5. Spirit of Creativity
The fifth instalment of Fey’s Shadow Salon is where we’re putting our knowledge of the Unseen to the test. Having traversed the Unconscious, studied the psi and the psychedelic, and analyzed the ancient oracle, we’ll see how we can practically and personally channel the Unseen via the creative process.
___________
Inspiration creates Life. In many languages, including English, the word “inspiration” relates to being breathed upon by the Spirits, a process that animates the moment. There are many ways to be inspired, and in this talk, you will experience ways to listen and relate to creativity beyond the human self.
To engage with creative processes – whether artistic, scientific or structural – is to engage with life. It can help us to remember that there is more to a project than our own minds see and what we think we know. Opening beyond our human self, our senses become alive and attuned and creativity becomes both a living process and a process aligned with life. We become willing and wise partners, knowing there is a bigger picture waiting to be revealed, as we learn to listen and open ourselves to genius (stemming from “Genie” or “Jinni”, a guardian deity or Spirit who guides and governs us through life).
When we connect with Spirits and invite them to be a conscious part of creation, a greater story comes to life. It becomes a vibrant process, starting with a question and a meeting, then weaving through the unchartered territories of imagination, that meeting place between human and unseen, where inspiration takes us beyond our own ideas.
In the animistic worldview, stories are alive and inspirited. They are containers of sacred wisdom and living meaning. Stories from Nature can allow us to listen to voices beyond the human and live in a way that respects all life. When we are willing to listen with connection rather than control, Stories help us to find our way.
This talk will be partly experiential and include writing and meditative exercises. Please bring pen and paper, a candle and matches.
Speaker Bio
Zara Waldeback began as a screenwriter, filmmaker and teacher, specialising in creativity. Born in Sweden, she lived for 30 years in the UK, working as Senior Lecturer at London College of Music and Media. She established an MA in Creative Screenwriting and researched music and sound as the unconscious of cinema. She has published two books about writing: Writing for the Screen and The Creative Screenwriter.
In 2006 she stepped consciously onto a spiritual path and has for over 20 years been actively exploring how creativity and Spirit can dance with each other. In 2022, she developed the Writing with Soul programme, to offer simple inspiring ways for people without a Spirit practice to learn to listen to hidden voices, inside and out. Over the years she has facilitated many events exploring the intersection between the unseen and human words, such as Stories of the Earth at Schumacher College, Spirit fairy tales at a shamanic conference in Dorset, animistic presentations for the Earth Rights international conference in Sweden, and ceremonies for Aurora Nature and Spirit conferences in Italy.
Together with her partner Jonathan Horwitz of Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies, she runs Åsbacka, a small retreat center in southern Sweden. Here they teach shamanism both in person and online. She is also engaged in the Rights of Nature movement, encouraging people to listen to the Living World. She offers her services as creative mentor for those who want to bring the Voices of more-than-human Nature to human ears, and help us remember that we are all in this together.
LINKS: https://www.shamanism.dk/about-zara and https://www.writingwithsoul.org/
Hosted and Curated by:
Fey, a mediator between the otherworldly and the mundane. Outside of the salon (Ada Kałużna), a researcher with interest in philosophy of mind, psychedelic experience and the extraordinary Past scientific officer at the Beckley Foundation. Community-builder and traveler.
LINK: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ada_Kaluzna2
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
Fey’s Shadow Salon – a lecture series where we explore the elusive, chart the intangible, and investigate the invisible. Come around as we initiate the first season of the Salon, the Study of the Unseen, on the eclipse of 3rd March and stay for the ride through labyrinths of the human psyche, from the seven circles of the Jungian unconscious, to the psychedelic fountains of creativity, to the tall peaks of imagination where the ancient Spirits dwell.
1. “Books of Visions”: Jung, Dante, and the Making of the Red Book – 3 Mar 2026
2. The Reality of the Invisible – 2 April 2026
3. Psychedelics as Catalysts of Creativity – 30 April 2026
4. The I Ching Oracle – 28 May 2026
5. Spirit of Creativity – 28 July 2026
