Hydrangea Blooming, originally uploaded by amypalko.
I can sense a stirring in the creative cauldron
we all hold deep inside our bodies.
Melding and merging.
Combining and catalyzing.
Swirling and sparking.
I hold this space inside myself where new life leaps
from dark oblivion into sentience,
into actualized being.
Coiled in upon itself,
this embryo of life begun
spins out its own lifeline,
threads itself into the text,
inscribes its meaning into palimpsests of presence.
And all the while, I hold the space in which it grows.
That cauldron stirred by our wisest selves
…hubble, bubble, toil and…
Cells double and divide, double and divide
watched over, worried over, worked over
by the mother part of me.
I can sense a stirring in the creative cauldron
we all hold deep inside our bodies.
When we talk about mothers and motherhood, some women, those who can’t have children, those who have chosen not to, those who have chosen not yet, often feel left out. They believe that when we speak of mothers we do not speak of them.
I want to say right here, right now, that whether or not you choose to consciously acknowledge and express this part of yourself, you are a mother – you hold within you that creative cauldron. You are an intrinsically creative being, and you can decide to allow the archetype of the mother to play throughout your life in whichever way you choose.
And yes, it may be that you give birth to a baby, or it may be that you give birth to a book, or a painting, or an inspirational blog post, or a… or a…
My point is, is that you draw upon this archetype whenever you engage in a creative act. From experimenting with new ingredients to make a beautiful meal, to playing around with your photos in a digital editing suite, you are the archetypal mother.
I am thinking here of the Ancient Greek goddess, Gaia – who we may now know as Mother Earth. Gaia was so fertile, so brimming with creative potential, that new life over-flowed the rim of her cauldron and spilled out to form the beautiful lush rainforests, the teeming coral reefs, the sheer diversity of life that marks our planet out as different from all other planets that we know of.
We would never think of limiting Gaia’s creativity, her undeniable evocation of the mother archetype, merely because it did not fit the mould that we so associate with the definition of motherhood. And we shouldn’t do this to ourselves either.
Honour your creativity as the expression of archetypal mother energy that it is. Honour it and release it into the world where it can grow and thrive and transform and sing. Honour it for that’s what it deserves.
Oh I love how you speak of motherhood, encompassing all forms. So beautiful Amy thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Emmanuelle!
Amy
xx
thank you! thank you! thank you!
i don’t think (at least at this point in my life) that having children is the right life course or decision for me. i sometimes do feel different, having to defend my choices, and that perhaps by making my own life choices i am losing a part of my biological being.
this helped remind me that i’m not and i don’t.
so, thank you.
You know, I feel really strongly that one of the major achievements in the twentieth century was that women got a choice in whether they wanted to have children. And while I did choose to have kids, I think it’s so important that we respect the choices of others as completely valid *and* to recognize that the mother archetype is still present through the participation in the creative act.
I’m so glad that this post reminded you to respect your own right to choose what’s right for you
Amy
xx
**beautiful**
Aw, thank you, sweetie!
Amy
xx
You write so beautifully Amy! And there is often a word used that is new to me – and so my vocabulary increases too! (Today’s word was palimpsests)
I’m going to have to think about this ~ because there’s a part of me that needs to get my head around the difference between Mother and Mother Archetype Energy. Linking Creativity to the latter is such a beautiful image – and associating it with archetypal energy lifts the experience into a realm beyond our sometimes limiting definitions of Mother.
What you have done with this post is open a window of reflection for me ~ and I look forward to enhancing my existing Mother capacities (and creativity too, of course) as a result.
Thank you!
Oh, Sally, I love that word – palimpsests. This is originally came from medieval times when vellum was used to write on, and, as it was so expensive, the words that were no longer wanted were scraped off the vellum so it could be reused. So what you ended up with was layers and layers of inscribed meanings… and I just find that idea fascinating!
I think what I connect most to the archetype of Mother is one who gives birth to something, nurtures something into being, provides care, sustenance & love – and in this sense, this archetypal energy is available to any of us at any point in our lives. Isn’t that a really liberating thought!
Amy
xx
That idea IS fascinating. And yes, archetypal energy IS liberating. Hooray for you for positioning all this as so within us all!! (And, thank you …)
How weird, or not, just been meditating on how the essence of superconsciousness is stirred by the Empress, percolates up through the unconscious mind via the High Priestess to be directed by the Magician.
Thanks for the illumination Amy …
Love that image of all those wonderful tarot archetypes working together to manage the energetic flow – delicious!
Amy
xx
Great post, Amy. I love the thought of motherhood in all of these forms.
It makes motherhood all the more richer, doesn’t it, Karin?
Amy
xx
This is such a beautifully expansive post Amy, thank you so much for writing it.
As I said to you on Twitter, the feelings associated with not being able to have children, for whatever reason, are so hurtful, and can leave you feeling so less than whole (perhaps, so less than your:self)
I know I found the transition away from a directly mothering role hugely challenging, with a great big gaping hole at the centre that at times threatened to envelop me.
Expressing and developing my creativity has without doubt helped me to feel more like ‘me’ again. The other thing I’ve noticed recently is that being closely connected with the natural world – especially at spring time when there is so much new birth! – makes me feel maternal somehow – I guess it is that I am connecting into that maternal archetype?
Anyway, I could go on (and on) but really just wanted to say thanks for helping to explore and expand these issues, and help us to see different ways of connecting into and expressing these different sides of ourselves.
Joanna, thank you so much for sharing this and for showing us just how important honouring your intrinsic creativity has been in your dance with the mother archetype.
I’m so glad that this post resonated so strongly for you, and that it’s brought about a shift in perspective that is expansive and inviting
Amy
xx
I always think of my first novel as my first child. I often berate myself as soon as I think that, as obviously the comparison between that and my little boy who was my real first born is silly, but I can’t help it.
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