Imagination

Hi, Everyone.

I thought I'd make a post concerning symbolic visual knowledge and imagination. I'm a pretty curious person with bundles of imagination, and so research a lot about many varied things. One of my favourite topics is origins and cosmology. When writing 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers', I wanted to create a cosmology for my beings called The Sindria and understand their environment. The mind is amazing when it's set free to wander the realm of possibility and along the way connections of patterns are made. This is where the creative mind/consciousness plays with what if's with no boundaries. If there's a problem that needs solving, imagination can take you there. Then, all you need do is research the science behind what you imagined or try and piece together scientific evidence/hypothesis that will back-up your theory to make it viable.
It's why I love Einstein's quote: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
― Albert Einstein

Some more on imagination:

“Everything you can imagine is real.”
― Pablo Picasso

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

“My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.”
― Patricia Highsmith

“Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.”
― Maria Montessori

“Our imagination flies -- we are its shadow on the earth.”
― Vladimir Nabokov

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”
― Jonathan Swift

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”
― Lewis Carroll

“Children see magic because they look for it.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.”
― Mark Twain

Okay, enough with the quotes, but you see how imagination is everything.

Jonathan Wolstenholme. a book character, journals his experiences, and growing knowledge of the Sidhe, supernaturals. Through researching ancient symbolic visuals, he discovers that the ouroboros, a symbol in the form of a snake biting its own tail, used especially in ancient Egypt and in Hermetic philosophy, as an emblem of eternity meant the cycle of birth and death. That one end represented the beginning and the other, the end. 

He pondered on this a while, what would be interpreted as such in our known universe? He pictured a snake across the heavens as the Aborigines Rainbow Serpent and Dreamtime. The Dreamtime is the period in which life was created according to Aboriginal culture. Dreaming is the word used to explain how life came to be; it is the stories and beliefs behind creation. 

The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake, a creator god. What would it look like? Jonathan envisaged a massive black hole as the point of rebirth, as exploded from the belly of the snake (center of a black hole) and the pinprick black holes or possibly white holes, being the ones that haven't exploded yet. All would contain within their belly the primordial soup which makes a world. This would also match the theory of the big bang and many spiritual teachings of returning to the source, and the cycles of karma, which the Sidhe called Vo-ror-bla. He speculated that consciousness/soul were the same things, alive but untangible. What if, pieces of matter and light were sucked in from the holes and expelled at the end, creating other universes, even replicas of us as all? Parallel universes perhaps, due to the invisible information/building blocks of life being the same stuff as ours, passed through. Would these building blocks replicate our own? Was that one form of quantum entanglement connecting us all? 

Jonathan mentally noted the snake in mythology and symbols such as Yin/Yang, the infinity symbol and many more, all contained creation stories, balance of the universal power, and cycles of life and death. So, the ancients were indeed using imagery to depict the story of creation but along the way, text and literal interpretation got in the way. The spiritual interpretations of the visuals not understood by mainstream academia logic, and maybe, were classified wrongly as myth and folklore. The truth of many things concerning our histories became lost because of a logical perspective and disconnecting from ourselves spiritually, leaving that task to religion, external influence. 

Everything needs balance he concluded, including the decoding of our origins, Mind (logic), Heart (feels/spirit/essence), and Soul (spiritual consciousness). The trio that religion oft depicts, that our law courts state a thing three times, even commands are given three times in order to verify that the message is being given intentionally. Writers and artists use the rule of three. The Latin phrase "omne trium perfectum" (everything that comes in threes is perfect, or, every set of three is complete) conveys the same idea as the rule of three. Three/Thrice/Trio/Triad...the lure of three...his mind drifted to numerology and jumped to Tesla's Key to the universe...vibration, energy frequency. 3...6...9  The Universe...

The above isn't in the books, it's research and philosophical ramblings. I create Jonathan's journals to better understand the character/the realms/origins through concepts/theories that come to me. Without imagination, all stories would be the same. It is the perspective of the writer which creates a new idea for a story told millions of times already but from different eyes. This, to me, is imagination connecting the dots/patterns to a very ancient puzzle where pieces were destroyed/lost /misinterpreted during the linear time. Imagination fills these lost spaces in the puzzle, and from different writers, we see the many aspects of the same/origin puzzle piece.

 “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely, but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

― Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

It's officially New Year's Eve...

As we begin to prepare ourselves for 2018, I am making goals to create art as well as continue with writing. Online classes are perfect and can be done at your own pace.

So, with the 'Fabric Book' class by Kate Thompson, (previous post), I am taking Annie Hamman's, 'Creating Soulful Art with a Story' (1). Her art is beautifully soulful. It will be fun combining the two classes using mixed media. Another couple of classes that appeal are 'Lifebook 2018' and Ivy Newport's 'The Storytellers Art'.

Just click on the classes above to take you directly to the websites. 

I have also signed up for Art Therapy course ~ HERE

Looking at the next year, I'm wondering about venturing into this area for work. We'll see, meanwhile I'll be having fun exploring art and words. Yay! 

Annie Hamman

Willowing

Annie Hamman

Annie Hamman

Annie Hamman

Wishing everyone a magical New Year.

💖

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Who are your heroes?

Who are your heroes? 

Who are you drawn to and why? 

I came across this question while browsing the net. It was something I hadn't really thought about, so it stopped me in my tracks and got me thinking. I don't tend to idolise, my heroes are usually people I know, like mum, friends, etc, that have strong views on humanity or have overcome harsh times and still remained beautiful. This is true strength. Now, that aside, I was stumped. In this context, I could pick Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Einstein, etc, but in truth, although I deeply admire them, they are too famous to be my true heroes. I would opt for people that are/were in the background, people that got left behind/faded from limelight/appear small against media greats. Nikola Tesla - who died alone in a hotel, seems, to me, to be a people's choice, I like that. I'm still finding it difficult to say 'they're my hero', as there are so many unknown heroes, so, I'll be more generalised: Creatives, Native Americans, Indigenous tribes, Sensitive souls in the world, Victims of holocausts, etc.
In a fictional context, I get to create my own hero/es. This appeals more. It is a growing manifestation of ideals/thoughts placed in a difficult environments/scenarios. You get to play with mindsets of various personality types, and, as omniscient, can create a new world and experience it's various outcomes without actual damage. Creative's (which all of us are) can experiment with ideas in a safe way and we need more of this deeper thought in the world before life-changing decisions are made.

The question 'Who are your heroes and why?' led to more insight ~

Name their top five strengths and then look inside yourself and make an honest assessment. Chances are, you embody those same talents.

What things are your heroes granting you permission to do?

Here's what I came up:
Soul seeking ~ Express myself through deeper thought processes ~ Stay original and true to self ~ To believe in the truth of freedom and justice ~ Speak up through creative play ~ Remember that love and the senses are the instruments in which we find purpose, quality, and honesty ~ Be true to the heart no matter what mainstream society lives by/believes ~ Equality for all ~ Harm ye None ~ Freedom is important ~ Protect and encourage growth in those who don't understand they are not at fault if they don't fit in.

I get frustrated, at times with the harshness of systematic living. There are not enough alternatives for people that do not 'slot' into mainstream thought/way of life. These people tend to have more difficulties because of the way they are and are pressured to conform. This is wrong. It can often lead to ill-health and 'society' failures. There should be other choices available in education and employment as we are all so very different. At some point in the future I hope this changes, in all areas of society.  It's so easy to feel small, almost drowning, in the unrealistic expectations of a monetary driven system. Diversity, understanding, and nurturing are the keys to humanity's growth.

Okay, so on a lighter level, lol. 😋

My hero is love.

Anyone who cares and wants to genuinely make the world a better place. Anyone who does their little bit, no matter how small, to make life beautiful, when able.Anyone who gives a helping hand to someone else when in the position to do so. People that stand up for those less fortunate/going through difficulties. My heroes are these people. I admire kindness and giving. No-one is perfect, but we should all try to reflect, often, on our actions and who our actions affect. Such a simple thing can change the world. 

http://laurensapala.com/what-your-heroes-say-about-the-hidden-parts-of-your-personality

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Flash Fiction

Her hands reach out for intangible dreams as dust motes dance in the spectrum of light across one corner of the room.

Flash fiction is an umbrella term used to describe any fictional work of extreme brevity, including the Six-Word Story, 140-character stories, also known as twitterature, the dribble (50 words), the drabble (100 words), and sudden fiction (750 words).

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

The Paper Unicorn ~ New Novel Inspiration

Elian and Felicity

 Elian Trevelyan ~ Felicity Campbell

💕

Work in progress

The Paper Unicorn ~ Fantasy Novel

Inspiration Journal

Quick scribbles of creative flow

Arty pages

Two characters come to life when Clara, a young woman from London, inherits an old manor house left to her by a stranger.

On moving in, her own life becomes entwined with that of a beautiful love story previously lost within the manor's stone walls.

Clara questions the intentions of the mysterious benefactor. Did the person know of the lovers? But more importantly, why was everything left to her? What is the connection between them?

The story presented itself when I was creating a visual reference journal for a dolls house. The magic happens like that. Visuals and songs play through my mind and the new characters come alive. This story is quite different to 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers' but spiritual connections are still there. ;o) 

A romance that travels through time ~ the painting of characters

Music to tease the senses

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Unicorn Foklore

Searching for unicorn myths is a bit like searching for unicorns themselves.  

The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a large, pointed, spiralling horn projecting from its forehead. The unicorn was depicted in ancient seals of the Indus Valley Civilization and was mentioned by the ancient Greeks in accounts of natural history by various writers, including Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny the Younger, and Aelian. The Bible also describes an animal, the re'em (auroch), which some versions translate as a unicorn.

In European folklore, the unicorn is often depicted as a white horse-like or goat-like animal with a long horn and cloven hooves (sometimes a goat's beard). In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured by a virgin. In the encyclopaedias, its horn was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the tusk of the narwhal was sometimes sold as unicorn horn.

The truth is, unlike almost every single other mythical creature, the unicorn does not appear anywhere in any culture's actual mythology.  That is to say, plenty of Greek scholars believed that unicorns existed, but the unicorn itself does not come from Greek mythology.  There are no tales of gods riding unicorns or legends of unicorns fighting monsters.

To put it simply, as far as ancient myths are concerned, there is no such thing as 'unicorn mythology'.

Greek scholars actually believed that this creature was real, noted in the accounts of natural history and that it made its home in India.  At the time, India was a little known distant land that seemed magical and mysterious to the ancient Greeks and Romans.  Fittingly, the unicorn was seen as a mystical and mysterious creature who commanded great respect and power.

This is not unlike the griffin, who many ancient Greeks also believed came from India.  And like the griffin, very few specific tales can be told about the unicorn, despite its popularity around the world.

The strangest part has to be the fact that ancient scholars believed that unicorns were real.  While this is true of other mythical creatures, unicorns are unique in that they aren't from mythology.  For example, ancient people might believe that a Pegasus, the winged horse of Bellerophon, was real because there was a specific myth that spoke of him.  The unicorn, on the other hand, has no such myth, so where does the belief in unicorns come from?

One scholar pointed out an interesting fact about unicorns - they are possibly the only mythical creature that is not based on human fears.  Unicorns are not monsters.  Anytime they are spoken of in ancient texts they are revered and respected.  They are strong, solitary animals who seek to do good for all around them.  Never does a unicorn pose a threat to humans, or any other creature that does not seek first to harm them.

For a creature that came from nowhere, never really existed, and has no real origin, the unicorn has lasted an unbelievable amount of time in the imaginations of the human race.  There really is no parallel.
Source HERE

The Maiden and the Unicorn by Domenichino, 1602.

The unicorn, tamable only by a virgin woman, was well established in medieval lore.

One traditional method of hunting unicorns that involved entrapment by a virgin.
In one of his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote:

The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it.

A Maiden with a Unicorn by Leonardo da Vinci.

Interpretations of the unicorn myth focus on the medieval lore of beguiled (charm or enchant (someone), often in a deceptive way) lovers. The unicorn also figured in courtly terms: for some 13th-century French authors such as Thibaut of Champagne and Richard de Fournival, the lover is attracted to his lady as the unicorn is to the virgin.

The Throne Chair of Denmark is made of "unicorn horns" – almost certainly narwhal tusks. It is guarded by three life-size silver lions, based on Biblical references, and was a symbol of the absolute monarchy of the Twin Kingdoms. The same material was used for ceremonial cups because the unicorn's horn continued to be believed to neutralise poison.The horn itself and the substance it was made of was called alicorn, and it was believed that the horn holds magical and medicinal properties.

There are famous late Gothic series of seven tapestry hangings The Hunt of the Unicorn.
Another famous set of six tapestries of Dame à la licorne ("Lady with the unicorn") in the Musée de Cluny, Paris, were also woven in the Southern Netherlands before 1500, and show the five senses (the gateways to temptation) and finally Love ("A mon seul desir" the legend reads), with unicorns featured in each piece. Facsimiles of these unicorn tapestries are currently being woven for permanent display in Stirling Castle, Scotland, to take the place of a set recorded in the castle in a 16th-century inventory.

In heraldry, the unicorn is best known as the symbol of Scotland. The unicorn was chosen because it was seen as a proud and haughty beast which would rather die than be captured, just as Scots would fight to remain sovereign and unconquered. Two unicorns supported the royal arms of the King of Scots, and since the 1707 union of England and Scotland, the royal arms of the United Kingdom have been supported by a unicorn along with an English lion. Two versions of the royal arms exist: that used in Scotland gives more emphasis to the Scottish elements, placing the unicorn on the left and giving it a crown, whereas the version used in England and elsewhere gives the English elements more prominence.

My interest has grown in the unicorn and this mystical creature has inspired a new novel called 'The Paper Unicorn'. I'm really excited about this story, it is quite different to my others. However, I must complete book two for publishing this year 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers' series and then I'm free to play with this idea. Can't wait. :o) Meanwhile, in my spare time I'm compiling a mood book so I don't lose track of the tale. I'll share pieces that I create here on the blog.

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

'I write better than I speak'

Spoken versus Written Language

"Does writing down what I think and saying what I think activate different parts of the brain and neuropathways?  I have an easier time writing than I do speaking." ~ Unknown

Written and spoken language can exist separately in the brain, a new study from Johns Hopkins shows. 

"Actually, seeing people say one thing and -- at the same time -- write another is startling and surprising," Johns Hopkins cognitive science professor Brenda Rapp told the website Futurity. "We don’t expect that we would produce different words in speech and writing. It’s as though there were two quasi-independent language systems in the brain."

Futurity, a nonprofit website that shares university research, explains, "While writing evolved from speaking, the two brain systems are now so independent that someone who can’t speak a grammatically correct sentence aloud may be able write it flawlessly."

The study, titled "Modality and Morphology: What We Write May Not Be What We Say," was published in the journal Psychological Science. HERE

Spoken languages are stored/encoded on the left side of the brain, whereas writing is controlled by the right side of the brain. For a more in-depth discussion of V.J. and the lateralization of speaking/writing, read a highly recommended 1996 article published in the New York Times, “Workings of Split Brain Challenge Notions of How Language Evolved”, written by Sandra Blakeslee.

Left Brain Vs Right Brain

The human brain is made up of two halves. These halves are commonly called the right brain and left brain, but should more correctly be termed ‘hemispheres’. For some reason, our right and left hemispheres control the ‘opposite’ side of our bodies, so the right hemisphere controls our left side and processes what we see in our left eye while the left hemisphere controls the right side and processes what our right eye sees.

The concept of right brain and left brain thinking developed from the research in the late 1960s of an American psychobiologist Roger W Sperry. He discovered that the human brain has two very different ways of thinking. One (the right brain) is visual and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details. The other (the left brain) is verbal and processes information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole. Sperry was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1981.

In general, the left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in different ways. While we have a natural tendency towards one way of thinking, the two sides of our brain work together in our everyday lives. The right brain of the brain focuses on the visual, and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details. The focus of the left brain is verbal, processing information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole.

Left brain thinking is verbal and analytical. Right brain is non-verbal and intuitive, using pictures rather than words. The best illustration of this is to listen to people give directions. The left brain person will say something like “From here, go west three blocks and turn north on Vine Street. Go three or four miles and then turn east onto Broad Street.” The right brain person will sound something like this: “Turn right (pointing right), by the church over there (pointing again). Then you will pass a McDonalds and a Walmart. At the next light, turn right toward the Esso station.”

Though right-brain or non-verbal thinking is often regarded as more ‘creative’, there is no right or wrong here; it is merely two different ways of thinking. One is not better than the other, just as being right-handed is not ‘superior’ to being left-handed. What is important is to be aware that there are different ways of thinking, and by knowing what your natural preference is, you can pay attention to your less dominant side to improve the same.

Source HERE

Learning Styles

Did you know there are four primary learning styles: visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic. People learn using a variety of these methods, but one method is usually predominant.

Scientists and psychologists have developed a number of different models to understand the different ways that people learn best. One popular theory, the VARK model, identifies four primary types of learners: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. Each learning type responds best to a different method of teaching. Auditory learners will remember information best after reciting it back to the presenter, while kinesthetic learners will jump at the chance to participate in a hands-on activity.

After researching the statement 'I write better than I speak',  it led me to reflect on the time that I suffered epilepsy, Grand Mal, in my late 20's/early 30's. My medication was incorrect for around three years (prescribed meds for Petite Mal) so the fits continued and my life changed dramatically. 

You can read more about Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) HERE

My memory isn't as good as it used to be prior to epilepsy and I forget how to spell simple words when writing. It doesn't matter that I've spelt the word correctly before, or that I do know it, something just stops the connection to grasp it again. ~ Other days, I can't get my words out correctly when trying to verbally explain something and mentally I reach for that word I was going to say, but evades me. It's frustrating as I flounder around to find the word and concept I wish to express but for some reason I can't think of how to translate my thoughts into spoken language at that particular time. This can happen in writing, too. 

Disorganised information retreval/language, e.g. getting words mixed up, having a word on the 'tip of your tounge', seeing something and knowing that you KNOW what it is, but not being able to actually think of the name of the item/object at that time. Apparently, this very much depends on if you are left hemisphere dominate for language. 

Because of these issues I tend to use many visuals as aids in my writing, such as pinterest boards for characters and places. It helps me snapshot the bigger picture and certain scenes. I've always been a very visual person but the after effects of epilepsy and now, hypothyroidism, I rely on this aid even more greatly. It has been interesting and educating reading the different reasons for 'I write better than I speak'. Coonclusion ~ Each person is unique and sees things/works in a different way. Many areas relate to the subjects mentioned above, but mingled with personnal experiences, we are more complex than textbooks/specialists/professionals can equate. 

💜 Embrace your uniqueness. 💜

Awareness - Read more of Hypothyroidism HERE

Note:

Dostoyevsky, the 19th-century Russian novelist, who himself had epilepsy, gave vivid accounts of apparent temporal lobe seizures in his novel The Idiot (HERE) 

The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lyov Nikolaevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness and open-hearted simplicity lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man". The novel examines the consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved. The result, according to philosopher A.C. Grayling, is "one of the most excoriating, compelling and remarkable books ever written; and without question one of the greatest."

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. More HERE

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo