I'm going to the UK in July! (Join me?)
Sonnets for the Muse workshop with me and poet Rebecca Sharp, 7/26/25
All the witches and artists I know have subjects they’re devoted to.
For instance, I’m passionate about pagan histories, ecology, theologies of liberation, myth, ritual, somatics, witchcraft. These are the things to which I want to dedicate my life.
But… do we really want to dedicate our lives to “things” and “subjects”?
Those objectifying words don’t even begin to approach the nuances of feeling I have about, say, witchcraft for example.
Witchcraft as a subject is a scholarly, even clinical, term. A “thing” defined by a Victorian scholar in some dusty old anthropology textbook.
Witchcraft as I relate to her is vital, fleshy.
She is Hecate appearing to me in a vision with her antlered staff beckoning me down a moonlit crossroads. She is the scent of beeswax as I carve my candles with an iron nail, and the sound of dried rose petals as I anoint the spell.
What could shift in your approach to your work if you re-oriented from “focusing on subjects” to “celebrating your muse?”
My guess is that you’d feel more inspired, more committed to long term growth, more willing to approach your work with curiosity about the process rather than frustration over the outcome.
Subjects are things we organize with binder clips from Office Depot.
Muses, on the other hand, visit us in our sleep. They teach us, guide us, and inspire us. We fall in love with them and they love us back. Muses remain Mysteries to us. They require respect, consent, and mutual relationship.
Sonnets are forms poets have developed over centuries specifically as a way of addressing and working with the object of our devotions.
Poetry is magical, Uranian in the sense that it liberates us from the habits of mind in which we’ve imprisoned ourselves.
It just so happens that my wonderful friend the poet Rebecca Sharp and I* have created a workshop to help you access the power of the muse, which we’ll be holding in the UK this summer.
Join me and the poet Rebecca Sharp on Saturday, July 26th in Edinburgh, Scotland for a day-long workshop, Sonnets for the Muse: Working with Ritual and Poetry to Activate Creative Potential.
In this workshop you will…
Identify your muse as a source of inspiration
Articulate what your muse means to you
Compare examples of how artists, poets, and mystics have worked with muses throughout history
Explore how to use sonnets as tools of devotion and guidance
Compose a sonnet to invoke your muse (no poetry experience necessary)
Create a sigil to access remote regions of your imagination
Synthesize all the above into a ritual that will enable to access your muse in an embodied way
This workshop is for you if you have a subject you’re passionate about that you’d like to make space for in your life. Especially if you have an interest in learning more about poetry and its relationship to magic.
If you live anywhere near Scotland, or would like to make the trip out to the UK, it’s going to be so much fun!
20% off if you book before May 1st!
Got questions? Email Rebecca at info@rebeccajoysharp.com
Do you know someone in the UK or nearby who loves magic, poetry, and is longing for inspiration? Please do share this post with them! We’d love to get a good turn out to explore this joyful work.
Also…
Tell me what your muse is at the moment! What is the subject that is currently guiding you? I’d love to hear the name of your inspiration!
Amanda this sounds wonderful. July is an exciting month for important activities this year. I wish so badly I could attend. You will have an incredible turnout!
I love the sonnet and wish I could take this class! I've always been inspired by the words themselves rather than "subjects" per say. The sound, texture, and music of words. The sonnet for me is a great container in which you can say anything as the form will hold it together -- yet you can also bend the rules and experiment within that constraint. Currently I'm doing a deep dive into dreams, color, and surrealism, and David Lynch for classes I'm preparing to teach.