How to consult the Grimoire

The exercises you find in this Grimoire can be used with small or larger groups, and in different situations. We tested them in workshops with kids or students as well as teams of civil servants or employees of an institution. They have been useful in developing a new vision for our organisation, in imagining a new project, or in re-enchanting the distribution of household tasks at home. We have also used them just for the pure pleasure and sensations they provide.

Some instructions are to be taken literally, and a mistake in the protocol or recipe can be fatal. Other games and activities are played in a more approximate and intuitive way.

Although we believe it is important for each person to develop their own style, we advise taking all this very seriously. It is not about imposing a form of austerity or authoritarianism, it is about experimenting properly: with commitment and belief. Believing that you can see the future, that you can make it happen, believing that these activities can 'help'. This is not a new religion, nor is it a way of getting rid of criticism. On the contrary: we feel that experimental futurology is a form of criticism and distancing from the very conditions of our existence and our daily lives.

So in terms of the know-how necessary to lead a group, we advise seriousness – which does not prevent derision or humour of course. There is no need to act like a teacher or a clown, although neither posture is excluded nor ridiculous. We quite like the image of the nature guide who invites a group to wander and leads the walkers from caves to summits.

How to build your own menu

We fried our analytical brains in order to group the exercises in different phases. We filed every exercise in one of these phases. However, we are in a chaotic field where inspiration, insight, context and relational dynamics are important. Therefore you might find that a certain exercise is useful in an entirely different phase than the one where we filed it. In short: disorder has its qualities, and your freedom is precious, so don't hesitate to mix and reorder to your own taste.

We also added a collection of general tools to support the group in its cooperative work, and some effects to modulate the atmosphere. Once you have selected your basic menu, sprinkle them over the dishes to tweak the energy of the group with precision and care.

To guarantee a better stay in the future and a fruitful return to the present, we highly recommend building a trajectory that passes through these phases chronologically. Of course you can always try different recipes out of sequence, but you may run into problems. Logically, it's difficult to explore or develop possible futures, let alone simulate them, if you have not invented them in the first place. So to build your own menu or exercise pathway (to prepare a session or workshop), start by choosing exercises from the 1st phase, add some from the 2nd and so on. In our experience it's very satisfying for groups to go through all these steps. Analysing the present, inventing new possibilities and then trying to simulate them, feels like you have travelled far and wide.

However, in some cases it can be wise to disregard this wise advice. When there is little time, or when the group is inspiring it, you could skip phases 1 and 2 for example, to start by proposing an imagined future and taking it from there. Or in case you find yourself in a desperate need to liven up your birthday party, don't hesitate to pick an exercise from this book randomly to provide some original entertainment.

Whatever you do, it is always advisable to return to the present at the end.

Postscriptum

This menu will be served in various contexts. It can last a day or a week – or a year in case you start a more ferocious quest. You may need spaces, country houses, haunted mansions or a simple kitchen to accommodate the participants. But in any case, there will be all the moments in between the different dishes: moments of being or living together, like sleeping, breakfast, coffee-breaks or dinner. These are moments of community and we cannot stress their importance enough. Celebrate the importance of spending good times together by embellishing the menu with parties, walks, a wellness centre, a costume case...

This Grimoire is designed for testing the plasticity of reality together, using these recipes and spells, and some of your own inventions. In short, it is a matter of unearthing the good old ancestral advice of mixing art and life.