'How to Tell When You’re Going to Die: Astrology for Writers'

Wxtch Craft lecture by Johanna Hedva
'How to Tell When You’re Going to Die: Astrology for Writers'

“Tell” is the most important word in this title. You tell the future as you tell a story as you tell time as you tell me your name. All forms of language—from Ancient Greek and Hangeul, to mathematics and quantum mechanics—are attempts at divination. For divination is nothing but an articulation of the future, and the future, as we know, does not exist as such, but is the shimmering cast off by the past and the present. Divination is simply the devotion to this shimmering, a devotion that expresses itself through craft.

This event will be structured as a workshop, where we will think through the entanglements of divination as a tool for articulation: of narrative as prophecy, writing as a curse tablet, cause and effect as interchangeably noun and verb. Language creates the world as much as it breaks it.

The raw material of astrology is fate. Learning the language of astrology is like any other craft—this particular craft applies itself to crafting fate. Yes, astrology can tell you when you’re going to die, as it can tell you how to live. But what can it teach you to tell?

Some basic knowledge of astrology (signs, houses, planets, transits, progressions) will be helpful, but not necessary. This is more a writing workshop than an astrology lesson.

Bio - Johanna Hedva (California, 1984) is a Korean-American writer, artist, musician, and astrologer, who was raised in Los Angeles by a family of witches, and now lives in LA and Berlin. Hedva is the author of the novel On Hell (2018). Their new book, Minerva the Miscarriage of the Brain, collects a decade of work and was released in September 2020. Their LP, Black Moon Lilith in Pisces in the 4th House, a doom-metal guitar and voice performance influenced by Korean shamanist ritual, will be released in November 2020.