Creativity (An 8-Part Series): Part II - Domestication vs. Wildness

By Kristy McCaffrey

Don't miss Part I - Imagination

There are beautiful and wild forces within us. ~ St. Francis of Assisi

When I was very young, I had a powerful dream. Young women dressed in white—clearly some type of initiates—filed forward to be approved by a Head Mother. One, a scraggly and unkempt girl, didn’t fit. Two guards forcibly dragged her along in line.

The dream was simple and vivid. It was my wild nature fighting against domestication. And often, that domestication is governed by you, not an outside force such as parents, teachers, or a religious institution. We often suppress our wild nature because in its wake comes chaos—or so we think. In truth, wildness opens avenues. In wildness lies curiosity, compassion, and a connection to the rhythms of life. All life. The trees, the plants, the animals, the Earth. Without this connection something in us will die.

But the good news is that no matter how long the wild nature has been abandoned, it can always be brought back to life.

In Women Who Run With The Wolves, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés states, “Once [women] have regained [wild woman], they will fight and fight hard to keep her, for with her their creative lives blossom; their relationships gain meaning and depth and health; their cycles of sexuality, creativity, work, and play are re-established; they are no longer marks for the predations of others; they are entitled equally under the laws of nature to grow and to thrive. Now their end-of-the-day fatigue comes from satisfying work and endeavors, not from being shut up in too small a mind-set, job, or relationship. They know instinctively when things must die and when things must live; they know how to walk away, they know how to stay.”

Kali is a goddess of destruction and creation who predates Hinduism. Sometimes known as the 'forbidden thing', she shines a light on the dark places that keep us from total liberation, shadows that encompass our authentic sexuality, our rage, our killer instincts, our animalistic natures. These are often suppressed, but they wield power by allowing our fears and anxieties to flourish. Kali represents the Divine Feminine, and she doesn't do well with domestication. By confronting the terror that Kali illuminates, we slowly become unfrozen. We are able to speak, live, and create in a divinely natural way, following the rhythms that course through each of us. We become wild in the truest sense, deeply connected to our soul-selves, following the path we're meant to pursue.

How might we recover our wildness? One age-old way is through stories.

It’s been my experience that when I tell others that I write romance novels, 1) women giggle with delight and quietly share with me how much they love such books, and 2) women tell me how they long to write and hope one day to share a story with the world. (I will also add that men are generally supportive, but there is also that small minority who have no interest. When done with respect, there is no harm in this.)

Why do I write romances? Because in a majority of these stories, whether they be historical, contemporary, futuristic or paranormal, the heroines are women in search of the core of their wildness. By the end of a story, they will become brave enough to not only face the villain and love the hero, but they will also find a strength that is soul-deep, soul-knowing, and a piece of themselves they can’t live without.

This is why women giggle when they learn my profession, because despite the stigma associated with reading frivolous romances, they’re drawn to the myth and power woven into these tales. Stories transform the teller and the listener. Stories light the way on the darkened path into the hearts of women (and men), illuminating the pitfalls but also the guideposts along the way.

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories. ~ Author Ursula K. LeGuin

I’ve always enjoyed the game of finding which female character in Greek mythology most draws you. Is it Athena, filled with wisdom, or Artemis, who runs among the animals in the woods? What about Aphrodite, the seductress, or Persephone, the innocent who succumbs to Hades and takes springtime with her? (There are versions in which Persephone willingly binds herself to the god of the underworld. A simple shift in intention can change everything.)

What stories resonate with you? Those that do are engaging directly with your wild self. Don’t ignore the connection, but instead actively explore what bubbles forth from inside you.

We have an archetypal need to be spoken to through stories because they bring us into contact with our inner being. ~ Carolyn Myss, medical intuitive and author

Works Cited

Beak, Sera. Red Hot & Holy: A Heretic's Love Story. Sounds True, Inc., 2013.

Estés, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run With The Wolves. Ballantine Books, 1992.

Don’t miss Part III in the Creativity series: Shape-Shifting

Until next month…

Connect with Kristy

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Creativity (An 8-Part Series): Part I - Imagination

By Kristy McCaffrey

 When I was in the final stages of completing my third book, I had a strong sense of cultivation, as if I were gardening. As I strove to refine the story and add more details that would, hopefully, enliven the tale more deeply, I could literally feel the soft, sweet, moist earth fall through my fingers as I scooped it up and packed it into the world I'd created. In moments like these, the creative life fully connects with ordinary reality. It's why painters paint, sculptors sculpt, and writers write. It's why we, as humans, create. We want to bring meaning to our lives, and art—in any form—presents an outlet for us to express this yearning.

We all create, whether you label yourself an artist or not. Decorating your home, landscaping your yard, crafting long letters to friends and family—all are forms of self-expression, a deeply-rooted desire present in all of us.

Artmaking is making the invisible, visible. ~ Marcel Duchamp

Studies have shown that activities such as writing, drawing and even knitting reduce stress and increase serotonin levels. A UCLA study found that when young people engaged in artistic pursuits from a young age, they outperformed their peers in categories ranging from academics to life skills.

Cross-cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien states that in many traditional cultures, a healer will ask an ill person four questions: When did you stop singing? When did you stop dancing? When did you stop telling your story? When did you stop sitting in silence?

We need our creativity to survive. And we need to move through our creativity ourselves.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

In this series on Creativity, I'll be discussing the following, each in a separate post:

I.      Imagination

II.    Domestication vs. Wildness

III.   Shape-Shifting

IV.   Forbearance

V.    Maiden/Mother/Crone

VI.   The Virgin and the Sacred Prostitute

VII.  Synchronicity

VIII. Magic

Part I: Imagination

Imagination is when you step outside of time. I've often thought that imagination is less something we create and more something we tap into. As a fiction writer, I most definitely conjure ideas and make-believe people to fill the pages of my stories. Or do I?

I wrote my very first novel based on an idea that came to me when I was 15 years old. It was at that time I first became acquainted with my heroine. Years later, as I drove cross-country with my mother and sister—a leaving-the-nest move from Phoenix to Pittsburgh—we pulled off at a rest stop outside of Amarillo. It was a desolate place, with wide-open sky and the endless flat expanse of the Texas Panhandle. And that's when I felt her, standing in the tall grass, watching me. My heroine. And she was whispering to me.

I was about 22 years old at the time. I didn't write that book until I was 33, but in that moment it was as if the character breathed her spirit into mine. It's been said that stories chase the right person to tell it. So, perhaps imagination is less an activity of making something up and more a sense of remembering.

How might you trigger this remembering?

Playing. Children know it, and animals do as well. When children play, they follow their innate talents. It simply doesn’t occur for them not to. Playing is any activity that disengages the rational mind—for some it may be sports, or sewing, or playing a musical instrument. As adults, we often encapsulate play into vacations, but it should really be present each day. How can you add more play to your day? Think about it, and then let go and just have fun.

A Labrador retriever plays through its lifetime and dies a child. ~ Dr. Stuart Brown

Dreams. Whatever your personal beliefs about dreams, and why we have them, there is nothing better at shining a spotlight into your life than your dreams. The key is learning to work with the imagery. Renowned dream archaeologist Robert Moss suggests keeping a dream journal to begin understanding the messages relayed. Working with dreams isn’t a passive endeavor. Everything around us is alive with meaning; all you have to do is pay attention. For further guidance, read Moss's Active Dreaming—Journeying Beyond Self-Limitation to a Life of Wild Freedom (New World Library, 2011). If you’re still not certain that there’s something to be gained from this dreaming thing, check out his book The Secret History of Dreaming (New World Library, 2009) in which he elaborates on the dream lives of Joan of Arc, Mark Twain, and Winston Churchill.

In dreams begin responsibilities. ~ William Butler Yeats

Solitude. Numerous studies tout the benefits of meditation, but even if you can’t quiet your mind enough for a deep practice, time alone can trigger a rush of ideas, from planning dinner parties to writing a book. Immersing yourself in the words of others can offer additional stimulus. Perhaps you’re inspired by perusing the latest fictional tale, or devouring Deepak Chopra, or quietly absorbing passages from the Bible. Or perhaps soothing music does the trick, or a hot bath and candles. A practice of daily solitude will fine-tune your access to imagination.

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work. ~ Mary Oliver

Imagination is the act of creating new ideas. The key is learning to open the floodgates within the mind that can hold it back. Playing, dreams, and solitude are three ways to allow the remembering to enter your life.

Don’t miss Part II in the Creativity series: Domestication vs. Wildness

Until next month…

Connect with Kristy

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Straw Men, Foxes and Monsters

We often wonder when an author knew they wanted to write. So many times I’ve heard writers answer that question with similar responses: “I always wanted to be a writer”, “As soon as I learned to read, I knew I wanted to write”, “Before I could write I would tell stories”, or they would know a specific age at which they realized they wanted to try their hand at writing. There are those few who didn’t begin writing until they were older, but I’ve only met a few of them. It would be interesting to research what it was that influenced that small group to become writers.

I believe there is some type of DNA, some kind of brain chemistry that wired up certain individuals to write. Have you ever heard a writer say something like, “I can’t NOT write.” Or, “If I didn’t write I’d go crazy.”? The writers I know love to write and it doesn’t seem to matter to them if they make money at it or not; they just write because they have to and they want to.

I think the traits of a born writer come out early in life when we’re children. I remember as a child being terrified of foxes. I dreamed about those gigantic monsters coming after me determined to devour me until my parents took me to a zoo and showed me a real live fox that was no bigger than a house cat. Monsters lurked behind every tree and animals could talk to me in my imagination. When I was four years old I recall telling my maternal grandfather a story about rabbits coming down from Heaven. Where did that come from? 

Pop once told me I built “straw men” and then got scared of them. Neither he nor I thought that imaginative monster building might be the first signs of a potential writer-in-waiting. 

Writers are often avid readers. The love of words runs deep in a writer’s soul.

When did you first get the urge to write? Were you a child with a big imagination? How old were you when you decided to write (fiction or nonfiction)? Did you have a parent who noticed your potential as a writer? Did that parent encourage you along the way to develop your talent?

Sarah J. McNeal is a multi-published author of several genres including time travel, paranormal, western and historical fiction. She is a retired ER and Critical Care nurse who lives in North Carolina with her four-legged children, Lily, the Golden Retriever and Liberty, the cat. Besides her devotion to writing, she also has a great love of music and plays several instruments including violin, bagpipes, guitar and harmonica. Her books and short stories may be found at Prairie Rose Publications and its imprints Painted Pony Books, and Fire Star Press. She welcomes you to her website and social media:

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HALLOWE'EN'S A COMIN'!

 HAUNTED WORDS. By 'The English Rose'

I've been noticing lately that some of the PRP ladies write stories which have ghosts as one (or maybe more) of the characters, and as this is the month for ‘ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night’ I was just wondering if you really had any experience with such things? Or are the stories all written from the imagination? Or maybe you tell people it’s all from the imagination, when really you have actually experienced such goings on, but worry about what your friends will say if you tell them about your experiences? 

I have been lucky enough to have had various ‘other worldly experiences’ over the years, hearing, feeling and seeing things which could not be rationally explained. To date I have never written anything where I could include any of those experiences, maybe one day I will though.

When I was in my teens, the family moved to live in a 300 year old coaching inn, which was where most of my ‘experiences’ occurred. It was a big stone built place, with a large red brick ‘barn’ attached, which would have been where the coaches and horses were housed. Down the large garden was a small stone built shed, and the path past the shed led on down a slope to a wide river at the end of the garden, surrounded by big old trees.

In the winter, the river flowed fast and high, and I used to sit on a bent branch of one of the old trees and get as close as I could to the fast, brown water! I never gave a thought to the fact that I couldn’t swim, and should I fall in, I’d be lost. For some reason it never even crossed my mind.

We had a coin meter for the electricity, and it was situated in the basement, a cold place with steep stone stairs and an arched ceiling, it was where beer and provisions for the inn used to be stored. I was terrified of that basement, there was a sinister ‘feeling’ in there which always made me want to run out as fast as I could and lock the door tightly behind me! It was almost as if something was reaching out to take hold of me.

After everyone had retired to bed, I often heard the sound of a girl crying. I have two younger sisters, one of whom was only about five at the time. At first I thought it was her crying and got out of bed at 2 am to investigate. Both girls were sleeping soundly, but I could still hear it, when I reached the door to the attic room, the sound stopped. This happened regularly. In the end I stopped going to look, there was no way I was going up in that attic to investigate either.

Then one night, I woke up, knowing there was someone in my room. I was sleeping face to the wall, but I knew there was someone there. At first, I couldn’t move, then I had an overpowering feeling of peace surrounding me. I turned to see a monk standing in the centre of the room and I knew what he wanted. When we had been renovating one of the rooms we had found a thin silver ring, which fitted me perfectly, and which I left on my dressing table. The monk was there for the ring. He bent over the dressing table, turned and disappeared out of the wall. The next morning, the ring was gone.

No-one believed me when I told them, my sisters were blamed for taking the ring and of course they denied it, I was accused of frightening them and so I shut up. I didn’t say much when a few months later, the monk returned and replaced the ring in exactly the place it had been. He bowed his head to me in thanks, then vanished through the wall again. I still have that little ring.

The strange thing is that, after my family had moved out of the inn, and another family with two young sons had moved in, one son woke up one night thinking his brother was walking about dressed in a sheet trying to scare him. He was sleeping in what had been my room, we had never mentioned any of our experiences to the new family.

The barn too had its own resident. It was a lovely big place, we used it as a garage, but I didn’t like going in there at night, there was something cold and creepy about it then. One night, Mum came home and parked the car in the barn, she was about to leave by the small side door, when ‘something’ rushed up behind her and pushed her over. When she came in she was shaking and covered in cuts and bruises. She never went in there at night again. We found out much later that someone had hanged themselves in the barn, about a hundred years before.

Now I come to think of it, there were so many more ‘experiences’ in that house, maybe I really should write something about it?

So, come on ladies, recount your own ghost stories, and let us know if you’ve used your own experiences for any of your stories? And I’ll give some thought to using some of mine!