What to read, what to watch, and advice on how to cope in these strange times.
Source: Unsplash
‘Only by withdrawing from the outer world can we awaken the inner self.’ Rachel Pollack⠀
Writes Gabriella Tavini: ’This card is about withdrawing from the world. Because contemporary culture rewards action, materialism and performative ways of living, we usually perceive the word “hermit” as negative. But what can the hermit archetype and these resilient artists teach us? Well, a few things: empathy for those whose pains are greater than our own; acceptance, the realisation that some circumstances are out of our control, that we must make peace with the cards we’re dealt and use the tools at hand; discernment, the realisation that your worldview is unique to everyone else’s; and last but not least, bravery, to have the courage and the passion to sculpt your own vision of what it truly means to live well, no matter the sacrifice. By embodying the hermit archetype, we might better understand what it’s like to live with restrictive chronic illnesses, disabilities or mental health issues; and if we're lucky, we might even dip our toe into the magical, creative space where artists and writers thrive.'
Support Independent Businesses
It’s in times like this we realise the importance of small businesses in our community. Support small independent businesses. A few London recommendations: consider buying books from Libreria and Treadwell’s rather than Amazon; rather than stockpiling from chain supermarkets, go to your local grocery. Waste-free shop Get Loose in Hackney City Farm is still open for business. Great vegan food can be delivered directly to your home from Palm Greens and What the Pitta. This is the time to support your indies.
Learn something new
With a full calendar and daily commute, we don’t always have the time for this. For many who are now working from home, those hours spent commuting to and from work are now free time. Many independent bookshops are still able to deliver. Language centres like the Cervantes Institute have adapted by offering online courses. Masterclass is a good place to learn from experts in their fields, among which are Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Danny Elfman and Werner Herzog. The internet is also full of free resources for gaining new knowledge. We recommend Magic in the Middle Ages from the University of Barcelona on Coursera.
Attend events virtually
More and more events are now moving online. The Royal Opera House will be live streaming opera and ballet for free during the coronavirus outbreak. The National Theatre be opening up its archives every Thursday night. Treadwell’s had to cancel its events series, but some events, including Rebecca Beattie’s popular urban witchcraft workshops, are going online. You can also get an online tarot reading at Treadwell’s. And consider joining our own online book club, starting on Monday 30th March.
Read
When you can’t travel physically, reading can still take you beyond the confines of your home.
As children we often read adventure novels. We could already imagine new worlds before going there physically in later life. Books can still do that for us. Marguerite Duras’ L’Amant perfectly evokes the atmosphere of the Mekong Delta in colonial Saigon, recollecting a lost love there. Lorca’s poetry conjures up a romantic vision of Andalusia. In Haruki Murakami’s novels you can walk the streets of Tokyo by night and witness Japan’s changing seasons.
Reading is also a place for learning and self-development. If you’re new to occult reading, here is a broad introduction. If you’re feeling a little disconnected from nature, here are some reading recommendations for re-connecting.
If you just want some bloody good reads to get you through the lockdown, here are some of our top reads this year (so far):
Elizabeth: Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, a bold memoir recollecting psychological abuse; Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, a dystopian novel which imagines a world where humans have turned to cannibalism; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, an oldie but a goodie, Manderlay through the narrator’s lens has an animistic quality, and Rebecca, though dead, feels very much alive; The Island Child, Molly Aitken’s gorgeous debut steeped in Irish folklore.
Yasmina: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, the recent joint Man Booker winner; The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (I know, very late to the party but it is simply stunning!); I am currently reading The Binding by Bridget Collins.
When you can’t go out, go in
Another way of travelling when you can’t travel physically is meditation, visualisation, or by practising lucid dreaming. Creatives know there is a rich world within the mind that can be explored. You may also want to explore ideas about astral projection, popularised in the West by 19th Century Theosophists. Many cultures have their own notion of astral projection. In the Hindu epic The Mahabharata, Drona leaves behind his physical body to see if his son is alive. Several indigenous communities in the Amazonian basin believe the soul is able to take leave of the body; comparable beliefs are held by some Inuit groups. Often this state is reached through taking hallucinogenics and/or ritual.
Rituals
One of the most important things for our mental health is routine. At present we might feel out of control, but we can create a new routine by bringing new rituals into our lives. Rituals allow us take hold of the things we can control. Writes Yasmina Floyer: ‘Rituals anchor us and helps us focus on what matters. It will take a little while to adjust to a period of confinement particularly given that it isn’t self-imposed. All the more reason why maintaining rituals and creating new ones is so important. A daily ritual that brings me light even on the darkest days is to write a list of what I am thankful for. This can be as long or short as you like and items on my list have have included food delivery, a soft cushion, friends calling to check in, a crisp blue sky in the morning.’ Creating a new routine might be as simple as scheduling in time to read or knowing when to stop working. Try scheduling in time for work and play and creating rituals to help introduce good habits and replace the ones that don’t serve us.
Write
We’re biased, but we think writing is one of the best ways to help navigate and make sense of this chaotic thing called life. Keep a journal, write poetry or fiction, letters or long emails. Whether you decide to publish it or keep it to yourself, writing can be therapeutic and help you understand yourself better. It’s a way of organising your thoughts and finding a pattern therein. For those who do have a fiction project underway, and would like mentoring from a published author, we have just launched the (free) Cunning Folk mentoring scheme (more information here).
Recommended viewing
The Power of Myth. Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers discuss comparative mythology and the ongoing role of myth in modern society. Though the language is a little outdated at times, Joseph Campbell’s work inspired George Lucas’s Star Wars and continues to inspire artists and writers today.
Myths and Monsters. This Netflix documentary explores a similar territory, and features, among others, Professor Diane Purkiss, a lecturer at Oxford University who contributed to our forthcoming print magazine.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Based on Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s comic, this series is engaging and draws from the history of the Western occult, folklore, mythology and witchy literature.
The OA. The third season was axed by Netflix, which is a shame. The OA delves into metaphysical, often esoteric subject matter. It’s original and at times a bit trippy.
The Good Place. A compulsive sitcom that starts silly and gradually moves into more profound territory, taking us on a humorous journey through Western Philosophy, while remaining accessible. It ends with the questions Western Philosophy can’t answer, and Eastern Philosophy perhaps can.
The Dark Crystal. Remember Jim Henson and Brian Froud’s puppetry masterpiece? The universe has expanded, and it’s as magical and mystical and beautiful as the original. The message is relevant as we live through the climate crisis.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire In the late 18th century, a painter is commissioned to discretely paint another woman’s wedding portrait. This is a feminist tale of lesbian desire and the female gaze. There is a moment of pure witchy poetry when wise women, friends and neighbours gather around a fire singing Fugere Non Possum. Available on Mubi, a live-streaming service for high quality films.
Exercise
We can go on walks, but gyms, swimming pools and yoga studios are closed. Thankfully many yoga teachers and personal trainers are taking to Zoom and it’s almost as good as going to the studio. Elizabeth recommends her yoga teacher @ashleyahrens.yoga who teaches vinyasa, ashtanga, haha and yin and has a regular schedule. Yasmina recommends her teacher @ruth_kamala_yoga who also teaches pilates.
Immune-boosting herbs and remedies
Photo by Maggie Eliana
Maggie Eliana’s immune-boosting gummies for cold and flu seem a pretty sensible thing to make now to improve immune function. To make them vegan, swap the honey for vegan honea.
We don’t know if it helps, but we’ve been heeding advice from medical experts in India and drinking golden milk. It’s delicious. We make ours with fresh turmeric, fresh ginger, saffron, cardamom, black pepper and coconut milk.
Mountain Tea, sold at Broadway Market’s deli The Isle of Olives, has been consumed in Greece since ancient times and is believed to be beneficial for colds, sore throats and upper respiratory tract infections.
Pick your own food
We wait in long queues for supermarkets. Stare at empty aisles. It’s in times like this we realise how dependent we are on others for food. The British countryside has a wealth of plants you can eat, from elderflower and elderberries to a variety of mushrooms. Some things never seemed edible, but were common ingredients in the past, and are still eaten in other parts of the globe. The acorn, for example, is a staple in traditional Korean cooking; try making Dotorimuk. Foraging is doable even in the city. Herbs abound in London parks. Common herbs that look like weeds include borage, mugwort and yarrow. These plants have folkloric associations and medicinal usages. Yarrow is associated with wound healing. Borage is a common ingredient in Italian cuisine, mugwort in Korean cuisine. Identifying plants isn’t always easy. Seek app by iNaturalist is a good place to start. We don’t recommend using it for picking mushrooms as some varieties look very similar and are poisonous. You can also use it to identify insects and animals.
Commit to lasting change
Panic buying has seen empty shopping market aisles. Some of the items stockpiled include: toilet paper, nappies and sanitary towels. Besides self-rationing as an act of solidarity (there’s enough to go around so long as we share), this might also be an opportunity to think about more sustainable, longer lasting alternatives to disposable hygiene products. People have been raving about Moon Cup as an alternative to tampons for years; Bloom and Nora offer reusable sanitary towels made of recycled materials while TotsBots make reusable nappies. Now is also a good time to eat locally and support local producers. Vegetable box schemes are a good alternative to relying on supermarket chains.
Be the Hanged One
Another tarot card and archetype who comes up when going through a period of great change and uncertainty is the hanged man, or the hanged one. At first glance, this looks like a card you’d rather avoid. One interpretation of this is that of self-sacrifice. We are all making sacrifices right now—self-isolating in order to protect others more vulnerable than ourselves. In putting ourselves second to others, together we can grow. But Arthur E. Waite, who conceived the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith) said this is not so much about duty, but the most mystical of all the cards. In his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, he writes: ‘It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death … It has been called falsely a card of martyrdom, a card of prudence, a card of the Great Work, a card of duty … I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe.’ The Hanged One isn’t dead. Their world turned upside-down, they are able to see the world anew.