It seems like everywhere we turn these past few months we’re seeing this occupy movement spreading and spanning the globe and I say it’s about time it was in our faces how the global economy and the corporatized media mafia government machine is impacting the citizens of planet Earth.
The revolution starts within is ringing in my head often and I vision as I see this movement gaining ground speed how will we each occupy the planet differently in the coming months and years? Just last weekend we had a blowout storm here on the east coast, which I think most of us were fairly unprepared for when it hit. The beloved trick or treating holiday based around the sugar industry was whisked away by mother nature’s crystaline universe. We were forced to get inside and hunker down, prepared or not the weather showed her refusal to be calmed by anything even Halloween. In the aftermath of a storm I usually notice how people pull together, town workers work through the night to clear the roads and restore power, our neighbors and friends open their homes to those most affected, We share food, resources and spaces as things are being rebuilt. We remember in times of tragedy and circumstance how to live in a more community minded fashion. I wonder why when the snow melts, or the winds shift do we go back to the singular lifestyle and forget again how important interdependence really is? I dream of ways we can live more closely with each other, always working on ways to bring us together into gathering spaces. I wonder how you will foster community and proximity to those folks who matter most in the coming turning time>
What will this next year in 2012 bring us forward to? The apocalypse and all other end of the world theories have never resonated much in me, I feel the shifting has been happening for the past 7 years in subtle ways and now as we see in the movements and the undoing of the global economy, in all the storms and natural disasters, in the way our people are ready not just to talk about revolution but to create it- the great turning is here. It is happening right now as we are typing and reading and I am struck by my small strand of the web and what it is I am called to do, where I want to occupy in both my community and my personal life and where my time being spent.I wonder the same about my friends and beloveds and I wonder what world I am cultivating for my daughter and all of our children? Taking the occupy movement in on a deeper level and seeing where the microcosm can make change to bring forward to the larger visionaries in the world.
The Occupy Movement is brilliant in that there is no one organizer or organization but that it is a literal democracy supported and run by the people, and what a miraculous thing to witness -democracy in action. I don’t think I have ever been privy to the real meaning of the word until watching and witnessing the occupiers in cites across the US and the world. What this movement reminds me of is that in small groups of dedicated people sharing a common passion for basic human rights we can foster and midwife real changes. Though I have not been to occupy wall street, I share the spirit and the connectedness that weaves us all into this web of change. I was recently at occupy asheville while traveling through the south selling my herbal wares and global botanika. It’s clearly a smaller operation than that of NYC or Oakland occupies but the spirit of community and interconnectedness was inspiring. I appreciated knowing that in any city on the map anyone of us could go and show our passion for what we believe is true democracy and participation in the process.
It really struck a cord in me to do even more when I arrived back in my community and to be a catalyst for change.
Another bi-product of the occupy movement has been in seeing the blogs and posts of people popping up all over letting us know what we can each do to occupy even if we can’t physically camp out in a major city. My personal favorite was watching the you tube video of occupiers filmed at an auction house where forclosed homes were being put up for auction. At the start of the bidding the occupiers simply began to sing, even after the auctioneer warned that anyone speaking during the auction would be removed. The song sung in rounds and harmonies with the singers looping over each other, while someone with a video phone hovered behind a bench to film it.
The Occupiers in this video sang:
Mrs. Auctioneer all the people here we’re asking you to hold all the sales right now we’re going to survive but we don’t know how.
It was something that in it’s simplicity was almost surreal though the auction staff seemed impervious to the singing the message of hope had it’s impact in the act alone. It only took a few minutes for the singers to be removed by security and for the auction to be held according to schedule, but the act forced everything to a halt. That is message I get from all of the occupy movement, occupy to show you are here to make a change in the moment by being.
I’m walking forward in this time to make a change by being, whatever that means. Being present or accountable, being aware and mind-full of my presence. I will be spending these next few inner months visioning and planning the last phase of The Red Moon Temple~ A Wemoon’s centered gathering place and sacred sanctuary with a focus on empowerment and skill/art sharing. I see myself occupying the world in the image of an art maker and creatrix helping people to heal through their own creative force. Art is my occupation literally and figuratively and so as I enter into the dark time I am foraging for more ways to foster creativity in my community. Creativity as activists and peacemakers, creativity as a catalyst for change and organizing, creativity as a way to breakthrough what we think we see and delve deeper than the surface of this place.
This is the best use of the gifts we have been given and with the idea of occupying in mind and in heart , I am inspired to continue to start doing what we already inherently know how to do.
I’m taking this page from my daughter Sela’s book, she is a great teacher of how to occupy and in general my greatest teacher. She is so in every moment I am struck by it everyday how present and focused she is on being present!
That’s my work of the moment to stay present and occupy change in the ways I am able.
Stay tuned each month as Bone Flower Botanika blossoms and I learn to weave all of my strands into a delicious website where you can come to find my creations and your own inspirations.
“Isn’t it wonderful we need not wait a single moment before changing the world”
Anne Frank
Check out Lauren Leonardi’s Simple Ways To Support The Occupy Movement
