“Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image. The inner world is the world of your requirements and your energies and your structure and your possibilities that meets the outer world. And the outer world is the field of your incarnation. That’s where you are. You’ve got to keep both going. As Novalis said, ‘The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet.”–Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth.
Art and literature strike a responsive chord in me, prompting me to explore not only the creation that inspires me, but what my reaction says about who I am and how I can use those promptings to continually elevate and grow.
We are the Earth
“Go to nature in all singleness of heart… rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing;…
The Clue in the Old Book
For Christmas, my husband surprised me with a nearly pristine 1905 first edition set of…
Rejuvenate Your Spirit with Enchanted Living’s Pre-Raphaelite Issue
I’m honored to be a contributor in the latest edition of Enchanted Living magazine. This…
Becoming Radiant
Elbert Hubbard had the right idea. Hubbard (1856-1915) was an American writer and publisher who…
The Dragon Within
As a little girl, I enjoyed Nancy Drew, Wonder Woman, and Princess Leia, all of…
Balancing on the Bridge
We carry an entire world in our pocket that allows us to search for information…
Lessons from ‘Possession’: The Myth of Melusine
Possession is an intricate novel written in 1990 by A.S. Byatt. A combination of mystery,…
Embracing Natural Magic
We all need a bit of magic in our lives. Some of us have more…
Navigating Life’s Labyrinths
For me, myths are a touchstone, a framework that helps me work out some of…
Following Bliss
“Sit in a room and read — and read and read. And read the right…
Solitude and Forgiveness
The image above is Solitude by Frederic Leighton and I find it to be a…
Finding Fireflies Amidst the Fireworks
When Waterhouse’s exquisite Hylas and the Nymphs was controversially removed from exhibition at the Manchester Art…
The Magic Down the Rabbit Hole
As I pursue the Pre-Raphaelites, I find it is the small details that captivate me,…
On Storms
“Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in…