Any of you remember the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the nine muses of myth? Here are their respective fields of museness: epic poetry, history, love poetry and lyric art, music, tragedy, hymns, dance, comedy, and astronomy.
Are you a person who creates in one of those areas?
Do you think there are muses for other creative activities?
What about the muse of Fatherhood?
How about a muse for bricklayers?
Perhaps each person has a muse specialized for whatever they choose to do with their life?
I’ll vote for that last one without denying all the other possibilities :-)
It’s been said the muse is a shape-shifter. Which could mean, for a creative writer, the muse plays the part of all the characters inhabiting the author’s head.
Then there’s the issue of whether the muse is really “in” the head. Can’t the heart abide a muse’s process? Couldn’t a muse hang out on one’s shoulder?
My muse has been with me since I was born. She made me do things as a child that my mother wondered at and my father abhorred.
I worked hard in my twenties to make her proactively real. It’s a process called Active Imagination…
She’s changed her name many times and she usually, of late, speaks to me without using words.
Her latest command was to be more attentive to this blog—make it shine…
Since I know the task isn’t just on my shoulders—she doesn’t issue commands that she doesn’t help me with—I feel I can make the effort.
I do hope that small percentage of my readers who leave comments will let me, and her, know how we’re doing…
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Well, I will happily report that you are doing just fine, my friend. In fact, this was one of my very favorites. I believe the “muse” is a personal thing, whether it be real, voluntary, or thought about and accepted. I have a muse, especially when I write fiction. Long story hopefully shorter, I write kind-hearted, bleeding heart, sweet and sometimes syrupy fiction. I don’t know where it comes from because I am not all that kind. OK I’m a little kind. My muse sneaks in my brain and turns on the guilt as well as the inspiration and motivation, so that I can write my warm stories. My muse is a little selfish in that she makes me write when I should be studying or exercising. I LOVE my muse.
Terri
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Good that you love your muse, Terri; they can be quite dangerous when not loved…
Thank you that word of encouragement about this blog. Ever since I began it in January, I’ve not stinted on attending to it and I love the format; still, my muse ordered me to be more attentive and specifically used the word “Shine” for what I should aim at achieving…
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Even when I don’t comment, my friend, I read every blog. I can take something positive from almost every one of them. I wonder if someone forgot to issue a muse for me when I was in line. I’d hate to think that I’m not giving proper credit to the creative process.
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Dear Karla,
It warms my heart to know you’re out there reading my posts…
My comment in the post about the muse being a shape-shifter may explain your Seeming lack of one–muses have many forms and communicate in many ways :-)
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I too am a daily reader of your blog. You’re shining, my friend. I guess I’ve never grasped this concept of the muse. I have some understanding when others speak of the muse but for me the inspiration comes and I’m aware it is wthin me.
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Thank you for the nice words, Simone :-)
As far as not being “aware” of a muse: I think all writers (perhaps all creative people?) are “mostly” Introverts. Some, though, have more Extroversion in the mix…
The mostly Introverted tend to identify with a “personified” muse.
The ones with a bit more extroversion don’t.
I still think the psychological component attributed to a muse is in both people–one sees it as an “entity”, the other just uses it :-)
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