The Muses and Being Mused.
by Traci Harding
To find out more about the author and her books visit Traci's web site http://www.voyageronline.com.au/traciharding/index.htm
In the last book of my second trilogy ‘the Cosmic Logos’ I explored many different esoteric subjects, but one that seemed to capture the imagination and interest of many, especially those who were artistically inclined, was the subject of the Muses and being Mused.
And as this premise has effected many areas of my own life and career, I thought I might speak on this subject today.
Dictionary Definition of to Muse – is to ponder, or mediate upon.
Dictionary Definition of The Muses is – The nine sister Goddesses of Greek myth, who where the daughters of Zeus and the Goddess of Memory. The Muses presided over inspiration and genius in the fields of the arts and sciences; like - music, history, comedy, tragedy, dance, writing & poetry, mimic or acting, astronomy and eloquence.
But to me a Muse can be much more than this. Anyone who has read my work will know I am a big believer in the spirit world, and I believe that beyond the realm of the living there are many artists ready to Muse those with similar interests here in this world. I know that when I die I’d love nothing more than to Muse some up and coming author. I even wrote a story to this effect in my most recent book ‘Ghostwriting’ which played on the premise of an author dying and leaving a script unfinished, whereby her editor was Mused into finished the work for her.
So I have created a short list of ways to know if your being Mused:
When your imagination is captured by an idea or course of study that you feel unexplainably passionate about.
When your new obsession makes you happier than anything else in this world.
When concentrating on your new obsession is more exciting than watching your favourite TV show, hearing your favourite song or seeing your friends.
When seeking information about your passion, you meet someone who is a expert on the topic … or you see a show on TV that fills on a blank for you, or a book suddenly drops from the shelf in front of you that is exactly the book you need etc.
When you lay down at night, and suddenly you’re having revelations about your new obsession and are forced to go find a pen and paper before you’ll get any rest.
When you hypothesize about something and later discover your flight of Fantasy is in fact, a fact.
When involved with your new obsession, you move out of this world into a blissful, timeless realm that seems totally removed from your usual state of being.
When making headway was once difficult and suddenly everything starts going your way.
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When your imagination is captured by an idea or course of study that you are unexplainably passionate about.
If there is one thing that I have discovered since leaving school, it’s that nothing ever happens for no reason and nothing you ever learn is wasted. If you become passionate about something it is probably because whatever your passion is, is going to have a major effect on your destiny or life path. You create your own reality by following through on the options given you in life, so best to follow through on the things you are most passionate about, even though they are usually the most scary – being that the fear of failure is greater.
For me this passion was not writing it was storytelling and day dreaming, both of which I was very good at from a very young age! I was never good at English, I left school after fourth form with a D – I was dyslexic and I didn’t even know that such a learning disorder existed. It was just my pure obsession with storytelling that forced me to write something on paper in the end – my Muse was very persistent.
When your new obsession makes you happier than anything else in this world.
I was twenty-five years old before I finally got over all those bad marks in school and braved writing a manuscript. Once I began to work on a computer with a spell check, I suddenly realised that it my dream of writing an entire book that was legible was entirely possible. Maybe I didn’t have to grow up and stop daydreaming; maybe I could turn my daydreaming into my living!
Being passionate about what you choose to do with your life is all-important for your future health, happiness and prosperity. When I was working in retail, seeing my life waste away along with my imagination, I was constantly sick, moody and depressed. But as soon as I began to focus on writing, I became confident, happy and full of drive. This is how you know when you’re going the right way in life – it feels right in your gut. It wouldn’t matter if I’d never been published, I would still write. I wrote three film scripts and the first one and a half books of my first trilogy before I was discovered.
3, When concentrating on your new obsession is more exciting than watching your favourite TV show, hearing your favourite song or seeing your friends.
I was absolutely obsessed once I started writing the Ancient Future trilogy. Every free waking moment I had, I was in front of the computer, relaying the tale. I say “relaying” as that’s exactly how it felt – like there was someone upstairs feeding vision and words into my mind.
I quit my full-time job and took a casual position to free up more of my time. My friends rarely saw me, but thankfully were very understanding and supportive of my aspirations. Several of them would come around once a week and I would read aloud the next installment of my tale.
When seeking information about your passion, you meet someone who is a expert on the topic … or you see a show on TV that fills on a blank for you, or a book suddenly drops from the shelf in front of you that is exactly the book you need etc.
This is also called Synchronicity and my road to success has been paved with such moments. The ability to recognise, what some would call ‘coincidence’, as an opportunity arranged for your benefit, can really make all the difference in making your dream a reality.
Synchronous instances are one of the greatest tools of the Muse, and the Muse works in many strange ways and can strike at any time, in any form. The answers you seek are out there, and once you decide what your questions are, you’ll be surprised how easily the answers find you.
When you lay down at night, and suddenly you’re having revelations about your new obsession and are forced to go find a pen and paper before you’ll get any rest.
Inspiration is also one of the tools of the Muse – and most often than not your greatest revelations will come when your mind is quiet – right on the verge of sleep. Sickness and exhaustion can also be times of great revelation, but this usually only occurs if you’ve had blinkers on and have had to be slowed down in order to get the message – as I said, in my experience everything happens for a reason, but then, that is the way I chose to look at life. I also find that getting up at about 2am in the morning and working through until dawn is very beneficial – the Muses seem to have a lot to say while the rest of the country is asleep.
When you hypothesize about something and later discover your flight of Fantasy is in fact, a fact.
I couldn’t count the times that I’ve created something to suit my story and then while researching something else I’ve stumbled across information that confirms my little piece of creative licensee, did in fact take place.
For example … When writing the Ancient Future I picked a place called Lynn Cerrig Bach to put a temple, being that is was the last stand of the Celts against the Romans in Wales. As good a place as any to stick a temple, I thought. I imagined what my temple looked like – it had a round altar in the middle that was surrounded by nine statues of the Goddess that represented the Nine Muses and the Nine Metaphysical laws. Then later I read of an excavation taking place at Lynn Cerrig Bach that had discovered the remains of a temple and they were digging statues of the Goddess out of the ground … very freaky. And that’s only one such example.
So it is no so surprising to me that the Muses are the daughters of memory and are very good a stirring ancient memories in those who care to remember.
When involved with your new obsession, you move out of this world into a blissful, timeless realm that seems totally removed from your usual state of being.
Just about every artist I know is in touch with this phenomenon.
I sit down to write, get absorbed in my story and then the next thing I know six hours have disappeared and I haven’t had breakfast yet! You produce a lot of work during these periods, and for me there is really no bliss to compare with that of the imagination when it’s on a roll. This is my idea of the Holy Grail and is the closest I’ve ever come to touching God. If you have a passion that makes you feel this way, never give it up, it’s what makes life worth living.
When making headway was once so difficult and suddenly everything starts going your way.
I find that whenever I am heading along my true-life path and sticking to it, life is good. The right connections come to me, I’m constantly finding myself in the right place at the right time, and those synchronous instances I spoke of earlier come thick and fast. When life starts going horribly wrong, that’s when I know I’ve wondered off the track somewhere. Illness is a sure sign that there is dis-ease in my life, and I have now learned to see sickness as a signpost that says ‘slow down and look at why you have become sick’ what has caused this dis-ease in my life. Once I’ve figured this out, sure enough, the illness will leave and life starts rocking along smoothly one more. This the same when I get writer’s block – as this usually means I’ve overlooked or missed some vital clue that would have kept my story going – still, if I just wait a few days, I’ll find what I need, either on TV, in a book, via a friend etc.
So as you can see, learning to recognise when a Muse is at work in your life, can be career making and if you can surrender to the inspiration and follow it through, it will always be rewarding.
My theory about the Muses
I believe that when a Muse has some important premise that needs to be manifest here on earth, this Muse will feed the same idea to several potential muse-ees at the same time, and the individual who takes up that inspiration and runs with it, will be the one Muse sticks with to finish the project. This would seem to explain why, when you have a great idea that you don’t follow through on, a couple of years later you enviably discover that some else has made a success of it.
So, I guess the moral of the story is that when the Muse strikes – run with the ball!
Imagination is the first step towards manifestation.
I wish you all much success wherever the Muse may lead you.
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