Light Magic for Dark Times: Practices for Magical Living, Resiliency, & Self-Care

BY LISA MARIE BASILE

Hello, Luna Luna readers—it's your long, lost editor-in-chief. This post is looooong overdue, but alas, summer languidness and a lack of time. So, I've got an announcement: I wrote a book, and it's called Light Magic for Dark Times! It is available for preorder now, and it's out in September.

In a way, this book is the official Luna Luna collection of rituals and practices for grief, resiliency, shadow work, sex magic, writing magic, body and identity appreciation, regeneration, love, trauma, creativity, and glamour. I'm so out of my mind excited!

In the fall of last year, I was approached by a publishing house, Quarto Books (the leading global publisher of illustrated nonfiction!)—whose editor had been reading Luna Luna (and one of my posts about grief rituals). They asked me if I'd be interested in writing a longer book of what they'd seen—so we went back and forth on some ideas. As a poet and essayist, this felt like a beautiful challenge, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't difficult. I had been practicing magic for so long—and in a really intimate, quiet, chaotic, eclectic and solitary way (more on that here), so I wanted to make sure that my work was accessible and inclusive to be understood and used by anyone, including people who also had their own set ways of practicing. Magic is something we all have within us, and I believe removing barriers to that personal power is so important—especially in times when we feel we've lost our autonomy or sense of joy. 

As a former foster care youth, a trauma survivor, and someone with a chronic illness, feelings of out-of-control-ness have been no stranger to me. Those feelings can impact your self-esteem and your creativity, your resiliency, your hope, your desire, and the way you engage with the world around you. I wanted to share some of my personal practices and rituals that helped me through all of that. And I brought my experiences as a poet, empath, community builder, and writer to the book, too (so, yes it's even got a poetry section).

It was important to me that the book be a collection of practices that could both honor and manage our shadow selves and our light. They're one in the same, I think; they just move along on a spectrum, sometimes hand in hand, sometimes separately. 

Oh, and the foreword is written by Kristen J. Sollee, the amazing, inimitable, wonderful author of Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring The Sex Positive. 

Would you like to preorder the book?! You can do just that anywhere you can get books (Amazon, your local indie book store, B&N, and more). It can be preordered in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada here. It can even be preordered at Target and Walmart (wild, right?).

Oh, and here are some photos from the writing & editing process:

Having a mini flip out, witches! The black font on the cover and the crystal-like design on the back will be foiled (so, *shiny*). The inside covers will be pearlescent. Excuse me as I do a hundred cartwheels down the street. Also, preorder link is in the bio BUT message me if you want links to alternate ordering methods or if you’re in Canada, NZ, Aus, or the UK! 🖤

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on Jun 12, 2018 at 10:37am PDT

I am soooo excited to share one of the GORGEOUS images from the intro to Light Magic for Dark Times 💛The talented @adagracee captured me (wearing my actual crown from @sthedwigatelier) so beautifully. I cannot wait for you to see the rest of the book. I’m so in love with the small touches of color, like magic, that sweep in and out of the book. They’re quiet but deliberate. They’re intentional. I’m so excited. You can preorder the book by visiting the link in my bio! 💛

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on May 10, 2018 at 12:09pm PDT

🖤 I’m really fascinated by how we use ritual in our everyday lives—and how it intersects with wellness and healing and creativity. So I started a new blog, lightmagicdarktimes.com—please check out my new column #RitualTalk, which is an interview series that encounters ritual from varied points of view. To kick things off I spoke with some of the most magical people I know: @mythsofcreation + @tristamarieedwards + @lezacantoral + @darleystewart. Visit: lightmagicdarktimes.com 🖤

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on May 7, 2018 at 10:53am PDT

💎I got a beautiful surprise from my publisher in the mail today! My book, laid out, with all of its glorious art—illustrations by @adagracee—ready to mark up. I canNOT wait to share more info and the preorder link with you all. My heart is bursting with joy.💎 . . Writing this book was a very intense and very emotional experience (and time in my life), but it was fun and pulsing and changing. I wrote it for all of us dreamers and creators and darklings and light seekers..so that we can find a path through heaviness and murk and emerge more resilient. I feel so grateful. 💎

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on Apr 18, 2018 at 3:20pm PDT

Just 10,000 more words (and then the editing phase) and I’ll have completed Light Magic for Dark Times. I’m so excited to show you all this book! For now, we’re working on illustrations (I’ll share soon!) and my publishing company and I are sending ivory & taupe organza sachets of dried rose and lavender with little spell scrolls to a sales conference. I can’t believe this is my life.🖤 The most beautiful thing about writing this book as a secular person is the opportunity to explore the very real magic in everyday things—in care and kindness, rituals of routine, in creativity, in self-love, in looking into the abyss. 🌸 #LightMagicforDarkTimes #poet #witch #picoftheday #nyc #magic #book #flowercrown

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on Jan 10, 2018 at 7:51am PST

🌕🌓🌑 FRIENDS. I've been sitting on a biggggg announcement for some time now: I will be publishing a nonfiction book next fall with Fair Winds Press/Quarto Knows, who is the leading global illustrated non-fiction book publisher (they've got 48 imprints, and they sell books across 50 countries and in 39 languages!). In other words: frightening! But I do think my life has led up to this point. 🌙 The book centers on DIY practices, mostly inspired by witchcraft, to get us through dark & hard times. It’s called Light Magick for Dark Times, and it's for everyone--from people specifically interested in or beginners practicing witchcraft, to people who just want to ritualize their intentions and expressions during dark, trying or hard moments. 🌓 I have had the darkest year of my life so far this year (god, haven't we all?), so when this opportunity fell into my lap (because the editor is, amazingly, a fan of @lunalunamag and reached out) it felt kismet to take it. I put a lot of thought into whether I should or not, but ultimately I decided yes. Because light wins and because I hope to be able to make tangible my compassion and love. A few of you here, my close friends, have inspired and pushed me to take this project on. 🌖 Combining my background in writing about trauma and healing and self-care, the nerdy amount of research I’ve done, and my love of ritual and witchcraft, this is *the* best book I could think to offer the world at this point in time. I'm super crazy grateful and extremely honored. 🌙 #lightmagicdarktimes

A post shared by Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on Nov 22, 2017 at 9:42am PST

Via @lisamariebasile: When I was writing Light Magic for Dark Times, it was important to me to make space for the reader's intuition and natural inclinations. You know what feels right for your body, your lifestyle, your beliefs. For example, spending tons of money on tools and doing elaborate rituals for self-care doesn't exactly feel right to me, so sometimes I go with my gut: wearing a color might bring me energy one day, inscribing a symbol into my palm may give me strength, and listening to "that FEELING" I'm feeling — above ALL else — might mean the difference between regret and joy. We all have magic inside of us, truly. So trust your intuition, always, and know that magic is different and personal to us all.

A post shared by Ravishly (@ravishly) on Jun 29, 2018 at 11:53am PDT

Via @lisamariebasile: As a poet and writer, I have always felt that language—the sound of a word, the shape of a letter, the idea conveyed, the musicality of the phrase spoken—is a sort of incantation. When we write, we conjure. We declare. We promise. From my book, I wanted to share a small idea—that writing is magic. If you're ever feeling down or powerless or exhausted, take a moment to write out a small incantation or declaration, to or for yourself. Use your language specifically, and write it in the present. Your power is tangible. I hope you'll check out my book, Light Magic for Dark Times for more on "Word Magic!"—@lisamariebasile 🌬🔮✨

A post shared by Ravishly (@ravishly) on Jun 29, 2018 at 6:12pm PDT

The Luna Luna Grimoire is now available for preorder! . . LIGHT MAGIC FOR DARK TIMES by editor in chief @lisamariebasile is a fully illustrated hard cover (illustrations done by the wonderful @adagracee!), full of rituals and practices, for anyone interested in modern and intentional personal power & magic. 🖤 The foreword was written by the inimitable @kristenkorvette (author of ‘Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive’ & editor of @slutist ). 🖤 . . It is definitely inspired by Luna Luna’s exploration of light and dark and her longtime experience with poetry, trauma recovery, chronic illness, death, foster care, and, of course....regeneration and creativity and autonomy and healing. There may even be an Anaïs Nin-inspired ritual—who knows? ;-)🖤 . . While the title might suggest a sort of ra-ra-positivity, the book is truly about finding a way through darkness while also honoring it and immersing yourself in it. It is accessible, the tools mentioned within are inexpensive and the rituals are flexible & autonomous to YOU—meaning everything in the book can be adapted. 🖤 . . @kristenkorvette writes, “Light Magic For Dark Times is a book I wish I had by my bedside and in my heart during my most challenging moments. It holds space for healing and exploring and awakening the parts of ourselves that we or the outside world might label dark, and offers rejuvenating rites of lightness and illumination. Basile’s spellcraft radiates love and sex-positivity, but it is certainly not hex-negative. She elevates shadow work and emphasizes the importance of delving into the dark and facing pain head on to heal. There is no trauma too deep or desire too superficial for the spells, incantations, and rituals contained in this grimoire." 🖤 . . It’s available in the US, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada—and the link to pre-order is in our bio.

A post shared by Luna Luna Magazine (@lunalunamag) on May 2, 2018 at 9:35am PDT

Selections from Omotara James: 2 Poems By Karisma Price

BY KARISMA PRICE
SELECTIONS BY OMOTARA JAMES

Even if you’ve never endured the burn of a chemical relaxer, even if you’ve never sat still beneath the crackle of a sizzling hot comb, who among us hasn’t processed the body through a problematic paradigm? Hasn’t prayed for at least one part of the whole to be perfect? An inquisitive voice emanates from Price’s poems with all the authority granted by compassion. How the he tenderness of the phrase “to hold the seeds of you in my fingers” cohabitates within the same poem that mouths “the feathered kiss of suffering,” demonstrates Price’s lyric grace and propensity to translate every divine inch of the mortal coil.

God of burning scalp,

prevent the dollop of chemical from destroying my cousin’s hairline. She sits contently in the kitchen chair, unaware of the approaching fire. I watch how the loose strand swings, lands on her acne cheek and wonder how long it took her to master stillness. How many times did my aunt have to promise her an incentive for straight hair and itchy scabs? I frown when the smell of sulfur floods the room. When the hot comb couldn’t tame the wild, my aunt suggested a more permanent solution. This is a rite of passage. Maybe now it won’t look so nappy. When the thick, white cream loiters for too long on my cousin’s scalp, she bolts from the chair and plunges head first into the kitchen sink. This must be what a proper baptism looks like.

Demeter, Reimagined as a Black Woman, Speaks to Persephone

Please do not come back to me
suspended in the sky’s quiet

diorama, or in umber pieces
that require me to hold the seeds

of you in my fingers
like an examiner holds

a tooth to an x-ray. Baby, I have broken
the trees for you. I will curse every

person that yells, “A man was lynched
here yesterday,” but refuses to acknowledge

his wife. Did they ever cut her down or
does she still swing above us like a broken

promise? What of the mothers afraid of being
mothers of daughters and fear the feathered

kiss of suffering? I asked God
for mercy. There was no answer.

I’ve decided you don’t have to answer
me either. Because I love you, surrender

to the only darkness heavier than sleep.
Do not come back from it.

---

Omotara James is a poet and essayist.  Her poetry chapbook, Daughter Tongue, was selected by African Poetry Book Fund, in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2018 New Generation African Poets Box Set. Her debut full length collection, Mama Wata, is forthcoming in the Fall of 2018 from Siren Songs, of CCM press. She has been award fellowships from Cave Canem and Lambda Literary. Currently, she is an MFA candidate in poetry at NYU. For further information, please visit her website: www.omotarajames.com

Karisma Price was born and raised in New Orleans, LA and holds a BA in creative writing from Columbia University. She is an MFA candidate in poetry at New York University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Four Way Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Vinyl, and Leveler. Karisma lives in New York City, and along with Kwame Opoku-Duku III, she is a founding member of the Unbnd Collective. Find her on twitter at @itsKayPrice and here.

Tragedy Queens: Writers on Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath

BY LISA MARIE BASILE

When visionary editor Leza Cantoral asked me to contribute to the Tragedy Queens anthology (you can also order from the publisher, Clash Books) she said something to the affect of, "you are literally perfect for this," which probably means I'm a very, very Sad Girl. More seriously, though, I felt drawn toward it because of Plath's impact on my own poetry career and my not-so-secret Lana Del Rey fascination.

There's Plath wrangling with the shadow, full of beautiful, unique language, and then there's this singer-starlet who aestheticizes her own sadness. Sorrow was the language and the vein of this anthology, and I wanted to explore that. I wanted to investigate my own relationship to sorrow—and the ways in which these Tragedy Queens informed my creativity. I ended up writing an exceptionally melodramatic piece called Girls In The Garden of Holy Suffering, both a true testament of my youth and psycho-sexual development, and a nod toward Lana's exaggerations of sadness and sadness aesthetic. Both of these women have inspired me to explore the authentic and inauthentic—and how they both sort of meld into one.

In this mini interview series, I chatted with the editor, Leza Cantoral, along with a few of the other stellar contributors, and got their story on why the anthology felt so right for them.
— Lisa Marie Basile

RELATED: On Sylvia Plath, The Tarot And Bad College Writing

Leza Cantoral, Editor:

"Tragedy Queens is the culmination of my obsession with Sylvia Plath. When I read Ariel, it changed my life. I read everything I could find about her. I am drawn to tragic figures. I relate to them. But I am getting sick of the tragic narrative. When I sent out the submissions call I did not specify a genre. What I cared about was character arcs. People making choices. I especially wanted the female perspective.

Lana Del Rey came into my life a few years ago and I became obsessed with everything about her: her voice, her music, her hair, her eyeliner, her lips, her past, her glamour, her sadness, her passion. Her songs resonated deep within me. I loved her openness. The confessional quality of her music reminded me of Sylvia Plath, so it made sense to join two of my favorite muses together. They both inspire my own writing. I wanted to share that and was so excited to see what people came up with. I was not disappointed. Everyone knocked my socks off. I was sobbing, laughing, and gasping, as I read through the stories that made it into Tragedy Queens. People think of pop music as low art and poetry as high art and I think that’s bullshit. Lana Del Rey is a poet of the highest order and she deserves that recognition for her craft."

Gabino Iglesias:

"For me, Plath embodies mental health struggles. She was incredibly talented, but the demons in her heart, soul, and mind ended up winning. That she was able to focus all of that and express it in words is something that deserves to be celebrated. LDR, on the other hand, is a modern anomaly that somehow became a sensation thanks to am atmosphere of strong women taking over and a massive push to obliterate patriarchy, and she does it all while being bizarre and having her own aesthetic. I knew many women would be getting involved in this, and that made me want to be a part of it. Strong brujas all around celebrating two unique ladies with their words. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that magic?"

Monique Quintana:

"Sylvia Plath and Lana Del Rey get at death, beauty, and the grotesque in artful and unnerving ways. As a writer and mother, I’ve always felt that womanhood and motherhood should not be sanitized, but rather, stripped down to its visceral core, so that blood and bone and tissue are exposed. My story was inspired by the trash glam aesthetic of Lana Del Rey’s song, 'Sad Girl' and Plath’s dark mythos of mother and father figures. It’s about a teenage Xicana’s doomed love affair in a 1997 dystopian central California that results in the conception of a brujo baby."

RELATED: 9 Lust for Life Observations from the Ultimate Lana Del Rey Fan

Christine Stoddard:

"I wrote a short story inspired by Lana Del Rey's captivating song, 'Summertime Sadness.' Throughout her work, Lana eerily and beautifully captures the nature of tragic love. I don't think she glorifies domestic violence or other forms of abuse. She's simply telling stories. Love is complicated and even the healthiest relationships have their tragedies. Those stories need to be told because, even when they are fictitious, they are very real. I saw this anthology as a chance to tell yet another story about love's complexities."

Jerry Drake:

"Sylvia Plath and Lana Del Rey represent an inspirational arc covering the course of my life. As a teenager struggling with OCD and depression I found in Plath a comforting fellow traveler, someone who had a shared voice. As a man in my 40's I find in Del Rey the echoes of my own wild youth—hot nights, too much beer, and the dangerous fun of mischief and trouble. I had toyed with writing a story but didn't like my original idea. I found myself standing in my kitchen chatting with Leza Cantoral, the anthology's editor, during the 2017 AWP. I gave her my original idea and she said, 'No, I want you to tell the story that clearly draws from your real life and your real inspirations, don't make anything up.' It came together and I sat down that night and wrote my story. I am pleased to have it accepted. I feel like I caught a night of my youth in a bottle for others to experience."

Trish Grisafi:

"Plath has inspired me since I was twelve years old and picked up The Bell Jar. It spoke to me so much as a floundering adolescent—and it was incredibly funny. I could really relate to Plath’s sardonic wit and her cut-throat observations about the world. She’s smart, heartbreaking, and culturally astute about her historical moment. I wanted to create a story that, like The Bell Jar, deconstructed typically idealized experiences and put forth commentary on mental health care. Growing up, I suffered from depression, anxiety, and OCD. I wasn’t able to get help until I ended up in a psychiatric hospital in my mid-twenties. I wanted to create a character who is clearly suffering but also ignored—like Esther was in The Bell Jar. It was very important for me to get that voice down."

PURCHASE IT HERE!

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Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana del Rey & Sylvia Plath

By Lisa Basile, Gabino Iglesias

Buy on Amazon

Lisa Marie Basile is a poet-witch and founding creative director of Luna Luna Magazine—a digital diary of literature, magical living and idea. She is the author of "Light Magic for Dark Times," a modern grimoire of inspired rituals and daily practices. She's also the author of a few poetry collections, including the forthcoming "Nympholepsy."

Her work encounters the intersection of ritual and wellness, chronic illness, magic, overcoming trauma, and creativity, and she has written for The New York Times, Narratively, Grimoire Magazine, Venefica, The Establishment, Refinery 29, Bust, Hello Giggles, and more. 

Lisa Marie earned a Masters degree in Writing from The New School and studied literature and psychology as an undergraduate at Pace University.

Leza Cantoral is a Xicana writer & editor who lives on the internet. She is the Editor in Chief of CLASH Books & host of the Get Lit With Leza podcast where she talks to cool ass writers. Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath is a CLASH Books anthology of stories that she edited as a result of being a Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath megafan. You can find her on YouTube at Trash Panda Poetry & everywhere else as herself. She blogs at lezacantoral.com

Selections from Omotara James: 2 Poems by C. Bain

BY C. BAIN
SELECTIONS BY OMOTARA JAMES

What is it that survives trauma? Or rather, outlasts it? Bain’s evocative poems offer elusive tenderness for those who traverse this liminal space. Through haunting portraits, the poet daringly reimagines the dailiness of these tortured mythological figures. Their relatable frailties leave us to ponder our own lusts. Though vastly different, the protagonists of both poems are generously afforded an agency unavailable in the original myths. What they do with it is another matter. Through the perspective of the speakers, Bain acknowledges transfiguration as restoration. These poems bridge the distance between hamartia and humanity. No sins left unsung, Bain leaves us to marvel at the creeping nature of human compassion as it ebbs…

(Persephone’s Husband Is Not Important And He Says)

She’s sitting on the bed
with her long legs folded under her.
Her eyes sliding away from me
as they like to do, like I’m a figure in smoke
like there’s a river of information
that only she sees. I want to ask her why
but I don’t. When the man took her
(the witnesses said chased, dragged)
trapped her under the earth
then she did what she did. It’s strange
when you think about it
that fruits are seeds and we
eat them, sugar fertile and harping
at the tongue. It bothers me
that that is what she took
not the utility of bread, but tart, crystalline
the skin red and transparent inside its covering
of outer, rougher skin. And now
she isn’t mine. I was never yours. It isn’t
ownership, she says, because since she’s come back
she reads my thoughts
and sleeps six inches above the bed,
moaning. I know this happened because
she does not believe I love her. Now I ask permission
to kiss her, air hissing past
my seedling teeth. I ask her why
she comes back and she puts her hell-hand,
her death hand, gilded immortal
against my cheek. I come back
because you need me. You would die
without the rain. Sucks at my tongue
until it bleeds sugar, a seed. Her nipple,
the crest of her ribs, the cells
of my body and the devices in the cells
and the space in between them. Whatever
life is. Electrical,
animate. Please.
Please give it back.
 

After the Curse Was Lifted, Midas

fell & wept, the grass
emerald blades bent
at his kissing mouth.
It lasted weeks
tender humility
his trembling hands tracing
rumpled bedsheets, ribs of living oxen
enough gratitude for any god.
He avoided his treasure-room
had the metal stripped off the cornices
cherished the wood’s raw bones.

But in some small span of human time
the truth; he wanted that power again
even if he’d starve, heartstiller, shitgleamer,
weeping alchemy out every pore.
He dreamt of it and woke and cursed.
And when his daughter disobeyed him
tell me he didn’t remember her small visage
frozen into metal. Tell me he didn’t wonder
if there had been some secret work around –
a gloved slave to feed him

and the question of women
if he could take them sudden enough to force
dilation before the metal took hold,
or if he’d have been forever
at a closed, golden gate.

He blamed the god
for giving him a wish that went too far.
Isn’t it god’s task to save you
from yourself? Wouldn’t a kind deity
have found some way to truly provide,
not this lawyer’s trick
food turned rock in the mouth

but no, here’s Midas
is thirst grown back.
His daughter alive.
His coffers howling.

---

C. Bain is a gender liminal writer, performer, and teaching artist, based in Brooklyn. He is a former member and coach of multiple national-level poetry slam teams. His work appears in anthologies and journals including PANK, theRumpus.net, A Face to Meet the Faces, and the Everyman’s Library book Villanelles. He has shared stages with Jim Carroll, Patricia Smith, Dorothy Allison, and Saul Williams. His plays have been produced in summer festivals at the Tank and at the Kraine in New York City. His full-length poetry collection, Debridement, was a finalist for the 2016 Publishing Triangle Awards. He is a book reviewer at Muzzle Magazine. He works extensively with movement, embodiment, trauma and sexuality.  But he'd rather just dance with you. Visit.

Omotara James is a poet and essayist.  Her poetry chapbook, Daughter Tongue, was selected by African Poetry Book Fund, in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2018 New Generation African Poets Box Set. Her debut full length collection, Mama Wata, is forthcoming in the Fall of 2018 from Siren Songs, of CCM press. She has been award fellowships from Cave Canem and Lambda Literary. Currently, she is an MFA candidate in poetry at NYU. For further information, please visit her website: www.omotarajames.com