As I’ve written here before one of my practices to seek inner guidance is from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. In her book she recommends several practices; the key one I’ve adopted is to write 3 pages of “stuff” long-hand, every morning; these are called “morning pages.” I’ve actually been following this practice for many years; I have stacks of notebooks filled with my scrawl! And, no, I don’t get to this practice every single day. And there are stretches of time when I lapse and don’t write for days, even weeks. But I do very much benefit from the practice when I am disciplined in doing it.
I don’t always get to my practice first thing in the morning either; today it was 3:00 pm! But I do know that the day goes much better after I write so I do most days get to my writing position after yoga, qigong and tea in the AM.
I make a ritual of this practice and embed it in other rituals. Rituals are like good habits; they are both comforting and support the discipline. I light a candle on my alter (see my post last week) and I light incense to clear me, the alter, the space and the writing (including my decks of cards for divination). Then I sit cross-legged with a pillow to support the notebook. I also use a nice fountain pen; this is obviously not a requirement but I like fine tools!
I sit and write the three pages straight through. The content is not always noteworthy; in fact it rarely is! This is not the point; Cameron’s point in doing this practice is to clear the mind, clear the clutter from sleep, dreams, any junky thoughts, unprocessed emotions, mental cobwebs that might otherwise get in the way of clearer, more creative writing. Most often my pages begin with a dump of this kind of mind-trash. But I’m finding with the years of practice this often only takes a page or even some days just a few lines. Then I can get down to more meaningful inquiry.
So, I do use these pages to go inside, to meditate through the use of words, to let my mind go and my writing to follow the thoughts as they come. While Rosemary is a clairaudient and a clairvoyant my information comes through word flow; I don’t hear the words or see them, they just seem to form almost of themselves when I am in that clear space of receiving. I wish I could say this happens for me every day! But it does happen often enough to be extremely rewarding.
After I write out my three pages I then draw two cards from two decks of cards, as I’ve written here before. I write a half-page of notes about each card, what I think it means for me and the energies of the day. This fills my fourth page of writing for the day and these paragraphs are always meaningful (I’ve cleared the clutter with the pages). I use a separate, slightly nicer journal to record these divinations; and I use a better pen (more of the ritual).
And some days I am motivated, inspired to write a poem – a third writing practice I use. And on Mondays I’ve begun sharing some of my poems here on the blog.
I’d love to hear from you about your writing practices. What works for you? Have you tried “morning pages”? Please comment!
Meanwhile, “write-on.”
Mystic Messages 
The Light Quotient – Richard’s Commentary
August 27, 2014 — RichardI am struggling with this response. Why? I am in a bit of a dark place at the moment, so Rosemary’s post is aimed directly at me! And what do we often do when something is aimed directly at us? We freeze! And I’m sitting here at the keyboard a bit chilly, frozen, dark!
But here goes! Here’s the key to the whole article:
You might never have thought about decisions and choices as a matter of assessing Light Quotient before but the time is here to bring more Light into the world. Thus, we must constantly focus on how much Light we are contributing to the energy field around us and around the Planet.
Staying in my dark mood is a choice. I realize that and have been moving this choice around in my mind – and my heart – since yesterday afternoon. As I went to sleep, and it took awhile to drop off, I worked to lift the “light quotient” all around me. And it took work! I did a “nightly review.” Do you ever do this? It’s a good exercise: before dropping off to sleep go over in your mind all the events of the day, moving in reverse order, latest event to earliest. Review the events, and especially your responses to those events from the perspective of learning lessons. Ask: did I respond appropriately? Could my reaction have been different, better in some way? How might I have done that differently, more effectively? This process is not about self-judgment but about learning and improving. Maybe another question can be Did I bring in enough light into that situation?
This process did help me drift off to sleep last night. It didn’t solve any problems and it didn’t lift my dark mood entirely, but it did bring more light into my life and my rest (dreams were good!).
Now, here, this morning there are still some clouds overshadowing the light in my day so far. But as I write I have the sense that there is a lifting to those clouds. Maybe just writing about it has helped bring in some light. I do picture myself as a “writer.” I can add this “tool” to my approach to lifting the “light quotient” in my life. In fact, this is exactly what my “Morning Pages” practice is about. Following the Julia Cameron Artist’s Way approach has helped me with the “light quotient” in my life for many years!
When I awoke this morning my first thought was about this blog article and how I was resisting it, resisting writing about this business about “light quotients.” I was still in the darkness. But I asked how I could bring in more light and that’s when I reminded myself that “I am a writer.” I need to be able to write about anything, even (especially?) about light when I am in the dark!
The sun is coming out. My day will be bright now because I am choosing to see the sun beyond the clouds. I wish for you a sunny day filled with an abundance of light. And if you are in the clouds ask what choices you are making to remain in the shadows. It’s a process and takes practice!