Creativity Without Fear

I think creativity and spirituality are tightly linked in humans. I believe we are all creative beings, each of us with our own talent and abilities. I think creativity brings us closer to our divine selves, our authentic selves, and our Higher Power.

In the years before modern media, every person was expected to cultivate creative talents.  Sewing, gardening and music weren’t just hobbies; they were necessary contributions to the family and the community.

 

Now that it is no longer required, many of us don’t honor our creative selves.  We suffer from lack of time, lack of motivation, and, most commonly, lack of confidence.  If our offerings are “not as good” as what we can get from the professionals, we question their value.  We are afraid we will make mistakes.

 

Both my mother and I studied theatre in college.  Each of us learned the same important lesson from our respective professors.  The lesson is that it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake on stage.  What matters is how you recover from it.

 

There are some areas in life where mistakes can be very costly, even deadly.  I am certainly not advocating a cavalier attitude in activities like driving, surgery or even tarot reading.  But I don’t think anyone ever died from a wrong chord, a forgotten lyric or a missed stitch.

 

Sometimes mistakes create something better than expected.  Years ago I had a small role in a community theatre production of “Diary of Anne Frank.”  During an early table read of a scene where Mrs. Frank discusses Anne’s budding romance with Peter, our Anne mispronounced a word.  The line was written “Mother, I have some intuition, you know.”  The actress instead said “Mother, I have some intu-shun,” leaving out a syllable.  Without thinking, our Mrs. Frank quickly corrected her.  “It’s intuition, dear.”  The director loved the exchange, and it became a permanent part of the scene.

 

During the 1980’s I saw my favorite band, the Grateful Dead, many times.  Like all jam bands, the Dead’s style was loose.  A technically perfect performance is not the goal of a jam band.  Bobby (Bob Weir, rhythm guitar and vocals, for the uninitiated) often forgot the lyrics, even of songs he had written. One night Bobby forgot the lyrics to the song “Uncle John’s Band,” very early in the song.  When he got to the line of the song that says “What I want to know is how does the song go?” he started to laugh.  Everyone in the sold-out stadium laughed with him.  It remains one of my favorite Grateful Dead moments.  Had he not forgotten a few words and found the irony in the following lyrics, that moment would never have existed.

 

To laugh at ourselves, to think on our feet and find the beauty in our mistakes can be very freeing.  When we are free to create without fear and without judgment, we honor our inner child, and we honor our creator.  In that moment we are like the Fool card in tarot, fearlessly stepping into the unknown.  We are like the Temperance card, mixing different things together to create a perfect blend.  In that moment, we are open to the inspiration of the Universe.

Tarot, Fear and Faith

When I posted my outrage at marketing decisions made by Doreen Virtue and Hay House for her new tarot deck I had no idea there was also a great deal of controversy in the tarot community about the deck itself.  As I said in my prior post, I personally don’t find anything troubling or offensive about the deck – it is not very original in its concepts, but it looks lovely.

The conversation that has arisen out of this controversy is worth tackling as a topic of its own.  The question is “Is tarot scary?” 

A few clients tell me that they are a little afraid to have a reading.  That is not because they are afraid of the cards, per se.  It is because they are afraid of what I might tell them.  Sometimes, for new clients, it is because they have heard stories of other readers who said very negative things.  Sometimes it is because they suspect something to be true that they don’t want to be true – and they know that a reading may confirm their suspicions.

Some people are afraid of tarot readings because of the Gypsies who use tarot to defraud people.  We should all fear and avoid fraudulent business people.

Some people are afraid because they have been taught by particular religious dogma that tarot is evil.  Sadly, religion can sometimes narrow our thinking instead of broadening our horizons.

People often fear what they do not understand, and tarot takes some time and effort to understand.

Some people find the actual cards scary because of the harsh images and words on cards like Death and Devil, for instance, or the upsetting images on cards like the Ten of Swords.

As a reader, I find that fear of the words and images creates a good teachable moment.  It is an opportunity to teach something about tarot, and an opportunity to teach something about fear.

For instance, in the Waite Ten of Swords image a person is laid prone and bleeding with ten swords in his back.  It is not a pleasant image by any account.  But when I explain to the client that those swords represent their own thoughts or their own reaction to unkind words, the client is empowered to change their thinking, or to take control of their reaction.

Sometimes it is helpful for us to see graphic images that represent our pain.  These images both validate us and give us clues to help us heal.

Sometimes people fear tarot, and tarot reading, because they fear all things unpleasant.  Once at my tarot table I asked a client what she wanted to know and she responded with “I just want to hear that my life is going to be happy and everything is going to be wonderful.”  She wasn’t kidding.

Another potential client told me she didn’t want to have a reading because the last time she had a reading she was told that someone around her was going to die within two years. Within two years, someone around her did in fact die.  The question I countered with was this.  Can you remember any two year period in your life when someone around you didn’t die?  The reader might have just as well predicted that you would breathe air.

From those two stories I take away two ideas.  One is that people may fear readings because readings generally don’t confirm unrealistic expectations.  Two is that people are not always in touch with the basic realities of life.

The reason people are not always in touch with the basic realities of life is – you guessed it – fear.

Fear can be disabling in many ways.

Perhaps some people fear tarot because tarot is a reflection of life, and of truth. 

Well-placed fear can protect us and keep us alive.  Fear of failure, success, change and growth can keep us from living.

When we walk in fear we lose so many opportunities for joy.  That may be the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey, no matter what the culture or belief set may be.  We all need to learn to walk in faith, rather than in fear.

Many of our modern philosophers, from great presidents to the Grateful Dead, have had wise words to say about fear.

My beloved Desiderata by Max Erhmann says something about fear.

"Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.”

I wrote about fear in my poem about the Ace of Swords.  Its final lines read:

But do not take this Sword of Air
Without the strength the truth to bear.
And remember with faith, when truth is clear
It's never as dark as what you fear.

For me, that is the truth about tarot, and about tarot reading.  Tarot is a reflection of life, in which some things are more pleasant than others.  But if we can face life from a perspective of love and faith, we never have anything to fear.

Tarot is a tool that can help us find the love, faith and strength of spirit we need to move forward boldly, and with joy.  And that’s not scary at all.