The Creative Process

[Sebbi]

For a very long time I have been wanted to put up a post about it on here. For me, the way I now practice magic is not anything remotely reselmbing "ritual" as it is commonly percieved but it's much more to do with the creative process. For me, creation (mainly in the form of music, poetry and drama) has changed my life so profoundly that it is very definately (in my eyes anyway) a form of magic.

I could go into how, in mythology creation (e.g. of the universe) and magic are very closely linked. You have worlds being sung, spun, dances, spoken, etc into creation. So for this reason I think an article about the creative process is very relevant to the magical path.

Since I'm not good at writing essays but better at responding to questions, here's my response to a friend writing "how do I write songs?"

I don't have a formula to write songs nor do I plan to give you one.

I would just say, be confidant and unafraid. It doesn't matter if it sounds soppy, some of the best music ever is soppy. Radiohead fans tend not to touch emo with a bargepole yet Radiohead is seen as one of the most depressing bands in the universe.

For me, music is a form of therapy and a way of understanding myself and sharing myself with the world. I find it quite hard to be honest about myself sometimes but when I write a song, I go no holds-barred.

I started out as a poet, a poet and nothing but a poet. Sure I played guitar and things but I never linked the two together. Gradually my poems started to refine and became more musical (picked up more rythym and I started imagining melodies in my head) and then songs started coming out.

This was helped along by my guitar teacher. He (with permission) looked through my writing books, picked out a poem he liked and said "name the first 3 chords that come into your head" - so I named D minor, C major and D# major and thus "Song 1" was born. A crap song that we've played live twice and since never touched. Still it was the first step of a journey.

When I write I never have any idea how I'm going to do it. She'll Leave You Dead, for example was written all in one go, and it just poured out. Whisper was originally just the intro chords and bass and then I went round Chris's, we micced me up, hit a record button (get a dictaphone - means you don't have to worry about WRITING lyrics down as they come to you) and I just went for it, thus spawning the rest of the guitars, vocals and lyrics. We went over some of the chords because a couple of them weren't what was playing in our heads.

Other times I've written poems and then consciously put them to music.

As for how to decide to put them to music, I really do have no formula for this.

I normally sit down at a piano and go for it really. Often I'll have an idea of what it'll sound like from before but often I won't. This sense comes in time.

It a huge help collaborating with Chris because where my mind will be blank he will have ideas and vice versa, that said, I wouldn't suggest collaborating until you feel the time is right (but once it is, don't dally).

I guess what I'm suggesting is, work on your instrument to build up an instictive knowlege of it (so that when in your head you hear a particular chord progression, you don't have to struggle to get it out) and just carry on writing. It'll come.

Natalie Goldberg wrote a book called Writing Down The Bones and in it she talks about the creative process.

"When you write, you take the rotten spinach leaves, dried up eggshells, and stale bread of your sensory experience, and bung on it on a compost heap. You then get a pitchfork and start turning it, over and over and then slowly but surely it will turn into rich soil. Then when the time is right, a flower will come out."

I hope you find this interesting

Much Love
Sebbi

[Anonymous]

Hee..i love it! lol. it also sounds like how one would usually write a poem. songs and poetry are very...very much a like.

~Twistedfeather~

[Anonymous]

I like that.  Thanks. It's very inspiring.  

(It's early and I'm not exactly entirely awake yet, not much of a morning person, so this may not be worded very well...)

I'm not all that much for ritual, either.  I really believe that each person has his own way of expressing himself, whether artistically, spiritually, etc.  And it's always best to let it develop naturally. (The result is much better when it isn't forced.)

For some, ritual works well.  For others, maybe not so well, and of course there is every variation in between.  (I fall into the latter category.)  

I'm glad you posted this.  I've been thinking a lot about modernization of deities and the form of how they can be worshiped.  (I've been practicing for some time now, but don't have a patron god and goddess, not that it's necessary, of course.  However, recently I've felt drawn to a particular god and goddess, although I feel that a more modernized version might be more appropriate.)

I believe there has always been a creative process involved in religion.  Look at how religion has evolved in and adapted to different cultures.  A deity, once introduced into a culture, would take on a different flavor.  I believe that religion/ritual/deities are all malleable and can be expressed in different ways.  (Of course, with an attitude of respect and all within reason – for instance, I see no reason why a god of war couldn't be adapted to something like corporate advancement, but at the same time would not be appropriate for a modernized god of  “peace.”)

I believe that this can very easily be applied to ritual as well.  Why stick to ritual that doesn't speak to you?  Why not adjust it according to what feels natural to you.  I believe that if you do a ritual just because that's how it's supposed to be done, then it's empty.  And, for that matter, why stick with ritual at all if it isn't natural to you in any form?  

Of course, for those who ritual is natural to, why fix it if it isn't broken?

Anyway, I do believe that without that creativity, religion would just shrivel and die.

[Anonymous]

Personly I dont see how any magic is even possible if its not "natural" to the caster.

[Anonymous]

Personly I dont see how any magic is even possible if its not "natural" to the caster.

Does that mean you subscribe to the idea of being born a witch?

[Sebbi]

Though I won't claim to speak for Rivenstar, put in the context of the discussion I doubt it.

I think the prevailant line of though here is that Magick generally works best when it works to the users strengths, e.g. meditative magick works better for someone who can never get into the swing of ritual than ritual does.

[Anonymous]

Though I won't claim to speak for Rivenstar, put in the context of the discussion I doubt it.

I think the prevailant line of though here is that Magick generally works best when it works to the users strengths, e.g. meditative magick works better for someone who can never get into the swing of ritual than ritual does.

Perhaps, but it never hurts to ask. ;-)

[Zenon]

Hey Sebbi, now that I've come to think of it, I think it's really amazing how undeveloped the concept of the creative process is within Magic.

Ritual Magic is very much like a controlled experiment - correct tools, correct ritual, correct correspondences, correct gnosis or trance, etc - ,  whilst the process of writing/improvising music, poetry or literature is completely different.

The action of actually creating something out of nothing, like for example out of your own mind as when you are creating music or brainstorming a short story, is something I haven't found in high magic or witchcraft.  Everything is so stuck to rules and symbollism and correspondences.

As a creative person, I've felt the "high" of the creative process in which things really seem to flow and your brain functions at different levels, for example during creative writing.  It's very mind and soul altering, it changes consciousness and opens up a door to self-discovery.  Sometimes it bums me that I haven't found anything in magic that creates something analogous.

[Jennie]

While this might be the case for High Magick (although the level of intention and focus required place it at least on par with high-level meditation as far as visualization is concerned), it is certainly not my experience of witchcraft or other less rigid forms of magickal practice. For me, at least, the process  of working magick is a multi-step one that mirrors the artistic process in many ways. The first part is opening all the senses to the internal and external situation as it stands so that it is clearly percieved. If I can't see what already is, how can I see what to change? Then I can begin to visualize what needs to be different either "out there" or "in here" . Once the nature of the change that needs to occur is clear, then I can begin to weave together the elements needed to help effect that change - words, symbols, movements, music, and, most importantly, mental and emotional energy. I can FEEL what needs to happen and how to move with the energy to guide it that way, to create space and flow and a template for it to manifest. It is a profoundly sensory and sensual process, where the sense of flow, and of timelessness and effortlessness that are often experienced by artists when in the grip of the muse are not only common, but, for me, anyway, essential. If you are working at practicing magick that is more than following someone else's formula, then at some point you will probably find that you have, of necessity, tapped into the core creative process that underlies both artistic expression and magickal potency.

Bright blessings,
Jennie