UNDERWORLDING
With Sophie Craven
Book your place: https://ticketpass.org/event/EAXIFR/underworlding (10 places only)
In a culture which centres light, growth and ascent, it can be hard to find ways in which to honour the darker months of the year. But doing so is a deeply ecological and mythological act, which can help us to embrace the cyclicality of the human experience.
Join Sophie Craven this Winter for a hopeful and generative journey through the underworlds of ancient mythologies and cosmologies. We will begin with the contemporary context of patriarchal capitalism and examine the ‘Western’ fear of the dark, exploring the many ways in which the underworld has been exorcised from modern culture. Through an exploration of underworlds across Ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Siberia and beyond, we will look at ways in which we might weave the dark back into the fabric of reality.
Taking the Ancient Sumerian story of Inanna and Erishkigel as our guiding structure, we will hear the call of the underworld, enter, transform and emerge in time for Imbolc (February 1st) when the first new shoots of wild garlic begin to grow in the woods.
By opening ourselves to the call of the underworld, we can dialogue with those most fecund parts of ourselves; the parts which lay at the foundation of all things. We can learn to build capacity for paradox and mystery, and find compassion and love for our monsters. What happens if we re-engage with the underworld as a practice for transformation during these uncertain times? What if we live according to our ecologies, and learn how to descend as well as to rise?
Programme structure
This programme will consist of six weekly sessions on moonlit Sunday evenings, running 6-9pm. Please bring a packed dinner so we can eat together (tea, coffee, soft drinks and snacks will be available for free). The sessions will include: presentations from Sophie on underworlds from different cosmologies; walks into the woodlands around Penryn; storytelling and ritual; individual journaling and creative making time; and group discussions. This programme is intended as a container to hold us through the darker months, and of course all emotions are so welcome, but it is important to note that it is not a therapeutic space.
Sunday 14th December 2025: Hearing the call
What does it mean to hear the call of the underworld? What does it mean to turn towards the dark? How might we slow down enough to feel?
Sunday 21st December 2025: Entering the first gates
How might we recognise the gates of the underworld? How do we prepare to enter? What can we take with us? What is our red thread?
Sunday 11th January 2026: Shedding layers
What does it mean to surrender to the underworld? Which layers of ourselves are we leaving behind in the light? What does this have to do with grief, ego, and modern ideas of self?
Sunday 18th January 2026: Dying to the world
How might we truly let go? How can we embrace the darkness? How might we do this with grace?
Sunday 25th January 2026: (Re)birthing
If the underworld is the place of death and birth, what are we now birthing? How might we embody this new / ancient self?
Sunday 1st February 2026: Emerging with Imbolc
What does it mean to weave ourselves anew with the world in Spring? How can we greet the light with our new selves integrated? What does it mean to reach back out to the world?
Tickets and costs
There are just 10 places available for this course.
For this offering, please refer to the following suggestions when booking your place:
No spare income - pay what you can.
Low spare income - £30 (£5 per session)
Medium spare income - £60 (£10 per session)
High spare income - £90 (£15 per session)
Supporter ticket - £120 (£20 per session)
You can read more here about The Convivial’s financial modelling: https://www.theconvivial.co.uk/about-us. On the page, you’ll find questions which will help you consider your own financial position.
Facilitator
Sophie is a writer, artist and facilitator based in Cornwall, UK. She graduated from SOAS university in 2016 with a BA in Arabic and Social Anthropology, and a specialisation in memory, imagination and heritage sites (with fieldwork taking place in the West Bank of Palestine).
She worked in learning and facilitation for seven years before completing her MA in Poetics of Imagination at Schumacher College / Dartington School of Arts in 2024. She also holds a CPD qualification in Trauma-Informed Practice from University of Sussex (2021).
Sophie’s research interests include mytho-poetics, folklore, ecology, systems thinking and psychology. She is currently in the process of writing her first novel, Places Strange, a semi-fictionalised life narrative exploring the boundaries and meeting places between the imaginal, the mythological and the psyche.
Book your place: https://ticketpass.org/event/EAXIFR/underworlding