🌑 Very, Very Human
it’s a new moon in virgo 🌑
Registration is open for ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS: Reconnect to Nature, Mystery, & Joy. Main sessions will run on Zoom every Wednesday October 4 — November 13 from 6–8pm ET, with optional 1-hour practice/Q&A sessions on the following Mondays from 5–6pm ET. All sessions will be recorded. ✨MORE INFO & REGISTRATION✨
If you’re curious about this course but want to learn more before registering, I’ll be hosting a one-hour Sample Session + Q&A on September 20th at 12pm ET on Zoom (and recorded). Register for that here.
apologies for having no audio version for this week’s newsletter
Hi friends
Welcome to all the new people! I appreciate you opening this. I don’t take anyone’s presence here for granted. I am grateful for all the energy you give me by offering your time and attention. Big thanks if you also give me money.
I want to be transparent: I also use this space to promote my workshops, courses and other offerings to you. Unlike most Substacks, there is no paywall here and every subscriber receives everything: all my moonly newsletters three times a month (approximately – some months have more than one full or new moon). In addition, you will occasionally (a handful of times a year) receive a short email highlighting an offering — like last week’s earlybird reminder for ANCESTORS TO ELEMENTS (you will hear from me one more time before registration closes on the full moon on 9/29). This is because I make a living by writing & teaching. I’m very fortunate that I get to write & teach for work. By myself. For myself. Also, it’s a big leap. I have no job security, benefits, or institutional backing. For most of my life (until a few years ago), I had jobby jobs and/or worked through organizations. Now, I am a completely free agent. That’s amazing! And it means it is completely up to me to market my things. I know most of you understand this. And I get it if you’re not into it. No hard feelings. 💞 Thank you for understanding late capitalist reality.
In other news, it’s almost the Equinox!??! 🤌🏾 What the what is time? This astro moment encourages equilibrium, so I hope you’re finding some balance even in the midst of all the back-to-school energy of renewed ambition.
I’m still on the road, so today’s newsletter will be very short. But don’t worry, I will be back with my usual rambly musings in two weeks (I know you’re not worried).
Today’s title is a quote from my brilliant and beautiful friend Sara whom I saw last week in L.A. She is the spiritual little sister I’ve always needed – funny, wise, feisty. She used “very, very human” to describe the inherent messiness of the liberatory path to which we both (and probably you) are committed. In fact, she used it describe us as well as the people we’ve both pedestalized in the past. For many years I thought certain other people (i.e. not me) had figured “it” out (liberation or freedom or awakening). Disappointments (in them and in me) have led me to understand otherwise. In this moment, I believe that liberation likely looks very different for me than for you (and for those I formerly idealized).
I don’t think liberation is an achievable project or destination. Freedom is not an object. Getting free is a process.
It probably wasn’t wise to expect anyone to not be in process – to assume someone was anywhere near finished (to be done with the process probably means you’re very, very dead). It’s also silly to expect anyone in process to know the outcome (or even if there is one). But to be fair to me, a lot of teachings I studied made it seem like there IS an end to the process AND that a few are close to this imagined finish line. A map or trajectory (often linear) identified that end point. And some people really, REALLY like maps (c’est moi, je suis certaines personnes).
Though, really, what do I know? Maybe they’re right. [But, again, to honor my experience – nope.]
I don’t purport to know what’s right for anyone else. All I can do is live my ongoing process. I’m continually making the road by walking. So far, it’s not straight at all (it’s actually very, very queer 🌈🌈🌈). I’m journeying along in community (including you) which greatly informs and impacts the route, the activities, the insights...
I am here to share this and I hope my process resonates for you. I know it really does not for many. If you want upward trajectories and positive certainties and clearly marked maps of progress, um, I offer illness and heartbreak, joy and mystery and plenty of meandering. My own very, very human process of getting free.
Very, very human points me to mortal messiness. It reminds me of the preciousness of life. Everything can change in a moment. My life was completely transformed by a test result eighteen years ago. I would not wish a (very, very human) cancerous experience on anyone else. And I am immensely grateful all the wild, winding trajectories that brought me to this moment: sick last week/healthy-for-now, foolish yesterday/wiser today (maybe foolish again tomorrow), continually re-committing to integrity, kindness and maintaining an open, humble heart.
Very, very human as well implies very, VERY tiny — which points me to the more than human: to the mystical, clear waters of the Snoqualmie Falls, carved from the movement of glaciers in volcanic rock; to the surrounding old growth forest trees which have held centuries of human movement under and around them. Very, very human allows me to better love the falls and trees and land and water and sky, love me, love you, love it all.
May we each embrace our very, very humanness.
With love,
Sebene
P.S. I will not be doing a Cosmic Collage for this Equinox. Instead, I will hold a final collage workshop for the year on Sunday, November 5th in celebration of All Souls’ Day. At that time of year, the veil between realms is thin. 💀🦇👻 We will explore what is unseen, mysterious and magical through meditation, contemplation and creativity. Registration will open October 6th. More soon.
If you’re curious about this course but want to learn more before registering, I’ll be hosting a one-hour Sample Session + Q&A on September 20th at 12pm ET on Zoom (and recorded). Register for that here.
Embody belonging...
We may intellectually understand the paradox of belonging, but do we embody this truth? We all belong to each other & absolutely everything everywhere all at once, even while existing as distinct beings with biological relatives. Each of us is shaped by our specific ancestral histories, even while embedded within a larger matrix of elements. Although indigenous wisdom and modern science both affirm the truth that all is interconnected throughout time and space, most of us were not taught how to experience being part of this sacred whole — the great mystery.
Our society makes it challenging to learn, remember and practice the truth that absolutely everything is sacred — and that everything includes you. All of our ancestors, at some point, lived this truth. Imperialism, colonization, enslavement, persecution, migration, assimilation, plus individual trauma, shame & fear have stripped us of processes and rituals that connect us to nature, mystery, and joy.
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.
WHAT’S OFFERED
Six modules (weeks) including:
Six Main 2-hour sessions (on Zoom and recorded) including teaching, meditations, contemplation/journaling prompts, BIPOC & white breakout groups, short Q&A
Six Optional 1-hour sessions (on Zoom and recorded) for extra embodied practices and longer Q&A
Notion resource page linking all recordings, slides, ongoing practices, reference articles, books, videos and other links
Program–paced community forum moderated by me (Sebene): located within the course site, this will be a module–by–module space for posting inquiries & insights as well as interacting & sharing with other course members throughout each week
Unlimited access to course site and all materials to return to whenever you choose
KEY DATES
September 6 — September 29: Registration Period (scholarships on a rolling basis, until filled)
October 2: Last day for refund
October 4 — November 13: Course dates
October 4, 11, 18, 25 and November 1, 8 (Wednesdays 6–8pm ET): Main 2-hour sessions (on Zoom and recorded)
October 9, 16, 23, 30 and November 6, 13 (Mondays 5–6pm ET): Optional 1-hour sessions (on Zoom and recorded)
ooo.... an All Soul's Day collage offering... look forward to reading more! 🌌🧚♀️🎨
I'll forgo "upward trajectories and positive certainties and clearly marked maps of progress" for what's real. :) Embracing the late-stage capitalist beautiful mess with you. Excited for that collage class!