‘Poetry as Vigil’ is a series of 3 ritual-workshops, where we will explore how our words and writing can hold loving space for ancestors who need it, through creative and ancestral healing practices. This workshop will focus on ancestors who have been impacted by genocide, colonial or border violence - a person or a lineage, whether you met them or not. It will unfold through the following journey:
- We will start with invoking an ancestral guide, who can act as a higher power to support us and bridge our vigil. This guide can be a blood or a queer ancestor, an ancestor of lineage who inspires you or an elemental.
- In part 2, we will hold solidarity, loving presence and acknowledgement through writing to a personal ancestor who may have died in troubled ways, or who simply needs support. You can devote your poem to them, write them a letter, or make your words into offerings. Your ancestral guide will always sit in between you and the ancestor you hold vigil for, in order to offer you protection and grounding.
- In part 3, we will explore collective spellcasting by going in the circle and creating a communal poem-offering to the dead, with phrases from what we have written, our breath and whispers.
We will use divination and tarot to inspire our journey and help us connect beyond the realms. There will also be a soil altar which we will charge with our offerings and bring back to the body of the earth, so the ancestors can receive this sustenance through the mycelium.
This series is inspired by my work and research into ancestral healing practices, queer temporality and ritual as a futuring technology.
No prior experience needed - this will be a welcoming space of co-creation with soft invitations and guidance to be adjusted to your needs and intuitive desires. Everything is invitational, focused on autonomy and consent, and you are deeply encouraged to make the journey yours. There will also be a small space in the room where you can go anytime if you need some time by yourself, or if the communal space feels overstimulating.
Queer Spellcasting is a project created by Byuka Makodru, focused on the intersection of the following:
Poetry
Divination
Creative writing
Eco-somatics
& Ritual
Through an animist, exploratory and political lens.
This series of workshops will help you:
- Connect with tarot and divination in an intuitive, playful and creative way
- Use the symbolism of tarot to tap into your personal stories and the power of re/writing them through your intentions
- Explore the links between poetry and spellmaking, and between creative, political and spiritual practice
- Ask for guidance from elemental powers such as the full moon, water bodies, air spirits and landscapes
- Explore how your writing practice can create long term relationships to the more-than-human kin and to the land
- Be in a queer collective container, with supportive guidance focused on consent and autonomy
- Explore how poetry and words can move and flow, shapeshift, and become symbols
Please arrive 10-15 min before, to land into the space, grab a drink from the Rio bar and settle. We will start at exactly 5 min past 7 PM, with no latecomers allowed.
Access: the space in the basement and wheelchair accessible, using an elevator. This is a neurodivergent friendly space - feel invited to bring stim toys, plushies or any emotionally precious altar piece (like a stone or crystal.)
For any questions about access please email me at @byuka.krow@gmail.com
Byuka Makodru aka Fortune Tailed Beast @fortunetailedbeast (they/them) is a migrant performance artist & witch, playing at the intersections of poetry, dance, film and tattooing. Their work explores folk futurism and practices of queer-animist world-building through community rituals, speculative fiction, embodied ecologies & ancestral healing.
Byuka is the curator & main facilitator of Lunarrr Playgroundz @lunarrrplaygroundz - a platform exploring ritual practices for the queer community. Queer Spellcasting is an ongoing research as part of their tattooing project Scribe of Earth Skins @scribeofearthskins - where they blend ritual, language and symbol making.
Their work has been shown at the Royal Albert Hall, Iklektik, Camden's People Theatre, the National Gallery, Barbican, Guildhall, Ugly Duck and Mimosa House. They have been featured in the series ‘Witch’ on BBC Sounds.
Follow me at:
https://www.instagram.com/scribeofearthskins?igsh=cDFodGR0eDV3azgy
https://www.instagram.com/scribeofearthskins?igsh=cDFodGR0eDV3azgy
https://www.instagram.com/lunarrrplaygroundz?igsh=MWZ4Zm8xbzVkY3dxZQ==