Dark Nights of the Soul: A Call for Submissions for the Autumn Issue of Isis-Seshat Journal

Isis-Seshat Autumn Issue Call for Submissions!

Ah, Autumn! What a delicious season it is here in my native Chicago, one that rattles fallen, decayed leaves like so many bones on the city’s windowpanes. Some may feel pangs of anxiety with the noticeable decrease of daylight, seeking shelter, companionship, and warmth to ameliorate the impact of the season’s omnipresent reminders of mortality. Others may treasure the call to hibernation and solitude, and like the lone figure in The Hermit Tarot card, kindle their lamps of inner wisdom to lead the way. Still others feel…stuck. Enmeshed in isolating feelings–exacerbated by the encroaching darkness and cold of the season–of depression, especially on a spiritual front. Why do I feel so disconnected? I can’t find it within me to pray. What do I do now? My beliefs are changing. To Whom do I turn? A spiritual crisis ensues, and the stuck ones are trying to climb their way upwards and outwards from the abyss many thinkers of a variety of spiritual traditions have labeled “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

“Melancholy” (1894) by Edvard Munch, one of my favorite artists. Image courtesy of the Munch-Museet, Oslo, Norway.

“There is no worse death than the end of hope,” actor Clive Owen as King Arthur states in the King Arthur film of 2004 (as an aside, why am I the only polytheist/Pagan I know who loves this movie?).

Virgo that I am, I definitely espouse “keeping it real” as one of my core values (incidentally, at the time of this writing, Venus in Virgo is opposing Neptune in Pisces–a difficult planetary aspect that at its worst represents deception and manipulation). And as an ordained Priestess of Nephthys and Hekate Khthonia, and as a devotee of Hel, if there’s one thing I’m not afraid to do it’s go dark. I think it’s vital and necessary for us to reflect upon our mortality and instances in our lives where we’ve experienced several forms of deaths (literal deaths, the death of ideas, plans not turning out the way we wanted them to, etc.), an activity which our youth-extolling, death-denying, “can-do!” culture of enforced and commodified “happiness” conditions us to avoid at all costs.

And so, as the journal’s Executive Editor, I want the Autumn issue of Isis-Seshat to delve into these topics, with the focus not on gloom and doom, but rather on which Powers aided you in your grief, your self-reflection, etc., and how you’ve grown in your polytheistic or Pagan path as a result. This Call for Submissions is open to all polytheists and theistic Pagans, irrespective of which cultural pantheon your honored Powers derive from–i.e., you don’t have to be a devotee of the Kemetic Neteru to contribute content to Isis-Seshat journal.

Here’s a laundry list of criteria for acceptable content:

• Essays, articles, poetry, meditations, electronic images of artwork that are yours, not someone else’s–you retain full copyright of your work.
• If your pieces have been previously published elsewhere, that’s okay–just say so (identify where and provide the copyright date).
• There is no word count limit. Previously published essays/articles have ranged from 1,000-4,000 words.
• Please use MLA style when citing references.
• The preferred format for written material is Word; kindly don’t send me PDFs.
• The preferred format for digital art is JPEG or .TIF; please ensure it’s a high-res file (minimum of 300 x 600 dpi).

The deadline is Wednesday, November 4, and the anticipated release date is Tuesday, November 10.

If you have any questions, please email me at hekua dot yansa at gmail dot com.

I look forward to hearing from you! Blessings in the name of Isis-Seshat, Goddess of Writing! May She always render you True of Voice!

• autumn
• call for submissions
• content
• Dark Night of the Soul
• depression
• Isis-Seshat journal
• Paganism
• seasonal affective disorder
• spiritual crisis
• The Fellowship of Isis
• writing