The Feast
Dear Friend,
Last week I was away for a few days and had the chance to eat many delicious foods.
Black chickpeas, scallion pancakes, and tofu with hand-stretched noodles.
Smoky, spicy, and garlicky flavours.
Garlic, a Martial plant, belongs to Scorpio I. Its many aspects convey the journey of the feast. Raw, it lingers on the skin. Cooked, it turns to caramel.
Writing and reading can also be feasts to be enjoyed if we let them – so mouthwateringly good that small bites can be rich and dense.
I have been thinking about the function of the feast in novels.
I recently worked on a scene with a mentee where a character eats and drinks with abandon, needing salty carbs and the sour tang of whisky after a disastrous encounter.
In Katie Kitamura’s Intimacies, three people meet to eat dinner – two of them are strangers. The third person, the girlfriend of one and close friend of the other, arrives an hour late to find these once-strangers flirting and sharing some secret knowledge.
In both scenes, the feast is the theatre for emotional expression and concealment.
I have been feasting, indulgently, too. Devouring writers’ whole catalogues like cake. Looking up with flushed cheeks to see that hours have passed.
Kening Zhu’s illustration captures the contrast of the feast. The cake is sweet and indulgent, but the berries stain the frosting blood-red.
Feasting in Storytelling
Often at the Scorpio point of a novel (that is just over the halfway mark of the book correlating to just over halfway of the zodiacal year) there is a feast, party, dinner, or ceremony that brings characters together.
This type of scene can shore up existing situations or it can add treachery and tension. Sometimes there can be contrast – darkness at a wedding feast, levity at a funeral, or something in between.
It might depend on what is consumed and the energies in the room.
A feast can be highly ritualised, and it is generally considered a celebration, but there are feasts that come after moments of violence or vengeance or sadness.
Scorpio I: The Feast is a place of playfulness and drama too – the Martial double-edged sword of creation and destruction.
🜁🜃🜂🜄
🍄 Fruit
The Register of Candied Decay
Fixed water: undead mermaids, undersea salons, slime
Content note: sexual imagery, reference to pornography, reference to self-harm.
‘Goo-Goo Lagoon’ shows XXX in a ‘rococo undersea salon full of kitschy trinkets, her appearance, everything about the scene, should appear excessive and slightly off.’
The Five of Cups
Fixed water: loss, appetite, sacrifice
That reminder of loss can be a sharpener to appetite. Time is short. Do you want to be perfect or do you want to be gluttonous for experience, pleasure, and joy?
Scorpio I: The Feast
Fixed water: hunger, desires, indulgence
There is fun and playfulness and drama in feasting – the Martial double-edged sword of creation and destruction.
The Scorpio potion is also available for everyone to explore during this month. There is an audio ritual and writing invitations as well as reflections on the monthly atmosphere.
Atmospheres now has two live options for each atmosphere: Friday at noon GMT and Sunday at 5pm GMT.
There is also a gift option available for those who would find the cost a barrier to joining.
Find out more here.
🦠 Spores
I am in the middle of writing a craft book, Story Constellations, that uses Atmospheres as a way to structure long-form creative projects (novels, essay collections, websites, memoirs, graphic novels etc.) The book is a blend of astrology, Tarot, and story craft and I hope to share this with you as a winter solstice gift.
𓍊𓍊𓍊 Mycelium
Sarah Artt’s delicious film writing at Visual Aroma channels the sensory pleasures of the feast.
S. J. Kim’s wonderful essay ‘Life in the UK’ contains a wry reflection on roast beef among other UK institutions.
In a week of reflection on hunger, I have donated to the Sameer Project, a mutual aid project for Palestinians. This is one of the best ways to target donations for food.
I wish you a week of spicy peppers, smoky tea, rich chocolate, and caramelised garlic.
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.
🜁🜃🜂🜄