Something I hear all too often is how people don't consider themselves to be creative.
Everything we do is creative.
Everything we do is a way to share who we are with ourselves and with others.
Creativity is intrinsically woven into our approach to everything.
And every time we move outside our comfort zone,
We flex our creative muscles to discover what life is like outside of our known boundaries.
Now when viewed as an act of self-expression,
Creativity takes on a more embracing role in our lives.
There are many facets to our creativity,
From inspiration all the way through to enactment.
And we move through different energies as we explore the expression that we want to bring forward.
Creativity always begins with some form of inspiration,
That spark that lights up the dark recesses of our minds and connects the dots from past,
Present and future to birth something totally new.
To take that inspiration and mould it into form is not as straightforward as hurling yourself into the details and rolling up your sleeves.
This is an incredibly common approach and it's one of the reasons that momentum behind a creative project just evaporates.
There are four key stages we all need to go through to take that inspiration and bring it to life.
And these stages are guided by the elements of earth,
Air,
Fire and water.
Now we are used to the elements as physical manifestations and materials for our creations,
Yet their genesis is energetic.
It is from the energy that the form takes hold.
So understanding the elements from an energetic perspective transforms how we perceive their form and the form we can create with them.
The elements help to define,
Refine and articulate that creative impetus.
They bring dimension both in terms of breadth and depth to what we create.
When we work with all of them in our creative expression,
Our creations are fully formed and ready to fly.
Because each element brings very specific qualities to the creative process and they do so as part of a cyclical flow.
The elements are associated with the four cardinal directions,
Earth to the north,
Air to the east,
Fire to the south and water to the west.
Each direction is associated with the season,
Which is a reflection of its energetic pull.
When working with the elements in any matter of creative expression,
The energetic cycle moves in a clockwise direction around the four cardinal directions.
So earth moves into air and there is an arc of energy there that offers a particular focus of creative expression and personal growth.
Then air to fire,
Fire to water and water to earth.
Each of those transitions brings different qualities and insights with them.
Now the cycle itself is constant,
It is always in motion.
Sometimes we might get stuck in one place,
But the energy is still moving.
So learning to flow with it,
Even when you don't feel ready and perhaps especially when you don't feel ready,
Will take your experience of creating into a new dimension altogether.
We are most used to the elements appearing in our physical plane,
But they actually move on multiple planes simultaneously.
And there are many planes of energetic activity that we are only just beginning to be aware of and understand.
So as I cover the qualities of each element in detail,
I'm going to focus on how the elements impact our expression within our physical plane and how we can work with them energetically to up level our creative expression.
And we begin with earth.
Now perhaps because of our language associations,
Particularly in the west,
The energy of earth often feels quite solid.
The ground beneath our feet,
The soil that sustains us,
We call these earth.
And this is what we can associate with this element.
Now we have to move beyond our language limitations to really understand the energy of earth.
Earth is the confluence of all possibility and form.
In this energy you can create whatever you have prepared the conditions for.
There are no limits,
There are no prescriptions.
Earth is the realm of riotous creativity.
It is a burgeoning energy,
Full to bursting with a life.
When you are in this phase of creativity and creation,
You are harnessing the full breadth of your expression to put the pieces together for the new.
Often this is happening under the surface or behind the scenes.
Inner creation is challenging in our proof-obsessed world.
We need to see evidence of doing.
The pressure to skip this phase is strong.
Now if you succumb to the pressure,
You will not have made the space to fully connect the pieces and your foundations will be flawed.
Earth energy is where you will understand the soul and truth of what you are creating,
The energy that is birthing it and how it brings harmony through its expression.
You will know you are in the earth creative phase when you are pulled to cultivate your knowing and act upon it.
Earth energy moves into air energy.
Air energy is the upward pull of emergence.
It takes your creation out of the earth and into the realms of outer expression.
When you enter air energy,
Your focus is turning outwards,
You are seeking,
Exploring,
Shaping the focus of this energy you have brought to life.
Air is where the energetic structures of creation are created,
From the physical foundations brought into being in earth energy.
To do this,
The energy must be resourced through its connection to all that resides above the earth.
Air energy connects the dots,
Builds the connections that are so essential to sustain the life force of every creation.
Air energy is where you will begin to appreciate the role and impact of your creation.
You will know you are moving into air when your focus turns to the world around you,
When you begin to seek new connections and new ideas to resource your creation.
Air energy flows into fire energy.
Fire energy is the apogee of external expression.
It is the moment where the energy has taken shape and needs to move out into the world.
It is the voice,
The action,
The release.
Fire brings the energy to others.
There is a deep knowing that the expression of this energy is needed to create essential change.
And the movement is unstoppable.
The energy needs to travel to its point of reception.
And it can be beyond frustrating in this phase to not see evidence of the energy being received or understood.
But that is not the point of this phase.
The importance is that the energy is released.
Where and how it is received is not as important as simply trusting that it will be.
Fire energy is the point of the cycle where you develop unshakable trust in your path.
And you will know you have entered this energy when your desire to speak,
Share,
Do,
Express,
Takes you beyond the boundaries of your fear.
This energy of fire flows into the energy of water.
Water energy is the gateway to a new cycle of growth.
It is a period of reflection that is undertaken both with others and alone.
This is the time to acknowledge and come to terms with who you have become and what has opened up to you because of the energy you have brought into the world.
In water you will find yourself and prepare yourself to continue growing,
Learning and expanding.
Old identities will depart if you let them.
New ones will be born if you let them.
Water is the stepping off point in the journey of evolution.
It is the point at which you let go and prepare to face all that you must face.
You will know you are in this energy when you want to step back,
Slow down,
Turn inward in your quest for answers.
Water is your coming home and your point of departure.
As an experience,
This cycle through the elements is in constant motion and it's experienced more as an arc of energy.
The journey from earth to air is an outward energy of emergence.
From air to fire is an inward energy that builds the strength of expression.
From fire to water you move into an outward energy again of connection,
Sharing and realisation.
And then from water to earth it is an inward energy of becoming as the seeds of the future are created and planted.
Because the energy is in motion,
It is the movement that allows us to grow through our experience of the energy.
Without the motion there is no growth.
I often see examples of people stuck in a particular energy,
Refusing to move through the experience.
But there is no expansion without flow.
There is no creative expression without flow.
To stay in the flow or to find it,
Notice where you are right now,
What energy is calling you,
What is it asking of you.
When you can see and acknowledge this,
It's time to honour the core.
Working with the elements doesn't adhere to a rigid timetable.
You could flow through the full cycle in a matter of minutes for one creative act and months for another.
You may be in different parts of the cycle for multiple creative works at any one time.
But you can only maintain the flow by being present with one project at a time.
You may have lots of activities on the go,
But when you work on one,
Give it your full focus and energy so you can feel where it is and what it needs.
You are the medium through which the energy is moving,
But it doesn't define you or limit you to that alone.
So you can be on many things at one time.
But be present with each creative project and understand which energy has the greatest pull in the moment.
This way you can honour the energy and the creative expression in the fullest possible way.
If you feel stuck or feel the need to bring in another energy to instil some movement and fresh momentum,
You can consciously engage the elements through connection.
This can be at a physical level by connecting with one of those elements in its physical form,
Or at an energetic level.
One of my favourite practices is to sit within the energy of a particular project or activity and feel which elements are needed the most at the current time and listen to the messages that come forward.
And as you practice working with each element,
You will get more and more skilled at seeing where you are in the cycle and where you tend to begin your cycle for each project.
Ultimately it will become second nature and you will find yourself flowing through the creative spiral without second thought.
