chelidon

This is my response to a comment made here yesterday, in a side-thread about the place of self-sacrifice in the artists's life, and I realized it had something in it I wanted to repost here, so here 'tis:

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And your comment about the masks reminds me of the second "Art of Magick" weekend workshop several of us put on in D.C. a few years back-- we worked heavily with masks (one of the co-teachers made the most incredible mixed-media sculptures/masks). And we worked with the demon/muse pairing, the constellation of inspiration, creativity, depression, self-doubt, and all of the other myths we tell ourselves about what it means to be an artist. There was one evening ritual where my role was invoking the demonic aspect of creativity, and others of the co-facilitators invoked other aspects, and the participants were in the middle, being pulled in one direction or another, finding their own place of balance, noting where they were now, and where they felt they needed to be, etc.

Anyway, while doing that invocation for the night, I got a lot of information about the power and perils of the demonic creative impulse -- so powerful, but asking only for your soul, your life, your happiness, your health...everything must be sacrificed on the altar of art and burned without regard in the fires of creativity. So powerful, so alluring, so necessary...and so out of balance. That demonic aspect of creativity is playful, cruel, implacable, inspiring, terrifying, and utterly uncaring for the human needs of artists. To him/her/it/us we are but sacred vessels whose role is to bring forth magnificence and beauty, and to be encouraged, prodded, driven, to do our very utmost to do that sacred work. "Happiness" or "success" in a temporal, human fashion is completely unimportant.

And that's a big part of the myth of the artist's life I know I grew up with, and I think we all internalize to some extent. The key for me is the balancing. The art is sacred, and important, and...it is not all there is. There's life, too, being present, glorying in our embodiment, treating one's body, one's life as a part of the sacred drama, not just a shell to be used up, sacrificed and discarded in service to the Art. We are the Art, too, and how we live our lives is as much a part of the Tale as the artifacts we leave behind..