Week 2 - Old School Curses (02/08)

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. - Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Author

Guest Speaker: Grecia Magdaleno
- Bio: hailing from the sonoran desert in phoenix, arizona, grecia magdaleno (they/them) is an educator, organizer, and artist residing in brooklyn. living at the intersections of queer, latinx, and jewish identity, the scope of their work is founded on softening reverberations of trauma, feeling deeply, brandishing the narratives of being “too much” for good, and blowing people’s minds at karaoke. as a means to survive in late capitalism, they hold an MA in social service administration from the university of chicago and work as the policy and advocacy manager for an organization focused on supporting lgbtq+ youth in schools.
- On magic: "central to my magical practice is the idea of healing myself and facilitating the process for others"
- Questions
  - What was your first experience with magic?
  - When did you start practicing magic? What inspired you to start practicing magic?
  - What does your magic practice look like?
  - Who or what do you look to guide you in your continuing practice?
  - What is magic?
  - Does your practice include blessing and cursing/hexing? What does that look like?
  - Does your magic practice relate to cursed as an aesthetic? If so, how?
  - What are ways to practice magic without colonizing or appropriating practices?
  - How does magic relate to your experience of technology?

Share Mood boards

The word blessed is derived from the Germanic word blōtan which means "to sacrifice," as in, making a sacrifice to a deity in order to get something one is asking for (a blessing) or to punish one's enemies and thus curse them.¹ One's blessing is another's curse.
Breakout into smaller groups, and discuss personal experiences with magic, blessings, curses, spells, divination. What is the relationship between the old school definition of cursed and cursed as it is used colloquially today?

Read: Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom - Readings: Introduction: A reading on how and why tarot (and divination in general) works. Optional, but recommended if you're unfamiliar with divination tools.
Read: A Rude and Undigested Mass - Casey Reas: A short reading about the origins of Processing, and how it relates to randomness, creativity, control, and ownership
Do: Use a divination process (see methods of divination for a long list of choices, but some suggestions are astrology, tarot, or I Ching) as a creation tool for a piece of art in the medium of your choice. Document how you used the divination tool and how it affects your interpretation of the outcome.