Monday morning cup of thoughts delivered a tad bit late

the Artist's Way, a new adventure

photo courtesy of Pixabay

From The Talmud-

Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’

It is time to grow again; a new season is upon me. Approximately three weeks ago, for reasons unknown to me, I searched my old books for one particular book, the Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron.

A different Julie introduced me to this book many years ago, my dear friend and mentor, Julie Calleja. I devoted my book Lessons of a Wayward Yogini to Julie, who unfortunately left to dance with the angels some years ago (she did so love to dance).

It's likely been 20 years since Julie Calleja raved about a new book she had just read. Julie was a book lover and an artist in her own right. I purchased the book immediately, and it has been on my shelf all these years, unopened. I didn't understand that the book was a course in discovering and recovering your creativity. I just knew that Julie loved it, and that was enough for me.

Rummaging through my old books, I recovered the book, the pages yellowed and musty. I placed it on my nightstand. Why now? I still didn't crack the cover. I still didn't investigate. I trusted that knowing… or maybe I sensed Julie whispering, "Grow, grow."

After a few days, I wasn't even noticing the book on the nightstand. It had already become familiar, patiently waiting beneath another book I planned to read first— until I saw a post from Ali Vingiano who writes Little Things on Substack. I recently discovered Ali and had been enjoying her posts. Ali planned to "do" the Artist's Way in February and solicited anyone who wanted to join her.

Wait, "do the Artist's Way?" What the heck did that even mean? I found out in short order that it was a 12-week course in nurturing/recovering/discovering your creativity. There was far too much coincidence in retrieving a 20-year-old book from my shelf not even knowing why and this invitation arriving in my inbox shortly thereafter for me to ignore the invite.

Today, along with what has turned out to be a significant number of others who enthusiastically responded to Ali's invite, I began my 12-week course. I'll keep you posted.

The quote at the top of my post from the Talmud is included in the introduction to the Artist’s Way. I liked it for many reasons, but mostly because about now, it feels personal.

My Julie… I have many who will claim her as their own… that was Julie.