I’m a writer. My inspiration grows in the fertile soil of my Garden of Dreams. You, dear reader, are a creator, too. Whether you create delicious food, stories or songs, happy children or empowering rituals, you need to nurture your own creative garden. When I was a girl, one of my favorite nursery rhymes was about a magical garden: “Mary, Mary, quite contrary! How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle-shells, and pretty maids all in a row.” Is it not a lovely image? The Garden of Dreams is such a garden; full of magic and mystery. It is a refuge for the artist’s soul. But, do creative demons lurk in your garden?
Assess your creative garden
How does your garden grow? Is it blooming bright in a wild profusion of creative juiciness and magical energy? Or is it weed-choked? Over-watered? Is it getting enough sun? If you’re suffering from creative blocks, here’s a simple ritual to banish the blahs and help your Garden of Dreams thrive.
The banishing ritual
The next time you menstruate, save back a small portion of your blood. If you no longer menstruate, or you’re a man or other womb-free person, a splash of rich red wine works well. Mix it with ink or paint. At the waning moon, or any time you have need, cast a circle in the space where you do your creative work, whatever it might be. Or, you could do this ritual in an actual garden. Use a crow feather as your athame for casting the circle. (It’s fun to use a real feather-quill pen, although any feather you find outside will do just fine for this spell.)
Light a black candle. Working in sacred space, open your Book of Shadows and use the quill and ink to write a list of any aspect of your life that must be banished in order for your creative and magical work to progress to the next level. What are your creative demons?
Call upon Kali, Creator-Destroyer Godddess, to aid in your magical workings this night. (For more on Kali, read this post.) Name each item on the list, saying, “With the help of Kali, I banish thee…fear, doubts, and procrastination’s foul demons! Go now, and trouble me no more!” Feed the page slowly to the candle, and collect the ashes in your cauldron. A good song to accompany this ritual is In the Fire, from the Crow Women CD, Crow Goddess.
As the candle burns down, meditate upon the creative demons which you would banish. Visualize pulling up these weeds from your garden’s flower-beds, and the creativity-destroying elements leaving your life. Picture your future successes and triumphs, which will surely follow once these negative demons have been banished.
Ask that Kali protect you and your creative space, and to guide your magical work. Ask that she protect and keep you from anything that would harm you, or distract you from your creative soul-work. Draw, paint, or collage a picture of this fierce goddess and keep it on your altar, using the rest of the blood-ink.
Using the ashes
As for the ashes? As a gift to Kali, to show your gratitude for her help, give them back to the earth by digging them into the soil near a favorite plant or flower that needs a little extra nourishment to thrive, or scatter them about the perimeter of the circle. This is an excellent way to ground your energy at the end of a ritual. If you’re working indoors, add the ashes to a favorite plant or pot of herbs or flowers. Release the powers and spirits that have aided you on this night. Blessed be! May your garden always blossom and bloom in a blaze of colors and light.
This post is based on one published long ago on the first blog Alane and Molly shared: The Pagan Arts.