SOUL KINDLING: Ignite Your Sacred, Creative Heart by Ally Markotich

An Interview with the Author

Hello beloved reader,

I recently learned about a new indie press called Wildhouse Publishing. They were founded in 2021, are based in Boston, and their tagline is appealing:

“Adventurous spirituality for unconventional people.”

I spent some time reading about its founder Wesley Wildman, who happens to also be an Australian living in America. I enjoyed learning about the idea of an “intellectual autobiography,” in addition to reading Wesley’s own intellectual autobiography which he shares on his ‘About’ page.

The reason I’m sharing this with you now is because Wildhouse Publishing’s publicity department reached out to me to ask if I may be interested in offering an interview with the author Ally Markotich, whose book, Soul Kindling, they have just published in October.

Wildhouse Publishing sent me a copy of Ally’s book and it became immediately evident to me that the truth of her own experience resonates with mine, i.e. that creativity and spirituality are inextricably interconnected. And to dive a little deeper into the etymology of the word spirituality: it is derived from the Old French, espirit; from the Latin word spiritus—soul, vigor, breath, life force. We are all creators simply by breathing in and out the life force that illumines us all.

All this to say, in full disclosure, Wildhouse Publishing approached me. This is the first time I’ve been asked to review a book, and because I resonate with Ally’s work and with the mission of Wildhouse Publishing, I’m delighted to share the below Q&A. (Also perhaps another synchronicity, I had just read this post too: Why Substack is Essential to Every Book Publisher’s PR Strategy.)

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Ally Markotich (photo from Wildhouse Publisher’s press kit)

Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

Sure! In many ways, I’ve connected to myself as an artist from early on. From a young age, I drew, wrote and colored a lot. And I would say that, over time, I disconnected from the joy of making. It was when I started coursework in Spiritual Formation, which is the study of contemplative practices of faith, that I began to reconnect to my creator self. And, it started with me engaging in stillness and silence.

As I would sit, I came back to something that I deeply knew in my heart and soul, yet had been away from for a long time. I had been active doing all the things. Coming back to silence was like, oh, God is here loving me in my nothingness. I don't actually have to do, do, do, do, do. I can sit and be still and be loved in this place. And, that ultimately started me drawing again and writing poetry. Then, I took coursework with the artist, Shiloh Sophia, who helped guide me into a deeper way to work with more of my internal map. So much of our focus in life is on the external.

There is a way to go deep within, where an internal map resides. It's full of symbols, marks, makings, colors and lines, etc. When we slow down and begin to ask about it, draw about it, write about it, it’ll meet you. This was also my entrance into seeking the sacred feminine, because you can't do internal work and not meet her.

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This is your first book – but writing has always been a passion for you. What is the difference between writing a book (like this) and journaling or poetry?

For me, this book began by showing up to my practice of journaling and poetry. By regularly returning to a practice of drawing and, then, writing from the image (that emerged), I was able to see themes that arose. I noticed ideas I was circling around and this led me to envision a book forming. In some ways, I think that if you set out to write a book as your goal, it may be challenging to begin. But by showing up to writing as a regular practice, a creative offering to Divine Love — the “work” of it disappears. The book truly becomes an offering from your own heart space.

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How did you discover the sacred, creative path and what do you feel is the relationship between spirituality and creativity?

I feel as if the sacred creative path in some ways found me. It was in my own seeking of teachers who had gone before me, some who were ancient and some who are still living. Yet, people who were actively seeking this thread of love, no matter what circumstance they were in. These teachers were models of creative living by thinking outside of the box and going around obstacles. By observing and learning, it allowed me to engage with my life as a creative adventure.

I don’t think spirituality and creativity are different from each other — they’re intertwined. The great artists in our world have been people who have been a channel for the Divine to flow through them. This is why I find it interesting that people detach themselves from being named “creative.” By denouncing ourselves as innately creative, we also detach from ourselves as spiritual beings. To me, they are one in the same.

When we connect intimately with ourselves as sacred creators, life becomes a participation with everything that is on our path.

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How do you cultivate creativity in your everyday life?

A practical way that I cultivate creativity in my life is to awaken early with an intention to engage with something creative in my morning. It changes from day today, however, most days I wake and as my first act in my day, I spend time writing, drawing, or reading. Starting this way allows me to thread what I’ve taken in or expressed through the rest of my day. It grounds me in love. And it spurs ideas for me. I’m also beginning to listen to my dreams. So, I have a dream journal. If I wake in the morning with a vivid dream, I will write about it or I may even draw some of the visuals from it. Often, that will remain with me for the rest of my day and provide something to chew on.

I believe that by actively creating each day, it allows your mind and your thoughts to move in that direction of growth and expansion, rather than towards worry, fret, or frustration with life. I’ve found that my personal anxiety has gone down when I am intentional about my creative practice.

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What is a past or current challenge/block to claiming yourself as a creator? How did you overcome that challenge, and what did you learn from it?

Well, I would say for me, I have to remember that it's not about the end product. Culture tells us that you have to make a pretty picture from the time we're little people… it has to look good at the end.

And there's something about letting yourself be in process.

And to engage in, almost, the ugliness of creativity. I have to tell myself,  “I’m not going to worry about what this thing looks like. I’m just going to put something down.” For me, especially with writing and with art, I can resist diving in to create, but as soon as I start with a line or a color, there’s a peace that washes over me.

The blocks come, and I have this little saying that I say to myself, and it's even in one of the poems — Queendom Within — from my book. The saying is,

“Return, return. Return, return.” 

It’s this call of the spirit to return. Return. Come back to yourself. Come back to your creative center, you know. When you get off the path you just have to come back. Once we’re off the path for a while that's where the critic voice comes in and we start to berate ourselves, and we start to say, “Oh, there you go again! You know you didn't stay true to what you said you were going to do.” It’s easy to spiral down, and if we can replace that voice with “Return, Return.” it makes all the difference in the world.

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How does being connected to oneself as a creator support a person in their day to day lives?

Being connected to yourself as a creator is a way to take hold of the choices that you’re making and to see that you’re not a victim in the world. It also it allows you to take responsibility. So often, we want to point our fingers at others and blame or we want to sink into a hole of sadness for ourselves. Connecting to ourselves as creators allows us to see that we have options to flow around, or we have options to see our daily life as a journey that unfolds. We don’t always need to have the answers, which leads to a sense of freedom.

Being connected to oneself as a creator also supports a sense of lightness and laughter.

We can hold joy aside grief. We realize we can release the seriousness and allow light to come in, even about the heaviest circumstances of our lives.

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What is a way that people can cultivate sacred imagination and wonder right where they are?

Cultivating sacred imagination is one of my absolutely favorite things. It’s giving ourselves the freedom to have our own viewpoint, our own perspective, and not simply take what others tell us as capital-T truth. We can lean into the question, “What if?” in an expansive way, towards what is possible rather than remaining in a closed box.

For me, by becoming the observer of the details of my life with curiosity, it allows me to deeply fall into wonder just by sitting on my back porch and tuning into where the animals are or by paying attention to the different kinds of leaves that are on the trees on a walk.

I marvel at the many different shapes of leaves that surround me. Also, when we apply the question, “What do I think/feel/observe?” to stories, news that we hear, we become more aware of our own ponderings.

This way of reflection can connect us to the wisdom that lives within us.   

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Can you share about your experience with the Sacred Feminine / MotherGod?

This is such a big question! My experience with MotherGod is one that is ever unfolding. In some ways, it’s as if I’m at the very beginning with her and in other ways, I feel as if I’ve been walking with her now for years and can easily see where she is. If something arises for me in my art, I often can do just a little bit of research and find that there is some origin story that begins with the sacred feminine or the mother. My initial experience began through conversations with other women. We were encouraging each other to deeply explore our Spiritual lives. I was able to learn from their stories, their experiences and what they were learning. For me, being within the Christian tradition, much of my own research began under that umbrella. I started deeply looking at the stories of mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Eve, Sophia and Wisdom. I found expansive perspectives that made sense in my core. And, there was much more to those stories than what is given to us from traditional institutions. This, then, led me to pursue stories of the feminine in mythic culture and many of the threads began to interweave and paint a much larger story.

And can you speak to the origin of the name, MotherGod? 

Sure! ‘Divine Feminine‘ and ‘Sacred Feminine’ are terms often used to cover a broad umbrella of experiences with feminine aspects/archetypes of God. I tend to use both of these phrases often when I’m speaking of the feminine essence of the Holy. I’ve also heard the term ‘Cosmic Mother’ used as a universal descriptor for God. MotherGod arose organically through conversations with my editor, Mark Burrows. Initially, we had a space between the words ‘Mother’ and ‘God’. With Mark’s encouragement, I made the decision to delete the space in order to take away any sense of separation. And, to delete the idea that ‘Mother’ is an adjective. Putting together these words as One has been working on me ever since I made this choice.

For many of us, the word ‘God’ conjures up an image of a father, so by making the claim ‘MotherGod’, my hope is to bring a balanced vision of Divine Love to humanity.

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If someone is a beginner to this kind of reflection and expansion, how would you recommend starting the journey?

There is something beautiful about having another person to create with, and to have someone who is accountable with you along the road — to have a friend who wants to play around with creative practice. At the end of my book, I have a practice called Prayer Squares. This simple practice has been a regular creative check-in that I engage in. So, at least once a week, I sit down and do a Prayer Square for myself, and ask myself the question, “What prayer is rising for me in this moment?” Prayer Squares are small, they're doable. It’s four simple steps. They usually take about 15 minutes. So, this is an easy introduction into creative practice, and when you have another person to do it with, it makes it even more fun. The relationship piece of having someone to creatively explore with is important.

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What is next for you in your spiritual journey? Do you have plans for another story?

I definitely have ideas for another book. Right now, I’m envisioning the next book and I just have to keep to the practice of writing. Keep showing up to my art. Continue my own personal explorations of things that I'm interested in and kind of see where that road takes me. We have to tend to what we love in the world. And I'm always kind of paying attention. What are those things that I love and want to spend time reading about or exploring in my life? And then how does that impact the art and the writing that I create.

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If you had to give 25-year-old Ally a piece of advice about this process or being a creator, what would want her to know?

I think I would just give her a big hug. I think the twenties are such an exploratory decade. And there can be a lot of things happening in the twenties. For myself, I was pretty insecure as a creative person back in my twenties. There can be wounding around creativity from the art world. If you are a person who actively creates — whether you're a writer, an artist, etc — there tends to be competition in those industries. I was overwhelmed by the competition that was in the artistic world.

Finding creativity as a practice to just express myself and to bring healing to my story through good inquiry and envisioning was transformative.

Going back to my 20-something year old self, I would tell her that, “You don't have to have it all. You don't have to have your path completely figured out. You don't have to know exactly where you're headed, what you're doing… to follow the lights on your path … to follow the things that make the light in your heart spark, and that kindle your life. When doors open that feel good, follow them and don’t be afraid to take a risk. Everybody’s path looks different. There’s no need to get caught up in the comparison game, just run your own race. Stay on your own path.” Yes, this would have given me a little bit of a heart boost back in the day.

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What do you hope readers take away from your book? What are you most excited for people to notice while reading it?

My hope is that readers take away inspiration that they are sacred creators.

And to take their own journey slowly. Maybe readers will begin to notice more details and pay attention to their own lives as a sacred, creative experience that they can participate with. I also hope readers discover they have autonomy for the choices and decisions that they make. I’m excited for people to realize if they slow down long enough with the imagery and words in the book, there’s actually quite a bit of mythic story to uncover.  There’s more there than what may initially be seen.