The Crossroads Writing Community: A Soul Flare for the Word Witches
Pointy Hat Press co-founder Kristin Lisenby and Word Witch Kate Belew are sending up soul flares to the writers, poets, and spellcasters of languages - The Crossroads writing community is back in a new form!
Starting in April, join Kristin and Kate for a six-month creative coven with monthly gatherings, rituals, prompts, folklore, and stories about the Witches of the Crossroads, their potent gardens, and sacred symbols.
Welcome to The Crossroads: The Luminous Months
Gather under the dark moon during the luminous months of April-September.
During this six-month series and program, Kristin and Kate hold space with you at the creative cauldron. By the glow of the bonefire, and under the watch of the guardian oak tree, together you’ll explore and tell the tales of the Witches, Goddesses, potent plants, folklore, and myth. These stories are fodder for your creative work. They are rituals to hold you in the shifting of the seasons. Together, you’ll celebrate the luminous months of the year, spring, which turns toward summer, and finally descends into autumn.
The dark moon is the keeper of many messages, secrets, and stories. And at the crossroads, a few of her favorite stories will be shared. Each class will contain a meditation, a discussion of sacred symbols, an exploration of the crossroads, a story retelling from the Goddesses and Witches of the dark moon, and an opportunity to write an invocation with guidance for each of these mythic figures. Read on to learn more about this seasonal offering.
The Schedule:
Wednesday, April 23rd, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Dark Moon of Aphrodite
Wednesday, May 21st, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Dark Moon of Maia
Wednesday, June 25th, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Dark Moon of Hera
Wednesday, July 23rd, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Dark Moon of Artemis
Wednesday, August 20th, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Dark Moon of Demeter
Wednesday, September 17th, 7:00-8:30 pm, The Dark Moon of Persephone
April: The Dark Moon of Aphrodite
In our first meeting at the Crossroads, we meet the Aphrodite and her garden of roses.
Psyche entering Cupid's garden, John William Waterhouse
April’s moon is sacred to Aphrodite, a goddess of the rose. Like her flower, Aphrodite is hypnotic, resilient, and admired for her thorns. Instead of tears, white roses spring from her eyes, and red petals bloom from her wounds. Rose are plants of paradise, but they also embellish grief-stricken fields and the trials of our becoming. In Aphrodite’s garden, love stories become lessons.
Aphrodite wears many crowns, including Lady of the Sea, Bringer of Dawn, and Queen of Heaven. She is a guardian of swans, geese, doves, and the winged ones who keep our passions in flight. With scraps of lust and pleasure, Aphrodite makes nests within our dreams. It is she who awakens our intense, unseen, and mysterious desires. Aphrodite is also a mother, and alongside her son, Eros, she stands at the Crossroads of April’s dark moon.
Eros is a divine archer and a spirit of desire. He dutifully carries out his mother’s bidding, firing enchanted arrows at nymphs and shepherds, but when he’s tasked with punishing a mortal princess whose beauty threatens Aphrodite, Eros does the opposite. When Eros meets Psyche, he falls in love.
Psyche translates to ‘soul,’ and her union with Eros spawns a love story with an ancient knowing – our desires are more than cravings, they’re pieces of the soul.
May: The Dark Moon of Maia
Upon the altar of May, a question unfurls among the blooming flowers – what does it mean to be a part of nature?
Stage art from the ballet, Electra, The Lost Pleiad, 1849
Read the rest of The Crossroads Writing Community: A Soul Flare for the Word Witches in the Literary Coven on Substack! Join the Crossroads Creative Coven here.
