Call to Create: Listening to the Muse in Art and Everyday Life

by Linda Schierse Leonard

Linda Schierse Leonard, renowned Jungian analyst, teacher, and best-selling author, demonstrates the many parallels among the cycles, moods, and landscapes of nature and the phases of the creative process—parallels that can foster inspiration, renewal, and hope. Many artists face profound challenges in the course of their creative work, and many more people do not think of themselves as creative at all, though their everyday discoveries, work, and personal lives can be deeply creative acts. Leonard shows how nature and creativity are healing and even necessary tools, and how we can use our energies to move through dark times so we can be ready to receive and actualize creativity. By understanding how to cultivate our "inner helpers"—characters and archetypal patterns that rise up within us as we go about imagining a better life—we can appreciate and develop creativity in all our endeavors.

Genres: Psychology, Art, Nonfiction, Self Help

212 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2000

About the author

Linda Schierse Leonard, PhD, is a philosopher who trained as a Jungian analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. She is the author of many bestselling books, which have been translated into 12 languages.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a gift this book was! the alchemical process of creative transformation that feeds us all

[Mayumi Shimose Poe · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE CALL TO CREATE: CELEBRATING ACTS OF IMAGINATION (2000) by Linda Schierse Leonard, PhD:
THE CALL TO CREATE was a recommendation from my amazing therapist who has a background in art therapy and has basically become my creativity coach. This book has been my companion for almost a year. I lingered, I savored, I slowly digested. Author Linda Schierse Leonard is a trained Jungian analyst and here she explores creativity as a sacred process, identifying key archetypes (e.g., the Muse, the Sower, the Cynic, the Artisan vs. the Star, etc.) who help and/or hinder the artist. I found this book very helpful to my practice. Morning pages to dump the brain, followed by one chapter or section of this book, followed by lighting a candle when I felt especially woo-woo, and then just a blank page, a sharpened pencil, and a hand moving. Highly recommend.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda Leonard has done it again - not quite as well as she did in Wounded Woman, but quite near. She refers to many books and movies which I noted and will read or watch. Most of all is the spirit of hopefulness that pours forth from the stories of those who have been faithful to the call of creativity - that spirit offers encouragement when life takes on a bleak hue or traumas are triggered. Creativity = the cure.

[Stef Garvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I expect to draw wisdom from for a long time. The creative mind can be challenging. How do you heed the call to create when so many things pull us in different directions? Even when you have answered the call, how do you keep responding in positive ways to the possibilities presented? I found answers to these questions within the pages of this book. While the creative journey is one that is always in process, I feel I have a good guide through the psychology of creativity.

[Kaya Prpic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is reading a book about creativity the same as finding a muse?

[Tomika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reminder of the lows and highs in the cycle of creating. I would refer back to the book again during my "low" periods to remind myself that ideas require time to develop.

[diwili · Rating 5 out of 5]

started to see the many archetypal roles i and others play in daily life while reading this book, very cool lens to see the world through, learned a lot.

[Hella · Rating 4 out of 5]

diep en psychologiserend, inspirerend boek om de processen van creativiteit te leren begrijpen.