A message for my paid subscribers
Hello to my small-but-mighty crew | A post to bookmark - lots of dates for diary inside!
Hello dear friends,
I wanted to write to you all as paid subscribers and say a warm, warm hello. Some of you have been here since the start over a year ago, some of you are brand spanking new to the clan - we are a gang of nearly 70 now - I picture us all sitting in a room together, the sound of our voices, the buzz that would be ! It means so so much that you have joined this small-but-mighty community, and I want you to feel as part of it as I can.
I’m really conscious of things feeling too loud, too much, of sending you too many emails, but at the same time I would love for you to feel like you are a part of something.
I thought I’d send this message to :
- give you a small insight into what I’m working away at behind the scenes
- what my hopes are for this page
- and what dates for your diary I have coming up
This is a good post to bookmark and come back to for reference of what’s coming up.
I know I sometimes find all the alerts and announcements quite over-stimulating and bamboozling so firstly I’d say, you don’t have to consume everything. Take what you need, leave the rest. And secondly, you can come back to this message for reference any time you need.
𖥸 What I’m thinking and writing about right now
𖥸 At the moment I’m thinking a lot about what it feels like to be in this body of mine, at this time on the planet. I want to share what is raw and immediate in my own life, in the hope that it will resonate with you and yours. I value deeply hearing your responses to my words and conversations. I learn so much from you comments, and shares.
𖥸 I’m thinking a lot about my experiences in a body on the cusp of change in perimenopause. (THIS post on HRT is still sending out ripples). I’m interested in how I feel I am shifting and adapting and expanding and retracting during this seismic change.
𖥸 I’m thinking a lot about the dark, stillness, water. I’m thinking about grief. I’m thinking about how the shifts and shedding and collective death we are experiencing in the world might be reflected and mirrored in me and my life, too.
𖥸 I’m thinking about how I want to do this chapter of my life in a very different, far more sovereign, gut-led, more ragged, looser, simpler, bottom up kind of way.
𖥸 I’m thinking about what it means to commit truly to a creative life.
𖥸 I’m also exploring ways I can share ideas from my memoir with you - ideas around longing, about the subterranean pathways and ghosts we carry with us in our bodies, ideas around rage, anger, what it means to mother, what it means to belong, what it means to truly know and listen to our bodies.
𖥸 Five ways I’m sharing these ideas
1. Every Friday I share a Field Note.
Some are short, some are longer reads. They land automatically in your inbox, or are found on my substack home page. When they are long, I try to record an audio version for you guys as paid subscribers so you can listen that way too. This is my creative laboratory for ideas and ways I’m thinking.
2. The Element Sessions.
I know a good number of you have joined the community because of this offering. I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all a little more on the live calls. Take a look at the post above to read more, and catch up with the EARTH spiral. And here’s a thread for you to share how you are feeling in each season and element:
I have some INCREDIBLE conversations coming up to share with you in the Element Sessions podcast. And I also have some deeply nourishing lives planned as well.
Dates for your diary are:
M E T A L Element Sessions
Friday 1 November : Podcast will land in your inboxes with wisdom weaver Mari Kennedy.
Friday 8 November : Deep Dive written post into the M E T A L Element will land in your inboxes
Thursday 14 November : 10:30-11:30am GMT: M E T A L live call (You’ll receive a link to the Zoom the day before, recording available).
W A T E R Element Sessions
Friday 6 December : Podcast will land in your inboxes with surfer, scientist and artist
Friday 13 December : Deep Dive written post into the W A T E R Element will land in your inboxes
Thursday 19 December : 10:30-11:30am GMT: W A T E R live call (You’ll receive a link to the Zoom the day before, recording available).
3. SITTING IN THE DARK
Chatting to some of you on the last Element Sessions call, I was struck by the value of simply committing to sit for an hour together and write, pause, think, create. In THIS POST I extend an invitation to you all as paid subscribers to sit with me for 4 early mornings towards the end of the year and do just that. I’m picturing a womb-space, a dark, warm holding space for us all.
Details are
𖥸 6-7am GMT
𖥸 Friday 29 Nov, 6 Dec, 13 Dec, 20 Dec
𖥸 On Zoom, I’ll send the link the day before. Will not be recorded.
𖥸 Free to all paid subscribers
MID-LIFE Conversations - aka The Loose Women of Substack (… working title…!)
was so popular with many of you - a slightly rowdy, unscripted, open hearted and honest conversation around how it feels to be at this seismic, axis changing point of our lives. Listen HERE to the first one. Or read my personal thoughts on HRT HERE. And we’ve planned two more. Here’s the dates.
The first of these conversations with
Friday 15 November 19:30-20:30 GMT
Live on Zoom (link shared by email that morning, recording available)
Changing bodies, libido, how we are feeling in our skin
Friday 11 December 19:30-20:30 GMT
Live on Zoom (link shared by email that morning, recording available)
Rage!I also have a thread open for you to chat about your own mid-life experiences:
CROP MARKS : excerpts from my Memoir
At the moment, this is the title of my memoir. It is about the layers of memory our body holds. About exploring these subterranean passageways. Asking what should be excavated & unearthed, and what should be tenderly laid to rest. I’m planning on sharing short excerpts from my book with you, and exploring ideas that emerge from its pages. I’m thinking I might share some voice notes too … I might get to one or two of these before Christmas, or it might be the new year… let’s see, typing all the above, it feels like A LOT already!
Ok amigas, that’s all for now. As I say. Go slow with all this, it’s a particularly busy time of year. These words and this content will always be here, you don’t have to consume it all now!
Much love,
Layla x
Thank you dear Layla. You speak wisdom and truth and I feel you a generous and genuine soul! I’m gathering round the fire!
divine offerings, CROP MARKS – what a title 😍