🌗 November Quarter Connections
"Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them." — Kwame Nkrumah
Today is the Final Cosmic Collage! (👻 ALL SOULS 👻 Edition)
This is my last offering for 2023. Also, the last time I offer a cosmic collage workshop! I hope you can join for this final spooky edition! On Zoom (and recorded) :: Sunday 11/5 :: 1–3:30pm ET :: $23. 🌟 REGISTER HERE🌟
Hey friends
This is a short note because I’m at my length limit for this email – because too many memes (no such thing!).
I hope that you’re finding ways to stay centered and clear (and that you turn to trusted people, places, and practices when you can’t). As usual, below are some things I’ve noticed recently. If you don’t have energy for all that, I invite you to listen to this episode of the Ten Percent Happier Podcast. In it Dan and DJ (one of the TPH producers) listen to and discuss three simple & essential strategies outlined by the very wise Kaira Jewel Lingo “for when the news is overwhelming.”
My strategies: I’m reminding myself that 1) it’s okay to feel not okay AND it’s also okay to feel okay… the important part is to feel what’s truly happening within me (and not just the projections of everyone/everything around me) 2) even if my socially-constructed rational defenses try to convince me otherwise, I absolutely do believe that I support myself AND support others by cultivating blessings & prayers & invocations & spells (or whatever else I want to call direct connection to the sacred/numinous/great mystery ✨✨✨) 3) collective awakening is a marathon towards love — step by step.
I love you.
Sebene
P.S. For those who were interested in the Finding Your Voice workshop that got cancelled last spring (thanks sepsis!), Jocelyn has developed a solo version as a four-week course that starts mid-November, and it looks magnificent. Learn more about Finding Your Voice.
Reading
A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation
I now pause for a brief moment of silence for the murdered Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere. And for all the murdered and maimed everywhere, civilians or not. Imagine extending this equal humanity to everyone, every time. It’s what oppressors fear most. Because they are invariably the greater victimizers.
Lots of succinct, clear info here: “Why I Resigned From the State Department” (an interview with Josh Paul).
I wish more Americans understood the extent of our government’s longstanding, ongoing, and widespread nefarious actions in the Global South (masquerading as diplomacy). [Bonus – this is a beautifully told and fascinating personal story too.]
Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters is a celebration of queer Black genius.
Succession creator Jesse Armstrong on making good TV… applies to oh so many things.
Making a big TV show, and making it good, is always going to involve some friction and pain. But it’s not the friction and pain that make it good. If you think it is, you are in danger of venerating the difficult and painful parts, rather than seeking to ameliorate and address them.
Seeing
While we’re on the topic of Africa… Sudan! [I wish they’d make one of these for Ethiopia where, despite last year’s official cease of hostilities, conflict and violence have not stopped and, in fact, continue to escalate to alarming levels around the country.]
One more… Hell in the Niger Delta. One of the most polluted areas on the planet, the Niger Delta has a life expectancy of just 41 years due to decades of Shell oil spills & constant gas flaring.
I’m sold on beans and community and purpose!
Thank you to Farah Killeen for turning me on to Elemental. Why did I not know about this movie?! So adorably ridiculous.
Hearing
There is so much wisdom shared in this interview with Alixa García. I will be giving it at least one more listen (with pen in hand).
A moving conversation about masculinity and how to relate without dominating.
This is definitely the playlist I listen to the most.
Experiencing
My garbage is a fraction of what it was because of the many app-enabled, solar-powered NYC Compost Bins in my neighborhood. Tech for good!
Obsessed with these apples from the coop. [Always obsessed with the coop.]
Incense from here.
Cacao from here.
MEMES!!!
(It’s still Scorpio Season…)
The Dream Team Is Back!
Kate, Dawn, La and I will be back at Omega next summer for another fabulous weekend workshop… this time it’s all about Self-Love!
💓 JOIN US! 💓
The Greatest Love of All: Cultivating Self-Love for Personal & Collective Liberation
Jun 21–23, 2024
with Kate Johnson, Dawn Mauricio, La Sarmiento & Sebene Selassie
Many of us long for a world filled with more joy, love, and freedom. Yet most of us move through life with inner critics constantly mumbling words of misery, self-judgment, and limiting beliefs.
It can be hard to quiet these voices, let alone make them stop. If we can't prioritize love for ourselves, how can we manifest love for our family, friends, communities, nature, and the Earth itself? With practice, we can learn how to cultivate this love.
Join us for this weekend of centering and cultivating self-love through contemplation, meditation, time in nature, and joyful connection with others. We will share teachings and practices that alleviate suffering, cultivate true happiness, and support the liberation of all beings. Whitney was right! Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all!!
Thank you for this Sebene! 🙏🏾
Really enjoyed your Cosmic Collage class today, and deeply apologize if I misspelled your name! Looking forward to seeing the posting of the collages. Thanks for making this available.