Creative Evolution

This morning, I read an article about Sting performing a winter Concert in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The photo showed a bearded man dressed in 19th century clothes accompanied by Northumbrian pipes, mandolin and other acoustic instruments. His choice of songs was drawn from European early music and old English composers such as Purcell, Southwell, Warlock and Schubert. They say that he even sang in a lower range than is usual for him. All in all, a far cry from the musician who became famous for his performances with the band the Police. Reading the review made me wish I had been at that concert.

Creative people often evolve in unexpected ways. Author Walter Mosley initially became famous for writing detective novels set in Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, then branched out to write science fiction. That's an unusual shift, and no doubt there are fans of his detective novels who didn't follow him very far into science fiction. Then again, he picked up other new fans because he did. And, of course, some fans like all of his work. Just like some of the people who enjoyed the music of the Police in years gone by might now be savoring the sounds of him performing in the context of an early music consort.

Many of us go through similar evolutions by following our creative instincts and pursuing work and projects for which we have passion and enthusiasm. In my own case, I am happy to just be a tarot reader, tarot teacher, a tarot dealer, a herbalist, gardener, past life facilitator and reiki healer. When people ask me if I would like to be a magazine editor again, I can honestly answer no. I successfully created and managed publications for years, but that was then. I have no desire to do it again. I am happy to be of service to people on a one-on-one basis. My life is simple in that manner of speaking and very fulfilling. I do have a busy schedule, but it all revolves around my reading schedule. It is an evolution.

I know that many of you are doing things right now that do not look like what you were doing a few years ago. That may puzzle some puzzle some people, but it is all part of our learning curve, our creative evolution.