Roots and Branches

The power of ritual and the unfolding of a creative practice

When I was in college, I tried to structure each semester’s classes around a loose theme, to the extent I could: 20th century literature, for example, or Medieval studies.

Sometimes a theme would emerge unexpectedly and organically (as in the semester I took American literature alongside a Russian history and literature class, and ended up doing deep explorations on identity, class, and oppression in both contexts). 

Feeling the world unfold in that way, as though a path was being drawn with several areas of inquiry as the boundaries around it, was and remains one of my favorite feelings in the world (you’ll notice, if you’ve read Our Fermented Lives, that I built this sort of structure for myself and for you as a part of writing the book). 

But I also see that structure unfold similarly in other areas of my life: Certain moments have themes, unfolding in the work I do with clients and in my own world and relationships.
Collective points of consciousness or focus, perhaps, but however and why ever they appear, the themes come, and I’ve seen over years of doing creative coaching workand decades of creative practice that these shift roughly monthly (sometimes quarterly). 

This month, I felt called to focus on ritual as a theme in Symbiosis, which led to rich conversations around what ritual is (I’ll drop some of the questions at the end if you want some journaling/reflection inspiration this week).

And in particular, how the concept of ritual connects to creativity: Not just something that we tack on, but something that elevates and transforms our entire relationship to the work. That shifts how we feel about creativity and helps us regain control over how we want to feel and engage with creative process. 

The same day, ritual emerged again in a client call (as ever, details are kept vague here to protect confidentiality). As we wove together the seemingly disparate threads of a project (which I cannot wait to see out in the world), we also found fertile ground for discussing not just what the project is, but the role it serves both in the world and to its creator as the person stewarding it into existence. 

Some things that came up for me, that might also serve in your own weaving: