Call & Response:
Writing to Connect
with self, ancestors, and spirit
with self, ancestors, and spirit
Welcome
Are you desiring tools and opportunities to slow down? Are you finding the need and desire to trust yourself and your journey enough to truly hear your own voice and follow your intuition? Do you ever feel a call or a pull and want to have greater confidence in understanding how you're being guided? Perhaps you have a passion for genealogy and ancestry? Or, you're looking to heal the divide between you and your ancestors.
If so, this 4-week series is for you!
In this generative writing series, I will share tips and resources to help you:
1. listen more deeply,
2. connect with the spirit of your ancestors and your spirit guides to gain insight, knowledge and inspiration.
3. trust what you are hearing,
4. use creative writing as your companion.
I believe this understanding of the "call and response" to be sacred work, and I will walk alongside you as you go within to hear what you most desire, connect with the spiritual world, write your story (in whatever genre speaks to you).
If you have taken my "Writing the Ancestors," this series goes deeper. If you want to have a clearer connection with your own spirit, or hear from an ancestor, or be one with the earth or your spirit guides, this series will provide you with the opportunity to start or deepen your own practice.
If so, this 4-week series is for you!
In this generative writing series, I will share tips and resources to help you:
1. listen more deeply,
2. connect with the spirit of your ancestors and your spirit guides to gain insight, knowledge and inspiration.
3. trust what you are hearing,
4. use creative writing as your companion.
I believe this understanding of the "call and response" to be sacred work, and I will walk alongside you as you go within to hear what you most desire, connect with the spiritual world, write your story (in whatever genre speaks to you).
If you have taken my "Writing the Ancestors," this series goes deeper. If you want to have a clearer connection with your own spirit, or hear from an ancestor, or be one with the earth or your spirit guides, this series will provide you with the opportunity to start or deepen your own practice.
Outline
Week 1. What's the Journey?
We set our intentions, get to know one another, and begin our journey to open our hearts and minds, setting us up for a successful journey. Tips on altar creations and other ways to deepen your communion with yourself, your ancestors and spirit guides will be offered.
Week 2. What's the Call?
Picking up from the previous week, we will look at how to open and listen (and to whom or what). How to prepare yourself to be a vessel and a scribe for that which lies beneath the noise. How to strengthen intuition and discernment. There will be time for writing prompts and Q&A.
Week 3. What's the Response?
How do you write based on what we hear? How do you transcribe the spiritual inklings? How do you build and nurture your relationships with that of the spirit and/or ancestors and write from that voice? There will be time for writing prompts and Q&A.
[We skip the week of Thanksgiving for online session. Instead, there is the option to join me in-person in Winston-Salem, NC, for a visit to a local cemetery, writing, and conversation on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29). This is open to others not in this class as well. If you're interested in adding this as part of your experience, at no extra charge, let me know!]
Week 4. What's Next?
We will close with some sharing of our work from the series, any revelations, and intentions around what is next.
We set our intentions, get to know one another, and begin our journey to open our hearts and minds, setting us up for a successful journey. Tips on altar creations and other ways to deepen your communion with yourself, your ancestors and spirit guides will be offered.
Week 2. What's the Call?
Picking up from the previous week, we will look at how to open and listen (and to whom or what). How to prepare yourself to be a vessel and a scribe for that which lies beneath the noise. How to strengthen intuition and discernment. There will be time for writing prompts and Q&A.
Week 3. What's the Response?
How do you write based on what we hear? How do you transcribe the spiritual inklings? How do you build and nurture your relationships with that of the spirit and/or ancestors and write from that voice? There will be time for writing prompts and Q&A.
[We skip the week of Thanksgiving for online session. Instead, there is the option to join me in-person in Winston-Salem, NC, for a visit to a local cemetery, writing, and conversation on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29). This is open to others not in this class as well. If you're interested in adding this as part of your experience, at no extra charge, let me know!]
Week 4. What's Next?
We will close with some sharing of our work from the series, any revelations, and intentions around what is next.
In our four weeks together, you will be invited to learn and experience:
What you will receive in "Call & Response":
- How to come into your body to hear your inner voice
- How to listen deeply into the silence and the sacred
- How to create space in your home and life for this calling
- How to better trust your inspiration and interpretations
- How to attend to the spirit and ancestors in the busy day-to-day of our life
- Ways to write (and edit) that are true to you and the call & response sacred dance
What you will receive in "Call & Response":
- Weekly prompts that you can use for new work or revisions.
- Tips on writing with the ancestors and spirit guides, such as altar creation, how to make the most of visits to cemeteries, etc.
- Time with Jacinta and a community of writers to learn and discuss the sacred act of writing.
- At-home practices to help you get more out of your head and into your body and spirit.
- A playlist and a list of resources to accompany your journey.
Photo of tree at cemetry during in-person session taken by Katie Bloedau
FAQ
Q: When will this take place in 2025?
A: I'm not sure of the exact dates in Nov yet but, if you sign up (click link at bottom of the page), I will be sure to send you an email as soon as I know!
Q: What will I need?
A: To best prepare, you may want to:
Q: What if I can't make the live session?
A: I am not planning to record the sessions. However, if you see you cannot make a session and email me ahead of time, I will ask the class for permission to record that session for you.
Q: What if I really want to come to the live sessions and participate but find the cost to be outside of my budget?
A: We have early-bird special which is a savings, and we have partial scholarships available! Apply here.
Q: I am not a poet. Is this series for me?
A: I understand that everyone who participates may not be a poet. And though I may make poetry references this series is for anybody who writes in any genre.
Q: Is this series for anyone of a particular faith?
A: This is not a religious session. Please bring your own faith into this space and into your writing. What I will share will not be specific to any religion.
Q: What do I need to know about the optional in-person visit to a cemetery?
A: You can find more information here. I'm opening this session to others who may not be in Call & Response but would love for you to join us, if possible! We will visit a local cemetery (to be disclosed later), and have time for conversation, reflection, and writing!
A: I'm not sure of the exact dates in Nov yet but, if you sign up (click link at bottom of the page), I will be sure to send you an email as soon as I know!
Q: What will I need?
A: To best prepare, you may want to:
- create or clean your writing space and block time on your calendar
- have a secured internet connection with a computer or phone -- earplugs may help for our session time
- have a new journal/notebook for notes and new writing
- have candle, crystal, and/or sage for ceremonies
Q: What if I can't make the live session?
A: I am not planning to record the sessions. However, if you see you cannot make a session and email me ahead of time, I will ask the class for permission to record that session for you.
Q: What if I really want to come to the live sessions and participate but find the cost to be outside of my budget?
A: We have early-bird special which is a savings, and we have partial scholarships available! Apply here.
Q: I am not a poet. Is this series for me?
A: I understand that everyone who participates may not be a poet. And though I may make poetry references this series is for anybody who writes in any genre.
Q: Is this series for anyone of a particular faith?
A: This is not a religious session. Please bring your own faith into this space and into your writing. What I will share will not be specific to any religion.
Q: What do I need to know about the optional in-person visit to a cemetery?
A: You can find more information here. I'm opening this session to others who may not be in Call & Response but would love for you to join us, if possible! We will visit a local cemetery (to be disclosed later), and have time for conversation, reflection, and writing!
