'Psyche', A Soulful Reacquaintance with Creative Spirit

I almost called my artists book 'Psyche' and the excerpt below (from the introduction of 'Paper-clips with Raven') shows why.

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​In Greek mythology Psyche is the goddess of Soul. She is the personification of souls ‘breath’. ​​I used to call my poetry ‘Soul Poems’, for in the writing I bypass my conscious thinking-mind entirely and draw from a deeper place, giving voice to hidden things.

Puddle Portal (2019) Maija Liepins photography

'Inner Child' 2016, Digital Collage, Maija Liepins

​​In the Norse tradition, Odin’s Ravens are called Huginn and Muninn which represent his intellectual/spiritual capabilities journeying outward (from his physical form) in the form of fittingly intelligent and curious birds.*

It is only in recent times that western science has begun to recognise the entangled inter-connection of mind, body and spirit. Our mechanical or biomedical model of the body is informed by anatomical research back when grave-robbers furnished the medical establishment with bodies to study. 

The treatment of the mind as separate and unto itself is echoed in the way psychology has been treated as a study ‘of the mind’ rather than the whole person. So for me, psyche still has connotations of ‘the mind’ and that is what is examined in this anthology. As a teen many of my poems expressed a desire for inner peace which I now equate with self-acceptance... (continue reading)

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