“What a way to start the day. Working with you is always magic and particularly on this Equinox day, as you called in the elements.”
Thank you to those who joined the Autumn Equinox workshop—a taster for The Enchantment of ritual, retreat and revision, which begins on 1st November. This course remains at early bird price until Sunday 22nd September.
If you couldn’t make the workshop live (or had to leave early) but are keen to have a bit of the experience, before reading this, you will want to gather: a notebook and pen, loose paper, a cup of something lovely to drink, and some fruit (for a little ritual).
I recommend putting aside 1 hour—claim your sweet slice of life.
“Thank you so much for that absolutely beautiful and enriching poetry workshop. It was so nourishing, inspirational and helpful. I really like the poem draft that I produced during it, and my soul feels fed from the experience.”
The Enchantment of Ritual
We began with the enchantment of ritual. This can be simple and intentional: light a candle, centre yourself and offer an invocation of some sort—to the directions, to the Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit and Soul, to the ancestors and Spirits of Place, to those who have your highest and deepest potential, to whatever higher sources guide you and your creative work.
Get as comfortable as you can be on the surface that you are resting and simply receive this moment as an invitation to remember your body, remember your breath. The Earth beneath you, the Mystery above you. All that is within you.
Receive this moment as an invitation to take time to slow down from the summer rush and look inward. As the year descends into the ocean, to count waves of blue gratitude and taste the sweetness of your blessings.
Prompt: in your notebook, write down
2 things you are grateful for
1 thing you are proud of
Read your first gratitude.
Notice how you feel. Feel that feeling. Notice what is happening in your body. Stay with it. Pick up a piece of your fruit, before you eat it, really look at it. See it close up, from a distance. Smell it. Touch it. Take it across your lips to tease yourself. Then very slowly, taste it, as you internally name that first gratitude. Take the sweetness into your body and savour it.
Now read your second gratitude.
Look at the second gratitude you have written, and do the same thing: Notice how you feel. Feel the feeling. Notice what is happening in your body. Stay with it. Take your time to pick up a piece of your fruit, before you eat it, really look at it. See it close up, from a distance. Smell it. Touch it. Take it across your lips to tease yourself. Internally name that thing you are grateful for, then very slowly, taste it. Take the sweetness into your body and embody it.
Read what you are proud of.
Consider all that came before that sense of achievement—all the hard work. Reaping what you have sown required some things from you. Give your attention to that thought now. See how your body feels as you trace what preceded achievement. Now allow your whole body to flood with that sense of pride. Let the sensation of pride or achievement take up space in your whole body. Let it flood you with endorphins. Be proud of yourself. Then take your final piece of fruit. Taste the harvest of your life.
The Enchantment of Retreat
I believe in living with beautiful questions. What question or intention would you like to hold for this next phase of your life? Your heart already has that beautiful question, just listen. First thought, best thought. Write it down. Don’t let your head get involved by starting writing straight away, the beautiful question I didn’t even know was inside my heart right now is…and keep writing—you may be surprised.
Once you have written it, please close your eyes and keep hold of that intention in your heart for a moment.
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When you open your eyes, you will see three cards (below).
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Notice which card you are drawn to first. Trust that.
Write it down on your page—1, 2, 3 or left, middle, right.
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Ivy, Witch of Water, Eagle
Notice what you notice. Allow any images or associations from the card to weave into your writing or note them down now.
Free-Write
We are going into a guided free-write. This may emerge as a poem, or it may take another form. Trust your muse and surrender your pen to the page.
Listen to me read this excerpt from Cacophony of Bone by Kerri ni Dochartaigh before the writing prompt if you like.
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Imagine you opened the oracle deck to read about the card that you chose. What is the essence of the message? Make a few notes that may weave into your writing.
Then continue with the prompts below.
Look West—what do you notice?
If you don’t know which way West is, make it up.
Mention the evening and/or the setting sun.
Use the phrase ‘we can let go of striving’.
Mention something about the fruit you tasted earlier.
Talk about growing older and/or the fruits of your life.
How are animals preparing for winter?
How are you preparing for winter?
Use one of these words: blue, water, wine.
Continue with that thought.
The Enchantment of Revision
Firstly, read over what you have written.
As you are editing you may decide to move parts to the loose paper to play with their positioning and place them on the surface where you are working. Let the paper be spacious enough that you can add edits to these as you go.
I will be offering several suggestions, you may be someone who works efficiently and wants everything all at once (I am this person) in which case, go for it. Otherwise, take the prompts that speak to you in the moment, in relationship to the work you are editing and try the others out with other poems another time.
Spirit
What is the enchantment of this developing poem? What is the essence? Write a note to yourself around the poem about the invisible ink, what is not being said but that the poem wants to allude to (without necessarily naming directly).
Earth
Specificity is your superpower. Identify one part of your poem that you can be more specific about (i.e. rather than ‘tree’ you name the type of tree) or something that is more unique to you.
Water
Read what you’ve read aloud to listen for flow. Circle the words that cause your tongue to tumble or get tangled, and return to smooth these edges (later).
Air
Read your poem for a second time and this time add in breath—white space on the page. Do this by adding some form of punctuation like a dash, line break or stanza break. You might just like to add a / at this time. Make a note of some sort.
Fire
Where is the energy in this poem? Where is the heat or the turn? Is it positioned where you want it to be in the poem? Make a note to yourself.
Idea
I encourage you to stay with what you have written and distil the essence into 5 fragments that include (or allude to): Spirit, Earth, Water, Air and Fire in some way. Share them below in the comments and tag me on instagram: @heathermackayyoung
“Thank you for this lovely gathering. I am so glad that I came to the party! It was a delight to see your cheerful face and those of so many of my online poetry friends. I really enjoyed the format. The prompts and the oracle cards have so many possibilities. I'm really looking forward to The Enchantment. I've done a bit of writing during the summer, and it is time to gather it together and refine it a bit while it is still fresh. Your witchy approach is perfect!”
The Enchantment
The Enchantment begins on November 1st and early bird has been extended until tonight, Sunday 22nd September. Join me! As well as journeying across land, sea and sky, you will also receive editorial feedback on up to 10 poems during this time together, including line edits and a one-to-one call with me.
Other Ways To Support
Share The Enchantment with a friend who would love this kind of poetic witchery and/or share it on your socials and tag me @heathermackayyoung
Write something about your experience of the Autumn Equinox workshop on your Instagram stories and tag me in it.
We ended this workshop with The Tradition by Kathleen Jamie and The Druid’s Prayer. I am so grateful to everyone who made it to the workshop, for your wholeheartedness, and I hope that those who are circling back receive the medicine they need. Oracle cards are revealed below for those who are curious.
Druid’s Prayer
Grant, O Spirit, thy protection
And in protection, strength
And in strength, understanding
And in understanding, knowledge
And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice
And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it
And in the love of it, the love of all existences
And in the love of all existences
The love of Spirit and all goodness
Oracle Revealed
Ivy from The Celtic Tree Oracle
Liz and Colin Murray, illustrated by Vanessa Card
Witch of Water from The Witches Wisdom Tarot
Phyllis Curott, artwork by Danielle Barlow
Eagle from The Druid Animal Oracle
Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gorm, illustrated by Bill Worthington
I loved seeing the image of the oracle cards and recognizing them from their backs! It was a homecoming even before they were revealed.
I left the workshop with SEVEN pages of writing and a full heart. Thank you, dear one.