Joanna C. Valente: “Writing helps me process my emotions”
![ashkan-forouzani-PIbV4i-shDg-unsplash.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e54125c23dd6a6139f09da1/1587270007172-YKB4F8JHYBTRPOOULYCO/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kOgTmmNvBZ7EA2_jRdQSdPR7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0ouw-8l5B_J38LMU7OZFvYd7not7SPaQWC9vXoqfxF7D_QnU1BCqNTv6mAC2kHa2kw/ashkan-forouzani-PIbV4i-shDg-unsplash.jpg)
How have you used writing as a healing or trauma recovery tool? How does it give you autonomy and self-understanding?
It's a way for me to process and evaluate my emotions objectively, to try to see the areas I can grow, but also reach understanding and empowerment, to work through emotions. Emotions, thankfully, aren't always facts. And it's empowering to see that, even if they were at a time.
Do you integrate writing into your ritual/spiritual/magical life?
Definitely. Magic is part of everything I do. Language is magic, and manifests what we speak, what we intend, and in a way, that's a spell.
If we put three writers or books into a circle to summon you, who/what would they be?
Virginia Woolf, Federico Garcia Lorca, Toni Morrison—because I love them and am inspired by them.
Is there a single piece/book of writing that has helped to heal you? How has it helped?
This isn't a book of writing but the tarot has in general. It's helped me spiritually and creatively.
Joanna recommends supporting: The Operating System and Brooklyn Poets.
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