Initiate Yourself: Recipes for Evolution in July 2020

Theme for July – “I Am Prepared to Make a Thousand Mistakes”

As two white priestesses, poets, and activists in our community, it is difficult to take up reality bandwidth with anything other than the historical racial justice movement happening right now. However, we feel strongly that we want to continue to support our communities in all their diversity and are prepared to make a thousand mistakes as we venture more visibly into the realm of standing in solidarity with our black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) allies, acting as traitors to systems that harm them.

Below you will find ways to take action and recharge based on the role you play in your communities. We believe in you and your ability to take a stand with transparency and willingness to be wrong.

I recently did a tarot and oracle card draw and asked, under what conditions should humanity be allowed to exist? The answer was change of course, magic, and wholeness. How are you embodying each of those conditions in everything you are doing now?

Title quote from the poem, “Characteristics of White Supremacy” by Gabrielle Hancher, member of High Priestesses of Poetry

Experiments for July

1.      Upgrade Temporary Solutions – We are all still dealing with a global pandemic, and we need to make peace with the ways it’s sticking around. What temporary adjustments did you make that now need more permanent reimagining? Consider this with relation to your space, your risk tolerance, your eating habits, your exercise, and your routine.

Challenge Mode: While the protests for George Floyd have made significant and visible progress, targeting police brutality alone does not call out systemic causes, and large systemic changes have not happened. What does it look like to call out the prison system, the economic disparity, the corporate interests in government, and the lack of environmental reform in addition to police violence? Recognize that, as an individual, you only have so much time, money, and influence, so take the issues one level above you. Ask organizations to match your donations, write to people with political power, talk to your families.

2.      Earn and Own Your Authority – Now, more than ever, you are called to use what power you have to upgrade global, overarching narratives. Where have you been hesitant to speak with authority? Look at the circles you navigate and identify the unique language and perspectives you provide. Recognize that you earn authority when you are transparent about your implicit bias, the narratives you operate within, and how your identity aligns with your cause. You earn authority when you participate in current events and stay up to date on new information. Experience alone is not enough. Where have you earned your authority? How can you become a causal, confident leader in your communities? Where and when is it more appropriate for you to pass the mic?

Challenge Mode: Seek out reflection and feedback from people in your life about your leadership style and influence. In what ways do you require buy-in or translation for what you say? How easy is it for the people you speak with to embody and embrace your ideas? Listen to trusted opinions with grace and don’t focus on refuting what they have to say. Explore how you will incorporate their feedback in your daily practices and language.

3.      Unfortunate Catalyst, Impressive Benefit – Both the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd are terrible events to live through. However, between the dramatic changes to our lifestyles and the global protests to end police brutality, the transformations possible now are greater than they ever have been. How does leaning into problems and irritations personally catalyze change in a way nothing else would? Sink into the discomfort and see what gems you uncover through intentional work and sacrifice.

Challenge Mode: We all have stories about ourselves regarding what we are not good at. Maybe you talk about how you aren’t flexible, how you aren’t good at math, or how you have trouble with spatial reasoning. Oftentimes, exploring those areas of discomfort and seeking out ways to disprove those statements presents exceptional access to novelty and growth. What steps could you take to prove one of the stories you have about yourself false?

4.      Activism and Implicit Bias – So we want to be activists. So we want to take these causes seriously and prove ourselves allies. Intention matters, but so does impact. Our first step to playing a potent role in these issues is to educate ourselves if we do not have lived experience of what we are acting against. For white people who want to become anti-racist, sign up for this #dothework program by @Rachel.Cargle on Insta (it’s free, but please consider donating if you find the program useful). Additionally, Project LETS also offers a by-donation recording of “Solidarity as Practice,” which focuses on tools to engage sustainably in anti-racist work for white people who are disabled and/or neurodivergent. You may also be interested in taking this implicit bias test from Harvard. Also, realize that, after educating ourselves, we need to consider talking to our families. By not talking to them, we are asking others to take on that labor for us.

Once we have educated ourselves and our families, here are some next steps to take based on the roles we individually play in a crisis. Keep in mind that the new paradigm in activism is shift work; don’t burn yourself out or you will become a burden to your cause. Stay strong and listen to media by BIPOC organizers and allies to recharge and arm yourself with useful talking points (I highly suggest the documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay on Netflix).

Webcatcher – You want to be on the front lines of everything and so have likely already been out to several protests. Great work! As the protest energy dwindles, consider innovative ways to get the message out there. Make plastic cup word art on freeway overpasses or suggest a protest at your local prison. For self-care, sit down for a minute and watch media of other people taking a turn on the front lines. You are not alone!

Star-reader – Because of your interest in patterns, you have identified the positive changes the protests have made but are now anxious about how to keep momentum going. Find ways to increase the longevity of these conversations. Encourage patterning in others around setting aside 30 minutes of time a day to support a cause, even if that’s just writing an email. For self-care, take a break from the news cycle and limit exposure to social media.

Tender – With all the energy rolling around from the protests, Covid-19, and Mercury retrograde, you are likely worried about a lot of people around you. Make a few phone calls to friends in the coming weeks and support how they are standing up to oppressive systems and having difficult conversations with family. For self-care, set up a regular grounding or yoga practice alone or with a few loved ones online.

Storyteller – While creativity may be a struggle right now, you likely have a lot of energy toward documentation and journalism, even if only on social media. Write blogs and draft emails for your friends and family to send in with petitions for change. For self-care, try another form of art such as sculpting, crocheting, drawing, or painting.

Dragonwaker – Recognizing that police brutality is only a symptom of a much larger problem, you are eager to tackle and call out the systemic roots. Speak out in protest groups and on social media about directing attention to the injustice of the prison system and corporate involvement in law. When someone invites feedback, take the opportunity to call out exclusive language and a lack of transparency. For self-care, turn inward and focus only on your own household for a full day. Recognize the wealth of pleasure available to you there.

Plecostomus – While you understand the necessity of the anger, violence, and destruction happening after George Floyd’s murder and the resulting riots, you can’t help but want to help with the clean-up process. Organize a fundraiser to help the areas most damaged (Black Visions does a great job of doling out excess donations to other nonprofits that need it more) or hold space for those injured or teargassed at protests. For self-care, speak to a therapist or trusted friend about the empathetic impact all this has had on you.

Crystallizer – You want to be out there supporting the people still in the streets but may be afraid of the consequences of exposing yourself or others to Covid-19. Consider handing out water bottles, snacks, and masks on the sidelines of a local rally. Keep morale and energy high. Add your voice to people who have new or interesting demands for change. For self-care, treat yourself to a bath or time in the sunshine.

Oracle – You feel in your bones that the pandemic and the riots are not going to be the only massive worldwide calls for change to happen this year. While it is good to prepare, don’t get too hung up on what match will light the tinderboxes we are all standing on. Treat everyone you meet with love as though this may be the last time you will see them. Be brave and full of pleasure in all its forms. For self-care, start or look back through your gratitude journal.

To wrap this section up, here’s an inspirational poem about the future by Roger Reeves.

Please tell us how these experiments are working for you! We would love to hear from you at r/highpriestesses. (Yes, dragonwakers, this is a chance for you to speak up!)

Recap of June’s Experiments

The offerings for June included sustainable hedonism, showing imperfections, dividing your attention, and increasing the comfort in your immediate spaces, especially spaces where you interact online.

I have been continuing to read Pleasure Activism, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. My favorite passage I have read recently was, “I would venture to say that all who are self-employed are tapping into some kind of faith or spiritual practice” (quote by Nenna Joiner). This really resonated with me because, in being self-employed, I must constantly be in conversation with my own motivation and what I want to bring into the world, and that is a dialogue with the sacred within me.

I also got very frustrated this month with how I have been placating my pleasure centers. I would frequently take the easy way out rather than talk to my partners about what I actually wanted them to do with me, and I got very tired of that and all my sex toys, so I decided to stop doing anything until my body demanded that I act. It took almost a week before the ache got bad enough that I was able to push past my blocks and experiment with a partner in a way that brought me satisfaction. It was well worth the effort and stubbornness.

Showing my imperfections has been really important in the realm of activism work this month. I have needed to own the ways I wasn’t showing up enough for BIPOC in the past and call out the ways in which my own family members have perpetrated racist violence both physically and verbally. I needed to recognize the traits in my family that needed to die, especially our tendency toward elitism, and that was really hard. I am now very careful with valuing my family above other families just because… blood.

Regarding divided attention, I gave myself permission to do other activities while playing online board games with friends this month, and that was a blast. I worked on several crocheting projects for the first time and felt great about feeling productive between turns. During our recap conversation, Ash also talked about how, for her, it’s more useful to think of multitasking as using two different systems of the body and/or mind rather than overloading one system with several tasks at once. That way, you promote more engagement, not less, and I loved this framing.

To increase the comfort I experience in my space, I rearranged my room twice last month. The first time was primarily motivated by fear and anger as I had a dispute with one of my housemates and decided to move my desk out of the shared office and into my room so I could better isolate myself if I needed to. While that was an important way for me to take space at the time, I didn’t have the ability to make thoughtful decisions because I made the transition so quickly. At the end of the month, I took about five hours to rearrange everything again so that my desk could be by the window and away from the vent (because I get chilly), and I have a lot my floor space and a lot more functionality now.

Regarding facilitating new events, I am thinking about hosting an online group called Queer and Kink Curiosities where four leaders will talk about what their most recent explorations in that vein have been and give the participants time to try them out or reflect on those ideas themselves. Stay tuned for more info!

Thanks for checking out July’s recipes! Stay safe out there, but don’t be afraid to tell the world how you want it to transform.