As I write this, Israel is invading Rafah. In this small area of Gaza there are people who have been displaced many times over in the last seven months, subjected to bombs, starvation and unfathomable horrors. In Rafah there are 600,000 children, marked by the ongoing trauma of this genocidal violence, backed by many Western powers. Many celebrated the news of Hamas accepting the ceasefire deal only hours later, to realise that Israel's genocidal rampage would continue in any case. My heart is engulfed in rage, with a pool of grief lapping beneath.
The juxtaposition of so-called celebrities at the Met Gala and the destruction unfolding, has made many take note that our reality seems more and more akin to the Hunger Games. The distraction tactics of war mongers seem more dystopian by the day. The normalization of this unabashed opulence alongside the deep suffering of so many, feels incredibly glitchy to me. I find myself wondering how to make sense of these feelings? How to work with them?
Action is a necessary pathway for sure and I find solace in the student encampments (which have now spread to Amsterdam and the UK), as well as all the actions rooted in divestment and the dismantling of the war machine. I also find relief by honoring the glitchiness of it all; in noticing that this situation is deeply harmful and it does not make sense (from the perspective of beings who honor and value life). The brutality of the war machine is a wound upon our collective consciousness. The longer the war machine continues, the longer we harm the web of life and that which sustains us all.
As a result, I feel called to meet this irrationality, to meet all the ways it doesn't make sense by moving away from simply explaining this dynamic with rationality and analysis. From simply engaging in the realm of policy and action in the material realm alone. I feel called to weave in the spiritual or ancestral forces. The unseen. To me, the unseen is a way of referring to the ancestors, spirits, or forces within this life that exist beyond the Western, scientific rational lens. Another way of viewing the unseen can be animism - a framework that many indigenous peoples have within their cosmologies - that everything in this world is alive. Potent, present, with agency. This contrasts with the Western logic that sees plant kin, rocks and the more than human in general as less intelligent / without agency. Even if you don’t currently have a relationship with the unseen, know that your ancestors likely would have before assimilation or colonization. I feel it is our birthright to re-connect to the fullness of this life, including all that exists beyond the visual and Western scientific rationalism. If we are serious about recovering from colonization, this is a big part of it in my opinion.
The loss never stopped. With colonization came the apocalypse—our
ancestors lost their language, rituals, bodily autonomy, plant teachers,
mutual aid with more-than-human kin, and ways of knowing. A white god
was imposed, leading to the fracturing of the embodied knowledge that
our rituals and cosmology used to intricately connect us to the web of life
and our ancestors.
-Tending Grief, The Ongoing Grief of Colonization, pg.9
When I feel afraid or in need of guidance, I go to my ancestor altar. I meditate and use somatic practices to get quiet enough, internal enough, away from distractions enough to hear their wisdom. Many of our ancestors have found a pathway through, a way forward in the face of deep colonial violence. So I invite you to call on your people, whoever they may be. If it feels aligned for you, dedicate some daily practice time to be with your prayers. If you have an ancestor reverence practice, call upon your ancestors– ask them to support us in this time. To compost colonial violence and the war machine. If you are from lineages that have fought against colonial violence and incursion, I invite you to call upon your people to allow their strength and their courage to imbue you in this moment with what you may need, in order to be of service in the days, months and years to come. If you engage in ritual, this is a great time for regular practice. If you are curious to learn more about ritual, both Luisah Teish and Starhawk offer courses to connect to this wisdom.
We are not alone.
Western individualism and late stage capitalism would have us believe we are islands, disconnected from what came before but that is not true. When I look upon what is happening in Gaza or in Sudan or Congo, my body knows that my people have experienced similar violence. My body remembers. I believe this inner knowing inside, this link to the “past” exists both ways. Just as ancestral trauma is present within me, I know that ancestral wisdom is accessible too. This is something to lean upon. We can ask for help and guidance. We do not have to do this on our own. I deeply encourage everyone reading this to reconnect and lean upon your ancestors. These do not have to be blood relatives. Ancestors can be people or beings that we feel in relationship to - queer ancestors, political ancestors - people that have informed who we are and the ways we live our lives. Lama Rod Owens has gorgeous practices for working with chosen ancestors in his new book, The New Saints. These tools support us to draw upon the wisdom, strength and courage of these ancestors who have shaped us so we can have more of a clear orientation or compass. Let us be in conversation with them. Let us be in relationship with them. May we remember that we are not alone. This is not the first time the stakes have been this high.
Of course, the spiritual is not the only strategy. My hope is that working with the unseen can help us to sustain movement work and get clear on the gifts we have to share in this time. Emilia Zenzile Riog and I recently had an IG Live about how spirituality can inform activism.
We are here for a reason. I believe that we have gifts to share in the collective based on our capacity and contexts. If you're not sure what these gifts are, that's okay. Ask your people. Turn to practices that help you quiet the external distraction so you can get quiet enough to hear the whispers. Explore the treasures available in your lineage(s).
If you are feeling moments of hopelessness or despair, I invite you to bring that to your people. Ask them for support / clarity / courage, whatever it may be. May we lean upon them. May we get into practice– taking our feelings to our ancestors, to our altars and really being in conversation and reckoning with it means to be alive in this time. What it means to be dreaming and practicing towards futures that support the web of life. It’s possible that this unraveling or Hospicing of Modernity as Vanessa M calls it, may be happening for a good chunk of our lifetimes. So who do we want to be? What are you choosing? What are you practicing? If you need some support with habit formation to create space for new practices, this book, Atomic Habits, has been really helpful for me.
Thank you to all the people engaging in change in the material realm. This is important and I hope can be bolstered and supported by the unseen in ways that feel aligned for you.
Shit is likely to get weirder so the more resourced or tethered we can be, to the Earth and the unseen, the better. I hope by connecting to our lineages, our power, ancestral stories (oral traditions or in the archive), the better rooted we will be and the more we can be of service in the collective.
We don't all have to show up the same way. Like in processes of fermentation, a diversity of microorganisms are necessary to create culture change. All our gifts are needed so please find what is the most aligned way for you to show up. It may not be clear overnight - I am following the breadcrumbs myself and it is making more and more sense everyday.
Thank you for showing up in the ways that you can <3.
My media of the moment / Links for further exploration:
Zeteo
—> If you are looking for a media source that has critical reporting on the situation in Gaza, this may be for you.The Emerald, an episode on colonization and the persecution those with a connection to the unseen.
I loved this UK panel on reparations as it pertains to land justice.
I am excited to read Alice Wong’s Disability Intimacy.
Macklemore released a protest song for these times.
Thank you for reading. If this resonates with you, please share with someone else. If you would like to support my work, here are a few ways you can do so:
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Thank you for this Camille. <3
What a heavy, heavy time...