Interview #10: Jen Murphy

I am thrilled this month to be interviewing friend and Irish Mythologist, Anthropologist, and Feminine Embodiment Coach Jen Murphy. Jen and I met two years ago while doing a certificate course in Jungian Psychology with Art Therapy at Limerick School of Art and Design. Since then, I did one of her mentorship programmes and it has been such a fascinating journey into my unconscious and Celtic mythology. Along with all the other strings to her bow, Jen also creates beautiful collage art. See some of her work below and enjoy the interview!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into what you do now?

It all began with my grandmother, Frances O'Sullivan. As early as I can remember, she filled my ears with the lore she learned growing up in Pimlico, a working-class community in inner-city Dublin. She had a penchant for tales of the Banshee, the psychopompal death messenger. I have never in my life picked a comb off the road for fear it belonged to the banshee, that was an absolute taboo for Gran.

Listening to Frances regale me with her stories felt like I had somehow been let in on a secret, on a whole otherworld of magical beings and ways of knowing. I love how the Irish word for folklore is béaloideas—béal meaning 'mouth' and oideas meaning 'to give instruction' or 'educate', because this 'mouth education' that I received led me to a degree in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies over 20 years ago now. So in a way, it was Frances who dropped the first breadcrumb for me to follow.

I went on to become an anthropologist working for a human rights and humanitarian organisation. I was so committed to the cause that I felt I would work in this sector forever (I'm still involved as a director on the board of a Global Citizenship Education organisation). But then in early pregnancy with my second son, a tenacious obstetrician discovered a lump on my cervix. I was sent for an emergency colposcopy and was later diagnosed with precancerous cells and a cervical polyp, a (usually) benign tumour. My smear test was not due for months. I felt so fortunate that the pregnancy had exacerbated the condition and it was uncovered.

During this period, I started to have dreams of Queen Medb, an old Sovereignty Goddess in Irish mythology, who during my studies all those years ago had touched me with her archetypal presence. I had grown up in the aliveness of the Irish imagination, then trained more as an academic, but Medb in the dreamworld was a symbol of the integration of both, of what our ancestors understood as imbas (divine wisdom that illuminates) and sous (scientific or academic knowledge).

In a dream she told me to go up to my attic where I’d find my Celtic Studies notes from college. When I woke up I thought there was no way I had kept those notes—I'm not a hoarder (except for books)—and also, there’s no way I would have taken them from my childhood home. Anyway, I went up to the attic, I wasn’t going to mess with Medb, and there I found everything I had learned, but inhaling now in a new embodied way because I was in a completely different phase of my life.

I left my career as I knew it and trained in a number of somatic modalities, Jungian psychology and dreamwork, and began to fuse my experience as a Celtic mythologist and anthropologist with my holistic passion for the feminine, the body and dreamwork.

What awakens life in you and where do you draw inspiration from?

This is such a beautiful question (it makes a wonderful journal prompt). I often describe my work as a dance of three bodies:

1. Earth Body

2. Creative Body

3. Dream Body

I love to use the symbol of the body here because it's an ecosystem where all parts work in harmony so that the whole can flourish. In answering this question, I realise that it's in these three bodies that the juice of wider life flows for me.

The ‘Earth Body’ is about illuminating the animistic nature of our world, of the web that weaves between us and our more-than-human kin. I believe that all life contains anima, or anam in Irish: ‘soul’, and that the Earth Body carries the Anima Mundi, the feminine soul of the world.

The world is a living, breathing being. I am made of the same stuff as the crow outside my window. We are both made from the manifest and yet mysterious force of all creation. Call it Nature, Source, Universe, Great Mother, Goddess, God—it’s in us all. It’s my muse.

The ‘Dream Body’ then is the realm of mythology, folklore, imagination, the Unconscious, and the dreamworld. For me, the boundaries between all of these places are fluid. This is where the imbas, the otherworldly wisdom I mentioned earlier, flows from.

It is through my ‘Creative Body’, which acts like a bridge, that I can curate what inspires me from the Earth Body and the Dream Body into matter, into form, whether through my teaching, my writing, the creative rituals and tools I bring to life, my art, or how I support my clients.

What does your work teach you about yourself? And the world?

My work teaches me that everyone is born called. I recently shared these three journal prompts on my Substack:

What if you believed that you are made of the cosmic force of creation? Who would this give you permission to be?

What if you believed that you were born called—that you were born with a soul’s purpose? Who would this give you permission to be?

What if you believed that this cosmic force of creation—the Universe, Goddess, God, Creator, Source, the Divine—could itself get to create, to know itself better through you living into your soul’s purpose? Who would this give you permission to be?

I share these here because they encapsulate what I believe to be true and why I do my work. I believe that everyone has a dán (pronounced “dawn”). This Old Irish concept can mean the poetry that is alive within us, a creative or artistic skill, a calling, destiny, or fate—a soul’s unique gift. It is described as both a gift bestowed upon us by the gods and as a gift that we offer back to the gods. Our soul is endowed with a calling by the Universe, and when we live into this calling, we give back to the Universe.

I live into my dán when I create spaces to support others in uncovering pathways to their own dán, their own soul’s calling. I want to make Celtic Soul a living aesthetic. A ‘living aesthetic’ is a way of life that holds space for the innate beauty, creative expression and sincere gratitude in how we live our days. A ‘Celtic Soul Aesthetic’ specifically centres the Celtic Soul in our everyday experience. I wonder, what kind of a world could we create from a place of soul?

How has motherhood impacted your creative life?

I feel like motherhood has been a huge catalyst in my creative entrepreneurial journey. After the birth of my first son almost 10 years ago now, I was so irate about the lack of support for working mothers and all that we had to navigate in this system that I started a blog called ‘Working Mammy’. I invited many working mothers to share their insights on the blog as guest writers, exploring everything from issues around the lack of paternity support in Ireland and how this affects mothers and the caring load, to how to navigate returning to work after maternity leave, to coping with postnatal depression and where to get support.

In 2018, it won the Irish Blog Award for the best personal career blog, which absolutely stunned me, but I realised it’s because so many mothers were feeling the same way. Then, of course, following the cervical cancer scare during the pregnancy of my second son around this same time, I was guided to what has become my business, The Celtic Creatives today.

Something else to share here, is that a core theme of my work in The Celtic Creatives is the Celtic Otherworld. The Otherworld is both soul and land in Irish mythology (because these things aren’t separate). When I engage with the Otherworld to, for example, create a profile of an Irish goddess or god to share with my community about this archetypal energy and what it can teach us for our lives in the now, I am doing so through the imaginal realm of the soul. The imaginal is a living space within our psyche that offers us a way to relate to the Unconscious (where the Otherworld emerges from)—a bridge, if you like.

However, it is really important not to get stuck there, but to be able to ground our creativity in matter, in the physical world. As we know, fairytales love to show us images of human labour like sweeping floors, cleaning out fires, and engaging in tedious tasks. This is symbolic of the psychic work we have to do—rolling up our sleeves to grapple with our ego and face our shadow (which holds our brightest light). Doing such tasks is an excellent way to ground.

Children help us to navigate both of these worlds with ease. Kids, themselves, are wildly imaginative. When they are young, the boundaries are thin and they are able to access what has been conditioned out of us. And yet they also keep us in the humdrum of life—washing their clothes, brushing their teeth—all of this helps to keep us grounded.

Do you have any daily rituals or routines to get your creativity flowing?

Yes, I always rise before my family so I have time for soul care before the day begins. Dreamwork is my starting point. Dreams have had a huge influence on my life—they form some of my earliest memories, and are as vivid in their magic as their terror. They have always been an important guide for my life. I have been doing Jungian analysis for a number of years now and am training in dreamwork, so capturing my dreams in the morning is essential. I use a particular methodology of using the interpretation of fairytales to work with my dreams, but ultimately, what I'm asking myself every day is: where does the energy want to go? Dreams guide the energy of our lives and are phenomenal way-showers. In the madness of their symbols and imagery, they also make us do the work to understand ourselves better. They don’t let us off lightly but they do want the best for us.

In a similar vein, to get my creativity flowing, I never create anything without opening up sacred space and inviting in the unseen to help guide my work. In simple terms, if I am working on a piece about Áine, who is a goddess and fairy queen, I’ll invite in the archetypal energy of Áine to co-create with. A very simple and practical way to do this is through active imagination. It is such an inspiring, nourishing, and boundless way to create. It also helps foster deep trust in the spirit of our creations.

Brigid: First Woman to Keen in Ireland (made with ‘Demeter Mourning Persephone’ by Evelyn de Morgan, 1906)

How do you take care of yourself when you are feeling a bit blah, blocked or uninspired?

Firstly, I remind myself of the natural cycles of life, of the ancestral seasons—Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa. Even when winter is upon us, spring will always cycle around. It’s the same in alchemy: the nigredo, the dark night of the soul, will eventually cycle into the albedo, the cleansing of new consciousness. Knowing these cycles and appreciating that each season has its own intelligence has helped sustain me through depression.

On the more everyday front, I genuinely do treat myself with compassion, and I will either immerse myself in nature—I'm not talking about going on a big nature retreat, I mean something as simple as spending 10 minutes in my back garden gazing at the moon, which helps dissolve my worries into the vastness of the cosmos. Or my other go-to, even when I don’t necessarily want to do this, is to move my body and allow my body to move however it feels. If frustration comes up, I move as frustration. If grief comes up, I move as grief. If nothingness comes up, I move as nothingness. Just allowing my body to metabolise whatever is alive within me. The body is an intelligent animal and a powerful ally when it comes to getting unstuck and back into flow.

What do you enjoy most about food? Do you have any favourite ingredients or recipes?

In full transparency, I am not a great cook, but I am a lover of consuming delicious, nourishing food. I wish I lived next door to you Steph, and I’d be into you for your gorgeous feasts. My favourite meal of the day is breakfast. I actually think about my breakfast before I go to sleep—it's part of what entices me up in the morning. I adore the start of the day and the meals that come with it. Most mornings, I begin with porridge laced with berries, nuts, coconut, chia seeds, and honey, with a strongly brewed coffee. Bliss!

Can you share with us any books, podcasts or music that are currently inspiring you?

I always have multiple books on the go. I read and research a lot for my work, so I try to balance the non-fiction with fiction, but I’d say in reality I consume 80% non-fiction. At the moment, I am down a rabbit hole with the Irish mystic, Æ, George William Russell. Reading his works like The Candle of Vision is churning up some wild synchronicities for me. I'm also reading A History of Irish Magic by Sally North and James North. It's fascinating, and the art in it is stunning.

On the fiction front, I love Japanese literature and just reread Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen, which I first read years ago, it was such a comfort to revisit. I also just started reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

I curate playlists for many of my offerings and was updating my seasonal ones recently for my Celtic Soul Garden course, so I’ve been listening to this Bealtaine playlist, which folks might enjoy.

Do you have any future creative project plans/dreams?

Yes lots. And lots. Sometimes I want to do so much all at once that I can end up doing nothing - and my mind gets jammed like the metal keys on a typewriter

Always—I’ve got five celestial bodies in Sagittarius including my sun, so I’m never short of creative project plans or dreams! I feel so alive creatively at the moment. I just guided a first cohort through Celtic Soul Garden, a programme that fuses Celtic seasonal wisdom with medieval alchemy as a framework for the creative process. It became much more than this—it was about encouraging and supporting one another to live into what I call our dán-desire for our lives, our soul’s desire as our north star. I’m opening doors now for the next iteration and am truly excited to see what emerges.

I have a dream to create more tangible products like oracle decks, journals, workbooks, and so forth. I’ve been asked for this consistently over the years, but I guess my own inner-blocks sometimes inhibit this. I create a lot of my own art but don’t see it as art because I use it to support my writing and creative tools—I’m asking myself now, what would it mean if I treated my collages as art?

I’m also heading into my second year of a three-year research and training programme in Ecologies of the Imagination rooted in Jungian psychology with the Anima Mundi School in the Netherlands, so lots of little sprouts are emerging from this work too.

You can check out Jen’s website here and find out about her many offerings. Sign up for her fab Substack newsletter here and follow her on Instagram here.

Interview #10: Jen Murphy

Interview #9: Steph Sheahan (me!)