforming Life’s Challenges into Beauty and Story"
July
2000 "Sacred Spaces Invite the
Muses of the Soul"
Read
Dana's Soulful Living Feature Articles:
Visual
Prayers
Intuition
and the Sacred Imagination: The Dance of Co-creation
For ten years, Dana Reynolds has
been facilitating women’s spiritual presentations and
retreats nationwide. Her work as a Spiritual Midwife,
one who assists women as they birth their creative gifts
into the world, is the foundation of all her endeavors.
Her background as a visual artist and writer enriches
her Spiritual Midwifery: Birthing the Feminine Soul
workshops.
As the creator of an art making
process known as visual prayer, Dana teaches
women how to combine ritual with sacred intention to
create altars, collages, spirit dolls, and other
touchstones. The creation of sacred spaces is also
paramount to the Spiritual Midwifery experience. Her
web-site http://www.sacredimagination.com
offers samplings of her visual prayer collages, poetry,
and a workshop catalogue.
Dana is the author of the
whimsical and colorfully illustrated book, Be An
Angel, a co-creation with illustrator and graphic
designer, Karen Blessen, (Simon & Schuster). Her
essay, Visual Prayers is included in the
anthology, Our Turn, Our Time: Women Coming of Age, edited
by Cynthia Black, (Beyond Words Publishing).
A trained labyrinth
facilitator, Dana incorporates the labyrinth and other
spiritual wisdom into her retreats and workshops. She
recently traveled to Chartres and Vezelay Cathedrals in
France to gather information pertaining to ancient
sacred mystical traditions. She currently lectures on
such topics as spiritual midwifery, sacred journal
keeping, feminine spiritual wisdom, and the early
Christian women saints and mystics.
Dana’s life follows the
spiral path from rim to center and back again. She looks
for the sacred in forgotten places and openly embraces
the great Mystery of life. Guiding women to the
discovery of their creative inner gifts is the passion
that fuels her soul.
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