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Inspiration is breathing in, as in inhalation. Drawing in the wind of creative spirit is like drawing breath down into the lungs. The Japanese speak of fu-in, “wind inspiration”. Aspiration is breathing upon, blowing, panting after something. To aspire is to send out the breath of soul. Etymology, as in these examples, can be quite…

Awen – inspiration – was, as Caitlin Matthews reminds us, “the supreme preoccupation of Celtic poets, especially among those who had inherited the ancient prophetic and visionary arts of the ovate or faith – probably the earliest form of Celtic shaman.” [1] The word awen derives from the Indo-European root -uel, meaning ‘to blow’, and is kissing cousin with the Welsh, awel meaning “breeze”. In…

I’m thinking today about Thoreau’s wise and entirely accurate statement: “A man who stands in his own way will find the whole world is in his way.” How often do we bind ourselves and close off the paths of possibility by parroting self-limiting beliefs and negative mantras, like – I’ll never be any good at…

Stefania Pandolfo’s beautiful, polyphonic Impasse of the Angels: Scenes from a Moroccan Space of Memory (University of Chicago Press) evokes the landscapes – imaginal more than physical – of rural Moroccan villagers for whom dreaming and poetry are vitally important, and always interweaving.   “Poetry is always the result of flooding”, a younger poet tells her.…
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