I wrote this for a would-be pagan 'zine that never got off the ground, so I thought I might-as-well share it online. I was going to have a column entitled "Living Magickally," and my statement of intent for the first issue was: "This column is written with the belief that there is no thing, person, or moment that is ordinary - it is all extraordinary - and that there is no dividing line between the 'magickal' and the 'mundane' because life itself, and everything and everyone in it, is magical." --A. R.
Creativity Is a Magickal Act
by Ashley Ravenwood, copyright 1995
You have probably heard comments such as "That piece of music is divinely inspired" or "That poem is so good it's truly a gift from the gods." Did you ever stop to think about exactly what these comments could mean? I believe that these comments mean everything they could mean, and much, much more. Creativity is a gift from the gods/Universe to us, and the creative process is one of the most magickal acts possible.
Every time someone fires a pot, paints a landscape, or writes a story, they are directly involved in the birth of something out of their imagination and into reality - which is what magick is all about, is it not? They are directly involved in making something out of supposed "nothing," which is also precisely what is done in magick. They are directly involved in interpreting the world and molding that world - sometimes even literally - to what they feel the world is, should be, could be; this too is what magick is all about. They are creating their own mini-universe, just as our own universe was once created, and just as the universe that centers around us - in other words, our own life - is created and manipulated by us as we practice magick, pray, and do other such things, and as we make choices as "simple" as what to have for breakfast or as "complex" as what job offer to take or what person to spend a lifetime being partners with.
Creativity extends to far more than what most people think of as "creative" enterprises, however. Creativity is not "just" drawing a sketch or writing a novel or playing an instrument or taking photos or acting in a play or singing or metalworking. We are creative when we sew a pattern into clothing, decorate our home, plan and cook a meal, design a ritual, or buy a bouquet and choose what flowers to put in it ourselves. Beyond those examples that are pretty easy to see how they are creative once we note them and think about them, though, there are still far more ways to be creative. We are creative in writing in a journal or Book of Shadows, or writing a letter, because we are choosing what we record and discuss (creating a record). We are creative in what we read and who we consider our friends and what forum of divination we use and what kind of area and specific area we live in and what classes we took/take and what time we sleep (and for how long) and what we do in what order and what we don't do at all.
In fact, I propose that we are creative in living our lives. The way we live our lives is creative itself, because we are choosing a way to live and choosing what we do with our time and our lives (creating our own universes); choosing how to see that world by choosing what we believe about ourselves, others, life, death, and much more (manipulating existence); and getting over losses and through heartaches and past depressions (making something out of "supposed" nothing), which we all have done well enough since none of us have committed suicide. Through all of these ways, we are creating things out of our imaginations and birthing them into reality through our consciousness, our beliefs, our choices, and our means of adapting. Therefore, simply living is a creative act, and therefore a magickal act. Every time we choose to move from one town to another, we are being creative. Every time we choose to date someone, or break up with someone, we are being creative. Every time we adapt our beliefs or add some or discard others, we are being creative. All of us are creative every minute of every day (even while we're asleep, since our subconscious is being creative while thinking up and acting out dreams!).
The whole world we live in - the whole universe itself - reflects this creativity perfectly. The next time you are out watching the sun rise or set, or looking at a patch of flowers, or peoplewatching, remember how creative the world we live in itself is, and how we are all creative in everything we do and say and think and are.
