We are all obviously connected & none of us exist in isolation. We are built literally out of the bodies of other human beings, enmeshed in the energetic movements and fluctuations of the collective in totality. The more we interact with the collective in an extended manner, the more we are shaped by it and evolve into conformity with it. Immersing yourself in the hive, you become part of its mind, you begin to breathe in unison with it, and act from expectation. So, there is no question that you have been influenced by others, seen the work of others you admire or aspire towards… but the question is, what do you do when you feel this sense of admiration or awe for the work or path of another? It is undeniable that anything powerful you experience begins to shape you and you begin to assimilate it into your own identity. That is the essence and hope for any creative individual— that their work will have some kind of power to such a level that it will change (in some subtle or major way afterwards) the lives of those who interact with it. Our Lunar sheaths are a combination of that which has most impressed on us; we replicate the “strongest” forces that have done so. We encounter a type of energy and then change to match its pulse and rhythm, repeating profound words we’ve heard, mimicking actions of powerful movements we’ve seen. But this is a dangerous game if you desire to tap into innovation or originality, which is something I discussed in my most recent video on Purva Bhadrapada Nakshatra (20’ Aquarius- 3’20 Pisces).
Purva Bhadrapada is the gateway to the 12th house of isolation and ties to the stage of Adeptus Exemptus in occultism, the task in which an individual must shed all outer boundaries and limitations, remove the influences of the collective, in order to prove that they can dissect themselves from false influences and transmute or transform the things they have received into something new and unique, aligned with their true nature, never created or seen before. This is the formula of Solve et Coagula and is the transformation that establishes a person as a an “adept” which is why it is said at this stage that one must birth a school of thought. A school of thought in this sense is really: the introducing of something new to humanity that helps the collective to progress in some form. In passing this test Uttara Bhadrapada arises, in which one has actually influenced or shaped the collective with their individuality, instead of being submerged under its influence. It’s important to consider the idea of 12th house isolation in that sense for creativity to be born. As I explained in the video, the isolation is something internal, whereby one philosophically separates themselves from the tidal wave of influences from the collective. But this isolation can also be quite literal and external, and creativity can actually arise very effortlessly when combined with either form of isolation.
So, if we take our collection of influences & then immediately or almost immediately we begin to merge them with our identity and produce something with them as well, our outer identity does not match with our cosmic identity. People will even quite literally point out “oh you are just like so & so”, “oh I can see your work is inspired by ____”. We become “stamped” with the imprint of someone else and introduce ourselves to the collective with that stamp, which breeds unhappiness as time goes on and leaves us hungry to experience our own true nature, void of these foreign influences. However, if we accept that we receive influences and enjoy them, and have no agenda to quickly begin putting those influences out as our own identity, something amazing happens. We “play” with those influences with genuine love for such a time and with no lust of result, until enough time or years go by that we realize our own inner essence has constructed something completely new out of the material and separated that from it which was not aligned with our identity, pulled out the kernels that were, and then tapped into our own cosmic purpose and intuition to breed something completely new. It is distinctly “you” and cannot be confused with anyone else.
This is simply a blessing of time and isolation; when you give yourself time and space from outer influences with the subject matter you love, you will inevitably start to align with the way you “mechanically” do things based on your root nature & essence. As a simple example, say you learn the foundational basics of painting from a great painter. If you decided to then launch yourself as a painter to the collective with frantic desire for recognition immediately, your paintings (if you could match him in skill at least) would look just like he who taught you. Others would suggest that as well, and your energy would shoot out excitedly too soon and with too much enthusiasm. The lust of result would have swallowed any ability to gain true satisfaction from the work. The collective would then begin imprinting on you from their gaze and words, greatly reducing your chance of ever contacting your own inner spark. Their pressure is very hard to withstand without caving in. However, if you had learned from that painter, studied others, and respected the power of time and passion and creative “play”, you would have painted dozens, hundreds of paintings until the medium allowed something to come from within you that you hadn’t seen from outside and simply replicated. It would begin to flow out in accordance with your own personal qualities and nature— and this comes simply in that you allowed for the isolation, care, and time in letting it play out and change naturally in the fabric of your life, rather than changing your life and identity to inauthentically squeeze yourself into the shape of an outer impression. With time, your true nature would come out onto the canvas and fill you with excitement. By the time you left the inner isolation you’d carved for your passion and launched outwardly, your painting would be so far from your influences and so distinct that you’d barely recognize the various inputs you had received anymore, just in the way when you look at a flower, you don’t think about the different separate minerals in the soil that it grew from. It has become something new and beautiful.
The foundational basics you had absorbed would be so decorated now, complex & nuanced, aligned with the planetary forces that work through you and define you. Instead of being a parrot or copy of your influences (handing things out that originate from someone else), you would then be distinctly you and not infringe upon their place in reality or unique identity, but be able to exist in harmony and respect with those you admire and who had also carved something true to themselves. Creativity is not some mysterious force as much as it is just allowing yourself the time and space in aligning with your own instinct and how you do things, which is the rhythm of your own divine nature and role in this cosmic play. It is simply the patience for authentic development between what you see, absorb, and admire, and what you create and attach to your own identity. Have respect for your own nature— when you feel a foreign influence, respect its strength but don’t identify with it. Hold it and let it help reveal what inside you is so attracted to it, play with it, and keep playing with it, but do not change your rhythm to match it. Rather, hold it for so long, and integrate it so much into your life, that eventually it conforms to your rhythm instead and in that way it greatly changes in a way that aligns with your own purpose. Give yourself time to digest it into your own body & personal roots. Let your life, passions, preferences, and experiences change what you receive, to the same extent (or more) that you let that input change you. Things are impure when we receive them from the external and keep them repeating from the shallow part of ourselves. They reach immense purity when they are received & then taken apart as we take apart our own understanding of the world, and then put back together with personal meaning in a way that only resonates with our own nature. Creativity, at its root, is this harmonious coagulation— and holding a respect and patience for that process.
“One's own dharma, performed imperfectly, is better than doing another's dharma perfectly.” -Bhagavad Gita