You Want it Darker
Two different takes on today's Full Moon eclipse in Scorpio
THIS WILL BE A SHORT UPDATE
I exhausted my extrapolating engine during the latest audio offering created with my colleagues Andrei Burke and Rachel Capurso—our Rage of Aquarius podcast. (Also on Spotify here, and Apple Podcasts here).
This edition of the cast drills into the astrological correlates between the serial killer contagion that bloomed in the culture during the transits of the three outer planets—Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—through Scorpio—during the mid-to-late-20th century.
The second half of the cast is an interview with Rachel about my upcoming Jeffrey Dahmer romance novel.
Rachel asks a compelling set of questions, and anyone following my process of composing my novel (from the first draft to the book’s cover art to landing a publisher) will find our exchange intriguing.
The Mysterious World of Matt Cardin’s The Living Dark
Not being able to sleep last night, a common enough Cancerian event for me—right before a full Moon—I tossed and squirmed and then finally succumbed and randomly trawled around Spotify in search of a podcast that might engage my mind and allow nocturnal forces to, finally, take me under.
Usually, this works, except last night, given the cast I landed in—an interview with Matt Cardin on the Weird Studies cast. This was a wildly varied discussion that kept me up for another 90 minutes. And then another hour as I drifted suspended between worlds while taking to heart Cardin’s numerous insights about the daemonic. I’d love to detail some of the dreams that followed, but I’m still unraveling their amazing narratives.
If you are a creative type (and who isn’t?), I suggest you download Matt’s free PDF entitled A Course in Demonic Creativity. Of course, you must first unravel your preconceptions about the word demonic—Matt uses it as another version of the ancient Greek term daemon.
The concept that a daemon accompanies us throughout life as a “carrier of our destiny”—as outlined in James Hillman’s book, The Soul’s Code, has a rich history. Heraclitus stated that “a man’s daemon is his fate.” The daemon, for Heraclitus, was a sort of indwelling law that determines the course of one’s life.
But Cardin explores many other facets of the daemon throughout his thesis—a lengthy read, but so worth it should your efforts at imaginative expression feel ‘lopsided.’
Rather than offer more commentary, I’ll recommend that you enter Matt’s world and his regular dispatches from the ‘dark.’ His are some mighty fine firsthand experiences of working creatively with what, at worst, is considered verboten—and at least is simply misunderstood—namely, the power of darkness.
Eclipse Blessings, Dark and Light.
Love,
Opening painting: The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, c. 1781. Public domain.
PREVIOUSLY ON WOODRUFF:
• How It All Ends: When I Die the Entire Shitshow is Going With Me
• Nonsense & Malaise: Astrological Insights for Maneuvering the Hive
Weird Studies is a favorite of mine. The episode with Matt was a pummeling of affirmation.
Matt's work looks right up my street. Thanks for sharing. Also, what a brilliant name for a podcast 🤣👌🏼