Resources

You can access all essays, seminars and online courses offered by Microanimism by subscribing to the members only part of the website via the link in the bottom right corner of the website. Scroll down for more info about online courses.

Online Courses

"I loved this course. It gave me a totally new way of thinking about everything. It had an unexpected and profound impact. The course material is rich. I have not even skimmed the surface. Siv is generous, engaging, clear, compelling."

— Previous course participant, Thinking Like a Plague

The Microanimism Trilogy

THINKING LIKE A PLAGUE

MICROANIMISM I: FOUNDATIONS

(8 video seminars, additional resources)

TLAP is your introduction to the microbial world both from a scientific and mystical perspective. In this course, we begin to interrogate the ancient nature of the smalls and how they have, and continue, to impact life in our universe and human lives at the individual level. This course contains foundation level information regarding biology, epistemological animism and basic ritual skills, and is the first sponge layer in the Microanimism three-tier cake.

MICROBIOLOGICAL DARK MATTER

MICROANIMISM II: APPROXIMATION

(8 video seminars, additional resources)

MDM is the second course in a three-part series and uses the information gathered during TLAP to leverage deeper exploration in the more esoteric aspects of microanimism. In the first course, we began to piece together an understanding of what we think we know, and what we know we don’t know. MDM turns attention towards and begins to palpate the edges of what we don’t know we don’t know.

AND SO, AD INFINITUM

MICROANIMISM III: REALIZATION

(8 audio recordings, additional resources)

The self is no more, long live the selves. And So, Ad Infinitum is the third and final part of the exploratory foundation course offered by Microanimism. ASAI departs from the tangible almost entirely. This set of work moves past structure, and steps away from human community. The third installment embraces story-telling, and re-definition of solitude. In microbial lands. You’re on your own, for this one.

The king of sunset

An exploration of the human relationship with SARS-CoV-2

(3 video seminars)

At no point during this course will I tell you how to behave, what you should or shouldn't do to survive or die. I'm not going to instruct you in how to make ritual contact with the virus, talk to it, make it offerings or anything along those lines.⁠ Rather, this series will be an attempt to explore how to reframe our own perspective of the pandemic, and the virus that is causing it. The end goal, therefore, is different for everyone - because we're all starting in different places. Right? This collection of teachings is an intellectual exercise in examining the cultural human reaction to SARS-CoV-2 (as opposed to the virus' interaction with us) with a microanimist's lens.⁠

The series is split into three different seminars which will cover, among other topics, the following:⁠
⁠
- where it came from, and why⁠
- what it wants, why does that involve killing us⁠
- aggression and defense⁠
- appeasement of the ineffable⁠
- initiations⁠
- stopping other living things from living⁠
- long-term disease

coming soon

biology for the otherworlds

Tuition in the biological sciences, designed for humans interested in microbial philosophy.

the venice treacle trilogy

Explorations in philosophies of disease

"I unabashedly loved this course. The course really delivered on content - we covered the kinds of science topics I’d thought we’d get into, in more detail than I’d imagined. In terms of the practical animism, it was a gentle but solid introduction that left a lot of room for personal exploration. As a dedicated Buddhist, I was expecting it to be more of an odd fit, but it turned out to offer a lot of enrichment for my existing practice. The moderate, considered pacing allowed me the space to figure out how to best navigate that. Also, Siv is fucking cool."

— Previous course participant, Thinking Like a Plague

 

"Dr. Watkins is a person of high integrity, genuine humility, depth of knowledge, and a cultivated sense of sarcasm. Her wisdom and embodied understanding of the smalls as they relate to human culture and life on Earth are highly recommended."

— Dr. Daniel Foor, Ancestral Medicine

 

course faqs

  • To our knowledge, this material is completely unique. It focuses specifically on microbial animism and within this scope incorporates aspects of biology and science as well as the ritual arts and ancestral relationships.

  • Welcome. While this is largely a woo-free zone, it can be difficult to wrap your head around alternative frameworks of relationship with not-human people if you’ve been trained academically in the hard sciences. We totally get it. This is not a dogmatic program and you can take what is helpful and leave anything that doesn’t resonate. Thanks for your curiosity.

  • Welcome. To paraphrase The Exorcist, “it doesn’t matter that you don’t believe in the Devil, he believes in you”. This course is not going to try and convince you that robust scientific research is worthy of your consideration, it kind of assumes you’re already there. That said, we hope that our discussions could help foster a deeper appreciation of the processes behind the structure that is Science with a capital ‘S’, and we will indeed also cover the shortcomings inherent therein. Thanks for your curiosity.

  • No previous knowledge or understanding of biology, animism or ritual is required.

  • Check out the testimonials page.