Interview with Aurora Hart
"My work very much embraces demonology, devils, infernals and witchcraft"
Aurora Hart was born stateside, but the UK has been her home for the past 20 years. Forbidden is her debut poetry collection, which encourages readers to explore and embrace desires that are too often left to languish in the dark. When she’s not writing, she can often be found wandering amongst local woodlands or baking tasty treats for family and friends.
Aurora
20:24
ready whenever you are 😊
20:25
Finbarre
One moment! Getting the vital necessities ready. Or tea, anyway.
20:26
Aurora
ahh yes a drink would be good! altho I will go for an iced latte myself
20:27
(I know. Sacrilege. especially since I have bird and blend in the cupboard 😶)
😁
20:29
Finbarre
Ready to go! Thank you so much for taking part in the first Tarot DMs interview Aurora!
20:29
Aurora
thanks for having me! I’m terribly curious to see how this all comes together!
20:31
Finbarre
I have my trusty Smith-Waite Deck at the ready, the little ones that fit in a tin. Before we get to that though - where in the world are you texting from tonight?
20:31
20:32
Aurora
I’m in a cosy little house on the edge of woodlands in the West Mids.
20:32
for those following along who are from elsewhere, that be in England
20:33
Finbarre
Faerie woods, spooky woods or just woods woods?
20:33
Aurora
a little fae, a little spooky! all sorts strange goings on happen in there!
20:33
witchy woods
20:33
Finbarre
BEST KIND
20:34
Aurora
I AGREE!
20:35
Finbarre
Now, as I revealed before tonight, this season of Tarot DMs is going to have a theme. One particular card that carries us through to Halloween. Every person I speak to will get the same first one and it is...
20:36
😱
20:36
Finbarre
Did you just heart that? My emojis flashed all over the place
20:36
Aurora
It was a spooked face!
20:38
Finbarre
So in a similar way you’ll have heard to my podcast Tarot Interviews, I’ll ask you a question from this card based on your background. I’m going to go with:
20:39
Are there any destructive narratives, personal or inherited, that you’ve had to confront in your written work?
20:40
Aurora
I’m gonna answer in a voice note because it would take forever in a day to type out my response to that. And you it right for the jugular with that. Yes, is the short answer. The longer answer is there are many various destructive narrative themes that appear across my works.
So my debut book Forbidden, there is a destructive narrative that runs through the book, but ultimately it’s about rebirth.
Forbidden’s narrative arc is based around relationships and the ways that we deconstruct ourselves and others within them to ultimately build something new.
The theme of destruction is somewhat layered, both as you follow the narrator through the poems, and within the subject matter of the poems themselves.
20:48
Finbarre
So can I ask, is this a link to, I believe it’s called Shadowwork, so the psychological process of exploring, acknowledging and integrating, were pressed or denied parts of yourself or your shadow self? I think it was… was it Carl Young that came up with the concept? Is that link to how you write or something that you go through to initiate that poetry or is it something else entirely?
20:49
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)
20:52
Aurora
So it’s interesting that you mentioned Shadow Work because that is what my second collection that I’m currently curating at the moment is about in the strictest psychological sense.
That’s a collection that was written while I was going through therapy, while I was confronting some very dark things and integrating the inner child that felt lost and alone and afraid and showing her that she doesn’t need to feel that way anymore that things are okay now.
And from integrating the darker side of self, I would say Fobidden also takes out a approach. And it explores the… it explores those darker desires that we find within ourselves.
Those desires that we have that could be interpreted as ugly by some that are quite dark and devious in nature.
And allowing ourselves to embrace those darker, more twisted sides of ourselves.
20:55
Finbarre
Could you read out an extract of one as an example?
20:58
Aurora
I would love to. This one is called “prowl”.
I wander through dark, twisted hallways, dripping with a hunger never-sated. Prior feasts all but forgotten as the desire to hunt tears me from within.
Inked emptiness pulsates against every torn synapse, while eclipses greedily drink shadow, and Viper’s kisses scent ether.
The laughter bleeds through snarled lips, and the breath comes ragged and quick. Sinews taut, hovering on the edge of the sweetest destruction.
20:59
21:00
Finbarre
A loping, visceral piece - thank you for sharing that. Was it inspired by art, film, music at all?
21:02
Aurora
this one was musically inspired - specifically, the song Become the Beast by Karliene
21:03
21:03
21:04
Finbarre
I’m taking a listen to that one now, one for my Lycan That playlist too. Time for your next card while I’m listening to this evocative piece.
21:05
Aurora
LYCAN THAT.
21:05
werewolf puns are some of the best imo
👌
21:05
Finbarre
Your next card will be picked from the deck, are you ready? When the moment feels right, say “stop” and I’ll reveal the next question for tonight
21:06
Aurora
I am ready
aaaaaaand ... stop
21:06
Finbarre
... and it is
21:07
21:08
Two Major Arcana in a row! OK one for the question I have been wanting to ask for a while.
21:08
Aurora
go for it 😊
21:08
Finbarre
What is it like to have the looming, dominant presence of a Hemingway in your bloodline?
21:10
Aurora
sorry couldn’t type was laughing at the idea of a looming, dominating Ernest Hemingway
21:10
Finbarre
Be serious. The Emperor here has very stern eyebrows.
21:11
Aurora
I just had this picture in my head of narrowed eyes over a bushy beard
21:14
right, *ahem* serious answer - it’s not a looming presence as such. it’s actually pretty neat to know that I have a link to him. even before I knew of the connection, I always said I need to write like I need air, that words and ink are in my blood.
21:14
Finbarre
How did your great grandmother meet him, out of interest?
21:16
Aurora
that part of the family lore I don’t actually know. I do know that she found herself with child at a time when it was rather taboo to be pregnant and unmarried.
21:18
Finbarre
She must have found the situation so tough - was she a creative soul like yourself?
21:21
Aurora
it was difficult for her. she married another man out of necessity, as back then women weren’t allowed bank accounts or property, so marrying someone was the only way she and my grandfather survived.
21:23
and she was a creative soul - she actually wrote poetry as well! she only stopped a couple of years before she passed away - despite the fact that she was going blind and her hands trembled, she still wrote.
❤
21:24
i find her personally inspiring, in so many ways.
21:25
Finbarre
It is wonderful that you’re carrying on the family tradition. You might hear a little squeaky mew in the background. You OK Dios? Yeah?
My cat Dios is about to leap on the desk and is eyeing up the keyboard, the mouse and all of the cards about to scatter everything to the four winds. No. Dios has decided that the velvet cloth that I’ve just placed under the tarot cards. It’s the perfect place to have a little sit and a wash. So I’ll be taking a picture of that in just a moment. I was going to say that your great grandmother, although she has the same gift of poetry may have been a little shocked that some of the things or blushed at some of the things that you’ve written, maybe not.
From what you’ve described, I can imagine her cheering you on.
21:27
Aurora
I did hear that little meow and that was adorable. Please please do share.
Little agent of chaos kitten.
But yeah, now I think she would be quite shocked at some of the things that I write because she herself, there was a strong, strong line of Christianity running through that side of the family. My work very much embraces demonology devils, infernals and witchcraft.
21:30
Finbarre
Normally I would get the last guest to choose your card in advance but as you’re the first person to be interviewed you get one last draw of the deck.
21:30
As before, I’ll shuffle the cards and place one down with my furry assistant when you write stop.
❤
21:30
Aurora
okay ... and ...
21:30
.
.
.
21:31
stop
21:31
Finbarre
❤
21:31
Aurora
THREE MAJOR ARCANA!
21:31
whaaat.
21:31
(also omg kitty! give him a cuddle for me!)
21:32
Finbarre
You have The Chariot! Overcoming conflicts and moving forward in a positive direction, sheer bloody mindedness too.
21:32
Let me think...
21:32
Here we go.
21:32
What internal conflict did you have to overcome to step into public view as a writer?
21:34
It turns out that Dios is a tough audience to please. She’s a washing herself in front of the card as we speak. [laughs]
21:34
Aurora
[laughs] Show us what she thinks about that. Um... yeah. [laughs]
God, that’s a good question. What internal conflict that I have to overcome to step into public view as a writer? I think for me, interestingly, I was only able to actually consider publishing my writings after I’d healed that connection that I spoke about before, I’d been able to do that. After I’d healed that connection that I spoke about before with my inner child - it was after therapy, actually, that made me think that I could do this.
I think coming to a place of peace with myself and with my past allowed me to let some walls down.
And they didn’t all come down straight away because while Forbidden deals with the darker aspects and embracing the darker aspects of ourselves and others. It deals with those in the context of friendships, relationships, sex and those are all subjects that I’m quite comfortable talking about.
I mentioned before that the collection that I’m currently curating now, it’s as yet untitled, but I mentioned before that focuses on healing those aspects of myself. Those are the walls that are the hardest to come down. Those are the things that are
the most difficult for me to be able to put out there.
But a huge part of what drove that decision to make that the theme of my second collection was the fact that when I was going through those things, I found solace in other’s words. I realized I just had to get past my own discomfort around my own experiences and my own words… and other people reading those words. I had the realization that if even one person reads my words and finds the same comforts that I found all those words, then my discomfort means nothing.
I would rather sit in my own personal discomfort of letting those last walls down and putting my words out there, putting my experiences out there, than for anyone to feel alone.
21:51
Finbarre
Which is the best way for people to connect with your work?
21:52
Aurora
read my book! you can buy it here:
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=o0SDHkJcWN8lSTs6RFTxTOK3NWu1CqygAtBx85OKBrl
🤩
21:52
or scan my QR code:
21:54
Finbarre
Fabulous! Thank you so much for participating in this... I would love to call it a threadcast? 🤔 Let’s go with that 😎 Before we finish up though, you do have the honour of picking the third card for the next interviewee. Are you going to think of the first one that comes to you or do you happen to have a deck there?
21:55
Aurora
I have a deck!
21:56
Finbarre
Wait, does this mean I need to pick one while *you* shuffle? Fine. I’m ready. Which deck are we using today?
21:57
Aurora
yes! I was gonna say it’s your turn to tell me stop
21:57
Finbarre
Stop!
21:58
Aurora
my deck is the wild unknown by Kim Krans
https://kimkrans.com/the-wild-unknown
21:58
21:58
wait! let me shuffle first 😂
21:58
Finbarre
I LOVE THAT ONE. Feral minimalism. OK fine.
21:58
Aurora
okay now you say when
21:58
Finbarre
Stop
22:00
Aurora
son (or knight) of pentacles!
22:00
22:01
Finbarre
So a card of diligence, hard work, focusing on the long term. The tortoise not the hare. Quite an interesting change from the first card the next guest will get during Devil Season!
22:02
Aurora Hart thank you so much for being on Tarot DMs, it has been an absolute pleasure.
22:02
Aurora
thank you for having me, this was a really fun and unique premise for interviewing!