The Muse: That person/interest which inspires your creative spirit

The muse has been referenced in ancient texts as someone (usually a woman) who brings out the creative side in another. But there really isn't much more information on it, and isn't really a mentioned topic that you hear a lot.

I found this site actually by accident, i just googled 'seperation is an illusion' when i was bored and stumbled on this stie. It describes the muse in great detail...

What is it?

The muse is the manifestation in the physical world of what we need to experience to manifest what we desires to create. The muse is the physical manifestation that supplies, or rather is the occasion for, the passion to act in the world. In this regard, the muse acts as the external sources of our creative life energy. Although the sources lies within, the inner is reflected in the outer and the muse is the reflection externally. In seeking and obtaining the muse we find the Source within our self.

The muse is something external to us on which we can focus and seek. The muse is that external focus that stimulates us and excites us and keeps us motivated to push into the world. It is what call forth our energy or which causes our energy to flow. Although the inner marriage allows us to operate and find a source of energy that never runs dry to move into the world from within our own being, we need an external focus. The muse is that coupling point or grounding point were the offspring of the inner marriage is more or less exactly matched with a point in the external world. It is what allows us to simultaneously both to hold a single point focus and ground the flow of our creative life energy externally. The external focus helps to continually pull us past mind to step out of mind and to confront the limiting beliefs of mind

releasing-your-unlimited-creativity.info...

Interesting concept, to say the least. So has anybody had someone like this? A person why just inspires you and brings out your creative spirit?

Check out the other stuff on this site. It has a ton of metaphysical/spiritual materials.

reply to post by mossme89


Hey Mossme cool idea for a thread!

I couldn't say one person in particular who does this to me. But I do feel that any music that resonates with me in any way gets the creative juices flowing. I automatically begin creating a music video for the song in my head as it plays out.

Although I have never actually got round to making any of these videos become a reality, I still enjoy disappearing into my own world and indulging in the fantasy for a while! I have started doing a few paintings partly inspired by some of these 'music videos' and if I ever finish any of them, I will post them up on ATS.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Um, the Muse is not necessarily music. It's a concept, a person that is an inspiration. Good thought though.

reply to post by mossme89


Wonderfull idea for a thread; thankyou!
I met some very inspiring people, also here at ATS, often I tend to write with those people which strike a poetic chord in my soul, especially two friends one from Chicago and the other from Miami inspires me greatly these days.
Also I tend to get inspired when working (physiotherapy/healing), the self-forgetfullness in that work, sometimes open up to wonderfull insights.
Loving thoughts

Echoing the others, yep great thread!
I'm a Graphic Designer & inspiration is a harsh mistress at times.
I really admire the work of David Carson & just have a look at his
work & writings when I'm on empty. No girlfriend for me so I must
find my inspiration in other forms.

Mine is Lady Gaga. Well, not her, the fashion designers who manages her as a concept and how they throw their creativeness on her clothing. Thanks to her I "meet" my principal influence, that's Alexander McQueen (R.I.P.). Every time I need to do womething weird, I just take a look into the Lady Gaga's fans tumblr and see the pictures. Always something comes into my mind.

reply to post by mossme89



I once fell madly in love with a girl at university.
She was everything to me…
It was an unrequited love although she loved me too.
I was aware that she was my ‘muse’ and I indulged.
In the same way perhaps the poet does
And in a strange way…she did too.
But she was never free as she had other commitments
In her home town, but I was glad of that
I was always aware that I could have taken that final step.
But I was also always aware…that we could never
Live up to each others expectations.
So we confined ourselves to letters and poems…and songs
And weekend excursions that had a dreamy magical quality.
She personified everything…mother earth, the self…
Everything I could imagine or aspire to be…she was.
Sadly she died…a tragic death…
Perhaps that is the way of the muse.
And something within me died that day too.
Sometimes I think I should get rid of all those letters
And poems she wrote…as I can never bring myself to read them.

reply to post by mossme89


It is a concept worth exploring if you're that way inclined...The White Goddess By Robert Graves is as good a place as any to start, though a bit intense. I found it slightly inaccessible and had to look elsewhere for evidence of the muse as masculine, but Graves is nothing if not thorough.

For me, the Muse is the grain of sand in the oyster's shell. The two work together, not always comfortably, often creating great friction and mutual irritation, but the outcome is, hopefully, a pearl.

reply to post by KilgoreTrout



Hi Kilgore,

Perhaps friction and irritation are the result of the recognition within ourselves that we have failed to live up to all that the muse personifies.
Or even the highs and lows of being at the ‘whimsy’ of an overpowering and overwhelming projection…even when it is consciously recognized as such.
Jung once described the ‘anima’ as being, among other things, fickle, capricious, moody and ‘bitchy’…and the ‘animus’ the masculine equivalent, as a virtual ‘bevy of flying Dutchmen’.
Robert Graves had many muses and used them to inspire his creativity…all in a conscious way of course. His White Goddess was the ultimate muse for him…or at least the source.

Regards Midicon.

Originally posted by midicon

Perhaps friction and irritation are the result of the recognition within ourselves that we have failed to live up to all that the muse personifies.
Or even the highs and lows of being at the ‘whimsy’ of an overpowering and overwhelming projection…even when it is consciously recognized as such.
Jung once described the ‘anima’ as being, among other things, fickle, capricious, moody and ‘bitchy’…and the ‘animus’ the masculine equivalent, as a virtual ‘bevy of flying Dutchmen’.
Robert Graves had many muses and used them to inspire his creativity…all in a conscious way of course. His White Goddess was the ultimate muse for him…or at least the source.

I had to look up 'Flying Dutchmen', not entirely sure what he is getting at. But if it means what I think it means, I don't think my Muse falls into that category. Thankfully. Though, if he is refering to this particular Flying Dutchman, he may be onto something.

When I'd be performing onstage, I'd pick out one or two people in the crowd and focus on trying to impress them with guitar tricks and how I'd handle the various drama moments in the set. Trying to play to the whole room was impossible, since it gets to be pretty obvious that each person in the room has a different point of view, so I would just find the one or two people that were really inspecting the show and work hard to knock them out.

When I write, I write for an imaginary reader who is standing in for that person I'd be trying to impress when I was still working rock clubs for a living. I can't see them, but I know that they exist. I've drawn my inspiration from folks watching me for so long that I can picture that one reader as if they were sitting across the room from me as I type out whatever it is that comes out of me. I trry to piss him off, make her laugh, or throw a rush up that person's spine - depending on the piece I'm working on. For the most part, writing is a performace for me. I guess I need an audience to create, but then I've been on stages since I was nine years old and sawing away on a cello for other kids' moms. We all end up becoming who we are as a result of how our lives have rolled out behind us.

I have two muses, one is Jesus of Nazareth (the Christmind), and the other my mother, Kay (passed on). All the love, sorrow and suffering, and newfound love, and accompanying inspired wisdom, comes to me from those two. Thank you Jesus and Kay, I love you too!

reply to post by KilgoreTrout



I have to agree that the ‘animus’ is a more elusive figure than the ‘anima’
Perhaps your link is in a sense more appropriate…that is if we change…
‘Bevy of flying Dutchmen’ to ‘a group of mysterious strangers from overseas’
I think that just about sums it up…both in the Jungian and the ‘botanical’ sense too.

Midicon.

Originally posted by midicon
I have to agree that the ‘animus’ is a more elusive figure than the ‘anima’
Perhaps your link is in a sense more appropriate…that is if we change…
‘Bevy of flying Dutchmen’ to ‘a group of mysterious strangers from overseas’
I think that just about sums it up…both in the Jungian and the ‘botanical’ sense too.

Interesting...hmm? Maybe, maybe. The masculine element is certainly more elusive, elemental perhaps, in that it is often uncommunicative, verbally. The feminine is more driven and impetuous, she barely tolerates me and I don't like her much either. Reverse of self..mirror...shadow? I feel more towards the latter, of it being my shadow self, perhaps because like Peter Pan and his shadow, I have had to sew my muse back on, after coaxing it out of the far recesses where it had been sulking for some time.

Botanicals too though, in other ways. The names of plants, the stories that are associated with them, those that are governed by which planets and their properties. There is an element of muse there too. For me there is a sense of relationship and exchange.

Have you seen 'Pan's Labyrinth' by Guillermo del Torro? Recognising your own labyrinth, for me, was part of the process by which the muse took form 'seperately', as in when I realised it was there to interact with. Grrrr...still haven't got a handle on how to explain this without sounding insane...anyway, while you can 'use' another physical person to manifest that entity upon, you can also 'become' your own muse and self manifest, or as some have, to manifest a physical entity seperate from themselves that only they can see. And that I suppose is essentially it, my muse is who I play with...which is why the mysterious stranger or dying for 'love' stuff doesn't really work for me...sword play, is just that in my 'world', not a euphemism for something else...

My Muse and Great Spirit have a relationship together; one will inspire me forward and the other will prevent me from moving ahead. I wait great lengths of time as I allow Spirit to unfold the obstacles that set themselves in front of my Muse.

I am not "cut off" right now I am only being "deterred". As to why, I am not privy to, yet the subtle hints come through all too clearly over time. I keep waiting for a calamity! Why move forward by way of the Muse if the end result will be disappointment and failure; waste not seems to be the expression as the "obstacles" seem to have intent on further actualizing what the Muse is offering.

It is a Spirit tug-of-war, my Muse on one side inspiring me to see beyond the Ugly, beyond the broken, to finally see the potential in things, and then Spirit setting up the path with many avenues and turns; ultimately leading to the same place. Some times things flow so nicely, they come together without fault; I like that kind of assistance, but then there are times, like now, when any attempt brings about more struggles. Even the easy path is riddled with struggle.

Either my Muse has developed a sense of humor, or Spirit has to assist because I cannot see the full picture, I best not get between such forces until things mellow out a bit. Time is on our hands and what was never meant to be can often take a lifetime to understand; easier to focus on the moments that do flow well and then maybe the door will open again.

I certainly could use a bit of inspiration between Muse and Great Spirit, if only to let me carry on; I can always wait for the calamity while I am busy!

reply to post by KilgoreTrout



Hi Kilgore,

I should never have mentioned Jung he will be my downfall, things get complicated very quickly, particularly with regard to the anima and animus. It is not merely a question of complimentary opposites it is more like ‘complicatory’ opposites…and if we bring in the idea of the ‘shadow’ then that is a whole Jungian world in itself. I find it interesting that you have used that term…however it will lead me off from the topic at hand.

Regardless of all that I do get what you mean and indeed the muse can really take any form. I suppose it all depends not only on one’s own definition of ‘muse’ but whether or not a muse is a muse in the sense that it provides, personifies and lives up to all of our expectations and projections.
For many years and indeed right up until now the ‘self’ or the Jungian idea of the ‘self’ was my muse…and like you ‘sword play’ was never part of it, it was never relevant, in fact I think that was a necessary requirement for me.

Unlike Robert Graves or others, I could never deliberately ‘acquire’ a muse, or let someone or something become a muse… for me it would just be a spontaneous thing that I would subsequently recognize and indulge in. That is not to say that there was no ‘friction’ or ‘irritation’.

I have no experience of ‘becoming your own muse’ or ‘manifesting’ a physical entity. In fact in the spirit of being honest, I would say that no one can ‘manifest’ a physical entity although I would be happy to be wrong. I do know that Jung would ‘manifest’ a ‘psychical’ entity called Philemon with whom he held many conversations and claimed to learn from. However I’m not sure if Jung would have used the definition of ‘muse’ to describe this relationship.

I have not seen Pan’s Labyrinth but I did a quick search and read a brief synopsis and it does seem rather Jungian and dark…like all good fairytales I suppose. I would certainly watch it if only because I like Jungian dark things.

So for me the term ‘muse’ is similar to the ‘White Goddess’ in the sense that someone may appear for me to personify all those mysterious, magical and enigmatic qualities of the self or the anima. That in turn brings forth in me something new and fresh and creative…as I strive to live up to my own projection. But even without a person to project upon (it has only ever happened to me twice) I am quite happy in an internal dreamy way to project the idea of the ‘self’ or ‘anima’ upon all my endeavors.

Regards Midicon.

reply to post by midicon


I was reading an interview with the actor Bob Hoskins a few months ago, it must have been in the Guardian. He talked about how after his first marriage ended, he was out of work, little hope of finding any and living in his van. Long nights laying awake waiting for the world to go quiet, staring up at the night skies, he got to thinking about what woman would be able to love him. Some time later, low and behold, he walked into a room and she was there. He parked his van outside her house the next day and has never left her since.

We can believe whatever we want to believe, my belief is in myself. Hence I can be whatever I want to be, whenever I want to be. If only in my head, but that is where it starts.