Get Inspired by The Fiery Muses
Shakespeare begins Henry V with the words, “O for a Muse of Fire that would ascend the very heaven of invention….”
In calling on this fiery muse, he was part of a long tradition of dramatists and poets who invoked the Muse. The idea that there is a feminine source – possibly divine but certainly beyond the limited human self –for creative inspiration has been around in Western culture since the Nine Muses of ancient Greek mythology. Daughters of Zeus, they were called upon all creators, from poets, musicians, dancers, and artists to philosophers, astrologers, and historians.
Homer begins the Odyssey with, “Sing in me O Muse and through me tell the story...” Virgil makes a similar plea at the start of the Aeneid. Later, Milton begins Paradise Lost with the invocation: “Sing Heavenly Muse… I thence invoke thy aid to my adventurous song”. This belief in a feminine source of inspiration can be found in other cultures, too. The Buddhist Bodhisattva of compassion, Kuan Yin, is believed to inspire poems that are “divine revelation from the goddess herself” and countless Tantric and yogic texts describe poetry dripping like honey off the tongue and the blossoming of genius in the yogi who awakens inner, feminine, cosmic force called kundalini-shakti .
There is no reason we cannot call on the Muse just as so many creators have in the past. (INSERT LINK). But calling on the divine Muse is not the only way a Fiery Muse can inspire you. In my work as a writer, I am continually meeting extraordinary women. I have come to think of them as my “Fiery Muses”. Each one has, in her own unique way, discovered how to connect source of the divine source of inspiration, intuition, and creativity that exists within. May they inspire you as they have inspired me.
Fiery Muse Oriah House
When I look back at the women featured in this column I see that one thing they have in common is that they are all “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” kind of women. They are women without pretense. They don’t put on airs. They don’t wear masks. And while they always speak their minds with kindness and deep compassion, they do indeed speak their minds! Oriah has these wonderful qualities in spades.
Fiery Muse Dorothy
Dorothy Walters was an extraordinarily gifted poet who recently passed away after living - and continuing to publish her poetry - until well into her nineties. Dorothy's life was filled with acts of quiet courage that made her a truly inspiring woman. She began by taking a Ph.D. in English at a time when women were not encouraged to enter higher education. As a university professor in the 1970s she helped to found one of the first women’s studies programs in the United States and co-edited one of the first anthologies of poetry written by women.
Fiery Muse Shelly
Shelley Yampolsky has been a fiery muse in my life for many years. In fact I met her when the book The Fiery Muse first came out and she took a workshop based on it. Since then we have taken other workshops together and eventually were co-presenters of the About Face workshop sponsored by the Institute for Consciousness Research.
I have learned a tremendous amount from Shelley – she is not just a woman who inspires me both creatively and spiritually,
Fiery Muse Pam Gerrand
Singer/songwriter Pam Gerrand, has performed across Canada and the U.S. and in Europe. One of her personal highlights was singing More Grace, a song she penned about her sister Grace’s journey through cancer, at the National Arts Center in..
Fiery Muse Jeneane “Jyoti” Prevatt
When I first laid eyes on clinical psychologist Jeneane Prevatt, PhD – or Jyoti as she’s come to be known – it was 1990. She was standing on a registration table at a spiritual conference in California, trying to shout over the very loud rumblings of seven hundred extremely..
Fiery Muse Kavita Byrd
Kavita Byrd has been on a spiritual quest that, as recounted in The Divine Feminine Fire, has taken her from working as a gardener on an unspoiled Greek isle to studying yoga in ashrams in India and Australia. Since then she has spent most of her life in India immersing herself in non-dual spirituality, Advaita Vedanta..
Fiery Muse Sandy Brand
Sandy Brand is one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. She is a tremendously gifted artist whose work hangs in homes and corporate offices from Paris to Dubai. Sandy not only paints, she skis, caves, treks, flies planes, and..
Fiery Muse Britta
About a year after The Fiery Muse: came out I received a letter from a woman named Britta who’d been born in Denmark and wanted to share her story for my next book, which indeed appears in The Divine Feminine Fire. We corresponded until she died at the age of 91. In this picture she was close to that age!
Fiery Muse Dena
About a year after The Fiery Muse: came out I received a letter from a woman named Britta who’d been born in Denmark and wanted to share her story for my next book, which indeed appears in The Divine Feminine Fire. We corresponded until she died at the age of 91. In this picture she was close to that age!