The Laugh of the Medusa - Tonight!
Reading Group starts at 6pm PST
Hélène Cixous’ text The Laugh of the Medusa is a pharmakon: a medicine and a poison…
…once you ingest it, you’re forever changed. Something springs open, the spirits come pouring out.
After re-reading The Laugh of the Medusa for tonight’s Reading Group I remembered why’d found it to be such a life changing essay…
… in it she commands us, the reader, to WRITE. Medusa is a rallying cry. A manifesto, a call to arms, to legs, to viscera, sweat, tears, to the BODY.
Cixous reminds us that we don’t have to try to fit in or to please anyone.
That’s what inspired me about it so much when I read it for the first time at 21 years old. In truth, I wouldn’t be where I am today without reading this text.
The Laugh of the Medusa showed me that there is power in the woods and wastelands where the witches were banished.
Cixous taught me to stop banging on the door of the King’s castle, trying to get in, to be approved of. Stop aiming for a seat at the table, she challenged me, instead learn to love the open steppes and the wolf dens.
Make your home in the Black Forest, she said.
She showed me that I could have a life in those woods, with those wild creatures (like you!). She howled, and I ran through the snow to find her by smell of blood and fur.
Arriving, I found a whole pack of fierce friends and guardians with shining eyes and shape-shifter magic.
Now, to be sure, the text is of its time. It was written in 1975. Critiques about her gender essentialism are valid. As you’re reading I encourage you to extend her talk of “Women” to all queer folk, witches, and weirdos in general. We can talk about all that tonight.
More than anything, I want to know what kind of howl this text called forth from your body. I can’t wait to storm its caves with you!
See you at 6pm!
Love
Amanda
P.S. Don’t forget that next week on Tuesday the Gemini season Witch Guide drops, and then the Full Moon in Sagittarius ritual is on Thursday 5/23/24 at 6pm PST. Mark your calendars!
Guidance for Tonight’s Reading Group
Read the text if you can, here it is. It’s 20 pages long, complex language. Don’t worry if some of it doesn’t make sense, just let it wash over you and taste it. If you can’t read the full thing, just read a few pages closely, or scroll through and choose a few passages at random to look at so that we can discuss.
Remember that if you notice something you like, write down the page number so that you can refer to it with ease.
Study Questions and Prompts
What tarot card does this text remind you of and why?
Choose a part of the text that inspires you, and describe what it inspires you to DO.
According to Cixous, what is writing for? Why should we write? Why/how should we “let our body be heard” through our writing?
What powers does Cixous ascribe to the “peripheral figure” and how do those powers work?
When she says, “We have all learned the art of flying and its numerous techniques; for centuries we’ve been able to possess anything only by flying…” [page 887, paragraph 4] what do you think she means by that?
Link to the Zoom Chat
When: 5/16/24 6pm PST