a time's digest
my high-level take on what is happening. & yes, what you are seeing is real.
hey babes,
it’s me! let’s get into it.
back in february ‘24, i was planted in caracas, venezuela sitting before la Waraira Repano, the gorgeous mountain range that presided over my birth, writing (what i thought would be) my next newsletter - “on being principled vs. perfectionist”. i was trying to bring words to this question of what are “the fundamental truths and beliefs” we anchor in as the contradictions of capitalism and colonial realities become bigger and wider and more untenable in their fights to survive and further congeal. what keeps us oriented towards building new systems and collective power in fabricated disorientation? in the small fractal moments and in the big power plays? venezuela brought me deep into these questions.
my whole life i have felt tormented by the specific flavor of perfectionism force fed to me here on occupied turtle island, but specifically since i came into political consciousness almost 2 decades ago. the “united states” based perfectionism and its obsession with moral purity. tormented, i tell you. i see it and feel it eating at any chance of a sustainable big (enough) social movement coming out of the imperial core. i know many see it, point to it, warn about it. and i know we need to hold onto greater orientation points to keep us together (while in right relationship).
greater vision on greater collective goals 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
i’ll leave that there. happy to talk about this with whoever wants to continue to fidget with these ideas (and worries lol) with me.
i want to say a few words on “what time it is on the clock of the world?” (rip grace lee boggs i love you thank you 🕯️) from my vantage point.
the times are troubling, my friends. they are ripe, and they are troubling. i know you know this. but i want to affirm to you, that what you perceive is happening on a global/earthly scale… is in fact REAL. we have no institutional authorities in place to affirm to us the level of collective crisis and conflict (and possibility) we are in so we must do so for each other.
i want to look you in the eye, sense into your heart, and say to you - yes… it is real. yes. IT IS REAL. until it sinks in and your self-trusting nature settles.
YES, there are great battles being fought right now and more being waged. onto us, before us, below us, above us. our ancestors and spirits have been/are in this battle with us (feed them). the land is in battle. our bodies and spirits are in battle. this is a material reality conflict and a spiritual conflict. AND YES IT IS REAL.
*breath*
YES. there is a blanket of anxiety draped on all sentient beings right now. the earth feels it and so do we. all of our nervous systems and spirits. even those we don’t “politically agree with”. yes they feel it too. (can you feel the compassion building? it’s okay if not yet.)
and YES there are big power strategies that have been moving (relatively) underground for decades whose faces we will begin to see more clearly.
and i truly don’t say this to scare you. i don’t think perpetuating fear is helpful. i know your body already knows this. i hope to break thru the gaslighting effects of this colonial reality and remind you of what you already sense and know. YES IT IS REAL.
i also say this because the quicker we can accept this, the quicker we can move from reacting to it to RESPONDING to it. do you feel the somatic shift? the acceptance brings a type of digestion that helps shift our posture towards a more dignified, choice-filled one. a more centered, prepared, root to the ground, fire in the heart, chest forward, spiritual eye open, energy protected and generous, type of stance. that’s what i feel. and in our responsiveness we are also more free (I write more about this in my last newsletter).
and we are dignified here, my people. we are expressions of the most sacred. and we can create the most sacred. amidst the inevitable suffering that life guarantees us.
astrologically, the stars are saying this. with collective planets making enormous changes that will bring a Fire (Saturn and Neptune in Aries) and Air (Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini) domination to our collective skies, we are to expect heightened war, collective and interpersonal conflict, manipulation and advancements of technology, and the tightening of controlling ideologies. I expect you sense this already.
we are also to expect heightened awarenesses of autonomy, instincts to fight for our/all bodies, calls for practicing digital hygiene and moving offline, innovative strategy building, deepened solidarity, and what Naike Swai named as the strengthening of the collective mind with this Pluto in Aquarius. as they said, we have the possibility for the greatest collective power, but we must claim it.
and YES FRIEND, these colonial realities are not destined (as much as their PR machines try to convince us). they are formed by our consent too. to find strength and resolve to reject, disinvest and redirect, i look to revolutionary ancestors to find proof otherwise. notably, i am calling in and blowing smoke prayers out for our revolutionary African kin in the Haitian revolution who broke through the cruel European colonial reality of chattel slavery and set off revolutions throughout the world (including Venezuela’s independence from Spanish colonialism [ongoing]). for the Haitian revolution, Saturn was in Aries and Pluto was in Aquarius ❤️ among many things, an expression of profound love, vision and protection for their own body-mind-spirits, those of their loved ones, and the greater collective. a spear break thru a suffocating reality towards the belief and actualization of another.
this is my invitation. to follow the practices that will help you digest this reality (especially those of us in winter, as we can) and open up space to the possibilities of personal and collective power ever growing inside, between, and around us. space for the ways you are being called to participate. taking care of our own and each others’ body-mind-spirits, deepening our practices for compassion, building up our protections (spiritually, physically, internet-ally), tapping in to our material realities and networks, and clarifying our principles and ideals. as much as we must feel and be, the energies are also one’s where we must do.
(feeling is doing… and so is grieving)
*deep breath*
*deep breath again like… seriously focus on that full inhale and full exhale if that feels right*
i love you!
my hope is that this activates the warrior in you born to meet these times. and while i do mean the warrior that works with fire and the warrior that works with air to alchemize and redirect the energies being wielded, i also mean the warriors of the underrepresented energies. the warriors of the waters. and the warriors of the earth. the warriors of our most inherent dignity. what does this mean for you? i’ll share more what that means for me in newsletters to come.
༄꩜༄꩜༄꩜
finally, I want to say -
i am here with you. i am holding this awareness with you. and i am cultivating in me a strength to remain present, loving and agile. and if i can be of greater support, i want to be.
i see my coaching as a key intervention i am offering to this moment. because so many of us need support feeling into how we want to be and what we want to do in times of such magnanimous change. and while i can share my insight if you ask for it, the centerpiece of my coaching is to hold a mirror back to you and ask you what you, your guides, your body, your ecosystems have to say to your own existential questions and desires. hmu if your spirit calls 📞
༄꩜༄꩜༄꩜ sharing some more resourcing
📷 near Ortiz, Venezuela en el Estado Guarico
❁ made you this Spotify playlist 😘 (lmk if u want the track list)
❁ DeleteMe: a reputable service that deletes your data from search engines and data broker sites
❁ “Stay Strong” - Alexis Pauline Gumbs (essay)
❁ Socialist Reconstruction - A Better Future for the United States (book)
༄꩜༄꩜༄꩜ & a few more pics from when i was home because i want to
me last winter, finally home in the place where my life began. happy as a clam. praise be these lands.
mundane offerings to the sacred
departure. to be remedied again soon.
alright, my loves.
I do love you/us. so let’s get it. by it i mean all these tears. by it i mean all these prayers. by it i mean strategies for collective power building. by it i mean the joy and sweetness and dancing and art making that carries us through. by it i mean safety and belonging for everybody. by it i mean free.
in steadfastness & solidarity <3