Goddess of the Week: Pele

Des writes: "My 21 year-old daughter is coming home for the summer, my 18 year old son is graduating from high school, and my husband works predominately out of the home. Help!  I realize I need a goddess. I like aloneness, solitude, quiet, punctuated by occasional social functions.  I think I am poised to go nuts.  Please advise."

Oh, Des! Dear, Des! You need the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele.  Pele was just like you! She loved her solitude, which was convenient because when you are incarnated as a volcano people know to give you your space. But, from time to time, she liked a little company so she would take a husband or hang out with her sisters. Sadly, in the struggle to find that balance between alone time and family time--she sometimes had to burn her loved ones to a crisp.

You see she was an artist! She created whole tropical islands that people literally call PARADISE, and sometimes her family just totally gave her grief so she had no choice but to lava them. It was a conflict.

What we really need to do is find that difficult balance between having our creative, alone time and yet not feeling the need to set the house on fire.  Hmmm. How to do that? 

Here's my idea: Tell your children that, in your need to find total creative expression, you will now be writing naked. Trust me: They will give you your space.  As for your husband...maybe you should get a lock.

Goddess of the Week: Kali

English: Picture of Hindu Goddess Kali. This photograph was taken during Kali Puja at Naihati, a town in West Bengal, India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Heather needs a goddess for creativity, a goddess that will "awaken and embrace" her creative side.  Heather needs the Indian goddess of destruction and creation Kali.

Truth be told, this is one of my favorite goddesses.  She is quite terrifying. Her eyes are the color of blood, she has four arms, her tongue hangs out, and she wears a girdle of severed heads and a necklace of skulls.

Kali destroys the old, which can sort of seem like a drag, but she destroys the old so that she can usher in the new.  Alas, to awaken your creativity, you are going to have to kill something off.  What do you need to kill off? Do you have to kill off a streak of perfectionism? How about the KFCK radio that keeps looping in your brain? How about the errands and obligations in your life? Those are harder. I'm sorry. You may not be able to kill those off. But can you massage them?  A personal coach I know recommends asking yourself "How/So" questions like this: How can I do all the things I need to do so that I can still find time to write/draw/square dance?  How can I earn enough money so that I can afford to rent a studio/Italian villa/Ewan McGregor?  She says that when you parse the world into How/So questions instead of either/or statements the universe sort of rearranges itself for you.  But what a is a How/So question but another way of channeling Kali, another way of telling yourself that to be the creative person you want to be (indeed, that you are) you need to let go of the thing or things that are holding you back? Bottom line: before you can awaken anything, you need to clean out your bed!

Channel this goddess: When feeling stuck creatively, when feeling ennui, when cleaning the garage, when you think you are becoming a hoarder.  Hint: creativity often gets stifled by clutter, which I can say without the smugness of the overly neat but with the experience of the desk clutterer.  

Need a goddess? I got goddesses! Post a comment explaining what you need or want a goddess for. I'll do my best! Promise!