Postcult – Page 2 – The Comfort Zone

Will you sell your soul?

Published on September 27, 2020October 7, 2020 by M1 Comment

So yesterday, talking to my sister, we made the connection between my writing and my panic attacks. Yes there are all sorts of other anxieties but we can’t ignore the fact that on Saturday I printed off and read through the first 100 pages of my early memories, and on Sunday I was a wretching shivering mess of panic.

I have been writing about snippets of my childhood on and off for years, a loosely connected set of stories of my life growing up in the Moonies. I started this year with a plan to compile it into a concise piece of writing, and after an excellent course by Cara Jones on Untethering My Voice, I’m at the stage where I’ve nearly got a first draft.

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‘I’d do anything to belong, to be strong, to say there’s nothing wrong’

Published on July 20, 2020October 7, 2020 by MLeave a comment

It was 1999, I was 21, I was wearing some sort of embroidered hat, ripped jeans and muddy trainers as I stood in a crowd of several thousand people on a warm June night at Glastonbury. My brother and his friends had some other camp-fire based priorities so I was on my own for the headline act, Skunk Anansie. Being from a very religious family, I had been discouraged from listening to ‘satanic’ music, and my musical expression had mostly been singing along quietly to REM on my disc-man, or belting out the far more acceptable holy songs at Sunday Service.

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Untethering My Voice part 2

Published on May 21, 2020October 7, 2020 by MLeave a comment

After last week’s session in which we looked at all the ways we might be avoiding telling our stories, our homework was to arrive at tonight’s zoom class with a large piece of paper.

And after a discussion about the scary state of the world and how difficult it is to feel like this process is even relevant while there are immense global issues touching everyone’s lives right now, Cara suggested that a time of turmoil is one in which a lot of ugliness is surfacing, but on the other side is a possible awakening, an awareness, and a striving for the beauty, truth and connection that is the opposite of the division and fear bubbling over in some places.

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Untether My Voice

Published on May 15, 2020October 7, 2020 by MLeave a comment

I have started a course. An impressive woman who grew up in the same unusual religious group as me has spent seven years producing a documentary about her complex and challenging life. She is now running courses to help other people find their voice. It is all very new and a bit daunting, but six of us have signed up and I like this little screen full of women, who all have a story, a truth, and who I will spend the next 11 weeks on a little exploratory journey with.

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