“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' says the White Queen to Alice.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
Just now joining Earth & Verse? This is the third newsletter in a 6-letter series called Falling Gently. Begin here with letter one and letter two! Or head over to my other posts here.
Magic, Mystery, and Mysticism
There is a poet named Ruth Stone who tells this story about her creative process:
Growing up in rural Virginia, she was often working in the field when she would feel and hear a poem coming across the landscape. It would shake the earth beneath her feet as it came barreling toward her and she would have to run as fast as she could to make it home in time to catch the poem on paper. If the poem passed through her when she had nothing to write it down with, it simply continued on its way, searching for another poet to embody. Sometimes, she said, she barely made it in time and she had to reach out and grab the poem by the tail and pull it into her body. At these times, she claimed she was able to write the poem down perfectly word by word, but it came out backwards from the last word to the first.
(source: Liz Gilbert’s amazing Tedtalk on creative genius - which I highly recommend you watch if you have the time)
I love Ruth Stone’s story of catching a poem, because while it may sound a little eccentric, I think it's true for her that her writing feels like it comes from outside her body and is gifted to her. I feel that way too when I really let myself go creatively. I will re-read stories or pages I wrote a few weeks or years ago and have no recollection of ever having written it or even recognize the narrative voice. I have no doubt I wrote it, but it came from a deep place, a place where I am connected to more than my own experience.
Morning Pages/Dream Journaling
I was first introduced to the concept of morning pages through Julia Cameron’s influential book,“The Artist’s Way.” This book is described as a 12 week creative recovery program (loosely based on other 12-step models) designed to help you overcome your inner critic and return to your natural state of unblocked creativity. When my therapist at the time suggested it to me, I hoped to start making more art as a result of the program. I didn’t expect it to unblock long hidden feelings about my childhood, re-establish my connection with some kind of universal energy, or launch my life into a whole new realm, but that it did.
“Morning Pages” are pretty simple. You just wake up and write three pages. That’s it. You just write whatever comes to mind. Mine is usually a list of chores I don’t have time to do, followed by some rambling about my feelings, and sometimes it is a recounting of my dreams. The key is to not edit, to not re-read them, and to just let them be a brain dump for all those thoughts rattling around in there.
Prompt: If you don’t already, try writing morning pages in your book every day this week. If you can’t do three pages, just do one. The practice is more important than the details, but I do recommend trying to do them as soon as you wake up.
When you first wake up, your mind is in a state of creativity very similar to dreaming. Poems and stories live there, in the in-between spaces, waiting to be plucked, hanging on to the threads of the other world.
My entire world changed with this one practice and now I wake early most days - the words tugging at my sleeve, the darkness calling to them.
Dreams, Visions, and the land of potentiality
“A dream is not reality but who's to say which is which?”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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