A few weeks ago, in my muggle world job, someone mentioned seeing my book, Cosmic Whales: Mystical Stories from the Sea, in a local bookstore. She said she had no idea I was a writer and photographer. Sometimes I forget, too.
When I got home I picked up a copy of the book and began to read it. I remember being in Mexico cave diving when I was doing the final edits to it. I would return from being in the magical realm of the highly decorated underwater caves and would start work on reading the copy again. I read it outside, on the beach, where hundreds of tiny sea turtle tracks criss-crossed the beach from their hatch the night before. It was the perfect place to put the finishing touches on this book….one of my favorite creative journeys.
As I read through the book, I could scarcely believe I wrote the poetic prose that goes so deep into the beauty of the sea and whales, dolphins, manatee, sea lions, sea turtles…all birthed from personal experience with these amazing creatures. This book is a glimpse into the heart of the sea, into my heart.
I’m reminded of the creative mystic that resides within my soul that needs to stir the cauldron and pull out inspiration. My task then is to create space for her to dance words and sentences into being, to journey with her into the forests of these ancient mountains with my photography gear and let images come to life.
This is a story about the creation of a book. It’s about my new one, Book of Nature. But it’s more than that. It’s about listening and following the path of the Soul. Curl up with a cup of tea, get comfortable and listen to this story on the creative process. I hope you enjoy.
Twenty-nine years ago my daughter was making her way into this world. Labor began late Saturday before Mother’s Day and continued all through the next day. I remember calling to give my mother updates from home. Being a little taurus child Emily was a bit stubborn in her birth as she was two weeks late. I wondered if I would always be pregnant. Finally, after midnight, I checked into the hospital and proceeded to work through the night to bring forth my daughter, my beautiful daughter.
There was a period during the night when labor seemed slow to progress and fear crept into my mind. I wondered if it was possible to do what she was asking…this seven pound eleven ounce being demanded birth. Fatigue, pain and the fear of failing as a parent didn’t keep her from arriving at noon, the day after Mother’s Day. My daughter was a true gift and yet another gift, often overlooked when we are in the midst of the physical birth process, is the primal act of creation that comes when those of us who choose motherhood are initiated into it.
When I was pregnant I played the piano for Emily. She continued to enjoy it as a baby.
The process of weaving a human being into existence is one example of the creative force. But in reality, the same process applies to creating a work of art, a song, a career, a relationship…everything. I think of it as a cosmic cauldron made up of energy. Unlimited possibility dwells in this generator of the Universe. An idea appears and begins the lightning flash journey of creation that leads to manifestation. Step-by-step that energy and idea develop into physical reality. The process continues throughout our lives.
Em and me at her wedding weekend last year.
Like the actual birthing of a child, creating our lives can be scary, painful and riddled with unexpected complications. Our soul demands birth and progress along the path. If we listen, many times we are faced with unpleasant choices. Endings, goodbyes, deaths and yet with every death, we are reborn into another, and hopefully higher, expression of who we are in our truest, most genuine self. Doors open as we open ourselves to the life to which our soul calls.
My brother Lance, mom and me a few years ago at her birthday lunch.
The pattern of the creative process comes from our mothers. This is where, at the deepest level of our psyches, we learn how to create our lives. If we follow the path of our life backwards, we will always find our mother at the beginning. Even if she wasn’t in our life as we matured, we still find the pattern of the creative force in her.
All of us come from our Mother…you can see the family resemblance
Each of us, male and female, take on the role of birthing ourselves. We bring with us tools such as gifts and talents and cultivate or ‘mother’ them as we are drawn to our soul’s path. If we get snagged at some point we can journey back in our minds to our physical birth and remember….swimming in amniotic fluid, being pushed out of our comfortable, dark, watery home into a place where we are cut away from our mother, crying and grieving about the loss of safety and security. But we survived. We grew and treaded many paths to create our lives. And we can proceed through another process of birth.
My grandmother, Ethel Hermecz, immigrated from Hungary when she was a toddler. What a life she created!
It has been said that we are born without a map but perhaps our own birth mother provided an atlas of information that can be unlocked if we are willing to tread the path of the mystery of mothering. So to my mother…and her mother and all of my female ancestors, I am grateful. And to my daughter, thank you for waking me up and helping me step on to the Path.
