So many people have told me it was a hard full moon this week. Snow moon in Virgo, the perfectionist. Some of those friends are artists who’ve been doing battle with the inner critic, artists who, in my opinion, are some of the greats, some who have also been my teachers.
That familiar nagging inner critic is never satisfied with anything we do and if we let it hang around too long we can wind up in bed under a mountain of quilts. My own inner critic who I’ve named Hellebore paid a visit, too. Interesting because at first I didn’t notice she was hanging around until I started comparing my art with that of others who were “way beyond me.” It wasn’t until I found myself saying under my breath, “I’ll never be as good.” That’s when I knew Hellebore had slipped through a crack in the door which I forgot to weather strip.
The more I started to think about the inner critic, the more I realized she is very much the trickster archetype who plays an important role in the life of just about anyone including the mother or father who think they aren’t doing or didn’t do a good job. It’s no use trying to reason with my Hellebore because she’s got my number. She gets me to the point of exasperation where I need to sweep her out of the house by transforming her stagnant energy into a flock of geese or a dance or a poem. I may just start to dust or vacuum and listen to a Webinar on creativity or cooking, anything to get the juices moving because where there’s juice, there’s art and Hellebore and art don’t mix.
One of my favorite quotes:
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”