An invitation for all writers, whatever your level and working in any form, to incorporate ritual into their work. Intertwining a little magic into your way of working.
Time to write
Learning which rituals best serve your own writing lifestyle and creating your own
Time in nature
Choosing your own artefacts to create your perfect desk space/ “altar"
Are you a seeker?
Many authors are well known for their writing rituals. According to literary legend, Edith Sitwell lay in an open coffin for a while before she began her day’s work. Maya Angelou could work only in hotel or motel rooms. Truman Capote couldn’t begin or end anything on a Friday. Igor Stravinsky performed headstands when he needed a break, and Saul Bellow did 30 push-ups. For the work to go on, John Cheever required erotic release.
While these may be amusing eccentricities, the importance of ritual in writing practice is clear. We need particular conditions to sustain our work – often more than just a habit of writing and the space and time to think, reflect and conjure the words on the page. When the ritual of writing works, it can be incredibly potent.
A complete writing ritual includes a distinct separation from the mundane and a deeper return to it. Taking place in the days leading up to the autumn equinox, the retreat will take inspiration from the notion of writing on the threshold, at the turn of the seasons, in the liminal space between real and imagined worlds, building new ritual practices that will deepen and strengthen our writing and establishing habits that will sustain us in the return to our daily lives after the retreat.
During this week-long writing retreat we will reflect on the process of writing as a ritual and the holding of writing practice as a sacred space for play, deep listening, and transformation – of our work and ourselves. We will take as our starting point the observations of anthropologists Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner on ritual as having three distinct phases:
Separation from everyday activities.
Transition to an unstructured or “liminal” reality, where the participant becomes a walker or traveller.
Reassimilation into normal life, but more deeply than before.
During the week we will come together in the mornings for writing workshops, leaving the afternoons free for focused writing, walking, swimming, reading and relaxation. During the workshops we will consider how attention to seasonality, daily practices, embodiment, spirit of place, mythmaking and enchantment can inform our writing practices. Throughout the week we will play with ritual, exploring approaches that can help our writing such as releasing limiting beliefs and creating writing altars that help us to create sacred spaces for our work. Nathalie has also made a selection of stoneware Goddesses for you to choose from. You will make these your own through the process of Raku firing, guided by Nathalie. The sculpture is yours to take home, to be incorporated into your sacred desk/ work space/ altar.
By the end of the retreat you will have:
accomplished some new writing on your own project(s)
relaxed into writing and given your writerly self time to breathe and expand into our creative space and time together
experimented with various/ techniques/rituals/writing prompts
have created your own guidelines for writing as/ in ritual
spent time reconnecting with nature and yourself
have elements to take home to form or add to your own altar /sacred desk space
recharged and re-energised in a community of fellow writers
Hosted by sculptor Nathalie Edwards at The Mill and JLM Morton.
For information on accommodation, prices and booking, go to The Mill.