Creativity: An 8-Part
Series
By Kristy McCaffrey
Don't miss:
There are beautiful
and wild forces within us. ~ St. Francis of Assisi
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Assisi, Italy
Copyright 2014 Kristy McCaffrey |
When I was very young, I had a powerful dream. Young women
dressed in white—clearly some type of initiates—filed forward to be approved by
a Head Mother. One, a scraggly and unkempt girl, didn’t fit. Two guards
forcibly dragged her along in line.
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| Copyright 2014 Kristy McCaffrey |
The dream was simple and vivid. It was my wild nature
fighting against domestication. And often, that domestication is governed by you, not an outside force such as
parents, teachers, or a religious institution. We often suppress our wild
nature because in its wake comes chaos—or so we think. In truth, wildness opens
avenues. In wildness lies curiosity, compassion, and a connection to the
rhythms of life. All life. The trees, the plants, the animals, the Earth.
Without this connection something in us will die.
But the good news is that no matter how long the wild nature
has been abandoned, it can always be
brought back to life.
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| Photo courtesy of Shutterstock |
In Women Who Run With
The Wolves, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés
states, “Once [women] have regained [wild woman], they will fight and fight hard
to keep her, for with her their creative lives blossom; their relationships
gain meaning and depth and health; their cycles of sexuality, creativity, work,
and play are re-established; they are no longer marks for the predations of
others; they are entitled equally under the laws of nature to grow and to
thrive. Now their end-of-the-day fatigue comes from satisfying work and
endeavors, not from being shut up in too small a mind-set, job, or
relationship. They know instinctively when things must die and when things must
live; they know how to walk away, they know how to stay.”
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| Photo courtesy of Shutterstock |
Kali is a goddess of destruction and creation who predates
Hinduism. Sometimes known as the 'forbidden thing', she shines a light on the
dark places that keep us from total liberation, shadows that encompass our
authentic sexuality, our rage, our killer instincts, our animalistic natures.
These are often suppressed, but they wield power by allowing our fears and
anxieties to flourish. Kali represents the Divine Feminine, and she doesn't do
well with domestication. By confronting the terror that Kali illuminates, we
slowly become unfrozen. We are able to speak, live, and create in a divinely
natural way, following the rhythms that course through each of us. We become
wild in the truest sense, deeply connected to our soul-selves, following the
path we're meant to pursue.
How might we recover our wildness? One age-old way is
through stories.
It’s been my experience that when I tell others that I write
romance novels, 1) women giggle with delight and quietly share with me how much
they love such books, and 2) women tell me how they long to write and hope one
day to share a story with the world. (I will also add that men are generally
supportive, but there is also that small minority who have no interest. When done
with respect, there is no harm in this.)
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| Copyright 2014 Kristy McCaffrey |
Why do I write romances? Because in a majority of these
stories, whether they be historical, contemporary, futuristic or paranormal,
the heroines are women in search of the core of their wildness. By the end of a
story, they will become brave enough to not only face the villain and love the
hero, but they will also find a strength that is soul-deep, soul-knowing, and a
piece of themselves they can’t live without.
This is why women giggle when they learn my profession,
because despite the stigma associated with reading frivolous romances, they’re drawn to the myth and power woven into
these tales. Stories transform the teller and the listener. Stories light the
way on the darkened path into the hearts of women (and men), illuminating the
pitfalls but also the guideposts along the way.
There have been great
societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did
not tell stories. ~ Author Ursula K. LeGuin
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| Copyright 2014 Kristy McCaffrey |
I’ve always enjoyed the game of finding which female
character in Greek mythology most draws you. Is it Athena, filled with wisdom,
or Artemis, who runs among the animals in the woods? What about Aphrodite, the
seductress, or Persephone, the innocent who succumbs to Hades and takes
springtime with her? (There are versions in which Persephone willingly binds
herself to the god of the underworld. A simple shift in intention can change
everything.)
What stories resonate with you? Those that do are engaging
directly with your wild self. Don’t ignore the connection, but instead actively
explore what bubbles forth from inside you.
We have an archetypal
need to be spoken to through stories because they bring us into contact with
our inner being. ~ Carolyn Myss, medical intuitive and author
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| Photo courtesy of Shutterstock |
Works Cited
Beak, Sera. Red Hot & Holy: A Heretic's Love Story.
Sounds True, Inc., 2013.
Estés,
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who
Run With The Wolves. Ballantine Books, 1992.
Don’t miss Part III in the Creativity series: Shape-Shifting
Until next time…
