Sharing More Than Poetry
As I prepare to launch my second book, Elegies to a Dark Goddess, I’m realizing there is more than one reason to release this collection of poems into the world. Yes, I want to share the poems with others. They are offerings of love and artistry. They are also a testament to something deeper: the power of creativity to heal the heart.
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A Caregiver’s Creative Wisdom
Yesterday, I spoke with a friend who is caregiving for a loved one with a chronic illness. She’s a radiant soul, creative in every sense of the word. An artist in multiple media, a writer, a weaver of relationships—an artist of life. She said something that struck me: “Whenever I feel frustrated with caregiving, I ask myself, how can I deal with this moment creatively?”
That one question changes everything for her. It invites a pause. A breath. It calls her inward, toward inspiration, what I know as the spiritual intelligence behind life. When she responds from that place, she bypasses overwhelm and finds confidence in the quiet wisdom of her heart.
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My Awakening to Creativity as Medicine
I remember the first time I recognized creativity as medicine. Over 25 years ago, I read The Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor by Gail McMeekin. Before inhaling that book, I didn’t think of myself as creative. I was a psychologist. A thinker. A helper. Not an artist.
But Gail’s book was a summary of interviews with 40+ creative women, and I so identified with them! I hired her as a coach, and she encouraged me to start writing about the creative process and to run groups for women. I did and I was astonished by what happened. Many of the women who joined were psychotherapy clients. They felt better faster when we engaged in creative expression.
Creativity, I realized, wasn’t just art-making. It was medicine for the heart.
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The Birthright of Conscious Creation
We are all creative. It is our birthright. From the moment we wake up, we begin creating with the power of Thought. One moment, we might think, “I’m so tired.” The next, “I’m excited about this idea.”
Which one we give energy to shapes the day. Shapes our lives.
Unconscious creativity still creates—but in scattered, often unhelpful, directions. Conscious creativity, though?
That’s the mastery of magic.
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The Role of the Muse
When I’m writing, designing, mentoring, or tending to the relationships that matter most, life flows more easily. Why? Because conscious creativity requires inward listening.
For me, that listening is to a Muse I call “the divine feminine”, a spiritual intelligence, Love in motion. She is my sacred partner in all things creative.
When we strengthen that connection—whether we call it the Muse, Intuition, the Still Small Voice, Spirit, or simply Inner Knowing, our lives begin to move in harmony with something deeper.
We remember who we are: artists of life, wielding paintbrushes dipped in love.
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Love as a Living, Breathing Essence
As Sydney Banks wrote in Second Chance:
“Love is not just an idea… it is a living, breathing essence that the wise can pluck from the air at will, and then like a master artist, mold it into something beautiful.”
Whatever you are facing today, I invite you to pause. To listen. To let creativity be your medicine. Find your love. Make whatever is in front of you beautiful.
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Coming in July: Elegies to a Dark Goddess
A poetic journey into the depths of the heart and the transformative grace of the Divine Feminine.
Join my mailing list to be the first to know when the book is released.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Sandel Pettit, Ed.D., is a psychologist, writer, spiritual mentor, and author of Leaning into Curves: Trusting the Wild Intuitive Way of Love, winner of the 2024 Maxy Award for Inspiration and Self-Help. Her work helps intuitive women reclaim their power, navigate transitions with grace, and live from the deep well of spiritual intelligence within.
Read more stories like this in her memoir, Leaning into Curves:
https://drlindapettit.com/leaning-into-curves/
Interested in working with Linda?
Explore The Curves Collective, a small-circle coaching experience for intuitive, creative women ready to live from rested well-being and radical self-trust.
https://drlindapettit.com/thecurvescollective/
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