So this is a kind of hinge from yesterday’s Spindleberry post. It arose from a chance thought in one of our recent Writing into Being Writing Hours. Do come along if a space to write alongside others in silence, encouraged by a shared venture or inspired by an unexpected prompt, sounds appealing to you, a good way to embrace the new year. The next one’s on Thursday 11th January, 4 - 5pm GMT.
You’ll need to subscribe to this newsletter (it’s free – just click the button below) so I have your email address – and let me know in the comments here if you’d like to join us. If you’ve been to one already, I have your details so look out for a link in your inbox nearer the time. I don’t naturally lean into routine and regularity but do appreciate the gentle rhythm and focus of gathering once a month at the New Moon for quiet writerly reflection and excavation – and it seems to work for others too.
One of the things New Year invites is asking ourselves what we want more of and what we want less of. Isn’t it a way of steering a course, navigating by our North Star? What are your charms for 2024?
A Bracelet of Twenty-Four Charms
✶A charm to wake up to lightness
✶A charm to bless the axolotl, the black cat, the dodo
✶A charm to summon words for the wordless
✶A charm for the unburied dead
✶A charm to feed the hungry of all species, million upon million
✶A charm against bitterness
✶A charm for the safe passage of your breath
✶A charm for the necessary questions
✶A charm to turn bombs/guns/knives into marigolds/apples/laughter
✶A charm to inspire haiku – the world’s heart blown open
✶A charm in praise of imperfection
✶A charm – moss-strewn, star-lit – for all that is lovely and will pass
✶A charm to banish poisons seeping into soil, air & water
✶A charm for the lost ones, numberless
✶A charm made of tidings kind, true, timely
✶A charm against the pain of the body (which is great) & the pain of the mind (which is greater)
✶A charm to preserve and nourish our rootlings – O infinite, O invisible
✶A charm against building monuments to fear
✶A charm whispered in the ear of the old, the sick, the dying
✶A charm to warm those who need warming, keep frozen what needs to be ice
✶A charm that sounds like bird song
✶A charm for the unlucky
✶A charm for each hour of the day {8,760 in the coming year}
✶A charm to stay awake to what’s there & meet it with love
Happy New Year everyone!
Go well.
L
x
Hello Linda, Thank you. Yes please send me the link. Loving those charms. Thank you.
Hi Linda, have subscribed again, not sure what happened there, have been getting your posts. Yes please, i'm interested in the writing hour on Thurs 11th. January. Thank you!