🌗 September Last Quarter Links

“What can we do now in order to be able to do tomorrow what we are unable to do today?” — Paolo Freire 🌗

Sep 24, 2024

Image ID: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Approaches, Credit & Copyright: Brian Valente & Greg Stein

💫 ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS 💫

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS!! I’ve put everything I know into this course. It’s my favorite. You can read about it below or here. Registration closes October 2nd.

🌙 MAKE SACRED SPACE 🌙

Make Sacred Space is a Sunday evening co-creative gathering where we attune to the Moon through guided meditation, journaling prompts, and open space — all for a soulful start to the week. Sign up for October AND Sign up for November.

Hi friends

Happy Equinox and Libra Season! [Sunday ushered in both.] The Equinox marks one of two times a year when the Earth's axis tilts neither toward nor away from the Sun, resulting in a nearly equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes. Cultures around the globe have long acknowledged its auspiciousness. This threshold highlights the liminal space between seasons—a moment that’s fertile for planting seeds, setting intentions, and focusing attention on what we’d like to grow (spring) or harvest (autumn). A time of balancing. Today’s last quarter moon phase is also associated with balance while Libra’s scales symbolize an ongoing aspiration towards equality, as well as the harmony and beauty of true justice.

But, [looks around at the state of the world], maybe not so evident right now.

How’s your current balancing? Mine feels steady if not solid. Definitely teetering here and there. However, heading into my mid fifties, I’ve finally learned the signs for when more rest and and recess are needed. More consideration of needs versus wants, less input of distractions. Subtracting what is unnecessary, prioritizing what nourishes. Balancing, not balance.

I’m off to Dublin tonight for a very short visit with some besties. The four of us have traveled together (as a quartet and with others) for almost three decades. We have not done one of these girls trips since before the pandemic. These adventures involve a whole lot of not doing, rarely (if ever) organizing details ahead of time—the itinerary is, um, improvisational. Still, there will be loads of culture and food and fun. And giggling. And love.

After that, I’ll be back next week to continue learning, text/phone banking, teaching, and writing.

Until then, I wish you a season of harmony and beauty, of nourishment and giggles.

The Last Quarter List is below.

With love,

Sebene

P.S. 10% of Septmber paid subscriptions will be going to support Nima and her three children. Thank you for your support.

If you have any suggestions for Dublin, please drop them in the comments. ☘️🇮🇪💚

Registration is open!

Created for these challenging times, ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS is a creative & soulful 6-week course designed to help you embody the sacred paradox of belonging: we are not separate AND we are not the same. The delusions of separation and domination are the roots of our current polycrises. These delusions live within us as much as around us — essential to any solutions is recognizing that we belong to a sacred and great mystery of interdependence.

ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS creatively engages these two frameworks — elements and ancestors — as ancient & expansive metaphors for exploring how existence rests on a key paradox: you are absolutely interconnected with everything and you are also a uniquely independent being.

Main sessions run on Zoom every Wednesday October 9 — November 13 from 6–8pm ET. There is an optional 1-hour practice/Q&A sessions on the following Sundays from 5–6pm ET). All sessions will be recorded.

There are three sliding scale payment options.

Pay-It-Forward Price: $480 (works out to $80/week) [This option is for those who easily meet their basic needs of food, housing, transport & leisure... and then some.]
Full Price: $380 (works out to $63/week) CLICK HERE OR USE COUPON CODE: FULL-PRICE [This option is for those who regularly meet their basic needs of food, housing, transport & leisure.]
Need-Based Price: $240 (works out to $40/week) CLICK HERE OR USE COUPON CODE: NEED-BASED [This option is for those who mostly meet their basic needs of food, housing, transport & leisure.]

If the Need-Based Price is a hardship, there are a limited number of pay-what-you-can scholarships available on a rolling basis. Please see the registration page for more info about scholarships (please do NOT reply to this email to request a scholarship).

Make Sacred Space is a Sunday evening co-creative gathering where we attune to the Moon through guided meditation, journaling prompts, and open space — all for a soulful start to the week.

Sign up for October

Sign up for November

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

🌗 Last Quarter List 🌗

After today, there are FIVE TUESDAYS LEFT until the election. I linked to this above. It bears repeating: The Working Families Party Mass Calls held in collaboration with The Movement for Black Lives, Seed the Vote, and Showing Up for Racial Justice are a master course in political education. I’ve only attended one so far, but I learned so much including the true demographics of the “working class” in America. That’s where I heard the above quote by Paolo Freire: “What can we do now in order to be able to do tomorrow what we are unable to do today?”
I don’t own much (no car, no major “luxuries,” I rent), yet, when I read that the wellness industry is worth $5.6 trillion a year and extincting Ethiopia’s sacred frankincense, I recognize that (without shame) I could be less consumptive still. Ugh.
I’ve been trying to better explain the dire and deteriorating political situation in Ethiopia to some friends—I am incredibly grateful for Maya Misikir’s Sifter newsletter for weekly updates about the many conflicts and challenges affecting the country to help me do so. This piece by an American journalist about her difficulty reporting from Tunisia during the Arab Spring reminds me that nation states are imperial-imaginal constructs and how hard it is to understand the complexities of any country without the knowledge one gleans over years of exposure and/or study. And let’s keep trying…
By 2050, one in four people will be African.
Image Id: Africa's population has soared from 283 million in 1960 to1.5 billion today and is set to hit 2.5 billion by 2050. The UN's World Population Prospects highlights Africa's rapid growth, driven by lower infant mortality and fertility rates. Source: Africapolis
My love, Sara Shapouri, is co-leading another one of her powerful workshops—just in time for election chaos-energy. Sara is one of the people I trust to honor and hold my strong emotions with radical honesty and loving care. Also, I’ll be participating in her three-week series on Power, Shadow, and Spiritual Teaching in December… stay tuned.
I missed this event and haven’t yet ordered this book (next on my list!) but they had me at a goofy book launch about climate change. More clown! 🤡
I’ve shared this before, but friends have requested it again… When I don’t know what to watch and don’t want to succumb to the default (i.e. basic) streaming algorithms, I go to my bestie Peter and his man Paul. They post monthly, three-sentence film reviews from DVDs they find at the Toronto Public Library. A few titles aren’t streaming yet, but most are and the list always features an eclectic mix of indie & foreign finds plus fun pop throwbacks. Check it out! A recent favorite: All Man: The International Male Story.
Someone created the absolutely ideal workshop for my birthday weekend and I am going to have the most cosmic solar return of my life. Thank you gus!!
Meditation Party is happening at Omega Institute October 11–13 and I have a feeling this is going to be he best one yet!