Collecting the bones of the work
Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash
With the first version of something we create, we build ‘the bones of the work.’
In essence, we’re constructing the skeletal idea or structure; quick sketches that capture the fundamentals of the idea or project. These bones give us a framework to which we return at a later point to add more texture or detail.
This week—from a brand new deck of oracle cards—I drew The Bone Collector.
It led me to reflect on what needs to be restructured in my novel in progress, as I shift from the first rough draft to the second. How do the bones of the writing need to be rearranged to create a more effective framework?
But gathering bones is a sacred process—and I realise that there is a deeper, more mysterious process at work than just the re-ordering of words.
In Mexican folklore, The Bone Woman gathers the bones of wolves. She is an archetypal figure, a crone infused with wisdom. According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes (author of Women Who Run With the Wolves) collecting bones is an act of honouring our indestructible life force; a way of remembering or reviving those parts of ourselves that have lain dormant so we can experience ourselves as whole. In this gathering of bones, we re-contact lost layers or identities that have been repressed or wounded, and rendered invisible.
The bone collector symbolises our capacity to break old patterns; to begin again.
Certainly, bones give shape to things. If we’re to connect fully with the recipient(s) of our creation, that creation needs shape. Shape, form and structure lend clarity; they make things legible and understood. They provide a path for the receiver (the reader, or spectator, or listener) to embark upon, leading to a place where we might meet each other and affirm our respective experiences.
But bones connect us, too, to ancient matter: to the marrow of what it is to be alive.
In your creativity—especially at a time of new beginnings, of re-starting—what needs to be reintegrated?
