You Can Make Your Own Rose BOOK REVIEW by Lila Moore

You Can Make Your Own Rose by Andrea Nicki is a collection of poems infused with the spirit of feminist sensibility, social justice and activism. The poems offer more than mere therapeutic comfort while depicting shamanic-inspired healing rituals and magical encounters. They are trauma-free in the sense that Nicki doesn’t ask for our sympathy nor does Nicki simply wish to share traumatic memories. On the contrary, she utilizes somewhat analytical and educational language, interlaced with subtle picturesque and lyrical details alongside a severe social critique, to depict the emotional, intellectual, and social landscape of her reflections on incest and other gender-related forms of abuse.

In addition, Nicki brings to our attention the images, colors, tastes and trapped feelings of the often neglected and harsh realities of (primarily women) adjunct professors. These are the poverty-stricken women, who are stuck and oppressed within an academic hierarchy that devalues their accumulated knowledge and often prolonged educational and social contributions.

The poems, then, summoning us to join her inquiry, to think carefully with her, and especially encourage us to resist compliance to personal and social injustice in our daily life, wherever we are in the world. These poems remind us that for women poetic expression is a sacred rite, not a luxury, but a necessity akin to a survival kit. As such, the poems will leave you with a bittersweet zest to bravely and wisely tackle any challenges that may hinder or call you. Educators and researchers would find the poems and the themes within them to be useful as a creative and well-informed classroom resource.

Dr Lila Moore is the founder of The Cybernetic Futures Institute, an online academy for study of the spiritual and mystical in film and art, technoetic arts and screen dance. The academy is also engaged in the exploration of consciousness through Networked Rites and Noetic Fields-Weaving. The courses, workshops and Masterclass are available online and in central London.  In addition, specialized Masterclass take place in the format of study-tours in Greece.

Lila is an artist film-maker, screen choreographer, networked performance and technoetic ritual practitioner, educator and theorist. The CFI is based on her post-doctoral project at Planetary Collegium of Plymouth University (2015). Dr Moore holds a practice-based Ph.D. degree in Dance on Screen (2001) from Middlesex University and an M.A. in Film from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She researched film and the spiritual as Associate Research Fellow, London Metropolitan University, and has been teaching B.A. courses in Cinema and Spirituality, Film and Ritual as well as The Spiritual in Art as part of a BA in Mysticism and Spirituality at Zefat Academic College (2013-2019). She has presented her work internationally in academic conferences, cultural organisations, art galleries and networked platforms.

This year Dr Lila Moore offers online classes and courses on Maya Deren and the Goddess. Her research of Maya Deren’s work began in 1989, formed the basis of her PhD which was awarded in 2001 and has also informed her recent postdoctoral project. Her PhD is distributed as an educational package by Contemporary Arts Media, Australia and artfilms, UK. She has presented many papers that address the work of Maya Deren in academic conferences, and articles that she wrote were published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Her book on the mystical and magical aspects of Maya Deren’s films and writings is forthcoming.

Maya Deren and the Goddess is the first course worldwide that interweaves the exploration of Deren’s films and ideas with special reference to the filmmaker’s preoccupation with the Goddess, not only as an artist and theorist, but as an initiated Voudoun priestess. The course will also include specially designed online rites that ensure a field for compassionate learning, as well as celebrate and empower women’s creativity and vision.

Dr Lila Moore is a UK certified Life Coach and graduate of Feminine Power Mastery programme. As a young woman in her twenties, she was mentored by a wise woman, Gypsy Romani, in London and provided numerous insightful Tarot readings which in turn enabled her to pay for her living expenses and peruse her academic studies and creative work. She thereby brings a wealth of experience and rich knowledge to her classes and rites.