Talisman Creative Mentoring New
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Mentoring
    • Soul-Centered Mentoring for Creators
    • FAQ's
  • Courses & Talks
    • The Archetypal Artist Online Course
  • Images & Words
  • Contact
  • News
  • Blog

Soul-Centered Mentoring
for Artists, Writers, and Creators

Picture

"The way of the artist and the way of the mystic are very much alike, except the mystic does not
​have a craft."

-Joseph Campbell

Honoring Your Gift

If you've ever tried to make creativity bend to your will (and we all have) only to sense that you weren't actually in control--then you're in good company! Some of the world's greatest artists, writers, psychologists, scientists and spiritual elders have insisted upon the existence of forces that unconsciously guide and direct us, yet in our "culture of control" we're conditioned to try to ignore this inconvenient situation.

​An archetypal approach to creativity and to a creative life is one that recognizes that we always act in concert with powers beyond our direct control. Over two thousand years ago Plato spoke of a a kind of "divine madness" that swept over the great poets. In the twentieth century, C.G. Jung insisted that creative individuals continued to be driven by their personal daimon, a type of guiding spirit. Today, we may turn to neuroscientists to explain the workings of creativity. While focused on the brain, many of them are often in agreement with wisdom traditions that point to powers beyond our control--powers that are eager to engage with us! Where might your guides, (your daimon & mythic ancestors) be leading you? What can they reveal about your deepest purpose as a creator? 

Renewing the Vibrancy of Your Gift

From time to time, we all feel blocked, or set adrift. We can feel as if we've somehow lost control over our creative gifts, even as we suspect that we were never fully in charge in the first place. When turning our gifts into a career, we may also feel pressured into producing a commodity instead of art. Even after achieving a measure of success, we can lose sight of what it means to be a creator--our connection to the true nature of our gifts, and to our shamanic responsibilities as artists can become strained. 

Here is where an archetypal understanding of creativity can renew, strengthen and propel your work to new depths of meaning. Through an engagement with the historical ancestors of all artists (the shaman, magician, healer, priest and priestess) along with our mythic ancestors (such as the Trickster and the Wounded Healer) your life as a creator will be profoundly enhanced and fortified.  An understanding of the eternal patterns at work in the lives of all creators can be nothing short of transformational.

​I specialize in helping artists navigate the complex territory of creativity, which along with the joy of creating, often includes feelings of longing, melancholy and loss. Today we might also add the less poetic terms of "being stuck" or "blocked." At any time in an artist's life, a reinvigorated relationship with the deepest layers of imagination can transform art-making
​into "soul-making."


Picture

"The artist is the carrier of the mythopoetic project. The one who from the intersection of conscious intent and unconscious patterning, makes the myth of the age--mythopoesis."
-James Hollis 

Whether you're a full-time or part-time creator, a student, elder, or a creator returning from an illness, tragedy or absence of any kind, find out what mentorship can mean to you as you discover what psyche/soul desires of you.

Picture

"Poets [and artists] are visionaries and dreamers, not because they are prone to reveries or capricious and erratic fancy, but precisely because they do not lose themselves in the act of vision."
​-Roberts Avens

A Typical Session

Each session is one hour in length. We meet via phone, Zoom, or in person in the Santa Barbara area.  I listen closely and take notes. I then reflect, research, and sometimes even dream about topics and themes that we've discussed. Within 48 hours, I offer you additional personalized insights via email. Along with my own thoughts, you'll receive the insights of profound and ground-breaking thinkers from many disciplines including philosophy, psychology, mythology, neuroscience, spirituality and the arts--all related to the unique circumstances of your creative calling.

Sessions are $150.00.  I want my services to be accessible to everyone, so I do offer a sliding scale in certain circumstances. Please feel free to ask. 
​

Interested in a hybrid session split between deepening your gift while developing effective and authentic career and presentation strategies? No problem.
You may also find the Archetypal Artist online course of interest. This offering will expand to nine-weeks in 2025-26 and will be hosted by Kosmos Institute.
Copyright © 2025
 Talisman Creative Mentoring  
Santa Barbara, CA

WELCOME       MARY ANTONIA WOOD, PH.D.      SERVICES     COURSES & TALKS      IMAGES & WORDS       CONTACT            
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Mentoring
    • Soul-Centered Mentoring for Creators
    • FAQ's
  • Courses & Talks
    • The Archetypal Artist Online Course
  • Images & Words
  • Contact
  • News
  • Blog