Speech is a Spell: Language, Power, and Transformation
with Amanda Yates Garcia
SIGN UP HERE
9/25 5pm PST
$35-55 sliding scale
A witch conjures with language. She speaks her reality into being.
In this workshop, we will look at the multiple ways we can use the tradition of witchcraft to incant, enchant, evoke, conjure, and prophesize. We will practice creating short spells that require nothing more than our voice and breath to transform our experience of the world; and we will create a longer spell to hone our sense of purpose and authenticity in our lives.
As we work, we will look at the ways language informs both our worldview and our understanding of ourselves. Magical speech is a practice of personal transformation, but it is also political. Whose realities get spoken? Who gets to name the places and beings in our world? Whoever knows the names holds the power because naming is a way of defining what something is. Defining what YOU are.
One of the most common challenges when speaking our will into being is the voice of self-doubt. As we speak, the voice of self-doubt appears and asks: What if this isn’t true? What if I’m not actually a witch? What if I’m not allowed to do this? What if this is just wishful thinking? What if my desires are damaging? What if I ask for the wrong thing?
In this workshop, we will explore ways to overcome, transform, and integrate our doubts.
We will use our language to molt our skins and flip unwanted scripts. We will use our speech to grow wings. No one gets to determine who you are. As a witch, that pleasure is yours alone. During this workshop, you will name yourself and call in your true form.
Amanda Yates Garcia is a writer, witch, and the Oracle of Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The LA Times, The SF Chronicle, The London Times, The Millions, The Believer, Salon, Bust, FOX, Bravo, and CNN. She has led rituals, classes and workshops on magic and witchcraft at UCLA, UC Irvine, MOCA Los Angeles, The Hammer Museum, LACMA, The Getty, Human Resources, MOCA Tucson and many other venues. Amanda hosts the popular Between the Worlds podcast. Her first book, Initiated: Memoir of a Witch, came out in October 2019 through Grand Central / Hachette and has since been translated into six languages.
