notes from july
on evening sea swims, lunar energies, what you might have missed, and a collection of my favourite gems from other writers...
welcome to the threshold, i’m so grateful for your presence here.
dreaming so darkly is an underworld temple space devoted to the arts of shadow alchemy, sacred sexuality, conscious kink, and sovereign submission. here i invite you into the mysteries of eros and feminine descent through my mythopoetic erotic journeys, educational guides, and transmissions on healing and transformation. within the initiates’ chamber, the journey becomes even more immersive with an exclusive ritual, practice, or guided meditation woven into each archetype as it unfolds.
this content is intended as general guidance, but i’ll soon be opening one-to-one mentorship spaces for those who feel the pull to journey deeper into the underworld—it would be an honor to walk beside you and light your way.
i’ve been feeling so inspired by Kate Valentine’s lovely sunday sessions that i thought i’d experiment with doing my own monthly version. you can expect personal reflections woven into an exploration of the astrological energies of the past month, alongside a collection of my favourite posts from around smutstack.
make sure you leave a comment below if you’d like to see more of them going forward…
hello dark loves,
for me, july belonged to the sea.
it was a month of ocean tides, golden sunlight glimmering across aquamarine, and hot, languid days broken only by evening swims off the rocks. i lived submerged in the deep crystal waters of my beloved harbour, with perpetual salt-soaked skin and seaweed-tangled hair.
there’s something so womblike about the sea in the month of the crab, each immersion a rebirth into our lost, forgotten selves. we felt this deeply with this month’s cancer new moon, which brought us into a descent into the mother and the emotional inheritances that shape us long before we understand where they’ve come from. it stirred the witch wound and old stories about safety, visibility, and whether we’re truly allowed to share our gifts with the world.
this is why the siren has been the perfect medicine for this season—the dark feminine archetype who refuses to apologise for her desire, her magnetism, or the power of her own voice.
each time i descend into a new underworld journey, it becomes its own initiation. every time i journey with a new character, i stretch the edges of my own psyche. every story opens me, challenges me, changes me. that’s what makes them so powerful. they aren’t simply stories that emerge from my imagination. they’re living conversations between myth and psyche, between my own unfolding and something much larger than me. somehow they always seem to arrive carrying exactly the medicine i need, and more often than not, they arrive carrying the medicine many of us are seeking together.
the response to the siren has been extraordinary. your messages have been some of the most beautiful i’ve ever received, each one reminding me that myth still has the power to call us home to ourselves. witnessing so many of you answer her song has been a profound gift.
indeed, all around me this month i’ve seen women owning their dark feminine in new and powerful ways. it feels as though something is being reclaimed. all the things our mothers and grandmothers were forced to reject and hide in the shadows are ready to emerge into the light. so it seems all too fitting that the month closed in the heart of leo season beneath the powerful full moon in aquarius—a lunation that demands visibility.
we started the month retrieving lost pearls from the deep, and we end it by bringing them out into the bright summer sun…
and as i too have been untangling my own inherited stories around visibility and learning to stand more fully in my gifts this month, it feels especially meaningful to share that dreaming so darkly reached 1,000 subscribers today.
i cannot tell you how much this means to me. thank you from the depths of my siren heart for walking this path with me. every one of you has helped shape this little corner of the underworld, and i couldn’t be more grateful.
for august and the remainder of leo season, we’ll be delving even deeper into the myth of the siren. these later movements will live partially beyond the veil inside the initiates’ chamber, alongside a further descent into the siren in the form of a guided meditation. in honour of this, i’m currently offering 50% off annual entry forevermore—only £22. so if you’ve been circling the edges of the underworld, now’s the perfect time to dive in.
below you’ll find everything we explored together this month, along with my favourite gems from other writers that stayed with me long after i finished reading them…
with love and endless gratitude,
persephone xx
from the underworld
this month saw us first descending into the siren with her invocation and the first two movements of her dark erotic tale…
the siren part II: a dark erotic tale
welcome to the threshold, i’m so grateful for your presence here.
then 🎧rcus Auditory bestowed upon me the most priceless gift of reciting the siren woman. the beauty, attention, and craft he devoted to it have left me feeling quite overcome. just a gorgeous oration with haunting evocative sounds woven throughout. what an experience to hear my own words recited with so much magic and care.
it also saw my latest twelfth house collaboration with my beautiful siren sister Kate Valentine with our offering for leo, the ringmaster’s wife—my favourite journey we’ve created together yet. gloriously decadent, deliciously provocative, and devoted to the woman who refuses to apologise for the space she occupies.
beautiful jewels
it’s a true delight discovering new writers on smutstack and Cherry has been one of the loveliest discoveries this month. she's creating such a sweet little world through beautifully written erotic tales exploring one of my favourite dynamics, DD/lg. don't miss this one.
a true siren sister, Depth & Dagger writes exquisite poetry and lyrics straight from the underworld, weaving them into haunting musical creations with her unmistakable siren voice. go and listen immediately if you dare—you may find yourself forever changed…
i was so honored to discover that i partially inspired T. Vale’s gorgeous poem with my descent into the siren. it’s a true love letter and ode to the dark feminine and cannot be missed.
i adored Melvina Art (MysticArts) transmission on divine union—full of so much deeply embodied wisdom that always leaves me in awe and an absolute must-read.
Mistress Dévine, my true underworld mirror, has gifted us with a beautiful exploration on the sacredness of sadism—one that will have you rethinking everything you thought you knew.
Rosalie Fox is my dark angel and a true erotic artist. she never fails to go to the most raw and feral places that sing so sweetly to my own dark heart. never more so than with this erotic journal entry…
i fell in love with the beauty and the power and the ache across time in this stunning, mythic poem from the truly lovely Micah Ansel. take your time with this one.
i adore everything Violet Duchamps writes—her reflections on the erotic are always so precise, intelligent, nuanced, and beautifully written—but this month i especially loved this personal essay exploring the slow beauty of erotica, the way it moves through the body, and the complexity of the feminine experience.
i love erinnbjorn’s thoughtful and insightful explorations of masochism in bdsm—from her hot erotic tales to her more personal posts. this month i loved how she so generously shared her own journey of bringing bdsm into her long-term relationship. full of wisdom and so beautiful in its honesty.
if this is your first descent into the underworld, you’re warmly invited to step further inside the temple by subscribing—thereby casting a spell for your own erotic liberation…
dreaming so darkly is structured as a series of chambers, each offering a different level of exploration and intimacy:
the outer hall: all public writings live here, open to those just beginning to circle the edges of the underworld—where the work can be encountered in its opening movements, offering glimpses into the deeper layers held within the initiates’ chamber. it’s also a shared space for conversation, allowing you to stay connected and enter the wider field of the temple through the subscriber chat.
the initiates’ chamber: for those who feel drawn to step more fully into the underworld, this is where the work deepens and becomes more participatory—where its hidden layers are revealed, and what begins in the outer hall comes to completion. here you’ll have access to the full archive of erotic journeys and deeper transmissions, along with exclusive rituals, practices, and guided meditations.
the inner sanctum: for those seeking deeper personal guidance, the inner sanctum offers an oracular reflection on one question of your choosing—an opportunity to be met more directly within your underworld journey, and to experience a taste of what it’s like to work with me one-to-one in a way that’s not available elsewhere. this may also take the form of a feedback session on your own writing if you so desire.
wherever you choose to meet this work—in the outer hall, in the chamber, or within the sanctum—i’m honored to walk this path with you, and i’m so grateful to have you here.
if something in this transmission stirred recognition, curiosity, or even—and especially—discomfort, i’d love to hear about it in the comments below… this is an intimately held space, and i always love to know more about the beautiful souls who find their way into it.
and if someone comes to mind… someone brave enough to enter the underworld with you… please consider sharing this temple with them. this work is sacred and grows by invitation—your small acts of sharing ripple out into the field, helping this temple space continue to grow and flourish.
beneath the surface of waking life,
lies a temple of obsidian and firelight.
a dark lake stretches vast, silent, and deep,
reflecting the glimmering constellations
of a forgotten world.
a world of myth and erotic longing,
where the glittering stone walls whisper
the stories of those who have come before you—
of those who made their own descent
in search of truth, love,
and the self they could find only
in the darkest surrender.
welcome, sweet one,
to the underworld realm of dreaming so darkly.
☾
Persephone,
To be called a true siren sister by you feels like being recognised in the deep.
Thank you for holding up the Nigredo Hymn, for hearing the blood into wing in it, and for offering it to those who are ready to listen.
Your words are a soothing balm, much like a hand extended from the underworld with warmth, precision and without apology.
I have been writing from the meeting place of tide and blade in quiet anonymity, and to be seen by a voice that knows the same waters is a gift I will carry for all my life. I feel so very seen…
that has never really happened, not like this. I am honoured by your kindness. And support. With deep gratitude, love and as a sister from the depths.
~S✨
This reflection is so warm and generous, it only makes me all the more ecstatic to have found you. The timing genuinely feels so spot on ! I’m strapped in and so ready to explore your beautiful suggestions and to see what the month of August brings us. Thank you for your devotion and delicate compassion towards this craft, my otherworldly siren goddess ! I can hardly wait to follow you further into the darkness. Super congrats on 1k subscribers ♡