Living in the Field of

Beauty

Refresh your Creative Spirit:

Sensitize and orient to the Beauty in and around you.
A 5-week online journey into the Devotional Gaze.

Tuesdays 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 June on Zoom

7pm-8:30pm SAST/ 12pm EST/ 9am PST/ 5pm UK

An Invitation

Whether we're aware of it or not, we are in constant conversation with life.
There's an old idea across various indigenous traditions and the mystic poets that says the world wants to be admired by us. When we move through life without really seeing it for what it is, we withhold something the world needs. And our own access to beauty shrinks in the same motion.

Most westerners in big cities have learned to do exactly that. Our attention is annexed by screens and the relentless pressure to produce and perform and manage life, rather than having a good ole chinwag with it. This seemingly small change obscures our ability to relate to what is beautiful in life.

Beauty has been repackaged as something to purchase rather than perceive. It has been flattened into prettiness or perfection, leaving us hungry for something unnamed and largely forgotten. The soul needs beauty as the body needs food. Without it, we stop engaging with life and begin merely enduring it. We become numb.

Twenty five years ago I was initiated as a sangoma in Botswana and introduced to a different, older way of being in and relating to the world.

This course explores beauty as a practice in attention and perception. It is practical and reflective.

We won't be learning theory. Each week I'll introduce one idea. We'll sit with it during our online session. Then you'll go off with a small task woven into your existing week, a slightly different way of moving through what's already there. The practice builds on itself. Toward the end, the noticing becomes something: a piece of writing, a collage, a painting, whatever wants to be made. You move from receiving to responding. That movement is, I think, the whole point.

We'll work with beauty as a practice, specifically what the Carmelites called "a long, loving look at the real." The devotional gaze is simply what happens when you turn toward what's already present in the ordinariness of your life and actually meet it there.

By the end of five weeks you'll have a complete practice to return to throughout your life, a distinct way of engaging with beauty that becomes woven into how you move through the world.

"It (beauty) makes you want to evangelize!

Beauty is the quality of things seen for what they really are. If we could see the world as it is, perhaps it will all strike us as being sublimely beautiful. Maybe art is a matter of taking or framing little bits of the world and polishing them a bit so that the beauty that was inherent there can be available to others."

JF Martel (What beauty can do to the soul, youtube)

The Details

Who This Is For

Artists, writers, and makers who've lost a sense of inspiration or aliveness in their work
Anyone feeling tired, uninspired, or overcome by the grind of daily life
Perfectionists wanting to break the cycle of control and move toward a more integrous participation with life
Anyone seeking a deeper, more creative and nourishing orientation to the world

Please Note:

This is not a course in aesthetics or art appreciation. Nor is it an intellectual breakdown of classical philosophy, though we will weave in some of these concepts as part of the practice itself.

Join Us:

Tuesdays 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 June @ 7pm - 8:30pm SAST on Zoom

International: $180 USD
Early bird (until 30 April, 2025): $160
South Africa: $120
Early bird (until 30 April, 2025): $99

(For payment plans or direct payments, please email me anel.hamersma@gmail.com)

Includes:

Weekly practices, with supplementary readings and reflections for those who would like to dive deeper.
Each session follows a rhythm: reflection, teaching, contemplative exercises, and a daily practice to develop between sessions.

This course offers a framework, but the real work happens in the dailiness of your life. By the end of five weeks, you'll have a complete practice to return to throughout your life, distinct ways of engaging with beauty that become woven into how you move through the world.

My name is Anél

I've been a traditional African doctor for 25 years. My initiation dramatically reshaped my understanding of what it means to live in relationship—with the earth, with mystery and with the invisible threads that guide our lives.

I believe that many of the medicines we need today lie in the ways of seeing that pre-industrial cultures have practiced for milennia. I weave together ancient ritual, soulful tools, and creative practices to help people gently break free from the tamed constraints of modern life—without burning everything down in the process.

My work invites you into a quieter, more reverent way of being—one that honours your soul, your story, and your place in the greater living world with humour and heart.

FAQ's

Do I have to be an artist or creative person?
Not at all. This course is for anyone who wants to cultivate a deeper relationship with beauty—no artistic experience or creative background required.

What if I miss a session?
All sessions are recorded and available for one month after the course ends.

How much time will I need each week?
Besides the 90-minute live session, allow 15-30 minutes daily for the weekly practice—simple contemplative exercises woven into everyday life.

Is this a religious or spiritual course?
The course draws on contemplative traditions and includes spiritual language, but it's not tied to any specific religion. It invites your own sense of meaning and the sacred.

What if I start the course and find it's not for me?
Cancellations made up to 14 days before the start date receive a full refund minus a small processing fee. After that, we can discuss transferring to a future offering.