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Artists Don't Refill at the Gas Pump

I'm discovering what feeds my inspirations, and it's rather strange.
Or maybe I just have strange tastes.
Or maybe it's just a case of the creative tide shifting. These sorts of things happen when they feel like it, seriously. I can string words together in sentences all day long, and sentences into paragraphs, etc. but if it gets me nowhere fast, it's useless.



A few things came together today, and I can feel the urge-need returning.
As though sitting on the beach as the tide comes in, feeling the froth of the ocean creeping up my legs a little at a time.
"White Birch At Midnight"
This. "White Birch At Midnight," Afghan Lapis Lazuli wrapped in sterling silver. I fell in love with this piece the moment I saw it, and finally broke down and bought it from Freia.

GORGEOUS. I cannot wait to get this piece and wear it. Or hang it next to my Eye of Fatima, on the writing desk. I mean, Freia's work makes me want to wear jewelry again, an urge I haven't felt in YEARS. The idea of handcrafted artwork instead of mass-produced, meaningless plastic bullshit... yeah, no wonder, right?

At any rate, that wasn't the only thing that fell into my life today. (And it's slightly incidental, since it won't be here until later in the week, at the earliest. But it'll be here. Soon. And it's mine. Right now.)

Longhand Poetry in a Moleskin Notebook
(Everyone wave at Jan and say hello. It's been a while since he's made an appearance. Hi again, Jan. Good to see you again.) I finally broke down and let myself write in the moleskin notebook that I purchased... well, months and months ago. Over the summer last year I think, but I hadn't cracked it.

Today I started writing poems in it. I have a haiku fetish. Long poems of mine tend to be a series of haiku that logically progress from one to the next. There's something about the rhythm and cadence and structure that has just always resonated with me.

I have even given passing consideration to writing an entire short story in haiku format... although if I do it, you wouldn't likely notice because it wouldn't be broken out into individual poems, but strung together to appear as prose.
An idea still forming. But see? Feel the energy?
It's coming back. The ideas are everywhere.

Dragon Oracle, boxed set
I have been poking at Dancing Circles one sentence and one paragraph at a time, and I don't think I'll let myself be distracted from it.
But I've been wanting to explore tarot in a little more depth, through the concept of totem animals -- and the influence of Chinese astrology, as well. Toward that end, I'd desperately been searching for a deck that would suit what I want to do with it.
Something that would resonate, too, and that's been sadly lacking. And then when I found the one I wanted, the timing wasn't right and I discovered it wasn't even in print anymore. I finally broke down and acquired this set. It's not mint condition -- looks as though it were a display set; there is some blatant fading/sun damage to the coloration on the cards and paperback. Disappointing, but I have been after this one for a while so those are minor details.

And it's now a research expense, so I could justify it as I couldn't bring myself to in quite the same way previously. "How To Hunt A Dragon" needs some research material, after all. Heh. This is definitely that. It's not a full tarot set, but a 36-card oracle set. It'll do, though.

Despite the fact that it wasn't quite what I had been searching for, it decided that it was, in fact, what I was searching for. And made that known adamantly. I finally listened, when all the other totem animal tarot decks I came across were such turn-offs.

Look, it comes with a set of I Ching coins. *grins* Dragons like shiny coins. Even when they don't have actual monetary value.

And while this isn't material for Dancing Circles, I can certainly feed the excess energy off in other directions. Easily. And no, just buying toys or spending money isn't enough to feed my muse and serve as catalyst for inspiration. But it does seem to demand extrinsic motivation and influence. I needed something to help refill my tank, since finishing that last project. And finally I found some things to help with that.

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