Hey ya’ll, and Happy Cancer New Moon to you and yours! I am writing to you the morning after Emergent Strategy Festival that was hosted by Mobile Moon Co-Op that took place at the lovely Tracy Aviary last night. We gathered for ceremony, shared meals, deep discussions, play and joy. I had such a sweet experience sharing my herbal gifts, offering free ear-acupuncture and connecting with others who care deeply about the world we live in.
Tabling this event was a big milestone for me! It was my first time tabling an event for my own business + sharing in a public space the herbal gifts that I make. It was also a big milestone for my physical + energetic body, especially given the rollercoaster of health challenges I’ve experienced the last few months. As many of you know (and to those who may not have been looped in), I had a pretty scary + severe medical event at the end of May that landed me in the hospital for a couple of days while I received blood transfusions.
I’ve mostly been tucked away this Spring season, tending to my body and emotions while watching the highlights of other people’s active season starting to take off. It’s been humbling and difficult to move at such a slower pace — but it’s a lesson I know I’ve been the rebellious student of for quite some time. So while I am still on the mend in many ways (brain fog, chronic pain and a slower moving body), being able to step out of my hermit rhythm into such a vibrant community festival was a Solstice blessing that I’m grateful to have been gifted.
Emergent Strategy
This festival was inspired by the book Emergent Strategy written, by adrienne maree brown who is one of the most potent liberatory thought leaders of our time + a self-described gardener of healing ideas. In the context of her writing, Emergent Strategy in its synthesized definition can be described as a strategy for building complex patterns and systems of change through relatively small interactions.
The principles of Emergent Strategy are:
Small is good, small is all. (The large is a reflection of the small.)
Change is constant. (Be like water.)
There is always enough time for the right work.
There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.
Never a failure, always a lesson.
Trust the People. (If you trust the people, they become trustworthy.)
Move at the speed of trust. Focus on critical connections more than critical mass — build the resilience by building the relationships.
Less prep, more presence.
What you pay attention to grows.
And to be quite honest, these are the principles I keep coming back to as I continue to stumble my way through this intense chapter of life in my body, as well as the chapter we are experiencing together as a collective body.
Collective Body Experience
In this current season of witnessing the genocide of Palestinian people unfold, watching multiple + unrelenting ecological devastations take place in all parts of the world (including my heart home), observing increased gun violence in our communities, seeing community members being stolen by ICE officers while wearing plain clothes and in unmarked cars, and one of the more recent evils -the bombing of Iranian civilians by the imperial powers. These imperial powers largely responsible for unsettling + stoking tensions in lands and people within our country and across the world.
Those of us in the west and living as the global minority are complicit in these atrocities. And/also/but those of us who are disturbed by our inability to opt out of being participants in systems of domination — we find ways to agitate, dismantle and resist. With powerlessness in one hand and determination for a better world in the other, we carry on with hope and despair living inside of our chests. Carrying these seemingly opposing truths is heavy, exasperating and vital work.
So how do we stay with it? How do we prevent burn-out and apathy from being what takes hold of our hearts? How do we continue to stay stacked over ourselves when the relentless destruction of our world makes prompts us to collapse?
Cancer Season Themes
This is honestly where a weaving of my astrology meditation, somatic practice and politicized studies come into play for my own praxis and dreams.
I’ve been sitting with the themes of Cancer Season — archetype of the crab, tidal waters and ruled by the Moon and the initiatory presence cardinal signs such as Cancer bring with them.
Crab - a tender hearted being that will go toe to toe (claw to claw?) to protect the home and family. A quick little critter who traverses from land to ocean and back again. A co-operative being who moves through life from its side body, working with fellow crabs to maintain safety, gather food and survive.
Tidal Waves - bodies of water moved by the Moon at a pace and rhythm we can all feel inside our own bodies when we slow down enough to sense. Bodies of water that ebb and flow, crash and thrash, kisses the shore and pulls away time and time again.
Cardinal Energy - the start of something new, the beginning of a chapter. These are the signs that mark new seasons, new energy shifts and bring with it the very emergent quality of time and transformation.
As I sit with these particular themes, I am reminded of a strategy that is as ancient as it is emergent. A strategy that is familiar to and can be found in many Indigneous lineages. A strategy I’ve met in my craniosacral studies, reinforced by my mentor Stevie and inspired by the writings + discussions of Bayo Akomolafe.
Facing the Tidal Wave from Our Side Body
In facing global polycrisis and an ever increasing sense of urgency, the strategy we might try on could look meeting the tidal waves of overwhelm from a metaphorical and literal sideline. As the tidal wave swells, it may be our impulse to run towards it with action, intent and precision. But what if when faced with peril, we shifted from running towards with our front bodies, but we practice being with the wave from our side body.
For those of us fortunate enough to be witnesses of harm from the side lines, imagine for a moment also shifting our bodies to the side. Allowing our side bodies to feel into the quality of what feels urgent, while listening for the sounds that stir beneath the initial impulse of terror. What could emerge if we allowed our front bodies to scan the landscape, linking arms with others who are also turning their bodies to the side and feeling our way through not with urgent direct action, but with something that we don’t quite have language for. Something that is slower but decolonial + revolutionary in nature?
We are in a marathon that none of us truly asked to be in. The proverbial tidal waves that scare us are here, and they are back to back. These waves will not be ending anytime soon. So how do we stay with the work of aliveness, even when we are being pummeled? We cannot stay sustained and curious and thirsty for another way to live if we are constantly positioning ourselves to be knocked down. Running face first into the crash is a sure way to be knocked down and thrashed around, dizzying and draining us in the process.
There is a time and place to unleash on the wave, but for many of us — how can we sense into when or what that moment is really made of? Maybe for many of us, our work is to steady + still ourselves enough to remember the perceptual skills of our side bodies. Maybe what we receive from this side body awareness gets to inform some potent pieces of our emergent strategy, helping us survive the monsoon we are in —keeping all of our dignity in tact along the way.
As We Navigate the Seasons
These are questions I am feeling my way through in my own body as I navigate my complex health journey, while also doing my best to stay present with the complex hurt in the greater world, too. If you find yourself in moments of extreme overwhelm, nearing the nervous system experience of collapse — this may be a perspective and practice your body could use also. Feel free to explore the somatic offering sharing in the video, the work of adrienne maree brown, Bayo Akumalafe and if you’re local to Utah — definitely check out the sweet care offerings of Mobile Moon Co-Op!
A Few Journal Reflections:
What might get to emerge when you feel into the strength of your side body?
What might get to emerge if you felt into the softness of your side body.
What is it that you are leaning into or away from with the sides of your body?
Who/when/where/what supports you from the sides?
When/where/what prompts you to lean in from the side?
When/where/what prompts you to lean in from the side?
What does your side body know + remember about leaning into the unknown?
Sending you all so much love and care during these tender times.
P.S. - I’ve had the capacity to plan + facilitate some low spoons plant walk events this summer season. Check them out here and join us when you can!
Share this post