Sacred Practices with Jane Austen
Mondays, 8:30-9:30pm ET
October 30th-December 4th, 2023
With Margaret H. Willison
This program is no longer accepting registrations.
Course Description
This autumn, join Margaret H. Willison (beloved Not Sorry faculty member and life-long Austen devotee) for six weeks of sacred reading in community focused on the works of Jane Austen. Following the pattern set by our successful Sacred Practices with Harry Potter course, Margaret will guide participants in this class through all six of Jane Austen’s novels (one per session) employing a variety of sacred reading tools. While familiarity with Austen’s novels, sacred practices, or both will be helpful to participants, neither is required. If you’ve never read Mansfield Park or heard of “floralegium,” you’re still welcome here: this class is about developing the muscle of sacred practice and building community, so your only necessary prerequisites are a warm heart and an open mind.
The Details
Tuition:
full price: $100
can’t quite afford full price: $80
full price + contribution to scholarship funds for class: $120
Dates: Mondays from 8:30-9:30pm ET for 6 weeks beginning on October 30th, ending on December 4th.
Recording: Classes will be recorded for later viewing, but the course is best experienced if you attend each session live.
Materials: Physical copies of Austen’s novels may be helpful, but won’t be necessary. Each week, we will share a link to a full-text version of the Austen novel we're engaging with that class.
Scholarships: Because this class is priced below cost, we cannot offer full scholarships. However, there are partial scholarships available, which you can apply for here.
Questions? Email Lara at lara@notsorryproductions.com with any questions! Please note that this email address could become lost in your spam folder, so it would be helpful if you add it to your address book.
Prep work or pre-reqs: None!
More Info
Each hour-long session of the class will open with a grounding practice and then move on to engaging with the week’s Austen through a sacred reading tool such as as sacred imagination, lectio divina, or floralegium. Pertinent details about both the practices and the novels will be shared quickly at top, either by Margaret or through modeling with experienced students. The majority of class will be spent as part of a large group, but there will be some opportunities for small group time as well. The primary goal is to create a weekly space for communal reflection, using our relationship with one another and the text to strengthen our practices of kindness, courage, and patience in our own lives.
This class, as is common in Not Sorry’s programming, relies on Jane Austen’s work as a communal reference point, but will not deify her, or necessarily position her as a moral authority. Instead, by rigorously discussing the texts, noting the ways they fall short or read differently with contemporary eyes, and processing these observations in community, we will use our relationship with Austen to perceive how we’ve developed and thereby better orient our own moral compasses.
Faculty bio
Margaret H. Willison
Instructor (she/her)
Margaret is a writer, podcaster, and full-time faculty member with Not Sorry Productions. She is one third of the inaptly named Two Bossy Dames newsletter, one third of the Appointment Television podcast, and a regular guest on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. She is completely unsure who she would be had she not been introduced to Jane Austen at a formative age, and has considered extensively which of Austen's heroines would most benefit from therapeutic invention (Fanny Price, closely followed by Elinor Dashwood).
She has led three Pride and Prejudice pilgrimages for Common Ground (two in Derbyshire and one virtual) and taught a number of classes focused on Austen’s work for Not Sorry Productions.