5 Steps for Starting the Creative Crafter Journey

Dear Artists and Crafters all,

A Master Crafter is an artisan of the forge, a journey-smith who engages the raw materials of the inner landscape so as to coax and massage them into bloom in the outer arena of life.

1.The first thing you need to do if you seeks to walk the path of Master Artisan is to find the inner passion that beckons, the lure of becoming that seeks to express and be expressed through you. Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones who already knows what makes your blood sing and your cells sizzle. If so you’re in the minority. Most follow the Mist-filled Path, aware only of the next step that needs taking, the next action that needs doing. If you have not yet found your inner soul’s code, the puzzle clue that unveils the key as to what you should be doing with your precious gold-sparked life, fret not, since you are not alone in your unknowing.

2. Whether your inner dream seeds have already begun to sprout or are still laying dormant inside, you need to nurture and whisper them to life. Brood over your inner depths. Don’t DO anything. Just hover. Warm these soul seeds with a focus of inner attending. After all, it is in courageously facing the white spaces, the void of emptiness, that creation arises.

3. As things begin to bubble to life in dream and vision, in inner seeing and knowing, continue to watch and listen deeply. Let go of the need to control and begin to dance with the sparkle of ideas that arise, with the whisper of visions, with the tools of the trade that lure be they colors or sounds, words or shapes. Look with deep seeing eyes, turn things upside down and view them with multi-perspective vision. Become a flip-flopper as you twirl ideas round and round the loom of fluid form. Move into the unknown as you dance with the mystery.

4. As you engage with these inner sparklers, something will begin to shimmer a bit more, to glow a brighter shade of pale. Feel the tingle of excitement as brushes and succulent paints beckon, as songs demand to be sung, as dances dance the dancer. Then encourage yourself to attend even closer. Ask that which sparks your fancy to communicate deeper with you, to reveal its hidden birth desires. Ask why it has chosen you to partner it in this song of creative creation. Creation is not an action, it is a response. You are now at the entry point to your art. Don’t struggle and force, just listen and allow with integrity and respect.

5. You’ve now found a partner, a pattern, a craft, an art form with which to engage. Take a moment or two, a day or a week, to buzz with excitement. Enjoy this small victory before the hard part begins. Because the next step one needs to orchestrate in the art of becoming a master craftsman is that of unlearning. Forget the rules that others have taught you. Forget the old techniques of the trade. Pursue the process of life-giving creation not some dead idea of the expected end product. Shiver and coax this new whisper of possibility into life, not through a force of knowing but through a respect for unfolding. Only in this way will something fresh and new unveil its beauty. Only in this way will we embrace the leaky margins that allow in the zesty juices of transformation, shattering the mold of what we think is possible in order to give rise to the magic of true artistry.

I wish you passionate and artistic endeavors.

Athena Workerwoman
Patron of Arts and Crafts