Blood + Jewels
Dear Friend,
Last week, I wrote about paying attention to micro-seasons. You can read more about that here.
The most important takeaway is that you don’t need to have a deep interest in tarot or astrology to feel these micro-changes in your bones, or to experience the impact in the atmosphere.
I think of this current atmospheric moment as ‘Blood + Jewels’.
Imagine a person looking down at their bloodstained hands, noticing that they contain a gleaming pile of fire opals. They are emerging from the high fantasy of Leo II and trying to process what has happened.
Are they fake jewels and real blood, or vice versa?
We are at the end of Leo III (August 13-23) which is ruled by Mars, and the Seven of Wands, but also by The Tower.
Something Martial has happened. Jewels forged in fire or blood spilled in violence. Something creative or something destructive.
Or both.
🜁🜃🜂🜄
In writing a longer project, it can be difficult to manage complex strands of narrative, to hold opposing positions, and to contain the multiplicities of the story.
What ‘Blood + Jewels’ offers is a way to stay with the unknown, to keep all possibilities open, at least for a moment.
The atmosphere of Leo III is still glamorous but a little deadly.
Comforting fantasies are dissipating and hard edges meet soft flesh. There is a glitter in the darkness.
🜁🜃🜂🜄
Johanna Hedva’s work embodies Leo III with its focus on glamour, death, and creative destruction.
I first encountered them a decade ago through their essay ‘Sick Woman Theory’ and the iconic line ‘How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed?’
They are a self-described ‘sentence bitch’ who writes novels and theory, as well as creating visual art and music.
In this interview they share a very ‘Blood + Jewels’ approach to revelation and the unknown from their experience of writing their recent novel.
I guess I don’t understand the idea that art is supposed to reveal a message, that the climax is comprehension. The experience of not understanding is what feels most alive, most insightful, most interesting, to me […] I wanted more of a metaphysical confrontation. It’s the huge black cube that hangs behind the narrator's head that she can’t ever see, but she knows is always there.
I love the idea of the huge black cube of not-knowing that also imbues everything with its atmosphere, without being truly resolved.
🜁🜃🜂🜄
🍄 Fruit (things that are ready to share)
After a hiatus, the Ceremony podcast is back. This season is focussed on the writing of first novels. I hope you will enjoy this thoughtful conversation with writer May Ngo, about how the process of writing her first novel can be compared to her experience of pregnancy, and the power of writing from grief and the unknown, amongst many other things…
In terms of giving birth, pregnancy, motherhood – nothing is the same afterwards. And in a way, it's throwing yourself off the tower… it's a scary image, but I think it is scary, new motherhood. I think it is scary, but it's also something very evocative and powerful.
I have written about the Tower’s fiery creativity, and its relationship to storytelling here.
🦠 Spores (tiny ideas)
Last week, I talked about planning a potential music project, and I have been gathering examples of sound-based projects that are inspired by esoteric research. I have been listening to Plant Noise presented by Alex Duncan on Camp Radio, on loop.
The music is primarily from plants and fungi. The biodata information captured is used to map out the work. Music with cadences, pitches and tempo that derive from a non human origin. They feed us, create the environment we live in. They make us safe. Time to listen.
I am interested in goo and slime and its connection to the abject and the erotic. Summer daylight horror film Together does something interesting with bodily ickiness, but I found myself hoping for more weirdness.
𓍊𓍊𓍊 Mycelium (relational networks)
I have revisited this piece by Amelia Hruby many times while finding ways to get off platforms that feel exploitative and gross. Like everything, this is a work in progress!
Recently, I have worked on two novels written by musicians – one an opera singer and one a black metal artist. It was fascinating to see how the forms bled into one another. I plan to think about this more in future writing.
I wish you a week of gooey bliss, fire opals, and transcendence.
Love, LJ
this is microdosing ceremony, a letter from my artist’s cocoon to yours.
find out more about rituals and writing on the ceremony podcast.
explore creative rabbit holes on my website.
🜁🜃🜂🜄