It`s that time of year again. Out comes my favourite pumpkin coloured sweater and my snuggly slipper boots. On comes the heating – in come the cinnamon and fig fragranced candles and to my despair, in come the dancing daddy-long legs.
I do love this time of year. I even embrace the coat on, coat off, confusing body temperatures, as the warm summer afternoons can`t decide whether to give in to the chillier evenings.
However, I am still not convinced about the Christmas decorations in the garden centres yet! And I am baffled as to how you can merchandise spring flowering bulbs right next to twinkly fairy lights. I do, however, find my inner child oohing and aahing along with all the other adult-children all jostling for the best view of the extortionately priced, miniature, ornamental ice-skaters and sparkly, snow coated village scenes that herald, a mere two months until…..
…….Chri$£mas!
This year has been another strange one. My writing has taken a back seat and I don`t know why. There seems to always be something cropping up which consumes my creative head space. I know other writers who carve a slice of the day as their sacred writing time. These are the dedicated, successful authors whose inner well of prose never seems to run dry. I am in awe.
Having said all that – I do know what has partly consumed my writing time…and it is rather exciting. Some of you will be aware that my lovely husband Rick Radley composed the music for a new Rock Musical called ARTABAN the MUSICAL. This is the story of the fourth wise man, Artaban. The original story (because it is a work of fiction – or is it?) was written about 120 years ago by Henry Van Dyke. Rick became involved in the music through my wonderful friend, and fellow healer/writer Anne Jones. At one of Anne`s dinner parties she approached Rick and said, and I quote: “Rick, you`re a musician – do you fancy putting a little bit of music to my lyrics? My friend, Daphne Lander has written a script and we want to put on a musical.”
His response, which was probably coloured by the amount of Malbec, Scotch and party euphoria in his bloodstream was a reluctant –
“I`m a Rock and Blues guy, I don`t do Kumbaya stuff, but okay I`ll have a go!” That was over six years ago. Nineteen vibrant songs later and a fascinating journey of ups and downs, brings us to the here and now!
ARTABAN the Musical Showcase is showing on 23rd and 24th November 2021, at the prestigious Actors Church in Covent Garden, London. For tickets – please click on the link:
https://actorschurch.ticketsolve.com/shows/873618294
We are all extremely proud! It is now beyond exciting. We have a top Director and West End Cast on board. So, yes, I think this may have been the distraction which has taken me away temporarily, from my writing.
Of course it has been suggested that if I weren`t such a slow morning riser, many thousands of words could have been committed to the barren page before elevenses! Forget it. That has been tried and tested and it is confirmed, I am definitely not a Morning Person! The end result of my early morning scribblings tended towards the grumpy, grouchy sort of stories guaranteed to shove the unsuspecting reader right over the edge, if they were teetering.
One area of my writing I try not to neglect though, is anything I can contribute to honouring my Welsh heritage. I haven`t been completely idle. I include a link to a tongue in cheek article I wrote for EGO magazine. This is a great magazine, packed with some fascinating reading. Pre-Covid, it was a paper print mag. During Covid, the editors adapted it to an online publication. I believe that 2022 will hopefully bring it back to a physical “real life” you can sniff the paper, and detect the pure Welshness, kind of publication and I cannot wait!
https://ego.today/oct21/
But as Autumn blows in, scattering curly amber and red leaves, and carpeting the ground with spiky horse chestnut husks – my creative juices are starting to seep out through my fingertips and my keyboard is clickety clacking again. What has caused this change? As bonkers as it sounds, I think it is my pumpkin-coloured sweater!
Sensitive to my environment – I have often discovered that the clothing I pick from the wardrobe reflects the needs of my mood. Colour therapy is a known healing tool. With my holistic hat on – I have always put great credence in the effect that the colours in our surroundings have on our emotional and even physical state.
Most of us are familiar with the image of a cross-legged yogi with coloured symbolic discs running up the centre of their body to the top of their head. In Sanskrit – these coloured spinning discs are called chakras and they are the energetic access points running throughout our bodies. Some psychically aware people can perceive those chakras either visually or through touch. Using colour as a form of medicine dates back at least as far as 2000bc. Light therapy which was known as phototherapy was practiced by many ancient civilisations in Greece, China, Egypt and India.
The Ancient Egyptians harnessed sunlight as well as colour for healing. Although it appears they did not investigate the scientific reasoning behind colour healing, they had great faith in its healing powers. The Egyptians and Greeks were known to use coloured minerals, gemstones, crystals, etc., as healing remedies. They also created sanctuaries which they painted in differing shades of colour, believing this would stimulate the energetic balance within the body.
So back to creativity. The sacral chakra is located just below the naval and responds to the colour orange. This energy wheel is believed to govern fertility and creativity. Aha! In comes my pumpkin sweater. The minute I slip it over my head I feel comforted, warmer and more inspired. In addition, in the autumn and winter months I have more opportunity to retreat to my writing cabin. It hadn`t really crossed my mind before, but this brings with it a double `creativity whammy`. The warmth of the pine walled surroundings adorned with the eye-catching vibrancy of my multi-coloured Indian wall-hangings, blended with the stimulating colour of my go-to autumn sweater, unleashes the potential of a record-beating word count.
Now all I need to do is stop analysing the whys and wherefores and get writing!
Till next time,
Love & `Orangey Autumnal` Blessings
Sashi x
