Write, Write, Write against the dying of the light
Rage, rage, rage also too, rage on the page...
Dear Brilliant Luminous Friends,
Sometimes I literally feel like a dinosaur telling people writing yourself is one of the best ways to feel better. But it’s been proven time and time again that writing is the one of the best things for mental health and clarity.
Writing during this time in history is especially important. Write all that you are doing, all that you are not doing, all that you’ve read, that you’ve seen, that you’ve witnessed intentionally, unintentionally. Write to discover your next steps, write to confront your guilt, your shame, your unconditional love.
Write for self inquiry, write to question your own spiritual bypassing, write to integrate groupthink, write to questions where your beliefs came from, write to create new beliefs. Write, write, write against the dying of the light. Rage, rage, rage, also yes, rage on the page. You might be surprised how much relief you feel from expressing all your anger on the blank page.
And of course because this Dylan Thomas poem came to me, I had to look up good ole Dylan and see if he was an ok guy. Not shocked to discover that he was an unfaithful husband, and a wild alcoholic, along with his wife, Caitlin Thomas, who was also a writer in her own right. Never surprised to discover that the wives of famous men were also artists. Caitlin published four books in her lifetime, two books about her life with Dylan. At 16, the father of the man she’s in love with at the time, already eleven years older than her, whose father is an artist friend of the family, rapes her, because as history has written it he, “considered sleeping with teenagers one of the perks of artistic genius.” Sounds eerily familiar to the excuses of today.
At 22 years old Caitlin meets Dylan and goes on to have three children with him, at least one if not multiple illegal abortions, as well as another child at the age of 49, after Dylan has died. Caitlin becomes sober at 60 and lives the last twenty years of her life writing books in Italy in the sun. Her early life with Dylan sounds eerily familiar to Zelda Fitzgerald and her husband Scott, with overlapping themes of alcoholism, violence and psychiatric hospitals. When Dylan dies, Caitlin is so overcome with grief, they straight-jacket her and force her into a mental hospital. Which sounds eerily familiar to Camille Claudel, Dora Maar, and fast forward to today of the artists, Annie and Maria Farmer and supermodel Karen Mulder, the first women to come forward against Epstein.
It was a heavy week last week, with the release of over three million emails, photographs, videos. Proof if you ever needed any, which I know that we don’t, that some people honestly don’t care about girls and women. That the misogyny runs so deep that they’ve learned to shrug it off, or find a way to excuse it. And that the way that the United States Department of Justice released the files was purposeful to cause psychological trauma and distress. If you haven’t already I highly recommend reading this insightful post by Daphne Delvaux, Esq. on what is happening.
Sending love to all of us as we navigate the deranged people in false power. And yet somehow I remain hopeful that we are going to have justice, that we are going to create the more beautiful world we know is possible. We have so much more knowledge than ever before. So many ways to heal, to take care of ourselves, to continue to find joy and to find our agency. This is ultimately what writing does. By telling your story, you take control of the narrative and this single act is the most empowering endeavor you can do for yourself. Which is another reason why I so believe in The Writers Retreat and my generative writing workshops.
Activism is actually writing your story.
Activism is actually supporting female entrepreneurs, and funding other women business owners. The Writers Retreat in the Côte d’Azur is proud to partner with twelve feminist centered women owned businesses. When you come to the retreat you not only support yourself but you also support and uplift all of the women who are doing what they love as well to support themselves.
Activism is alignment. Alignment with where you spend your time and money. From the writers that are already going or have been previously, all have said, “The minute I said yes to the retreat, I unlocked all these different portals of imaginings and called different versions of myself forward.”
When you sign up, you change your life. The magic starts when you schedule a time to chat with me. 💫
Message me now, make a plan, start dreaming about the South of France this summer! It’s five months away, those dates again are June 6–13, it’s literally the perfect time to start planning! (Hint: It’s always the perfect time!)
Xox,
Augustine
p.s. with two of my favorite photos of the retreat to entice you…. 😘
