Full Moon Update: Refusing to Pave Over Our Hearts 🌍 Solidarity With Palestine and All Liberation Struggles

“i will pray with dignity 
for the absolute freedom of all humans
from hatred and the myth of separation…”
~adrienne maree brown (see full poem here)

Dear Wild Nature Hearts,

I’m sitting near the top of Mt. Shasta as I write this. I arrived last night, seeking perspective, earth connection, and maybe a bit of peace that could ripple outwards towards all who need it.

Near the trailhead stones spell out the word “LOVE’.

Then it lands in me like a moon-washed sacred mountain: We refuse to let the concrete of the dominant culture pave over our hearts.

It’s been a shattering few weeks in the world. As tragedies unfold, our hearts can barely take it. 

Certainly, they cannot bear it alone. 

If you are like me, you have experienced moments of contraction, numbing, confusion, futility, rage, and deep grief. But also, with support of others, moments of courage to listen, to speak, to act, to not close down, to not look away.

As we are witnessing a deepening and broadening violence against innocent people on all sides and an ongoing genocide of Palestinian people, we are devastated. it is no wonder that our nervous systems are activated: in addition to the horror of witnessing horrors, our lineages of unprocessed grief from past colonial violence is awakened. 

It is a moment we are called to face things and find ways, no matter how small, to speak truth, live our values, and co-create spaces to listen, dream, and interrupt the trauma loops. 

When bombs fall, the propaganda machine always working overtime. And silence almost always serves an oppressive system. Yet at the same time, more people than ever are awakening to the links between empire here and abroad, and lending their eyes, voice, money, feet, and hearts to liberation struggles.

We are Life reaching towards more Life, love experimenting with love, branching unapologetically towards earth and towards stars, growing unashamedly, pollinating with abandon, without the need to send others into exile, we can include the sweet AND shadowed parts of us, who just want to belong.

Who just want safety and peace. Who just want passion and play. Things every being deserves.

Liberation means liberation for everyone.

Wild Nature Heart stands against settler colonial violence in all its forms, regardless of where. Ceasefire and de-escalation now. End the occupation(s). End the genocides(s). End all apartheid(s).

May we compost all supremisms. May we heal all inter-generational wounds. 

Let us put down paw prints into the dirt of a post-imperial butterfly earth. May we find each other in the thick dark night, with tenderness in our hearts cultivating tendrils of possibility.

May we keep bearing witness. Keep feeling and not going numb. Keep talking about and practicing peace and justice. Keep listening to each other. Keep learning. Keep talking about Palestine. Keep saying No to anti-semitism and to Islamophobia. Keep saying yes to Life and Liberation. Keep holding the hearts of those closest to the violence. 

Keep talking with each other about the better world possible we dream of.

I continue to ask myself the question prompted by art I saw on a sidewalk: What is one small thing you can do today that moves towards tending to this other world we know is possible?

I will be co-hosting a community support gathering with Earthbody Institute on Thursday, November 16, 5:00-6:30pm PST. See more below, where you can also find a few additional upcoming community gatherings, action steps, and resources. 

Thank you for reading!  May we keep our muscles of imagination robust, vibrant, and full of surprises.  

With full moon’s illuminating presence and wisdom, 

Ryan

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SIMPLE ACTION STEPS

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND DEMAND CEASEFIRE

The single most urgent ask right now is for a ceasefire. Jewish Voice For Peace has an easy-to-use template that connects you with your Senators and Representative. Click here to call and click here to write your representatives. 

You can also send a text “Ceasefire” to 51905.

9 Solidarity Actions Beyond Demonstration and Social Media

Other actions for all of us and for those unable to attend physical gatherings, protests, or not on social media.

1. Offer childcare 2. Cook or bring food to folks in your community who are activating in their communities (protests, etc.) 3. Call or write your Congressmen and/or Senators 4. Write an essay, and publish it. 5. Engage in Arts Activism 6. Educate yourself & others: Cultivate a contextual understanding of the situation. 7. Organize fundraisers. 8. Participate in digital organizing and holding spae: workshops, grief circles, book clubs, etc. (From Village Auntie)

DONATE

Palestinian Feminist Collective fundraiser with Middle East Children’s Alliance (a local organization based in Berkeley, founded by Barbara Lubin, a courageous, anti-Zionist Jewish woman)

Join a Protest Or Solidarity Action

Find a Protest Near You.

National March on Washington, November 4th

For local protests in the Bay Area follow, Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area

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COMMUNITY SUPPORT GATHERINGS

Earth-Rooted Community Support Circle
Thursday, November 16, 5:00-6:30pm PST

Wild Nature Heart and Earthbody Institute are offering a community circle for those wanting space to witness, release, center and connect around what’s unfolding on the ground in Palestine and Israel.

Regardless of our different positionalities and relationships to this issue and the region, we are all impacted in our hearts and bodies. We know that we can’t hold this alone, so we are holding a circle to hear and support each other. It will be a safe space to honor what we feel, receive community strength and support and root deeply in our values of retaining our humanity, and turning towards each other rather than away. We will also offer practical ideas for active responses from our hearts. RSVP ryan@wildnatureheart.com or earthbodyinstitute@gmail.com and I will send the zoom link.

Somatic Renewal for Collective Liberation and embodied Solidarity 

Thursday, November 2, 11am PST – ZOOM

In solidarity with the ongoing struggle for liberation in Palestine and around the world, this space hosted by Selin Nurgun is dedicated to individuals, activists, and organizers committed to freedom, safety, and dignity for all. Your tireless efforts deserve support too – because we build the world we want together. Come replenish and build your somatic toolkit to return focused. Register Here.

Listening Like the Forest 

Saturday, November 18, 3pm PST – Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland

You are invited to gather in community to connect, be nourished, and listen for guidance on how to be with our hurting world. We will meet in the redwood forest at Joaquin Miller Park, and begin with supportive movement practices. We will then have time to “forest bathe” and connect with the ecosystem of the forest. Leslie Hammer and Jason Reeder will lead ~40 minutes of music meditation; you are invited to lie on the earth or bring a chair to sit on. Then we will transition to a guided listening exercise focusing on the question, “how are we being called to show up for our kin?” Kin meaning our fellow humans as well as the more than human world. For those interested, we will have an opportunity to share in small groups and witness each other. This will not be a time for social or political discourse, but rather a time to listen deeply and be with what is. Facebook Invite & Information.

How to Organize a Gaza Solidarity Action Pod – a guide to grounding and action

Monday, October 30, 9am PST – ZOOM

Seeding Sovereignty is hosting this webinar to support anyone who is feeling isolated in their grief and/or seeking ways to take collective action in a way that can be sustained over time. Register Here.

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