Up: [[Life]] Created: 2025-06-05 Updated: 2025-06-16 Five years ago, at the suggestion of my analyst, I had a psychological horoscope done by a famous Jungian analyst and astrologer named Liz Greene. The first thing I learned is that psychological horoscopes are very different from the daily nonsense that is in newspapers or online. A psychological horoscope is based on your birth chart and, at least when done by a Jungian analyst, it goes very deep! Liz said dozens of profound and true things in my fifty page report, the most impactful of which was this statement: > [!Orbit] Liz Greene about me > Your aspiration is a noble one: to bring the universal into the particular and the divine into the mundane, so that the everyday world becomes a symbol of something more profound. I would never have come up with that aspiration on my own, nor would it have had any relevance to me in a work life that was focused on helping students and teachers see that they were more creative and more capable than they realized. I wasn’t the least bit interested in the mundane, everyday world. Only extraordinary, hugely creative efforts need apply. But now, in my third and final act, Liz’s statement hit me as a thunderbolt of truth. Yes! This was what I wanted to do, how I wished to live. Unfortunately, I had no clue what that might actually look like, so other than thrilling to the rightness of the statement every time I read it, I feel stuck. In hindsight, my life in the last five years has been settling in around that aspiration. It explains my organizing principle of Mary Oliver’s instructions for life — Pay Attention, Be Amazed, Tell About It; my [[Deciding to Write Beams]]; my enthusiasm for everything [[Oliver Burkeman]] writes; my newly discovered fascination with the mysteries of life as expressed through esoteric pursuits like Tarot; my desire for an intuitive and expressive creative practice, and my deep dive and devotion to Jungian analysis and study. I didn’t recognize the connection between the aspiration and any of these significant changes. In my mind, such a “noble” aspiration could only be properly achieved by doing what I’d always done: a huge project that would take every waking moment, leaving me physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted and unbalanced. This was further complicated by my belief that the project had to result in a product, in my mind a book of art and text, both of which would require learning and mastering new skills. Fortunately, that particular veil of false belief has been shed and thanks to some musing and dot connecting over the last few weeks, I feel like I’m maybe finally moving out of this [[liminal]] time I’ve been in and taking the first tentative baby steps towards a new and exhilarating clarity that will allow me to finally live in daily alignment with what matters most to me. These are the pieces that have recently come together: #### Grail Question I’ve long been waiting for a grail question to emerge, a thematic undercurrent to everything I do. One finally occurred to me that resonates deep within — **What does it look like for me to live a simple, balanced and joyful life in which I see and share the universal in the particular and the divine in the mundane?** Simplicity has always fascinated me, not in the sense of decluttering and organizing which I’m already great at (Virgo here), but more along the lines of essence. #### Essence Painter Ian Roberts wrote an excellent little book, *Creative Authenticity: 16 principles to clarify and deepen your artistic vision*. While he’s talking specifically about painting, Roberts’ advice applies to every mode of self-expression. > [!Orbit] Ian Roberts in *Creative Authenticity* > Focus your attention on what caught your attention in the first place. Respond to what is yours. Your truth. It doesn’t matter the subject matter, or the style. You must strip the thing back to the basics of what you feel about your response. What is the kernel here that you want to express? Get to the foundation and then build it back up. (p. 157) Of course Roberts recognizes that this is not easy. *It takes expertise to strip everything away to reveal the vision. That’s what takes a lifetime.* (p. 136) I think what’s needed is a particular kind of attention that only comes, at least for me, from a simple life. Another comment from an astrologer: > [!Orbit] Joe Landwehn > What you want is an abiding sense of peace and contentment, a quiet joy that needs nothing external to fuel it, a sense of spaciousness and able to be fully present in the moment; a stillness that deepens and expands as you relax into it. You have always been reaching for the wholeness of your being and for a place of stillness as your ultimate destination. That’s why I find the concept of wandertivity so appealing. #### Wandertivity This concept comes from [[Nick Milo]]. Rather than the “go, go, go; aim higher, faster, further” ethos of toxic productivity, Nick likens wandertivity to the actions of a Japanese garden master who wanders the garden, leaving whatever is touched a little better than it was. Wandertivity involves learning to do from a place of stillness. That stillness, I think, is essential if I’m to savour the small joys of everyday existence. As Liz Greene suggests, the meaningful and universal can be found in the meticulous care needed to make a good cup of tea. That’s the ethos of wandertivity. #### This Summer: The Season of Art Play I’m going to have a lot of opportunity to develop every aspect of my grail question this summer. This will be the Season of Art Play — creative expression simply for the joy of it; a time to joyfully embrace wandertivity through art play, and to develop the skills and confidence to communicate my inner world effectively. #### Inner World My inner world is both my source and my theme; it’s where I will find the essence I wish to express. Again from Ian Roberts: > [!Orbit] Ian Roberts in *Creative Authenticity* > To find power, we must delve into being, into Self. The depth of your painting will equal the depth of your contact with being. (p. 158) Over the past seven years of Jungian analysis, I’ve learned to trust in psyche as my guide through images, dreams, and [[Active Imagination]]. Like Herman Hesse, *I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me* rather than collecting and parroting other voices. At the end of the day, my vault and anything I create for my [[Blue Box]] will be, in Peter London’s wonderful words, *an externalized map of my interior self.* That’s not to say that I know how to do any of this work yet. I am fascinated by intuitive art making in which I am simply a conduit for what seeks expression, but I have a lot of trouble letting go of control and perfection. I want to pay attention to life’s simple pleasures and mundane moments, but have spent most of my life focused on the printed page or computer screen. I’ve prized logic over emotion, diminishing the latter to such an extent that, until quite recently, I couldn’t even name my emotional responses, never mind communicate them through creative forms, which is essential if you’re wanting to externalize your interior self! #### It’s a New Day But, for the first time ever, I’m not the least bit disturbed by these realities of my past. Years of analysis, important friendships, and Linking Your Thinking have changed me. I trust that my ongoing devotion to every aspect of this note will continue my transformation. > [!orbit] [[Mary Oliver]] > You too can be carved anew by the details of your devotion.