Poetic alchemy as Julia launches debut collection in Thoor Ballylee
A new anthology, The Becoming: In Poetic Alchemy, the debut collection of Galway poet and photographer Julia Monard will be launched next Friday evening, October 3, in WB Yeats’ former home of Thoor Ballylee, near Gort.
The Becoming follows the four classical stages of alchemy – Nigredo (Blackening), Albedo (Whitening), Citrinitas (Yellowing) and Rubedo (Reddening) – mirroring the breaking, aching, healing and re-making of the self.
Julia describes the collection as “a book for those who have known heartbreak, liminality and the hunger for meaning – for those who sense that becoming isn’t linear, but cyclical”.
The poems in The Becoming are arranged like seasons, elements, or the soul’s own weather, she explains.
“The book is both a mirror and a map – an offering to anyone learning how to remake themselves, again and again, one precious fragment at a time.”
Julia’s work, both as a photographer and poet, explores transformation and hidden parts of the psyche through image, symbol and scent.
With Slovak roots, time spent in Southern France and a creative life grounded in the West of Ireland, she describes her work as “a union of light and dark”.
The Becoming: In Poetic Alchemy is her first published collection and Thoor Ballylee is an ideal venue for this launch.
In the 1920s, William Butler Yeats and his family spent a great deal of time in the 15th-century tower, which he had bought in 1916 and spent several years restoring. The poet, mystic and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this place his ‘symbol’ and imagined it as a meeting place between visible and invisible worlds.
He wrote many of his greatest poems there and it inspired the title of his 1928 collection, The Tower.
“Yeats believed the passionate dead return to the places they loved – and in these stone rooms, I feel him still,” Julia says. “To bring my own work of poetic alchemy here is a full-circle moment.”
Next Friday’s launch will be “a warm gathering with light refreshments, followed by a gentle audio-visual immersion”, with words from Julia and special guests.
People will be welcome to wander through the candle-lit tower, soaking in the atmosphere of one of Ireland’s most mythic literary landmarks.
The launch will start at 6pm on October 3 and the event will run until about 8.30pm at Thoor Ballylee (Eircode H91 D8F20). All welcome.
Copies of The Becoming will be available to purchase on the night for €25.
Pictured: Poet and photographer Julia Monard.