New Moons always remind us of the ability to start again. Mercury goes direct (finally) the same day as this New Moon beginning the integration phase of its cycle.
The air is ripe with potential.
Let’s all take a deep collective breath. This month has brought our motors to neutral so we can stop, assess, reveal, and update our actions accordingly. We have been unearthed, undone, and uncovered.
Now we can relish in the feeling of new, moving forward in a new way.
The sabien symbol for this degree of this New Moon is an image of “glass blowers shaping beautiful vases with their controlled breathing”. What a beautiful reminder of our ability to create and recreate.
With every new day.
With every new thought.
With new every new breath.
For our breath itself holds the life force of creation. And we, just like the glass blowers, can direct its form in astounding ways. The fire of our self-expression gives rise to the shape of our very lives.
This New Moon conjunct Venus asks us to revisit our power of creation and how we use it to construct new designs. Our innate force of creativity is often active in our younger years and then stifled as we grow. After all our left-brain society with its rules, conformity and dictations are threatened by the freethinking radical nature of creative expression. At an early age, we learn to quelch this visionary spirit and instead follow the “shoulds” and expectations of a severely linear world. A famous creativity research study in 1968 by Georgy Lund concluded that “non-creative behavior” is, in fact, learned.
“Land did a creativity test on children in the age group 3 to 5. This was the same test he conducted to select scientists and innovative engineers for NASA. He tested the same children at 10 years of age, and again at 15 years of age. The results were shocking.
While the creativity in 5 year olds was 98%, it went down to 30% when they reached the age of 10. And it was just 12% when they were tested as 15 year olds.
When the same test was given to 280,000 adults, the creativity was just 2%.” (The Creativity Project).
“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”
~Pablo Picasso
Daydreaming, imagination, art, music, dance, play, and imperfection itself are imperative to keeping our creative spark alive. Our current cultural conditioning and typical educational framework do not encourage freethinking, individual learning styles, and expression. The one size fits all model of education emphasizes following instructions, memorizing facts, and obedience. PE, art, theater, and music are fighting for both funding and time in a day filled with competition, tests, and other outside markers of achievement. We erroneously think the earlier we start complex learning systems like reading or mathematics the better and more ahead our children will be. In truth, real learning (defined as long-term retention) is a complex brain mechanism that requires desire, actual readiness, emotion, and creativity.
The root word of creativity has nothing to do with making something. It merely means “to grow”. It expands perception to include the vibrant lenses of possibility and potential. Creativity activates a unique part of the brain that allows us to see solutions the more habitual mind cannot. Creativity is the spark of individuation that lights our unique path forward.
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
―
Without it, we are all smoke and no flame. Our light is gone. We are disconnected. Rudderless. Subdued. Purpose, passion, and inspiration become elusive as we obsessively seek to find them somewhere. Often we outsource our spark trying on all the comparisons that surround us. We focus on Facebook likes and Instagram followers with the hope we will somehow get enough outside validation to feel our own burn. We do all the masterclasses, manifesting, affirmations, and follow readymade templates, yet we are unenergized. In truth, we will never stoke our own fire by outside means. We will never feel the blaze of our unique burn if we rely on borrowed flames. Likewise, we will never feel the light of our spark if we focus on accolades or approval, income, or “think” our way to it.
Real creativity is not about impressing anyone but the self. In fact, owning your creative spark often means you will go against the grain, challenge the status quo, and shake up the system. Passion, purpose, and desire are all housed in the light of creativity, not in normalcy.
We will never find those things in the left-brain, because by definition they do not follow the rules of form.
We cannot micromanage or borrow our authenticity. We must instead free what is blocking it.
“But what if your fire is not burning well or, worse, has gone out? Without inner fire, you have no light, no heat, no desire… there’s only one way out – and that’s through the dark woods. You must change your life.”
~Phil Cousineau
This New Moon is a call back to your light. We must refuel that fire. We must summon it again, dancing around its edges. Creativity is the kindling to epiphanies, sparks of inspiration, callings, and drive. It is our union with something bigger that breathes life into us.
Inspired.
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, the just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.”
~Steve Jobs
This can be challenging though if there is no fire and only fumes.
Yet we all have the ability to summon this illumination again. In truth, creativity is not just about art, dance, or music. We can be creative in every area of life if we allow the flow of spontaneity, wonder, curiosity, and joy to arouse us from our dormancy. (To get a sense of the specific flavor of your creativity, contact me for a reading).
Creativity does require we stop long enough to cease the routine machinations of our mind as it resides in flow not force. We need to stop distractions long enough to allow new information. Perhaps a distraction detox is a good place to start.
“My mind began to drift in a familiar but forgotten way as it meandered easily to future projects, ideas, and possibilities. I had flashes of insight and sparks of creativity that ignited a sense of inspiration and purpose. It was as if the minutiae had cleared to make room for new ideas. I created enough space so my mind could be mine again.”
~Excerpt from the the article Distraction Detox.
Creativity also requires we play. That we do something, anything, simply because we LOVE to do it. Amazingly, that force is often shamed and/or misunderstood.
How do you play?
What lights you up?
Where can you lose time?
Do more of that.
Do some art. If you are finding it hard to connect to this force allowing some more traditional creative processes is a good start. Get some clay or some paint. Turn up the music. Get some yarn or a sewing machine. Grab a notebook. Start drawing, writing, sculpting, weaving, or arranging furniture. Take a workshop. Or three. Go to a dance class.
Be imperfect.
Get messy.
Let it not make any sense.
Laugh a whole lot.
Because what we know is once this force is awakened, it starts to permeate other areas of life, and our flame is lit. Our hearts seared with authenticity, assertion, joy, and self-love . Our values clearer, our passion, purpose, and direction ignited.
We become alive.
It is time to light it up.
“We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness.”
~Abdul Kalam