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Annie's avatar

This is what I needed: “There is a certain kind of writing that one can only do when going back and forth across the borderline between awake and asleep.” 😭🙏😊

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Rob True's avatar

This is good advice. My whole practice is a Mystic Alchemy, drawn from visions. I had visions my whole life (as long as I remember) and first became aware I can see what others can't age six, when holes opened in the wall and snakes and lizards came out of them and fell into the room. I ran to tell mummy, who said it was all in my mind. I watched the bubbles float around her and she asked me what I was staring at. "There aren't any bubbles!" were words I'll never forget. Up till then, I half suspected others saw these strange things and it was one of the odd taboos they don't admit to.

I saw a picture of a giant spider crawl off the page of a book onto my hand and believed pictures could come to life and was haunted by spectral entities. I was diagnosed schizophrenic in my teens and hospitalised, severely dosed in my 20s.

Dreams, hallucinations, delusions, and, of course, as you describe, the strange states of insomniac exhaustion, all inform my writing. My work is about these altered states and inspired by them. I use schizophrenic delirium, 'magic potions', dreams, meditation, Active Imagination and various methods of inducing and receiving visions.

It creates unusual stories, not exactly commercial, but interesting, and a lot like the epic mythological adventures of ancient Mystery Cults, although with modern characters in every day settings. I often go without medication to make it a bit more interesting and switch the magic on, although this can lead me into difficulties at times.

Nowadays, the artist ignores his Demon, there's a lot of talk about hard work over inspiration, etc. I agree with hard work to an extent, but the idea of 99% hard work 1% inspiration don't quite weigh up for me. Not the same value, as far as I'm concerned. I once saw someone say 99% oyster 1% pearl.

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