Siobhán Watkins is an academically trained microbiologist, ritualist, horse worker, and the founder of Microanimism: a platform for examining how human beings and human culture engage with microbial organisms. Microanimism, as a personal philosophical exploration of the author’s relationship with the Smalls, came into online existence in 2018, and Siv has been writing poems about phlegm ever since.
Between 2003 and 2018, Siv held professional positions in scientific industry, commercial, and academic research/faculty settings. Her doctoral studies, which she completed in 2011, were an examination of communities of bacteria in wastewater treatment systems. She has also specialized in conservation microbiology, freshwater pollution and bioremediation, environmental viral diversity, and the potential for human use of microbiomes and microbial communities in sustaining responsible stewardship of the extended natural environment.
In 2016, Siv became a student of ritual/esoteric arts and technology. In her ritual work with Microanimism, she is particularly drawn towards the edgier aspects of how the Smalls may offer a role in human occult practices. Philosophically, she is interested in exploring how ancientness, difficulty, violence and death act as communication between microbes and humans.
Originally from the UK, Siv now lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she manages a barn dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of ex-racehorses. She is an equine bodyworker and also writes about horses as liminal creatures, and facets of ritual.
"Siv has the fluency to navigate details and dimensions of life that aren’t being addressed elsewhere, with emotion and intellect intact, facts and unanswered questions, paved paths and tools to the unknown."
— Previous course participant