Align Your Orbit #69 — Story Tells
Align Your Orbit is a series of philosophical and somatic experiments to guide ourselves toward intentionality and impact. Synthesized after years of conversations and now with inspirations from MidJourney, we’re fully embracing our cyborg natures. Find delight in these journeys of exploration. If you would like to receive these offerings as an email on the new moon, sign up here.
With both Saturn and Neptune in retrograde, our relationships, subconscious, and dreams feel inspired, amplified, and poignant. Coupled with the emergence of more overtly restrictive government structures, it is more relevant than ever to work toward alternative styles of community support and development.
As we death doula this empire, remember that life is about the journey and not the destination. Create space for joy in the process of dissolution. Tend to the compost of the past knowing that growth will return in the future. Trust the cycles of life and resilience to reemerge microscopically and macroscopically. What you do matters. Who you are in this moment matters. You may never know the full ripple of your actions.
If you’d like to experience these recipes as a playlist, here’s the link.
New Experiments
1. nip this bud – When you experience difficult emotions, give yourself time and space to experience and transform sharpness. Once that’s done, do what you can to address what’s not working in relationships as quickly as possible. Explore when to walk away, when to be silent, when to agree to disagree, and when to seek resolution.
Challenge Mode: It’s not just people we need to set boundaries with. Invasive plants and fauna can cause significant damage to the diversity of a landscape. What does it look like to give more vulnerable species space and time to thrive? Take steps to mitigate damage happening in places you frequent.
2. reclaim autonomy – Denying someone the right to privacy is one of the most egregious forms of hostility. In contrast, facilitating a moment of privacy is revolutionary. Determine when you need to seek shelter and privacy for yourself. Get curious about possible ways you could provide it to other in moments of need.
Challenge Mode: Rather than tell people what not to do, curate spaces that invite the behavior you want. Create kind and thoughtfully worded signs, encourage participation, offer chalk instead of spray paint. Meet people where they are and believe in the inherent goodness of consciousness.
3. catalyze anger – Anger need not be destructive—it, too, is a catalyst for growth. If we only push anger down or refuse to feel it, we miss out on an opportunity to evolve. Invite your anger into your spiritual practice, call in your guides to witness the energy you have, and learn how to weave it into what fuels you. Your sense of injustice exists for a reason—trust that sensation.
Challenge Mode: Practicing cosmic kindness and tough love is tricky. While you don’t want to overstep or project your reality onto someone else, sometimes it is necessary to let someone face the consequences of their own actions. Shielding someone from every consequence disrupts the cause-and-effect cycles. Approach with empathy and hold space for transformation but also trust yourself to set boundaries and step out of an interaction that only continues to harm all parties involved.
4. honor burnout – As we face more and more crisis and disaster, our ability to hold space for ourselves and others becomes limited. Chart or otherwise acknowledge what changes your energy levels and how long recovery lasts. Predict before beginning a new endeavor how many spoons it will require. Adjust your offerings accordingly when something begins to take up too much space. Trust that your energy will ebb and flow naturally.
Challenge Mode: Rest is necessary, but hiding will drain your energy. Bring your fears out in the open, be radically vulnerable, and take chances. Your greatest desires wait for you to be confident in wanting them.
Andra’s Recap of Space to Breathe
The experiments last cycle had to do with re-sensitization, collective screaming, spreading wealth around, and pushing the edges of your own abilities.
While I didn’t take trips this month, there were several notable moments that felt like they changed me. For instance, the threshold we crossed in criminalizing camping in cities and other decisions made by the Supreme Court rocketed us into a new era, and I’m not happy about it. However, I was able to use that anger as fuel to help support some protests in my area and hand out supplies to the people who were directed affected by the decisions.
Additionally, I had extended family in town for two weeks, which was a lot to juggle at the same time. I am very proud of the commitments I made to not mask while they were around. I couldn’t hold space for their potential discomfort with my emotions. I feel like that was the right choice. (Not to mention that I fearlessly wore drag in front of them on the way to a protest.)
And then, in the past few days, there has been a lot of grief and relief in the air. Two pets I cared for crossed the rainbow bridge and are no longer suffering. Any time there is a death, I feel like a changed person. I am holding myself tender in the days that follow.
The collective rage of the United States’ outright descent into fascism is so present, and I am grateful to everyone who is doubling down on their desires to build community outside of those structures. We are all going to be making some difficult decisions about how to opt in and out of these systems, and it will probably only get more treacherous from here.
In thinking about how I bring a sense of safety with me wherever I go, I have been more diligent about bringing some stones and jewelry that I feel is magical with me in my go-bag. I have also tried to stop using the word “safe” in most contexts, understanding that it’s always an illusion. I’ve been getting more curious about what it looks like to learn to spiritually and emotionally protect myself instead.
Given that I have been doing a lot of work with the mutual aid communities in my area, I had many opportunities to spread abundance around. Many folx have been generous in their donations to the cause, and I’ve watched many comrades put their bodies and freedom on the line to support more vulnerable community members. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
In helping to organize the protest—and even getting a chance to set up a disaster sanitation toilet—I definitely would say that I expanded the realm of what I feel I am capable of. While the event was organized non-hierarchically, I held a lot of emotional space, calculated all the supplies we would need, and executed a plan in a way I’ve never done at that scale before. I felt good about both the urgency we were working with and what we called into being as a result.
I’ve spent a lot of time this month thinking about all the disparate things I’ve done in my life, and I find myself craving a more cohesive story of myself. And yet, as I’ve thought about it, I can trace everything I do back to a desire to tend both love and grief in all their forms. I crave offering others a release from their suffering and holding space for all the shapes that process takes. I’m not entirely sure where that realization will take me from here, but I like where this journey has led me so far. I feel proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m grateful for the people around me who make it possible for me to keep living with an open heart.
I, like everyone else in this existence, am a walking miracle. <3
We hope you enjoy this cycle’s experiments!