It was a hard time, then as it is now, even if in a different way. However, as she and others say, it is important to try move forward and never give up. “I did, and I'm continuing to do what I have always done despite the first and the current lockdown,” she told us. “I'm a writer and, therefore, when I'm not traveling, I'm at home reading, studying, writing, and talking to people—like now.” “If the battery is low, she added, one has two options: walk or go to sleep. For the second, the mind, even if we don't perceive it, keeps working for us—but at least the problems stay outside. When you wake up, you can look for answers. Sometimes this won't work, but that's okay. Uncertainties are also important for the life of each of us.”
The intuitions of Atwood, an award-winning writer and visionary, often border on prophecy. As a passionate scholar of tarot cards, she reminds us that the 18th arcanum is dedicated to the Moon and indicates a period of uncertainty. "The moon is standoffish and can delude you, but as an arcane it is neither negative nor positive," she explains. "Rather, it presents any hindrances or benefits of certain periods of life." The moon, therefore, tells us of all the influences behind facts and situations, which sometimes are even more powerful than what we immediately see. “When it comes out in a tarot spread, remember—you have to look beyond appearances to come to understand what to do.” And this should always be a rule of life. "The Moon indicates that what cannot be seen may be more important than what we think we have under our eyes." It is connected to "feminine energy and intuition," recalls the writer, as well as the biological rhythms of water, tides, feminine cycles, and the passage from life to death. It reflects the light of the sun and takes us to a night in which, when there, illuminates everything. However, we must not forget that the Moon's world “is also the world of dreams, imagination, and the unconscious.” The moon shows only one face. But the part that remains invisible "is certainly the most important because it symbolizes all that is hidden and, above all, the mystery of the soul." Atwood reminds us that the song "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana recites: "Like the moon, you are changeable." She very much loves the poetic texts of Carmina Burana that can bring to life, in both those who sing and listen to them, a mystical experience, to say the least.
Also lunar is the intimate landscape she describes in "Power Exercises", a short but precious collection of poems that she wrote in 1971. The Italian translation by Silvia Bre was recently released by the publishing house, Nottetempo.
“I love you in compartments and when you work,” she writes in one of these poems. We immediately make that sentence ours. Atwood's voice shows fidelity, honesty, and freedom from the boundary of time. It condenses interiority and history in the encounter/clash between man and woman, people who are enough on their own, but can complete and help each other when they are together. In another poem she writes: "'I approach this love/like a biologist/putting on my rubber/gloves and white lab coat." In reading it we cannot but think that, in reality, Atwood is first of all a biologist and a pre-Greta environmentalist (since the 1970s). She is greatly committed to advocate for the environment "because it guarantees us the three fundamental things we need: air, water, and food." “Yes, I'm an environmentalist and a feminist, but—she points out before saying goodbye—I don't depend on artists or scientists. It's important for a good political leader to be able to receive advice from them, yet he/she then has to know how to make his/her own way.” In saying this she also adds that she is very happy that Trump has been defeated. “We need creative thinking,” she adds, and art more than ever can help us find our way back to a future where lights and shadows can coexist and thrive with each other. “Today, all artists and not just them, refer to the Internet. We can't help ourselves without it. It has improved us, but over the years its use has changed a lot and it's all a swarm of porn, fake news, and political statements. It's so different from when it was invented. However, we must also consider the fact that when inventions become bigger than us, we risk losing control, and mistakes can follow. History teaches us this. Think of the primitive men discovering fire: if you are not careful, the flame can burn you. The same still applies today. So we should pay the utmost attention to everything we do.”