ALEX TOY

PROCESS & PEDAGOGY

In fields of astrology and psychoanalysis, mythic paradigms provide models to link contemporary experience to ancient narratives. As genes are altered by the body’s response to its environment, mythopoetic elements are altered in relation to the cultural and aesthetic conventions to which they respond. Myth, as a form of collective memory, is a source of both ancestral awareness and creative speculation. Astrology provides a narrative vehicle or a symbolic order from which plot or creative planning—whether in writing or in life—can arise.

In my teaching, I introduce astrological concepts as creative constraints in order to deepen connections between writers and their subjects. Rather than focusing on specific project outcomes or objectives, I provide writers with opportunities to stay in the space of generative writing stages, to attend to and develop different ideas over the length of the course rather than committing to a single project angle. I consider my role as a guide in dedication, or in building relationships with the multiple possibilities of one’s own creative work.