sat 9 sep

in april of 2021, during a real low point (pandemonium etc), the first seeds of the Constellation System took root in my mind. in august of that year, the six domains crystallised and i played with that framework for over a year before the last crucial lego pieces of the system clicked into place in october of 2022.

it was a crazy exciting time, i was on a total rollercoaster of creativity - i nailed down the four cultivators (the core types of activity within each domain) and that led to designing the Constellation Dashboard, which radically changed how i approach organisation. i was designing the entire system on index cards and figuring out how to share it with others.

during those few days where all that was coming together, i was in full obsessive creation mode.

i thought about nothing but this all day, my eating went all tipot, my sleep suffered from all the excitement and adrenaline. it was an exhilarating ride but it was also exhausting and made me miss my normal routines, getting enough sleep, moseying relatively peacefully through my work.

ironically, it was the Constellation System itself which helped me see this time for what it really was - a huge sprint of growth and excitement, which was only sustainable for a short time. seeing how it affected my domains (everything was being funnelled into, and pulled along by, Genero, while my other domains went neglected and declined) helped me enjoy the pros, and manage the cons.

i was able to appreciate the pure electricity and inspiration of this creative growth spurt, and then feel relief as it started to ebb and i could touch my feet to the ground again and sink back into a more sustainable maintenance phase.

that’s huge for me.

for most of my life, i would have felt:

a) guilt during the creative growth spurt for letting everything else fall apart like i should have been able to balance things better and

b) huge loss and disappointment when it ended because i wanted to feel like that all the time.

these days i understand that it’s in the NATURE of an intense growth spurt in one domain to pull the others out of balance. that energy has to come from somewhere. by definition, a growth spurt IS a temporary imbalance.

i also finally understand that it’s not a tragedy or a failure when that intensity starts to drop either - that IS the rebalancing happening.

it's incredibly rewarding getting to help others experience their own version of this shift in perspective. i get to do that in Constellation Clarity, and hear stories like this….

basically, i’m super lucky to get to do this for a living. i can’t solve everyone’s problems, but i do get to provide a toolkit for navigating life’s challenges with a little more self-compassion, sustainability and peace of mind and that fucking matters.

if any of this speaks to you, CC is open for just a couple more days, and i’d love to have you there and see what shifts you make.

💫 join & make the shift

closing in...

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✦ the channel

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the replay of my recent livestream is up now for another few weeks 😊

​✺ Q&A with a creative witch​

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✦ the almanac

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• EARLY AUTUMN / N. hemisphere
  • 🌰 foraging, bramble, apple, elderberry, conkers
  • 🍎 back to school, fresher’s week, fresh stationary & a new academic year
  • 🍂 leaves begin to turn, temperature cools, sweater weather
  • at least that’s normally the September vibe… but we’re having a last-ditch summer heatwave here in Glasgow right now 🙃 climate change is real 😭
• 🌓 WANING MOON / winding down, completion, releasing

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✦ the finds

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⚭ Explaining the MLM trend in pop culture | Obviously Queer (34min)

this quality video essay explores trends in queer media, and why MM pairings seem to be so much more ubiquitious (and well funded) than FF ones. interesting points on fanfic culture too.

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okay, that's it for now.

take care,