MELODY VAUGHAN
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This is the most work in progress-y part of the website.
Although all the text has migrated from Squarespace I’ve got image issues and so many things to sort out about the design/layout. I’m so sorry if it’s difficult to look at.
But I want the writing to be available so I’m keeping it published despite my icky feelings about how rough and ready this is. I’m sure you get it.
Dare you ask yourself these questions ‘in your night’s quietest hour’? Do we have the courage to live a creative life without ‘asking after the rewards that may come from outside’? This is a thought-provoking book, with some challenging opinions. Why not slip it in your reading pile and see what happens?
Seasonal reflection prompts
Lammas – gratitude for what is being harvested
We’ve reached the mid point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, a time that traditionally marked the first harvest and a celebration of the earth’s bounty. Summer is still in full swing, during the day it is warm and bright, and yet we have begun our journey towards autumn. It’s a good time to feel gratitude for what has grown and emerged in the light half of the year, the work we have done, whilst noticing the subtle shift towards the dark.
Summer solstice – contradictions in these brightest days
We have travelled through space back to this point when the sun is at its highest and the days are longest, full of bright potential. Nature is bountiful with colour and nourishment, we are gathering in and appreciating all the growth of previous months.
Beltaine – a time of emergence
A time when we traverse from spring towards summer. It’s a time of emergence and rapid growth, the air full of insects and birdsong. There is such a palpable sense that we are headed for the brightness of summer – the warmth and light feel a bit more reliable, we can dare to trust in the season in ways we couldn’t six weeks ago at the equinox. And, with the lengthening of the days, there are things that have been brought into focus and clarity that maybe before were held in shadow.
Spring equinox – no more illusions of balance
Equinox – the time of equal day and equal night – a moment of balance, and the threshold into spring and a new astronomical year. Beginnings, new growth visible after months of seeds germinating inside the darkness.
Winter solstice – in the darkness turn towards
We’ve reached another point in the year – winter Solstice – which held such significance for our ancestors, and which offers us a chance to reflect within the context of this seasonal change.
Samhain – welcoming in the dark
Samhain traditionally marks the shift from the light half of the year into the dark. All around us, in nature, things are dying back, are being composted into material that supports the new growth in Spring. Vital processes which cannot be rushed, which give all life the quiet, slow time it needs to transform.
Late summer highlights from the archive
The Creative Return Continues
The Creative Return
The Creative Return – Looking Forwards
The Creative Return – Reflection
The Creative Return – the Big Picture
The Creative Return – Values
Wrap up your creative return – the big picture
Continue your creative return – Locate your practice
Start your Creative Return – how to survive as an artist
A creative return
musings on the various forms of my practice
Blog posts I’ll never write
Thinking through making: wondering about tools
Notes on my creative practice: overcoming an inflexible mindset
Notes on my creative practice: my photographic shorthand
Notes on my creative practice: seeing & recording
Notes on my creative practice: photography as drawing
Notes on my creative practice: when is making not making?
writing archive
Quitting my newsletter update: why that was a good thing and also not. (Alternative title – new email list!)
Six months ago, at the spring equinox, I closed down my email newsletter. It was a decision I’d been thinking about for a while and
A shared global experience of equinox
Here in the northern hemisphere we are welcoming the beginning of astronomical spring, as the earth tilts towards the sun. After this day of balance,
Breaking up with my email newsletter (and new things)
Tldr: I’m ending my email newsletter in March. I’ll be starting something different on substack. I don’t know exactly what that will be like, but
Paying attention
Today is Imbolc, the ancient celtic festival associated with the goddess Brigid. It’s the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and it heralds the shift out of winter and towards the spring.
Staying tender-hearted in these times
I have written this post multiple times, trying to find a way to start. How I wish we were having a real conversation, where the
What’s it like to work with me?
[Don’t fancy reading all this? Fear not! I’ve recorded it so you can listen to me tell you directly] In the Q&A yesterday I tried
Q&A about my mentoring practice
Image: Yeshen Venema How do you describe what you do? The 1:1 work I do focuses on the intangible side of a creative practice. I
Develop your creative practice with mentoring
This month (July 2023) there are two opportunities for people to apply for funding to support their creative practice development – the Arts Council’s Developing
Midsummer musings and seasonal creative practice reflection
Solstice twilight & moon How swiftly the seasons change and suddenly it’s summer! What I am noticing this year, is how different the solstice feels
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copyright 2025 MELODY VAUGHAN