123. Creativity as Living Spirit with Carrie Schmitt

When a sudden and severe illness confined her to bed, Carrie picked up a paintbrush and began to create. The act gave her comfort and a sense of purpose. She describes how she chose to build a temple to creativity within the limits of her condition. This daily choice continues to shape her life. Beauty, colour, song and small rituals turn her home into a sacred space.

Find Carrie
Instagram, @carrieschmitt

Carrie's new book is available for pre-order now:
Awakening Creativity, A Sacred Journey to Reclaim Your Inner Artist
Available on ⁠Amazon⁠ and other retailers.

In this conversation, we explore creativity as a living relationship. Carrie speaks of it as something you meet with devotion and trust. It responds when you treat it with respect. Skill grows through practice, yet the deeper aim is union with the creative spirit.
Our discussion connects this with the Three Cauldrons. The lower cauldron involves releasing the harsh voices that many of us carry from childhood. In the middle cauldron, you learn steadiness, so that your relationships with both people and your art hold more kindness. The upper cauldron opens to inspiration, the stream of divine illumination. When you move your own self aside for a moment, that stream can flow through with ease.
Words hold power. Carrie speaks of the harm caused when we use language of battle to describe the creative process. Phrases about blocks or resistance set you against yourself. She invites people to speak with care. In her workshops, she asks students to treat themselves and their art with non-violence in word and thought.


00.01 – Welcome and introduction to Carrie Schmitt and her book Awakening Creativity
02.15 – A blessing to open the conversation
03.11 – Carrie’s origin story and the sudden illness that changed her life
06.07 – Painting in bed and the sense of a creative spirit as companion
09.39 – Choosing a temple over a prison, daily beauty as practice
13.00 – Redefining what it means to be an artist
18.04 – Creativity as spirit and links with the Three Cauldrons and imbas forosnai
19.32 – Words as power, why battle language harms the creative self
22.07 – Battle in Celtic tradition and the balance of masculine and feminine
25.27 – Working with creativity as a force rather than against it
28.34 – Acceptance and surrender in the creative process
29.23 – Creativity scars and how to heal them through new stories
34.17 – Creativity as sacred ritual, the Vade Mecum journal, and pilgrimage
39.25 – Collective creativity and community practice
40.55 – The significance of the nine temples in the book
42.46 – Ancestors, embodied wisdom and epigenetics
55.25 – The morning menu, starting each day with joy and play
01.00.41 – Community and family as support for the creative spirit
01.01.30 – Closing reflections on a world where creativity is restored to its place
01.06.09 – Practical details on Carrie’s free class and where to find her work