​With all the new AI text-to-image technology popping up, I'm seeing a lot of artists claiming this is the demise of art or creativity itself. If this is what you believe, I think your creative shadow may be showing. 

First of all, art doesn't define creativity. Creativity can be applied in all areas of life, not just art. Creativity is a way of thinking and doing. It's a process that no one (and certainly not a technology trend) can take away from you. Secondly, art isn't going anywhere. Humans have been admiring art, creating art, and collecting art for many millennia.  

Here are some journaling questions to explore these aspects of creative shadow around AI-generated art:

• Do you see your identity as an artist threatened by AI?
• Are you afraid that YOU (not your art) will be replaced by AI?
• Do you believe that AI is more imaginative than you are?
• How is your appreciation for the long, slow process of making art at odds with the quick ease of making AI-generated art? 

If you find yourself wanting to tell everyone else what's wrong and how things should be done, this might be a sign that you need to do YOUR shadow work. When we focus on what's wrong with the world, we're often bumping up against our own uncomfortable edges and dealing with hidden fears. Getting into the "it should be done like this" mindset can be a sign that you're ready to explore your own SHOULDs, HAVE TOs, and other self-imposed obligations. ​

​If you're not concerned about AI-generated art, but feel you need to check in on your creative shadow, here are a few journaling prompts from my Mystic*Maker*Muse Questions for Creatives deck. You can find it HERE in my Ko-fi Shop.  
​
Question #1: What will validate your creativity for you?
Question #2: What are your hidden beliefs about creativity?
Question #3: WHY do you create?
Question #4: Can you let go of the wheel?

Would you like for me to assess YOUR biggest creative block? Send me a handwriting sample and I may use it in this series. Begin with a piece of computer paper or other unlined paper and your favorite type of pen. Hand write a paragraph or more about your biggest creative block. Take a photo of the page and email it to intuitivewellnessnow@gmail.com with the subject: Creative block handwriting. ​

Last weekend, I co-facilitated the Deck Creator's Mastermind (DCM), led by Kiala Givehand. The DCM shows you all the ways to create, publish, and sell the oracle deck of your dreams. One of my favorite aspects to teach is deck concept. The deck concept goes beyond just a deck idea and really hones in on the WHY behind making a deck. Each year that I've participated in DCM, it's become more and more clear to me that deck creating isn't just a creative process. It's a self-discovery process and, more importantly, a shadow-work process. 

Shadow is the stuff we wrestle with, that presents us with more questions than answers. It's what we don't see or are in denial about. It's when we feel stuck or when life feels hard and we get overwhelmed. Shadow work, however, is the work of facing the shadow stuff. It's confronting the heavy emotions and repeated unproductive patterns. Shadow work challenges us to witness our wholeness and not just the parts we want the world to see. 

Here are a few truths about shadow work and the deck-making process:
(1) You can't make a deck that does not reflect you. Everything you create, especially an oracle deck, reflects you at that moment in time. And if you're wise, you'll look deep into the depths of that deck and discover yourself, your biases, and your fears, in the process. 
(2) Your deck concept reveals your current shadow work project. The deck you're trying to bring into the world has elements or themes of your current challenges. For instance, if your deck is about speaking up and using your voice, that's your biggest obstacle at the moment. If your deck promotes greater authenticity, that's what you're trying to integrate. Writing an honest deck concept will help you figure this out. Answer these questions:

1. What's the deck about?
2. Why are you creating it?
3. What questions will the deck answer?
4. How will working with the deck improve the reader's life?

Once you've written your deck concept, ask yourself how these issues are challenging you at the moment and what you're doing about it. 
(3) Lack of self-acceptance may be what's blocking you from completing your deck. If you cannot accept the shadow stuff your deck is bringing up, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to complete the deck. For instance, if you cannot seem to complete your deck that helps others with body esteem, it may be that, unconsciously, your own body esteem issues are the block. The deck may not progress until you do your shadow work and address, or at least acknowledge, the underlying issues.

Last week, I made two personal oracle decks: Creative Compass Oracle and Black Gurl Magic Oracle. The Creative Compass Oracle is a deck that keeps evolving. This is the 5th version of it and it still feels incomplete. It's a deck reflecting the creative process. It answers questions about why you may be encountering blocks on your creative journey and offers ways to resolve them. Every card is presented in a positive light or as solutions to creative problems. I've been developing it as a way to better understand my creative process so I can help others with their creative process. It has the word "compass" in the name because my intention is that it's a tool that can help you determine your creative direction. But that's also my shadow work. I'm unsure of what my creative direction is at this stage in life. So, my deck evolves as I reach new states of awareness and understanding in this area. ​

Black Gurl Magic Oracle features abstracts of Black women dancing, to reflect the ability of Black women to rise above suffering and pain. This is a poetry divination deck and the keywords are from 7 poems from 7 contemporary Black female poets. When you string a row of cards together, you'll create an original poem reflecting the soul of Black women. This deck is an antidote to the daily heaviness I feel for myself and other Black women, who seem to always be at the bottom of the world's hierarchy, "the mule of the world" to quote Zora Neale Hurston, and everyone's scapegoat. I am striving to dance through it with my head in the air, like these beautiful Black queens. 

If you have an urge to create an oracle deck, just remember there's an internal process at work. It's not just about finding art and choosing a few keywords. I believe deck-making is a way to assist in your soul's evolution. When you complete the deck, you'll have the sense of opening up to a bigger version of yourself. ​

What is your biggest creative block? In this video, I examine handwriting to uncover the root of a creative block. 

In this handwriting sample, I found a few potential creative blocks:

• Descending baselines reflect exhaustion and lack of creative motivation.
• Decreasing margins reveal setting overly strict boundaries on creative time. 
• Narrow letter spacing suggests creative inhibitions and not allowing enough inner creative space. 

Recommendations:

• Address what's zapping your physical and sacral energy (possibly the "day job").
• Set up a dedicated creative space where you can go to create spontaneously. 
• Affirm, "I always have plenty of time."
• Perform the graphotherapy exercise (below) to increase inner relaxation. 

Would you like for me to assess YOUR biggest creative block? Send me a handwriting sample and I may use it in this series. Begin with a piece of computer paper or other unlined paper and your favorite type of pen. Hand write a paragraph or more about your biggest creative block. Take a photo of the page and email it to intuitivewellnessnow@gmail.com with the subject: Creative block handwriting. 

Creativity and technology have always had a complex relationship. On one hand, technology has made it easier for creatives to bring their ideas to life, while on the other hand, it has been seen as a threat to the creative process. However, with the advent of more and more AI (artificial intelligence) tools, creatives can now leverage technology to enhance their creativity, and here’s how.

(1) AI tools remove the barriers between ideas and reality. With the help of AI tools, creatives can now easily bring their imaginative ideas to life, without being limited by their lack of technical skills. These tools can generate realistic images, sounds, and even entire virtual worlds based on the specific input.

(2) AI tools can automate repetitive tasks, freeing up more time for creative work. For example, tasks such as photo editing, resizing, and formatting images can be automated with AI tools, allowing creatives to focus on more important and less time-consuming tasks.

(3) AI tools can help creatives boost their social media presence. AI tools can analyze the language, tone, and structure of a creative's blog post or social media update and suggest changes that would make it more engaging and effective. An AI tool could also analyze social media trends and suggest a new approach to a marketing campaign.

(4) AI tools allow creatives to collaborate freely. Through the use of AI, creatives can work together on projects, regardless of their location. AI tools can facilitate communication, file sharing, and project management, making collaboration more efficient and effective.
​
AI tools can be a valuable asset to creatives. With AI, it is now possible to quickly and accurately analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns and trends, and make predictions about future outcomes with a high degree of accuracy. While it may not replace human creativity, it can certainly enhance it. As technology continues to advance, it will be interesting to see how AI tools evolve and how creatives will leverage them.

I'm leading a discussion/demo on using AI for deck creators in the Deck Creator's Mastermind with Kiala Givehand, which begins August 11, 2023. Click HERE for details. 

Key Points:

• Pressure and pastosity (thickness) reveals your creative intensity and passion. Creatives who use lighter pressure may use light or pastel colors while creatives using heavier pressure may use deeper, darker colors. 
• Cursive writing helps you make non-linear creative leaps, while print writing can reflect a more methodical or step-by-step thinking. Printscript combines cursive and print writing and it suggests a creative who can move easily between linear and non-linear thinking. 
• There are 3 handwriting zones (upper, middle, lower). Emphasis in the upper zone reflects a lot of creative ideas. Middle zone-emphasis creatives may incorporate creativity into their daily life in a very practical way. Lower zone-emphasis creatives are often in the performing arts or sports, where their creativity has a physical outlet. 
• There are four handwriting styles or shapes: garland, arcade, thread, and angle. Garland writers are creatives with a lot of emotional depth. Arcade writers are creatives with  emotional depth that is often guarded or protected, which may be a theme in their art. Thread writers prefer to go wide creatively...they may enjoy a variety of different types of creative mediums. Angle writers are investigative creatives and may enjoy critiquing society with their creativity. 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Before the analysis, it's best to make a handwriting sample. On an unlined, full sheet of paper, journal your response to this question: What do you enjoy about your creative practice?
Watch the video below to find out how your margins and spacing between lines and words reflects your ideal creative space. 

Key Points:

• Margins reflect how you prefer to organize your creative space and your general creative approach. 
• Spacing between lines reflects the level of busy-ness you need to get your creative juices flowing. 
• Spacing between words reflects how much personal space you require for optimum creativity. 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Collage is the process of assembling disparate pieces from various sources and combining them together into a new, integrated whole. If we observe the stages of collaging in a symbolic manner, we might see how it reflects a journey of self-exploration and self-acceptance.
 
Collecting: The first stage of the collage process is collecting magazines, books and other source material. Collecting is an act of yearning. The type of source material we collect often reveals what we’re wanting and desiring in life, and it reflects our idealized image of self. 
Searching: Next, we search for images within our source material. We’re searching for images that make us feel a strong emotion, whether joy or fear. We’re searching for an “aha” moment or resonance that makes our soul sing. This is an act of seeking the undiscovered parts of our lives.

Disorganizing: After searching, we may develop a pile of papers and images before we arrange them in a layout. This is often what we experience when our lives feel disordered and cluttered with too many options. This disorganization stage is an act of chaos. It helps us learn to adapt to chaos in a calm and creative way. 

Choosing: Next, we narrow down to a few images. Choosing the images we wish to use from the disorganized pile is an act of empowerment. This stage helps us to look at everything at once and use our sorting and discernment abilities to make choices and decisions. 
​
Cutting: We may need to crop part of a picture away from the rest of the picture. Which part should be kept? Which part should be discarded? Cutting away part of an image from a larger whole is an act of freedom. It can symbolize cutting away the collective mindset in favor of an individual perspective. 

Reorganizing: Reorganizing is arranging the chosen images into a layout. It is an act of creating order out of chaos. Symbolically, we are integrating isolated fragments of ourselves. We are consciously assembling our lives, choosing the pieces that fit together in a meaningful way. 
​
Adhering: Once the layout has been determined, we adhere the images to a surface. This is an act of permanence. It is also a symbolic commitment to a state of being. It’s like declaring, “This is who I am at this moment, and I accept it.”  

REFERENCES:
Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool by Andrea Watts
​SoulCollage® Evolving by Seena B. Frost
Putting the Pieces Together: Collage as a Mode in the Treatment of Trauma by Anila Babla https://collageresearchnetwork.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/putting-the-pieces-together-collage-as-a-mode-in-the-treatment-of-trauma/