Align Your Orbit #87 - Torque the Fulcrum
Align Your Orbit is a series of philosophical and somatic experiments to guide intentionality and impact. 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.
In a changing world, balance is not only constant motion but is a continual series of pivots in the explorations of all extremes. We’re shifting into our full range of motion as we uncover the depths of our capacity, dreams for the future, and modes of collaboration.
When you’ve exhausted all options, leverage the balance point itself. Flip the script, change the game, throw a wrench. Find the threshold at which change is possible, and the resources will naturally flow.
Want to experience these experiments as a playlist?
New Experiments
1. color-coded creation – Block off some time this cycle to take one overarching schema and make it beautiful. Change your calendar labels to a beloved color palette, rename your digital storage folders, or reorder your closet. It’s time for a reset. Stave off the stagnation.
Challenge Mode: Where possible, block off several hours a week or even a whole day to give the gift of unscheduled time. This doesn’t mean you won’t be productive—you might get even more done when you allow yourself to surprise you. What do you naturally want to create when you allow spontaneity?
2. to summon your souls – Odds are, you don’t need convincing anymore that immoral actions are being perpetrated on the daily. Give yourself time to unplug from the bad news and trust that, when faced with the opportunity, you will act in the best interest of everyone around you. You’ve cultivated your empathy for diversity—now trust it. Be the hero when the moment is right, and until then, find less flashy and more sustainable ways to support the resistance.
Challenge Mode: Your moment will come, and when it does, you’ll need more options than fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Practice asking questions. This is your best tool to buy yourself time and encourage the other person to introspect. It doesn’t even matter what the question is—just break the freeze. (Thanks, Kasia Urbanik!)
3. stare unflinchingly at your superpower – As discussed in Wild Mind by Bill Plotkin, there are parts of you protecting you from your power until the war of childhood is over. But if you are no longer in consistent and active danger, it’s time to face your fears and see them as spotlights on places where your power is hidden. You know how to use your morbid fascinations with discernment now—trust yourself to pick up the torch.
Challenge Mode: Your dreams also shine spotlights on aspects of hidden power, pulling in people, places, and situations to work through the obstacles on your path. Remember that Carl Jung says you are everyone in your dreams, each character played by a part of you. Use this to find the undiscovered shadows of your psyche. There are gifts for you in even the darkest, most detestable corners. Your monsters are waiting for your compassion before they will come to your aid.
4. and alchemize entropy – We’ve all been told that aging hurts, that, as we get older, our bodies deteriorate. And, while that is true to a degree, we don’t have to accept it as inevitable. Pain is not a given—pain is a signal that something needs to change. Meditate on the root cause, surrender to the pain temporarily, and ask the pain what message it has for you. Your whole being quiets once you stop to hear the language underneath words.
Challenge Mode: We are a social species for a reason. We aren’t meant to do this alone. When you’ve run out of ideas on how to shift a situation, tell someone you’re tapped. You’ve used the resources available to you and need to externalize. There is wisdom and bravery in admitting when you are at the end of your rope.
andra’s Recap of Fluid Refraction
The experiments for the previous moon cycle included reality as waking dream (challenge mode: invite the ancestors, descendants, and entities), bring inside outside (challenge mode: honor gut reactions), ask for backup (challenge mode: stand in the way), and allow others to accept their own agency (challenge mode: relish in abundance).
One of my mentors said that every time a group of people comes together, the goal is to change reality in some way, even if only for a short period of time. I see everything in that lens now. How are the events I plan attempts at shifting what we know to be real? I put a lot of intentional time into designing the rites of passage I want to go through as I become a parent, and I have done everything in my power not to abdicate my opportunities to make waves, even in simple virtual meetings. We are the dream.
I started reading It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn at my therapist’s recommendation because I have a stubborn, long-term belief that I am here on this planet to atone for something. As that belief has only led to guilt and unhealthy self-sacrifice, it’s time to face it head on. I’ve been working with some of my ancestors in meditations (even those still alive) to heal some of the originating traumas that caused their patterns of violence. Approaching with compassion has been a challenge, but I can feel the ways my body is loosening in the process.
For whatever reason, I’ve felt some resistance to changing my altars lately, but I did redesign a full room, our temple room, which feels like the seat of my magic. That room now feels fresh and clean and new in the best ways. I’m hoping that inspiration from that room will ripple out into the rest of my spaces in the coming months.
I’ve been more carefully evaluating what I actually want to share with others and what is simply a compulsion toward undue transparency. I’ve held my tongue on more than one occasion when I think of a relevant story because, really, I’m not sure I’m ready to tell it. I know many others are working on expressing themselves more accurately, but that hasn’t been an issue for me. I want to be more discerning about what I share and why I’m sharing it.
Regarding requesting back up, I’m manifesting a collaborative partner to work with me to bring non-hierarchical governance styles to the Portland area, and it’s a work in progress. I don’t think they will show up until the end of this year or next year, when I really get my consulting practice going. But, in the meantime, I’m making sure that my clients are fully participating in the process to reclaim their agency and distribute power throughout an organization, and it is deeply satisfying.
This cycle, the riparian area I have adopted got reported for its stormwater management, which was ultimately a neighbor complaining to state agencies in a way that they hoped would sabotage the project. In collaborating with the concerned state agencies, the whole situation actually worked out in my favor, as the entity that gave me the permit is now under investigation for poor remediation of the water coming off the freeway. Thanks, neighbor! But, yes, I feel the way that surveillance is quickly becoming the norm, and continual and visible disruption is key.
My whole theme for this year is “Relish,” so I will be bringing the idea that my ancestors would want me to enjoy this abundance into the coming months, especially as we bring a little one into the world. I have deeply appreciated the permission to accept support and help with regard to baby registry items and neighbors offering time and labor when we had a rat problem in the bunny barn. I trust that my contributions to the community, both past and future, will reinfuse the gift economy around me.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy this moon cycle’s experiments!