The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart

In the Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart, Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, draws from her remarkable teaching experience to help readers reach out into ever-broadening creative horizons. As in The Artist's Way, she combines eloquent essays with playful and imaginative experiential exercises to make The Vein of Gold an extraordinary book of learning-through-doing. Inspiring essays on the creative process and more than one hundred engaging and energizing tasks involve the reader in "inner play," leading to authentic growth, renewal, and healing.

The Vein of Gold Acknowledgments

Setting Out

In Your Backpack: The Basic Tools

Morning Pages

Why by Hand?

Task: Morning Pages

Artist Dates

Task: Do a Weekly Artist Date

Clusters: Your Traveling Companions

Task: Cluster List

Your Mode of Transportation: Walking

Task: Walk Daily

Task: Walk an Hour-Long Walk Weekly

Task: Walk Prayerfully

The Gateway: Entering the Imagic-Nation

Task: Manifesting—Enter Your Imagic-Nation

Creativity Commitment

The Kingdom of Story

The Narrative Time Line

Task: Filling in Notes

Task: Post a Sign on Your Mirror

Task: Contact Someone and Commit

Task: Do Your Narrative Time Line

Task: Filling in Blanks

"Cups": The Key to Self-Disclosure

Task: List Five Secrets

Task: Make a Narrative Time Line Photo Album for Yourself

Words Do It

Task: Alchemy—Converting Dross to Gold

Task: Post Your Golden Words Where You Can See Them

Task: Kill a Creative Monster

Task: Celebrate a Creative Champion

The Wizard of Words

Secret Selves

Task: Name Five Secret Selves

Task: What's in Those Closets?

Task: What Would Your Life be Like?

Cinema Self

Task: Cinema Self

The Vein of Gold

Technique One: Favorite Films

Task: The Vein of Gold Quiz

Task: Binge Reading

Task: Grab-Bag Collage

Task: Matching

Task: Write Up Your Findings

Robert's Field Report

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Sight

Sight

Task: Time Capsule Collage

Task: Create a Treasure Map

Color

Task: "Fabricate" a More Colorful Life

Task: Speculate on a Different Spectrum: Try On Colors You "Never" Wear

Doll

Task: Make a Creativity Doll

Task: Make a Creativity Monster

Basic Black: The Mystique—and Mistake—of the Suffering Artist

Task: Dress as a Serious Artist

Task: Dress Like You Might Be Having Fun

Cracking

Task: Look at It This Way—On the One Hand . . . On the Other . . .

Task: Mirror, Mirror: Apply a Facial Mask

Task: Face It: Make a Power Mask

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Sound

Sound

Task: Sing a Spirit Song

Task: Lullaby

Task: Washing with Sound

Task: Forming a Sound Round

Task: Songlines

Silence

Task: Silence

Safety

Task: Building a Sound Shield

Task: A Sense of Safety

Task: Playing It Safe

Task: Expanding Your Light Through Sound

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Attitude

The Paydirt in Pay-tience

Task: Patience

Task: Use "Just a Little" Patience

Courage

Task: Dance a Power Dance

Baby Steps

Task: Playing House

Task: List Every Place You Have Ever Lived

Boredom

Task: Do Something That Has Been Done Before

Task: Oh, All Right! Make Something Unique

Time

Task: I Never Have Time to . . .

Task: I Never Take Time to . . .

Task: Stay Up Late and Read a Book

Task: A Stitch in Time

Containment

Task: Creative Snipers

Task: Believing Mirrors

Getting Current

Task: Getting Current

Task: Get Current in Your Household

Task: Get Current in Your Spiritual House

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Relationship

Equality

Task: Write a Positive Prayer

Task: Illuminate Your Prayer

Task: The Blame Game, Round One—Events

The Voluntary Victim

Task: The Blame Game, Round Two—People

Task: Play a Little

Where Does It Hurt?

Task: Taking Back Your Power

Task: Relationship Collage

Task: Abundance Collage

Task: Counting Coup

Task: Who's Got the Gold?

Batteries

Task: Assault on Being a Battery

Task: Write Your "Shadow Résumé"

Obsession

Task: Obsessions (Past Tense)

Task: Obsessions (Present Tense)

Task: Snap Out of It

Task: Get On with It

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Spirituality

Name That God

Task: Recall Your Childhood God

Task: Invent a Creativity God

Task: Invent a Creativity Totem

Guidance

Task: Clearing a Clearing

Task: Spend One Evening in Silence—of All Kinds

Task: Write a Spirituality Cup

Task: Create a Deck of Spirituality Cards

Spiritual Experience

Task: Open the Door

Task: It's a Wide World After All

Saying "Thank You"

Task: Accepting Gifts

Task: Synchronicity Notepad

Task: The God jar

Task: Accepting Help

Task: Watch Your Tongue

Task: Walk Prayerfully Daily

Breaking Camp

The Kingdom of Possibility

Passion

Task: Valentine to Your Past

Task: Valentine to Your Present

Task: List 100 Things That You, Personally, LOVE

Risk

Task: Taking Your Life into Your Own Hands

Ceilings

Task: Remembering the Possible Dreams

Task: Playing at Dreams

Task: I Trust Myself Dance

Breaking Camp

Tribal Rules

Artist's Tribal Rules

A Guide for Starting Creative Clusters

Artist's Way and Vein of Gold Glossary of Tools

Discography

"Pop"ography

Filmography

Bibliography

"Avalon"

Index