5.12 Caro Giles, ‘Twelve Moons’
***All episode transcripts can be found here (opens in a new window): https://www.promptedbynature.co.uk/podcast-transcripts ***
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Before I tell you about today’s conversation, I wanted to remind you that my Substack newsletter is now available via the Substack app or in your inbox when you sign up. You can sign up for a free or paid subscription - £5pm or £40pa (a saving of £1.70 on the monthly price). All information about what is included in each option is over on my Substack page https://promptedbynature.substack.com/ and in the show notes for the this episode. I hope you’ll join me for more prompts, workbooks, e-zines and nature-inspired creativity and community.
Back to the episode!
Today, I’m thrilled to release my conversation with the lovely Caro Giles, whose book, Twelve Moons is now available and published by HarperNorth.
Caro Giles is a writer based in Northumberland. Her words are inspired by her local landscape, the wide empty beaches and the Cheviot Hills. She writes honestly about what it means to be a woman, a mother and a carer, and about the value in taking the road less travelled. Her writing appears in journals, press and periodicals, including a monthly column in Psychologies. In 2021 she was named BBC Countryfile's New Nature Writer of the Year.
In this conversation, we discuss:
The story behind the memoir and how Caro came to write Twelve Moons
The part a master’s played in Caro’s work
Accountability in your writing practice
How she found her unique voice following motherhood and the breakdown of her marriage
How her role as a parent-carer has impacted her voice and the way that she approaches her work
Caro’s personal relationship with the moon
How Caro approached the book and her writing process
Caro’s life as a singer and musician
What she’s learnt that she wants to pass on
Her vision for the future
You can find Caro on Twitter and Instagram @carogileswrites and her book Twelve Moons is available via the Prompted by Nature bookshop on bookshop.org or at your local bookshop.
Accompanying episodes:
2.10a - Marchelle Farrell, My Garden, My Teacher
3.2a - Stella Tomlinson, Priestesshood and Earth-Based Spirituality
4.2a - Rebecca Schiller, Earthed
4.7a - Ben Myers, Writing with the Land
As always, I’m over at the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find information about my upcoming day retreats and writing courses in East Sussex as well as all the links to the bookshop and the Substack newsletter. I’m always on @prompted.by.nature on Instagram.
I hope you enjoy the episode. The prompt that accompanies this will be out on Tuesday. Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon!
Helen x
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Hello and welcome to your writing prompt for my conversation with Caro Giles. So, obviously, this one is going to be moon-related! I often write with the moon and have created materials helping others to do the same. About 7 years ago, back when challenges were in, I ran the Follow the Moon challenge, followed by the ‘Create by the Moon’ challenges a couple of years later and this latter piece of work I’m in the process of turning into a workbook, which will be out in the summer - free to Substack subscribers on the paid level.
To get us started though, I wanted to think about how we can use the energy of each moon phase to influence our writing and then extend this to consider the names of each full moon, as Caro does in Twelve Moons, and how these can form ongoing prompts for our words.
Over on the blog, you’ll find a post about turning each phase of the moon into a character (link is in the show notes) and this is a really good exercise to familiarise yourself with the energy of each phase if you’re newer to it all, or just want another perspective.
So going from new to full moon:
New moon - intention setting
Waxing crescent - planning
Waxing half - balance, making decisions
Waxing gibbous - problem-solving
Full moon - manifestation, clarity and understanding
Waning gibbous - self-evaluation, patience and letting go
Waning half - cleansing and transformation
Waning crescent (balsamic) - reflection/introspection
Dark moon - quiet/silence
Once we are familiar with the energy of each moon phase, we can start to see how these could be articulated in the settings and characters we create. For example, a setting that might reflect the waning half moon, could be a cascading stream in the early hours of the morning. How might that feel? What does the natural world feel like at that time of day? If the full moon were a character, perhaps they might be a creator or agitator, an activist or someone who works to shed light on a subject.
Then you might like to start looking at the different names given to the full moon by different cultures and traditions throughout the world. There’s the wolf moon,the cold moon, the harvest moon and more! Use your imagination and envision settings and events that might happen under each moon, each taking on the energy and meaning given to it by the ancestors.
Pop over to the post on the blog for more ideas, get researching and see how you get on. I love working with the moon in my own life and using its phases as a creative prompt is such a wonderufl way to enrich your own practice, espeically if you’re ever feeling a bit lacking in inspiration.
Keep looking up, my friends!
As always you can find me on www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find links to my Substack newsletter and get information on my forthcoming day retreats and nature writing courses down here in East Sussex. I’m also to be found @prompted.by.nature on Instagram.
Happy writing and I’ll speak to you soon!
Helen x
