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We just finished
celebrating Imbolc, so I have been thinking a bit about Brigid, the Celtic
goddess who is most commonly associated with the Sabbat. Brigid is a triple
fire goddess, known for her patronage of the fires of the forge, the fires of
the hearth, and the fires of creativity. In the middle of cold winter, all that
warmth is truly welcome!
It’s the
creativity part that’s my focus today. After all, creativity is important—it
feeds the soul and nourishes the spirit. One might even argue that it is one of
the elements that makes us human. Certainly a spark of creativity makes us more
well rounded people, and allows us to express our inner selves, or to relax and
let go a little.
The problem is,
many of us don’t take the time to be creative. We have all those things to do:
people depending on us, jobs that won’t wait, work, cooking, cleaning, kids or
animals or significant others making demands on our time and energy. Sometimes
creativity feels a little too much like playing hooky. We don’t have time to
just stop and have fun.
Or do we? I think
it’s vital to feed our own fires, or in the end, we burn out and don’t have
anything to give to anyone. (And if you can’t do it any other way, try sharing
the hour with your family, and have everyone do something creative!)
I’m as guilty of
this as most people are. Don’t get me wrong—I do creative things all the time.
After all, I make part of my living from writing and jewelry making, both
creative endeavors. The problem here is that they ARE part of my living, and
hence, work, not play. I enjoy doing them both, but because they’re work, they
don’t really count as relaxation and down time. Creativity needs, in part, to
be an escape from the rest of our lives. So I’ve decided to make the time to do
something else occasionally. Something creative that isn’t work. Something…dare
I say it…fun.
Here’s what I’m
going to do, and I’m hoping a few of you will try it to, and come back here to
tell me if it works for you.
I’m using a small
cast iron cauldron, since the cauldron is one of Brigid’s symbols, but you
could use any bowl or dish you happen to have handy. Or even treat yourself to
something new and special, just for this.
In the cauldron,
I am going to put a number of slips of paper. Each one of them is going to have
the name of some form of creative activity that I enjoy. I might even put in a
few that I’ve been meaning to try out, and haven’t gotten to (you know—because
I was too busy WORKING). My cauldron slips are going to include things like the
following: paint a picture, write a poem, learn a chord on the guitar, learn to
spin, learn to crochet (again), sew
something, put on music and dance for no reason. There might even be a few
options that are a little less creative, but more about just relaxing: take a
bath with a book, meditate, do a picture puzzle.
The main point is
that I will be gifting myself with a space in time that isn’t about work, or
achieving something concrete, or pleasing someone else. Brigid’s cauldron will
give me the gift of time spent at play, something many of us forget to do as we
get older.
Your cauldron may
have completely different thing written on its slips of paper, depending on
which creative things excite you: journaling, drawing, knitting, singing,
playing a musical instrument, decorating things around the house—whatever makes
you happy.
I’m going to
start by committing myself to an hour, once a week. That doesn’t seem like
much, but it’s a start. And you can do that too, I’m sure. One hour a week, as
a gift to yourself. You’re worth it. Don’t believe me? Just ask Brigid, and I’m
sure she’d say the same.
And if you feel
like it, I’d love it if you come back here and tell me what things you’ve put
on the papers in your cauldron—and then tell me what you ended up doing and how
it made you feel.
Let’s all dive
into Brigid’s cauldron of creativity together, and let Her fire spark a flame
in our own spirits…no matter how cold it might be outside.
