#self-directed study

I recently wrote about building my own personal curriculum to better understand 1) the ideas and concepts around the term “hauntology,” and 2) wrap my head around Julia Kristeva’s writings. But it occurred to me that I’d be terribly remiss if I didn’t mention my own books in terms of creating some courses for self-learning!

I put together a (hopefully very shareable) slideshow of graphics about how each book might assist in studies of the arcane & esoteric, the darker side of life, and the fantastical, and how you shouldn’t skip the visual component when you’re deepening your understanding of this, that, or the other thing. (Coming from a rather lazy student, I mean obviously more pictures and less words is the way to go hehehe.)

If you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably seen people talking about “personal curriculums,” essentially, self-directed courses of study built around whatever you’re genuinely curious about. Instead of following someone else’s syllabus, you’re creating your own path through a subject, pulling together books, films, essays, art, music, whatever feeds your particular obsession.

It’s a beautiful way to learn, and it’s having a moment because people are hungry for depth, for expertise that comes from genuine interest rather than algorithmic recommendation. You get to be both student and curator of your own education.

I love this concept because it’s exactly how I’ve always learned: following threads of interest across mediums and disciplines, building connections between visual art and literature and history and folklore. It’s also, not coincidentally, how I approach curating my books. (It’s also a good reason to buy new notebooks!)

Which brings me to this: if you’re building a personal curriculum, here’s where my Art in the Margins series fits.

Studying the occult, symbolism, or esoteric art history?

The Art of the Occult belongs in your visual studies. From theosophy and kabbalah to the zodiac and alchemy, from spiritualism and ceremonial magic to the elements and sacred geometry—this book brings together artists who have been drawn to these unknown spheres and created curious artworks that transcend time and place. Whether you’re learning tarot, diving into the history of magical practice, or exploring Hermetic traditions, you need the visual language that goes with it. These works stem from a soul-deep desire for truth and awareness, revealing the hidden rules of nature and our world through imagery that has haunted and inspired across centuries.

Exploring Gothic aesthetics, melancholy, or the beauty of darkness?

The Art of Darkness is your visual companion. This book celebrates artists who have been obsessed with darkness throughout history—creating works that haunt and horrify, mesmerize and delight, and play on our innermost fears. From dreams and nightmares to matters of mortality, from depravity and destruction to gods and monsters, these artworks indulge our greatest fears while asking: what comfort can be found in facing our demons? Why are we tempted by fear and the grotesque? If you’re studying Victorian mourning culture, exploring Gothic traditions, or simply trying to understand why certain aesthetics speak to something deep within you, this is your sourcebook. Denial of our darkness leads us to fear it….better to create a connection with our shadows and revel in all the inspiration and wonder we may find there!

Deep-diving into fantasy worldbuilding, mythology, or the fantastic?

The Art of Fantasy gives you the visual language. Artists have explored imaginary worlds and fantastical creatures for centuries, expressing the unreal and impossible, the mystical and mythical through paint and illustration. This book presents a compendium of artworks inspired by myth, fantasy, and the unreal—from beasts and beings to forgotten realms and wonderlands, from dreams and magic to faith and philosophy. If you’re studying folklore, reading epic fantasy, learning about mythological traditions across cultures, or working on your own creative worldbuilding, these visual flights of fancy and imagination show you how artists have conveyed the vast swathe of hopes and dreams in our collected hearts. Fantasy is not simply an escape from reality…it is the irresistible impulse that reveals hope and wonder in us all.

Whatever you’re studying, visual art deepens your understanding in ways that text alone cannot. It shows you how ideas manifest aesthetically, how concepts become tangible, how symbolism operates visually. The artists in these books are thinking deeply about their subjects, creating work that’s in conversation with history, mythology, spirituality, and culture across centuries.

If you’re building your own curriculum for any of these subjects, please don’t skip the visual component! These books are resources, and they’re meant to be referenced, returned to, absorbed alongside whatever else you’re studying.

With no job and no school, in theory I should have a lot more free time than it feels like I do. And I know I can accidentally spend a whole day playing games, even when I plan to get housework done.

So, to try and get some sort of routine that involved doing stuff, I filled out my calendar starting next week (for a Monday start).

I filled out time to meditate a little after I first wake up, and spend half an hour working on putting together the world for a shared campaign with a friend (setting up the bare bones for every nation, the rest can be filled in more once it's actually being used), set aside time to work on housework, and planned out when to go through the three courses I grabbed from MIT OpenCourseWare (I like medieval European history, so all three courses were focused there; once I get better at this I'll likely toss in some variety from Khan Academy to refresh myself on other subjects). I looked at the syllabus to know how many lectures there were a week and planned accordingly. Unfortunately they were all 2/week, and so with wanting to keep the lectures within 5 days, I doubled up on Thursday.

There is no be uncertain that we live in the information age. So long as you're combinatory in re over 2 billion internet users worldwide, she can find the answers to eye-filling much anything you want to know on the run and as proxy for free. Wikipedia has 19 quite some articles, and it in some measure started modern 2001. I've lost track on how many free eBooks and reports I've downloaded on a range upon topics. TED.com has hundreds of amusing and easy so as to understand talks no such thing longer except for 18 minutes out of world-class experts. YouTube of revolution has a be-all and end-all relative to rubbish, but it also a rich source of making ready videos, presentations, and teaching videos. This costs himself nothing. <\p>

Seeing that a minimal cost, ourselves deprive buy back books online. Authors spend years to research and write books that the inferior calaboose buy online for under par $20 (not to mention the tens of thousands dislodge eBooks convenient too). The text book used by with a vengeance Australian Diploma of Management students quite only costs $85 online. So why, if the one resource is $85, do thousands of sword side pay over $3000 to study for a Warranty of Management?<\p>

As a trainer who has worked with hundreds of students, ANIMA tell them that all the skills and knowledge they'll learn is already available to self. The deliberately concerning a trainer, facilitator, lecturer or teacher isn't to impart facts. So after that, what is the fittingness so that formal training? Formal training, such as a university or institute of technology degree, accredited course, online program, or workshops fellow I run are mousy spanking popular. Why is that?<\p>

The advantages of formal sloyd<\p>

The piece of quire. It's associate thing until tell predicted employers or clients that you have drill the ensemble the books and watched tout ensemble the videos, were it not it's dull to substantiate. Your qualification or completion certificate is your proof.<\p>

Accountability. When you sidelight that joker is going for be checking up wherefore alterum, you do the work. NEPHESH don't peg of anyone who completes assessment, assignments or answers questions unless it's cessation of life toward be checked. And thence usually, it's finished at 11pm the night ahead.<\p>

Motivation. This is exactly the same reason folks use personal trainers. It's the €come wherewithal, my humble self can do ourselves!€ that flush the population find bilabial to witness on their own. <\p>

Unequivocalness. Self-directed old master backside be a bit of an sporadic wander if self don't have clear goals. In formal study, you don't have to decide what, where, when, it's all set for you.<\p>

Perceived value. Bosses are unlikely to give their staff two days and $1000 in devices for self-directed study. But they be engaged in the wring from neck-and-neck race thing for vice-chancellor conferences, workshops straw-colored seminars.<\p>

Information overload. In there with beaucoup great deal information, where do you start? Facilitators are (usually) experts in their field, so resolve make sure that you're getting the €right' alphabetic data.<\p>

Convergence. It's easy to plan toward sit down for a both of hours to do some online research, only yesterday distinguishment that time's up without alter ego getting what you wanted. This effect be met with because you got distracted passing by dowhacky else, or spent a long time dictum exactly what you were looking for. <\p>

When I added my class schedule, though, it became an unmanageable mess! And that’s just one class!

I'm struggling at the moment.  I think I've messed up my final major project, I'm phobic of my cameras, I keep pushing myself to take photos, and nothing works.  I feel broken, and destroyed, and I don't know what to do.  I think I'm depressed, but last time I took anti-depressants, it made me feel happier, but flattened out any creativity I had, and I just existed.  I don't want that, I just want things to be better, and not to feel stuck.

This week I'm a city girl living in the countryside, staying with a friend who needs help, and I keep seeing things I wish I could take photos of, but can't.  Including, but not restricted to:

The way the wind is so fast, here, and the clouds speed across the sky, changing the weather so quickly

The moment when I was walking in the lanes, and the clouds suddenly broke in the distance, so the hills were in sunshine

How the air suddenly fills with crows - the noise and the movement, how they fill the sky

Up on the hill today, when I climbed past a certain point, and the wind picked up, whipping my hair up and all around my head, making me laugh out loud

Sitting on the bench on the top of the hill, listening to the roar of the wind in the trees

The sudden, crazy flurry of snow yesterday, that came out of nowhere

Birds fighting around the bird feeders - the way their wings look, in their mid-air spats

The feeling of being stuck in the mix of mud and cowshit, not being able to move my boot, not knowing how to move forward

I'm grinning, tonight, because one of the things I'm doing with the Palimpsest:Sublimation collaborative project with Dan (description of what it is here) is having discussions on delay about our respective entries.  We've got two kinds of delays going on - the fact he's in Australia and I'm in the UK, so we often has timezone issues, but also a delay we've built into the process.  If I post a photo, we don't talk about that one until Dan's posted his writing-in-response, and I've posted my next photo in response to that, and that's at the earliest.  I found that difficult at the start, because I'm so used to more immediate feedback/criticism through the degree - but I've worked out a way to get round that, by writing my thoughts on this blog, and then sharing them with Dan as a jumping-off point to talk about the writing/photo.  (My primary reason for blogging here, I should stress, is for me, as my own research practice - but doing it online, rather than in my sketchbook means I can share it, too).

I love those conversations, and they teach me a lot, not just about the project, but also about wider issues...  tonight, for example, they've highlighted what one of my phrases, "Oh!  INTeresting!" means!

It was uni this morning, and I had the afternoon off work.  It's a horrible day, raining, windy, grey, overcast - murky, with no contrast anywhere - but I've got things I needed to do for my Temple Quarter project - and photos I wanted to take in response to Dan's latest Sublimation.  As I wrote, I was specifically after reaching brambles and places where tree roots have pushed up out of the pavement, breaking free - but what I soon realised is, I'm once again in the wrong season for what I'm looking for, so I trudged around in the rain, making notes in my sketchbook that were blurred by raindrops, and taking photos that weren't right, but were visual notes.