Counteracting the Negative Muse

Copyright Dr. Ian Irvine, 2018, all rights reserved. 

Have you suffered a "Negative Muse" experience? What is a Negative Muse experience and how is it different to other inspirational experiences? How did you process your encounter with the Negative Muse (did you manage to process it)? What were the professional and personal consequences of the encounter? What strategies have people used to stop the Negative Muse from impeding, blocking, destroying etc. their creativity? How do we need to expand traditional (often stereotypical and gendered) notions of the 'Muse/Muses', as well as our understandings of the sources of inspiration and creativity to better address the Negative Muse experience?

Introduction: Robert Graves and Two Goddesses (Muses) of Creative Inspiration

British 20th century poet Robert Graves wrote a great deal about the concept of the Muse in a number of prose works and poems on the topic.[1] Although he built his theory on Classical and Celtic myths and legends to do with inspirational female Muse figures, he nevertheless provided a unique modern twist. His influential mid-20th C theory of creative inspiration - particularly poetic inspiration - rests on two particular 'goddesses' (a white and a black goddess) that he believes have pan-historic dominion over the arts, creativity and the mechanics of inspiration. 

The first is the 'White Goddess’; a fickle and sometimes cruel figure of inspiration and forced (for the poet) personal growth. Graves presents the apparently negative aspects of a poet's experience of the White Goddess as necessary for creative and personal growth - even though ‘she’ can put a male poet through hell (NOTE: Graves was writing prior to third wave Feminism with its comprehensive and historic challenge to gender stereotypes). Though fickle, this Goddess is not really negative since she brings unconscious shadow stuff already resident in the poet’s unconscious to the surface for resolution (if we convert Graves’ insights into something like Jungian thinking). The entire process unfolds within the dynamics of a romantic relationship (often unrequited love is at the core of the experience), and, as far as I can discern, rejection of the poet, by the Muse Goddess, due to him committing certain ‘offences’ against her universal (matriarchal) laws is the chief ‘corrective’ action imposed on the poet. The White Goddess forces the creative person to grow by rejecting his desire to own her. Put differently, the White Goddess forces the artist to practice the arts in order to clarify personal shortcomings and develop a more expansive and empathetic worldview.

The second Goddess, the 'Black Goddess', is a more obviously nurturing figure linked to wisdom and the archetype of Sophia in the Western tradition. In his longish essay on the topic, Graves argues that the Black Goddess enters the poet’s life after the dramas of an encounter with the White Goddess have been successfully negotiated. She provides enduring support and inspiration to the creative person as well as a steadily increasing sense of visionary expansiveness. No ‘punishments’ are prescribed or inflicted on the poet by the Black Goddess, so far as I can tell from Graves’ writings.

Both Goddesses are also linked to the seasons and to particular phases of the moon – which, according to Graves, determine their historic ‘colour’ attributions (i.e. the attributions have nothing to do with skin-colour, but quite a lot to do with universal nature symbols linked to astronomy, time, agricultural rhythms, the cycle of conception, birth, maturity, old age and death, and so on. (Note: Apparently, there is also a Red Goddess, though Graves does not seem to link her to the psychological rhythms presiding over creative inspiration).

What About a Third Type of Muse: the Negative Muse?

Of late I've been pondering the possibility of a genuinely negative, i.e. destructive and oppressive 'Muse' figure. However, I’ll be defining the concept of the ‘Muse’ here in a looser and more expansive way - i.e. compared to the way it is traditionally used. To me a ‘Negative Muse’ can be anyone - perhaps even a group of people - that inspires creative activity without there being any evidence that he, she, they, etc. is attempting to 'assist' the creative person to grow in creative, spiritual or psychological ways. By way of a personal confession, I have experienced all three 'Muses' and can vouch for the insight that the first two ‘Muses’ are more obviously positive and easy to understand/deal with.

Indeed, I hesitate to even call my two encounters with the Negative Muse inspirational at all, and they certainly weren’t positive from the perspectives of psycho-spiritual and creative growth (at least on the surface). Rather such experiences more closely resembled – once mapped into the realm of the ‘psychology of creativity’ - the reported experiences of the survivors of various types of psychological abuse. Nevertheless, I believe that in the long run personal growth, and even inspiration for creative activity, can emerge from an encounter with the ‘Negative Muse’.

In my case, one of the Negative Muse experiences involved a person unrelated to the arts world, who was jealous of my desire to enter that world. This experience was relatively short-lived and did not impact overly on my creative development – even though at the time it felt extremely difficult to process the experience. A creative flowering was the outcome of this encounter. My other experience of the Negative Muse involved a group of people connected to the music industry who, by their actions, had a profoundly negative impact on my songwriting self. This experience was much more traumatic, long-lasting and difficult to process/resolve than the first experience, for a range of reasons. To some extent a creative part of me – i.e. the songwriter part - was all but silenced for two decades due to this encounter with the Negative Muse. For much of that time I felt that nothing positive or inspirational could be linked to the encounter. 

Defining the Negative Muse Experience

The experiences associated with the Negative Muse are fundamentally traumatic. This Muse may oppose the creative person's pursuit of a creative vocation in various ways: by physical or mental abuse, e.g. demeaning comments/critiques, manipulation, jealous actions, theft of ideas, copyright theft, financial manipulation, and so on. The person, or persons, in whom the Negative Muse resides may exercise a degree of significance in the creative person's life that is not easy to shake off - i.e. that of a parent, a lover, an influential sibling, an esteemed teacher/mentor, a publisher, an agent or manager, a co-creator (e.g. a co-songwriter), a collection of former fans, a company to whom the creative person is contracted, etc. 

The Negative Muse is often experienced as malicious and exploitative - sometimes as oddly possessive and smug (at his/her/their assumed dominance over the creative person). Sometimes the figure’s arrogance takes on a remarkably absurd hue – we are reminded of the ugly sisters struggling to fit their feet into the glass slipper meant, all along, for Cinderella. Creative mediocrity, hypocrisy and, sometimes, a truly vampiric sense of entitlement (i.e. the right to 'feed' off of the talents of a sensitive creative) are often evident in the oppressor’s behaviour – we also note a more or less complete lack of shame or guilt emanating from the oppressor.

The creative’s experience of these traits of the Negative Muse usually involves feelings of being psychologically annihilated, violated, overwhelmed, etc. There may also be the sense that one's creativity is somehow being restrained/bound/limited by the oppressor. Indeed, unlike the creative person's experience of the other two Muses/Goddesses, an encounter with the Negative Muse may lead – temporarily, for a time, or perhaps for good – to an incapacity to create anything original and satisfying in one’s chosen creative domain. The influence is, at least initially, oppressively contractive rather than expansive and inspirational. Creativity dwindles, is silenced or is completely arrested/extinguished. The oppressor may even take a certain amount of twisted pleasure in his or her demonstrated depletion of the artist’s creativity.

The creative person may also lose confidence in his/her abilities/talent, and may suddenly perceive the chosen creative domain to be anxiety-provoking, stressful or psychologically traumatic after an encounter with the Negative Muse. Often the oppressor activates legal, friendship and media networks such that the target creative confronts an institutional 'wall of malice' (sometimes, however, the Negative Muse acts more like a gang of low life bullies coercing through sheer force of numbers). The modern benchmark par excellence for the existential states we associate with the Negative Muse is on global display in the reports of women attached to the Me Too Movement. The testimonies of creative women, and some men (across various arts domains), who have experienced harassment by unscrupulous industry professionals (and the power networks they belong to), vividly demonstrate the social dynamics of the Negative Muse experience. We also note the impact such experiences have had on otherwise sturdy creative individuals.

Often the Negative Muse seeks to hide or suppress from the public the abuse being suffered by the target creative. The creative person is expected, like an abused child, to keep silent about the abuse, i.e. to not threaten the public narrative distributed by the oppressor. The closer the oppressed comes to revealing the extent of the abuse the more the Negative Muse gathers allies to crush (once again) the afflicted creative and enforce the status quo. Once threatened with exposure or loss of power, the Negative Muse may strike out even more vehemently at the oppressed person, perhaps via legal means, financial bullying, media propaganda, and other forms of coercion (sometimes even through physical violence). The typical narrative: The [oppressed person] is the real problem, the real liar! The [oppressed person] deserves what I/we subject him/her to! It is all part of the game, the business ... toughen up little buttercup! It’s nothing personal! etc. We are talking about a traumatic abuse cycle (well known to psychologists) that can be very difficult for sensitive Creatives, in particular, to name and counteract.

After an encounter with the Negative Muse, an artist may feel close to completely giving up on the creative pursuit/activity/career that previously provided such pleasure, joy, insight, camaraderie, etc. Feelings of connectivity, shared joy, shared success are often brutally reconfigured after a Negative Muse encounter. Feelings of disconnection, subjection to egotistic individuality, psychic assault, exclusion, denial of input/worth, fear (of the power of the oppressor), sourness, a sense of having been betrayed, melancholy/depression (sometimes due to the sense that something good has been spoilt/lost), loss of identity, etc. take the place of previously positive emotions. The creative person’s entire understanding of a ‘creative domain’ may be shaken - sometimes beyond repair. The ‘romance’ and ‘magical sense of possibility’ once attached to the beloved creative domain perishes or diminishes significantly, and retreat seems to represent the best option – sometimes just to maintain psychological well-being.

Surviving an Encounter with the Negative Muse: Tricky but Possible

Given the circumstances detailed above, we would be hard-pressed to locate anything positive or inspirational in an encounter with the Negative Muse. Indeed, we might seem to be talking about states of being that run entirely contrary to any concept of a Muse at all! Perhaps we are really talking about the radical absence of a Muse.

If, however, the creative person wishes to survive a Negative Muse encounter, i.e. wishes to remain engaged with his or her creative domain in meaningful ways, despite harboring psychic scars etc., it is necessary to plot the ways in which others have successfully negotiated encounters with the 'Negative Muse'. The truth is that many artists have used such encounters to fuel creative and personal growth. Indeed, sometimes a new note of authenticity and realism may enter an artist’s oeuvre that could not have developed by any other means. The Negative Muse may precipitate/inspire not just good art, but great art.

The desire to prove others wrong, right an injustice or surpass the hollow achievements of a bitter enemy/oppressor can be profoundly inspirational to an artist. Competition with people we are indifferent to can certainly be inspirational, but competition with people that have wronged or injured us in some way, can add a white hot focus/intensity/imperative to our creative activities. If we are seeking to undo the affects of the Negative Muse, we are unlikely to be seeking, primarily, to impress or charm potential fans. Nor are we interested in gaining prestige/influence/status or money through practicing our art form. Likewise, we are unlikely to be motivated to compete with ethical and competent rivals that we admire. Rather, after a Negative Muse encounter, we may be motivated, primarily, by an urgent need to stand our ground against injustice and bullying – perhaps even to ward off the threat of creative annihilation. 

For some, creative activity in the face of past or present oppression constitutes protest, resistance, perhaps even a kind of ‘positive’ (i.e. creative and peaceful) form of revenge. The creative activities chosen may reveal and expose the oppressor to the public or simply surpass, in terms of success/influence, etc. the oppressor’s achievements. Whatever the motivation, a sometimes clandestine, sometimes public battle to liberate one’s creative energies from the power and psychic influence of the Negative Muse needs to be waged. 

Some Strategies

Counteracting the Negative Muse effectively is essential if a person’s creativity is not to be irreparably damaged or silenced. Some strategies for surviving a Negative Muse encounter follow. Note: we are assuming here that the Negative Muse figure in question has no intention of relinquishing power/dominance over the oppressed creative, nor of righting his or her wrongdoing by negotiation, apology or restitution. Likewise, we are assuming that the oppressed creative is not ignoring some critical aspect of his/her own historic or ongoing behaviour that would make us suspect that he or she has somehow initiated, fueled or failed to seek to resolve the conflict amicably. We note here, that many oppressors like to paint themselves as victims and thus you may find them using some of the following strategies (unambiguously, from a position of 'power over') to further crush, silence etc. the afflicted creative.

1. Legal Redress: This involves determined evidence gathering and employment of legal counsel such that a wrong is corrected via external interventions. This involves standing up for oneself via assembling a group of people to stand against the oppressor. Unfortunately, in our age the fact of the matter is that the rich and powerful can usually afford the best lawyers and as a consequence this course of action may involve even greater loss and trauma for an oppressed creative. Usually the oppressor has more access to legal redress than the afflicted creative.

2. Surpassing the Oppressor: To creatively surpass the oppressor whilst being independent of that person often liberates an artist from the power of the oppressor. We might label this the 'moving on’ option. Note: due to the peculiar sense of possessiveness oppressors sometimes feel toward their ‘pet creatives’ you might need to prepare for a backlash from your oppressor if you employ this option successfully. On the whole, however, this is an eminently healthy approach to an encounter with the Negative Muse.

3. Humour, Parody and Satire: Humor, parody and satire have been used successfully throughout history by oppressed creatives to challenge and diminish the power of the Negative Muse. This approach may initially involve the oppressed person developing a healthy ‘sense of humor’ about the behaviour of the oppressor. The oppressor is usually humanized and exposed to ridicule, parody or satire. As a consequence, the power of the Negative Muse over the afflicted creative may diminish. To the Celtic bards of antiquity poetic ‘satire’ and ‘parody’ were profoundly magical abilities. Those subjected to comedic treatment by skilled poets, artists, musicians and story-tellers were essentially being cursed. Be warned, however, malicious forms of humour (teasing, jokes at the expense of the afflicted creative, etc.) are also common tools used by oppressors as a means to silence and control sensitive creatives.

4. Personal or Collective Protest, Activism and Civil Disobedience: Forms of protest, activism, and, in some cases, civil disobedience - sometimes leading to public exposure/shaming of the guilty party - represent other often used, and sometimes quite effective, ways to resist the Negative Muse. However, when you use these options in a personal setting, you may find yourself burning important bridges permanently (reconciliation sometimes becomes unlikely), since an antagonistic state of negotiated separation is often the outcome. Afflicted creatives can engage in two types of activist protest against oppression: Personal Activism and Collective Activism. Personal, largely individualistic, forms of protest against a specific person (or group) that has wronged us is often necessary and can certainly work as an antidote to the oppressor's antics. It amounts to 'standing up for oneself', i.e. effectively it amounts to demanding basic human rights from the oppressor. Collective forms of resistance to systemic forms of oppression are particularly effective, since there tends to be a critique (possibly leading to a 'reformation') of oppressive elements to an entire 'creative domain' (e.g. the music industry's treatment of female musicians, the publishing industry's treatment of emerging authors, etc.). When oppressed individuals band together to resist an oppressive system their action often neutralises one of the key strategies of arts industry oppressors, i.e. to isolate creatives. Note: sometimes when we look closely at apparently 'personal' forms of oppression, we quickly uncover attitudes, customs, industry expectations etc. that expose the oppressive expectations, attitudes, etc. of an entire domain. In such cases, collective forms of resistance will be necessary.

5. Peaceful Protest - The Ghandi Option: Opposing the oppressor consistently and courageously, but peacefully and without demeaning or dehumanizing the oppressor, can achieve positive results in some instances. Peaceful protest that appeals to an oppressor’s better side whilst suggesting that larger philosophical and moral principles are behind the conflict has been used by civil rights activists throughout history. The peaceful protestor may point out that it is in everyone's interest to rectify a situation. Sometimes such an approach works, other times … well, oppressors, by definition, tend to oppress. They may be so dehumanized and morally compromised that there is no ‘better side’ available to appeal to. 

6. Temporary Retreat/Reflection: The time out; ‘creative pause'; cosmological reassessment; meditating/reflecting (sometimes with trusted others e.g. a counselor outside the domain), option is an important temporary strategy to employ after an encounter with the Negative Muse. It allows afflicted creatives to work out what to do next. Also, to ask: Is the cosmos trying to tell me something? What lessons do I need to learn from this experience? Do I need to be less naive, masochistic, accepting? etc. Stepping back before acting may be the most effective strategy to use at certain critical moments of the encounter. It also allows an afflicted creative to properly assess the intentions, power and weaknesses of an oppressor, leading to more informed decision making and strategy selection. Stepping back fosters a sense of perspective – it can give the oppressed artist time to gather evidence, allies, etc. and properly assess the likelihood of success associated with any given resistance strategy (as well as the risk of further injury/injustice).

7. Cutting One’s Losses: The last approach to dealing with the Negative Muse may involve a range of techniques as follows: effective grieving; philosophical acceptance and/or long-term strategic retreat ('cutting one's losses'). Here the situation is permanently or temporarily desperate. The Negative Muse holds most of the aces and the oppressed artist is, for a time, more or less completely overpowered. An afflicted creative should only employ this strategy if there is the real threat of: further injury to self or loved ones (physical or psychological) or the threat of massive financial loss, if some of the strategies outlined above are employed against the oppressor. The plight of artists in totalitarian regimes best illustrates the conditions under which ‘cutting one's losses’ for a time and, quite literally, ‘living to fight another day’ represent the better options. Under such conditions safety, i.e. escape from the power and influence of the oppressor should be the primary initial goal. Note: Many oppressors will bluff their target creatives with outlandish threats - overt or covert - of the type discussed here, as a means to terrify and ultimately silence their target.   

Conclusion

The strategies you decide to use to combat the Negative Muse should be guided by a simple principle: The creative person should choose actions, at every point, designed to maintain the motivation to stay engaged with a cherished domain. Above all, the strategies chosen should maintain in the creative a desire to continue creating works of art. Sometimes legal action (a formal search for justice) is the best strategy for this purpose. Other times, different strategies will be more effective in permitting an artist to avoid further injury and to keep the desire to create alive. Note: a key desire of the Negative Muse is sometimes to completely destroy the target creative's desire to create art and maintain engagement with a chosen creative domain. Under no circumstances should you hand your oppressor/s such a victory! 

Deep cosmological reflection on the nature of creativity and its importance to one's identity is often unavoidable during an encounter with the Negative Muse. Likewise, reflection on the often invisible relational structures ('power dynamics') of our chosen creative domain, and maybe even its place in society, is often triggered by a confrontation with the Negative Muse. 

I suspect that the Negative Muse can lead to greatness in artists that respond effectively to the profound challenges posed by this nefarious ‘entity’. Despite the obvious risks, the Negative Muse - like the White and Black Goddesses Graves attempted to celebrate in poetry and prose – can, in the long run, prove inspirational. However, the artist will need to work hard to achieve such an outcome. The Negative Muse does not, usually wish to teach you a life lesson or alert you to the need to correct/address flaws in your personality. The Negative Muse, quite simply, wishes to dominate, exploit, crush, destroy, oppress or silence you and, as a consequence, you need to respond promptly and effectively if you are to counteract this entity’s assault on your creativity. 

This article also appears at Authorsden.com as: https://authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=4954&id=78366 

[1] Robert Graves: The White Goddess and ‘The Black Goddess’ in The Black Goddess and Mammon.

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Sue King-Smith, John Charalambous and Ron Hull, as well as the members of my writers group (Jenny, Lee, John, Jo and Gordon), for feedback on this article. I've tried to incorporate, or respond to, some of that feedback in the current version of the piece.