Day Nine – A Hike and Some Magic

Today, we broke a bit from my protocol, because I did not do a revision between breakfast and lunch. Instead, Flora (one of our organizers at the chateau) took some of us on a morning hike. The hike was about three miles each way to a place called Cul de Cerf. The canyon at the Cul de Cerf to which we hiked has the best name ever: the Deer’s Butt. Supposedly, the shape and terrain of the canyon suggested to someone the shape of a deer, with the canyon opening near the road…the ass of the deer. I don’t see it myself:

Whether you see it or not, it was a lovely hike. It had thunderstormed the night before, so the air was cool in the morning, and most of the trail was covered by a tree canopy. So, while, it was hot and humid, we were spared the intense sunlight. When we got to the top of the trail, Flora informed us that her middle name was Mary Poppins and proved it when she popped open her backpack to reveal a pitcher of orange juice, two liters of bottled water, cups and snacks.

After the hike, it was shower time, then lunch time, and then I decided to begin the first draft of a new feature. It’s called “The Dinosaur Thief,” and as the name suggests, it’s about the protagonist stealing a dinosaur. I decided to hand write this first draft, that way I could get away from my computer screen for a bit, and notebooks are very portable. And unlike laptops, if you drop your notebook on the ground, it’s not the end of the world. I also did a revision on a screenplay entitled “Leviathan,” (back on the laptop) so I managed to stick to my protocol.

After dinner, I did something I rarely do: participated in a magic ritual. Tilly, one of our Australian writers, wanted to celebrate the new moon with a manifestation and a tarot reading, and invited anyone to join her. The participants wrote down what we wanted manifested in our future and left our writings on the windowsill under a glass of water and a sprig of lavender. In the morning, we drank the water and kept our written responses in a safe place. For my tarot reading, we used a set of cards aligned with various herbs, a set I had never before seen. I picked up yarrow, which was pleasantly aligned with a white heron. The fun part about that is that my neighbors in Old Saybrook, Connecticut are egrets, swans and herons. So that was fun.

Those of you that know me are acutely aware that this is not the sort of the thing I would normally be inclined to do. But it was fun, it deepened the bonding between myself and several of my residents, and there are certainly worse things than thinking positively about the future. I am very glad I did it.