Interviews with The Nine Modern Day Muses

Shadow Muse: Muse of Gifts
of the Dark Side

By Molly Anderson-Childers & Jill Badonsky

Greetings, Muses and mortals alike! This month, I’ll be delving into the darkness within…but don’t worry, I’m in good company! The Shadow Muse, The Muse of Gifts of the Dark Side, is our companion on this journey to the dark side.

Q: How did The Shadow Muse first take form? When did the other Modern Day Muses realize they needed someone to balance the energy of Bea Silly, Albert, and the like?

A: The Modern Day Muses were almost finished coming up with the upgraded versions of the original nine Greek Muses. They were on number eight. They wanted the next Muse to have a little depth — some intrigue — be a bit mysterious. They thought and they thought. Then the Muses started to get a little crazy and sinister. The side of each of them that is naughty and not-so-much-nice started to appear. They rather became controlling, intolerant, and one of them started spitting. Personality blemishes broke out in complaining, whining, and not making sense; they slipped into revenge, vindictativeness, and punishment. And in the midst of the darkness, they noticed the creative brilliance that's possible when our slips are showing. Hence, I, the Shadow Muse came into being. [maniacal laughter].

Q: Some find the darkness scary — I find it beautiful, mysterious, and intriguing. What are some of the gifts and treasures only found in the shadows?

A: Paul Simon said, “My words trickle down from a wound I have no intention to heal.”

The dark sides of personalities are always present, just as light invariably casts a shadow. When the light is brightest, the shadow is deepest. When mortals explore their hidden shadow side, there is a power, a liberating freedom, and a creative release. They no longer need to use their creative energy to keep the undesirable aspects of their personalities hidden — they can sublimate it into art and a depth of understanding for the human condition.

Many mortals are exhausted because they expend so much effort trying to be someone they are not. The willingness to be authentic creates a momentum that is fueled by self-acceptance versus an avoidance of the self from self-alienation. The mechanism we use to suppress our anger and sadness, also suppresses joy and delight. Freeing up the circuitry of both is akin to engaging a creative fire starter. Shaun McNiff said, "Creative expression requires an ability to work with feelings and channel them. Frustration, dissatisfaction, and even a sense of desperation may help you access an eloquence you never knew existed."

Q: Are there any dangers inherent in dancing with the dark side of creativity? Is it possible to become trapped in the shadow-lands?

A: It IS possible to get stuck in the negativity your shadow side sometimes brings up for you.

Mortals do best when they simply accept their shadow side as a part of being human and use it for creative expression and the cultivation of compassion. They get caught up in shadow-lands when they continuously focus on regrets, anger, resentment, sadness, fears, and the injustices of the world, expanding their power, and living life based on defensiveness, fear, and judgment. Lose that strategy and visit your shadow in the interest of understanding and accepting yourself. Or tap into this mortal vulnerability for sensitivities that can be alchemized into song, paintings, performance, verse and beauty. Make your home-base the lighter aspects of yourselves where you are better able to engage in your higher creative call.

Q: How can you help mortals to embrace the shadowy side of their creative world? What are some of the ways mortals can call you up when in need of something a little darker to flavor the creative brew?

A: Call upon me when you want to explore the potential of creativity contained within the dark side of your personality, when you are prone to dark moods, pain, and sensitivities that you would like to metabolize into poignant self-expression, and when you are curious about the fine line between creativity and madness. There are many exercises in the Modern Day Muse book to help you plug into the creativity your shadow energy. Start by continuing quickly and without much analysis or censorship, the unfinished sentence: In my shadow, I find…

Q: Please talk a little about the ability of creative work to help one navigate the darkest hours of the soul’s night. How can our stories and songs ultimately save us?

A: You connect with your collective humanity and the range of states and feelings experienced as a mortal through the experience of story and songs. The connection is at once healing and inspirational.

Accessing your emotions at times other than a crisis can also be a doorway to creative expression. Creative people have a reputation for having an increased sensitivity to experiences and a heightened awareness of sensory stimuli. Sensitivity opens us up to deeper feelings from the sights, sounds, and movements around us. The observation of a cloud, the cacophony of automobile engines, or a simple grimace liberates metaphors, emotions, poetry, or song from within. Staying on the surface of emotion may be socially more adaptable, but it keeps us from tapping into and siphoning out the art that can touch and transform others and ourselves. If you are open to the sensitivity of your human nature, it can become a channel through which heartfelt expression flows. Rich voices of deeper feelings weave the common threads of our humanity into the divination of a healing tapestry. Art is exalted.

Q: I’m interested in the ways that we balance upon the fine line between madness and genius. How can you stay sane while courting creative madness, expressing your zany inner genius, and navigating the dark side? In other words, any tips for us mortals wanting to write like Hemingway, rather than just drinking like him?

A: Creativity can often feel like madness because what we conceive creatively has not yet been processed by our rational minds or met with acceptance by others. Creative energy may come from parts of us that remain unexposed, and we may wonder if it is revealing something about ourselves that we should not be showing. If we expand our definition of acceptable and give ourselves license to create without judgment, we reach a liberated release. We all have a little bit of madness in us, in terms of idiosyncrasies, quirks, preferences, and neuroses. These hidden parts of us contain a great deal of passion because of the energy it takes to suppress them. When giving voice without censorship or modification, we are capable of original expressions that excite and provoke.

Q: What’s your favorite way to relax and lighten up a little?

A: Standing in the corner with an uninhibited artist at their exhibit and hissing at people as they walk by.

Q: When you have a bad day, is it really a good day, since you’re the Shadow Muse?

A: Yes. Many people find that creative release comes easier in times of poignant emotion: after a romantic breakup, a loss, during moments of anger or confusion. All of a sudden, words and images flow, or expressing one’s pain is simply easier. Sorrow and anger lay dormant much of the time, so when unexpected hard times break through the defenses, the emotions sometimes spill forth in beautiful words, visions, music, feelings, and insights. Alan DeNiro said, “Fall in love, then have a breakup. Plenty of writing material there.”

Q: What is the single most important thing mortals need to know when navigating the shadows that lurk within their hearts?

A: Be kind to yourself. •

Next: Interview with Marge »

© 2010 Molly Anderson-Childers and Jill Badonsky. 6/1/10