Mini-muse 001: Hunch

+ Replay link for our latest tarot journaling session

Hi little coven. The mini-muse is a new feature I’m running here at The Shuffle. In theory, it will be a brief weekly reflection or observation from my own creative life, something that’s struck me, inspired me, made me think that I want to tell you about, and/or an invitation to you to engage with your own creativity. Tarot pulls might be involved, they might not.

The concept is hatching in real-time, so I’m not sure exactly what final form this little offering will take, but let me be an example of the advice I often give my clients: you have to trust your hunches, and follow them. If they flop, that’s information. That’s guidance. That’s direction. That’s how you find new hunches.

Speaking of hunches — I’ve been musing on this word lately. Hunch. I like the image of bowing over, or toward something. Of leaning in. Of trying to get as close as possible to the thing that’s drawing you. I like to think of ‘hunch’ as an earthier word for intuition — a term I find beautiful, but a bit too ethereal to describe my experience of knowing.

Looking for the replay of our most recent tarot journaling club session? Find it here.

I hunch over an idea like a seed I’m trying to bring to life. Squat down in the dirt with it and try to give it what it needs, squint and wait and worry until it breaks the surface of the earth, proving me right.

Etymologically, the word loops back on itself. It emerged in the 15th century to describe any push or thrust forward, and then evolved to describe the specific push or thrust of the body into a hump — picture the act of hunching over our work. Finally, it developed an association with premonition, becoming more than a push or thrust forward of the body, but a push or thrust forward toward an idea, an eventuality.

An alchemist at his furnace, hunched over bellows. By William Baillie. Wikimedia Commons.

I like the way the word marries belief and knowing with the work it takes to bring that belief and knowing to life. It’s active, not passive. It brings things into being.

Intuition sees, feels, but a hunch takes it a step further — it pushes us forward, drags the body toward the belief, puts it in our hands to create the idea… to facilitate the eventuality or — to create a solution that helps us avoid it.

Tell me in the comments…

What hunches are you leaning into this week?

What stories is this image of the Alchemist hunched over his work telling you?

What have you been musing about, lately?

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