Warnings against Otherwordly seduction echo through the folklore of many cultures, from the seductive glanconer of Irish tradition to the infamous succubus. The fairy lover is an appealing idea, but also a terrifying one. They will, no doubt, show you one hell of a good time. It’s what comes after that could be problematic.

Some Otherwordly seductions lead to death, like the Elfin Knights depicted in so many ballads, or the somewhat slower but no less tragic deaths of those who fall prey to spirits like the Leannán Sidhe.

And yet. There’s also a chance, the slimmest thread of a chance, that you might come out of the encounter transformed for the better. The chance that you might find yourself wed to the mystery, find your life full of the shiver of magic even when you’re washing the dishes and folding the laundry. The chance that you might become something Other, still human but also, somehow, something more. And that is, I think, why we still sometimes succumb to the seduction of the numinous. Sometimes the possibility is worth the risk.

It can be like that with art, too. To give ourselves to creativity sometimes seems to be a perilous undertaking in this strange capitalistic landscape we inhabit. Moreso now than ever, I think, with the horrors of AI slop washing over the world in a brain-bending tidal wave.  Creativity doesn’t guarantee us a paycheck, or approval. It doesn’t even guarantee an aesthetically pleasing end product. The outcome of creative endeavors is always unpredictable. 

But. There’s the chance that submitting to our passion for the act of creation might, like the seduction of the Otherworldly lover, bring us into alignment with something deeper and more beautiful than every day life usually offers us. There’s the whisper of hope that being wed to the muse might flood our lives with wonder and delight, whether or not our creative work ever pays off in any material way, whether or not anyone likes what we do. And this hope, this possibility, makes it worth immersing ourselves in our creative endeavors again and again, whatever the world thinks of our efforts.

Questions to ponder:

Do you feel passionate about your creative life? 

If not, have you ever felt deeply passionate about creativity in the past? And if that passion has faded, why do you think that is?

Is there some creative project or path that has been calling to you like a would-be lover? If so, why haven’t you answered that call yet?

If your creative passion has faded, what steps migth you take to rekindle it?

Photo by yours truly.

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