This post is the transcript to episode one of our series: The Truth About What Art Can Do (in times of genocide).
You can watch the episode HERE ON YOUTUBE.
Or, read the transcript below.
Greetings Good Listeners,
Welcome to Magical Reality TV for the Revolution! I’m your host, Shaunga Tagore, Artistic Director of Otherworldly Giants. This Live show is the first episode of a 2-week mini-series that we call, “THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT ART CAN DO, in times of genocide.”
During these two weeks – January 21 to Feb 5, I’ll be on youtube live and instagram live multiple times per week. I’ll be sharing live script readings of unpublished scripts from my Magical Reality TV series in development – on this theme of the truth of what art can do in these times we’re in: genocide, escalating fascism, collapsing capitalism, climate crisis.
From the perspective as a Ceremonialist – this is also a time of Great World Reversal. This is a great planetary shift that many Elders across diverse lineages have prophesized for generations, and we’re thick in the middle of it.
We know this is not just a time of genocide, it’s a time that we RISE AND SHINE our ancestral gifts, our cosmic and planetary technology, our sincere holistic healing, including the ways we must confront the systems that are killing the planet, as they exist within us.
It’s a time of immense grief, and of finding the heartfelt purpose and advocacy that emerges from the depths of our grief.
The purpose of this 2-week series is to share our storytelling medicine with you, which is specifically designed to unlock THE PATH OF THRIVING, that we must protect and experience for ourselves, especially during these times.
Some of you may know me, some of you are just getting to know me. I’ve been creating this Magical Reality TV series for the 2-years on my podcast, Otherworldly Giants: The Divination Channel.
This series for me personally, is about re-introducing myself, and this world that I steward to you. I’m opening my heart to start a new chapter in life, when it’s still really painful to say goodbye to my previous life.
The last episode of this series will be on February 5th, which marks the closing of our doors to our Butterfly Sanctuary, that is our in-house artist retreat program. So this launch is about both sharing myself with the world, again, and inviting people in.
But, before I do any of that. I have to tell you exactly why I would screw up this launch. So much so that I decided to make that the title of our very first episode in this series. So let’s get into it.
Sit back and relax, Good Listeners, this is episode one of our mini-series and it’s called, “why would I screw up this launch?” or “storytelling as the ever unfolding breath”
Alright, so it’s about 7-8 days ago – I download this whole idea for this 2-week series. I’m super excited about it. I want it to be successful. And, it’s not like low-stakes either. If I don’t take some extra steps to work through the energetic density of this “fear of being seen” wound” and run a successful launch, like, I’m not gonna be okay.
My finances are not gonna be okay. My heart and my spirit aren’t gonna be okay. It’s been an arduous couple of years, never mind, decade. Now, I’m protected and I have a lot of blessings…and also, I’ve been teetering on an edge for a very long time.
All this to say, I can’t screw up this launch. But, I few days ago I sat with myself and I was like – oh my gosh. I’m gonna screw it up. Purposefully. There’s a part of me that will intentionally screw this up. Why?
I’m a Ceremonialist, and an Energetic Surgeon. I look at everything as an altar. I can see that the flow of my medicine is REALLY strong – but it’s getting stuck right at the door, the juncture on the South East corner. That’s the space in your energy field where you welcome people through the door, the most important part of any launch.
That’s exactly where I see my energy is tangled up, and dense. So, what’s going on there? Well, let’s talk to the Multiverse.
I breathe, and I see myself sitting at the top of a mountain. You could call this the realm of public visibility. You could call it the Midheaven in astrology. I breathe easily up here. The air here, it just suits me. I can breathe my ever-unfolding breath.
This is how and where I need to be in order to accomplish a successful launch, and also just be at ease within myself.
When I’m not up here, I’m cranky, I’m grumpy, I’m marred with resentment, because I’m not getting the recognition that I need. That skews my perception of everything.
But I’m not I’m there on the mountain every day. Where am I? I’m on the ground. I’m a slayer. I’m basically the queer, brown spiritual vampire slayer that we all needed on the WB in 1998, amirite?
Down here, the energetic air quality here is chalk full of vampires, demons, and the forces of evil. The list of things down here to transmute is never ending. Kill one vampire, another one rises. A lot of us could spend our entire lives down here – like, there’s always something else you think you have to heal before you’re just ready to have a new experience, right?
That’s what I’ve been doing. I’m a Wisdom Keeper. I wake up, and I put on my hood, and I walk around my neighborhood where nobody knows my name. I keep the land clear. And no, they didn’t pay Buffy Summers for her career as a Vampire Slayer either! She has no dental plan!
So, I’m watching this version of myself and Estha and Rahel appear. Estha and Rahel are my two twin black cats. They are named after two fictional characters, from the book, “The God of Small Things.” Estha and Rahel are both now in the Spirit realm. But don’t worry, they still have lots to say. And thankfully, I’m a Good Listener.
Estha says: You’re like Buffy, but you’re also Aragon, from Lord of the Rings.
Lord of the Rings? We’ve never read those books. I tried watching the movies, like way back in 2002, but I kept falling asleep. How do you know who that character is…what’s his name – Oregon?
Aragon.
Rahel interjects: Aragorn.
Oh, I know him! He’s that guy who, um, everyone has a crush on right? What’s his name? Chris Evans?
No, Estha says. Chris Hemsworth.
Are you sure about that?
Very sure. Chris Hemsworth.
…It’s Chris Something.
We both look at Rahel.
Rahel rolls her eyes. I’ll google it.
[Rahel types and we peer into the screen]
All of us: Ooohh. Orlando Bloom.
Estha says, I still have a crush on Chris Evans.
Okay wait but, Orlando Bloom is the elf, he isn’t even Aragon, Oregon. That’s someone else. The dark haired one.
Oh my gosh mom, Rahel says – do you remember the time you tried to date that straight dude, like 15 years ago. He was like, really into you, but then you told him that you fell asleep during the Lord of the Rings movies and he completely WALKED OUT ON YOU, in the middle of the date? He just left!
[we all crack up]
You better be careful who you tell this story to Mom, you might scare people away from your launch.
Oh yeah, right, I’ll be careful, sure thanks for that. Lest I scare away more straight dudes!
That’s very assumptive of you, Estha says.
Yes, says Rahel. You could just as easily scare away really cool queer women of colour who love Lord of the Rings.
Okay, but tell me why you’re bringing this character up, how do you know who he is?
Because, we just listened to someone talk about him recently on a podcast.
Oooh.
Right. I remember. Because apparently, Oregon is a character who belongs on the throne. You might say on the top of a mountain. And he’s a good ruler, a benevolent ruler. But he’s not sitting up there. He’s a ranger – taking care of the land. Like, hunting demons in the underground. He’s like you, a slayer. But the whole kingdom is corrupt. Because he’s not sitting up there in HIS seat of power, god knows who else is more than happy to sit in that empty space and do all kinds of weird shit!
Meanwhile, if you just went up and sat there – you could have such a bigger impact. You could make real, powerful change in one fell swoop, more than you could ever do exhausting yourself day in and night fighting vampires down here.
It’s like the Lion King when Scar was ruling the kingdom, very badly, and Simba was just like, what farting around with Timon and Puumba, eating grub all day. Sound familiar?
The three of us give each other a look. Oh, we don’t know anything about that.
I take another breath. I seek to look at the deeper internal problem. I travel from the multiverse into the energy field of my SUBTLE BODY.
There he is. The hooded wisdom keeper. The vampire slayer. Oregon, Argeon.
Whatever his name is. He’s me.
I see him at the bottom of a giant canyon. Red and brown rocks towering into the sky, surrounding him in perfect protection. He sits on a rock next to a sacred fire. His heart is at peace here, even if he carries such sweet sadness.
This is the issue. This is why I would screw up this launch. Every part of me wants to be successful. But he’s still sitting here, in this hole in the ground. He doesn’t have any intention to move.
I can’t do this without him.
He’s the leader in me. He’s the vision. He IS the SCAR. The wisdom of lived experience that birthed the version of me that can breathe up there, and he’s the only one who hasn’t said yes.
What happens when he doesn’t sit there? All sorts of weird shit will sit there instead, and try and steer my ship!
Then we fuck up the things that are most important to us. Like this launch.
Who is gonna be the voice in charge of our marketing and promo?
The part of me that’s panicking and trying her best to problem solve steps in. She’s scared about not being able to pay her bills. She’s scared about dying alone. What she really needs is a spa treatment and a hug, but instead she’s up there on the mountain screaming: COME ON GUYS, YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!!!
That’s just not the vibe you want when you’re promoting your business!
She wakes up every day, building herself up. I can do it! I can do it!
She gets up the nerve to get on social media and she’s like, WELCOME, EVERYONE!
Then one person does so much as look at her funny for a glitch of a second, and she’s like: “Oh, did I say the wrong thing. I’m sorry, I’ll stop.”
Okay, move aside. Now it’s anger coming up. Anger thinks they are way better option handle marketing and promoting – but they’re not any better!
Anger sits on top of the mountain, looks down at the audience and is like:
“YOOUUUUU.”
“I DON’T LIKE YOU.”
“I got somethin to say, to each and every one o’ ya!”
And I pull down my scroll!
This thing! And this! And this! And this!
Look, my anger as leader is seductive, cuz that shit can easily go viral!
Anger can be popular…LAR…
But it’s…really not who we need up there.
All the while, my Wisdom Keeper, he’s just sitting here. By the fire, letting it all happen.
I know who he needs.
Shaunga. The human. From, like today. January 21st 2025. Pluto Cazimi. Technically that’s yesterday, but that’s when I wrote this script.
I sit next to the Wisdom Keeper and I tell him: you know you’re the only one who can sit there. Why are you still here?
There’s a ladder right there. There are so many people just waiting to give you a hand and help pull you up.
Look at all these other versions of Shaunga.
The one who’s angry. The one who is insecure and very easily spooked. A ‘fraidy cat.
Estha and Rahel go like this. They love acting out the fraidy cat.
Every version of me wants you to go up there. They all believe in you. They support you. They know you.
I need you. I don’t know what I’m doing without you. I don’t know what to do for this launch. How do I make it successful?
I do. The Wisdom Keeper says. I know what to do.
Can you give me anything to work with?
I’m too tired. Too disallusioned. Too heartbroken.
Wait a second. I know you. You’re…
You’re the Storyteller. From Letters to the Universe.
That’s the play I wrote about my life that and performed in 2016. My Dad died in the middle of it.
The Wisdom Keeper cracks a smile. Yes, she says. That’s who I am.
I put my hand on the Wisdom Keeper, the place between her lef shoulder and collar bone. Right here. That’s all I need to touch for the tears to come.
The water spills, it flows.
It’s not that Storyteller / Wisdom Keeper hasn’t been using her voice. She has.
She has been working hard in the garden. Growing beautiful, bountiful flowers.
But when the stories are finished, she doesn’t take them out into the world, instead she holds them close to her chest.
She sits here in the soil, in the mud. Weeping over the flowers, laying them in the arms of the earth. Hanging out in sweet company with the bees and the butterflies. The Small Things.
These small things, they mean everything to her.
She’s holding them and rocking back and forth, repeating through her tears: Nobody wants to share this with me. Nobody wants to share my grief. Nobody does.
“You’re wrong.”
Who’s that? Whoa. It’s my future partner. How long have you been here?
Estha and Rahel are now in the corner with heart shapes for eyes.
You’re wrong. My future partner says. And he starts weeping too.
All I want is to share this with you. This part. THIS part.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted. I don’t want to keep my flowers to myself.
What’s it gonna take for you to say yes – to me. The person you’ve been praying for? How can I give you the flowers I’ve grown, the ones I don’t want to give to anyone but you, if you don’t let me through the door?
As we sit here in this hole in the ground, we notice the energetic grid is glitching.
How much longer is this place gonna last? I ask the Wisdom Keeper.
She replies: Not long.
What’s gonna happen if it collapses while you’re still here?
It’ll kill me.
There have been a lot of times that I’ve picked myself up after a fall from grace. But I won’t this time. When it crashes down, I’ll try for a second, then I’ll give up. For Good. I won’t get up again.
Then, what was it all for?
Everything you’ve survived? You fought the 6 headed hyrda, and you won. You endured the full collapse of your celestial relationship DNA. You made it through every dark night of the soul. You were ever so faithful!
For what? Only to die here? Now? At the precipice of all your dreams coming true? What were you fighting for?
For them.
So others may live.
To give my animals a good death.
So you, Shaunga, the human, could still know them the way that I do.
Across worlds. Across veils.
I did my job.
[sigh] Okay. I’m sorry – that’s beautiful – but we’ve been over this, again and again.
For GENERATIONS, the Wisdom Keeper’s only role was to protect the medicine, and pass it on. This time, It’s Different.
Your job this time, isn’t ONLY to make sure others can have the dream, this time – you get to live in it. I need you to live!
Do you though?
What?
Are you sure about that?
I-wha-?
You’re scared of me.
You’re scared of my power.
You’re scared of how famous I could get, just be sharing my voice. You’re scared of my inherent success.
Because it’s your life that’s gonna have to change.
Because of me.
This whole energetic grid might collapse on me, and there might be a ladder over there, and there might be hands to help me out, but those are only pieces of the story.
The truth is, there’s only one hand that could pull me out of this hole in the ground. And it’s yours.
You, Shaunga. The human. Not your friends, not your mentors, not your community, not your partner. You.
Yours is the only hand that I need.
If I don’t, it’ll be because you let me die.
It’s my Celestial Blood on your hands.
I look at my hands. The pink, gold, purple and blue star dust glowing from my palms.
You’re right.
It’s me.
So, what happens next!?
Fuck if I know! You’re gonna have to stay tuned to this launch, and find out, whether or not I screw it up!
Alright Good Listeners, I’m not just a storyteller, I’m a Storytelling Surgeon. What I’m gonna do through this series is pull out some of the ancestral medicine embedded in these scripts, and help us build more power for the PATH OF THRIVING during these monumental times that we’re in.
Some principles of ancestral artistry I want to highlight:
When we’re launching and creating, it brings up blocks that we have to work through, right?
So often, as creators, we try to solve those problems in ways that are overly linear. Like 5 steps to work through your blocks and achieve a successful launch!
When the truth is, the technology we need to remove those blocks, is the technology of the Storyteller.
We have to go INTO our multiverse, our subtle body, and give freedom of expression to the parts of our story that need to be given voice.
We have to sit in the questions, instead of forcing ourselves into answers.
Why is this storyteller so disallusioned and heartbroken?
Maybe because of how we treat her. She’s not giving us answers fast enough. We can’t fit her into little boxes made of ticky tacky to in order to run successful businesses.
But then, we get to the plot twist. This whole time, we thought the Wisdom Keeper was the reason I’d screw this up.
If you’ve been listening to my podcast, you know that I have multiple episodes where I land in this exisential crisis of I don’t know if I want to be here. Again and again and again, the Wisdom Keeper rises and she says No, I want to Live.
We went on that journey in our very first podcast episode called: “GOLD.” Then again, in episide 4 called “Self-Full.” Then in episode 5 called “Virgo Midheaven.” Then again in my 40th birthday episode, “The Wolf Who Stopped Time.”
I wrote a play called PLUTO in 2019, and one of the last lines (spoiler alert) is “I WANT TO LIVE.”
The magical spell and ritual underneath the play I wrote during my Dad’s death was simply: “I want the life I came here for.” We completed that ritual in 2016-2017, it’s already done!
I keep visiting this, thinking that this is the problem. But here in this episode, we discover that it’s not. The Wisdom Keeper is not the one who is gonne screw up this launch. It’s the human. OOPS!
She’s the one who’s gonna let the Wisdom Keeper die.
Why?
I turn it to you, Good Listeners! Travel with this one! Meditate on it. Discuss!
[to share your thoughts, feel free to comment below on youtube, on our posts, or threads. If you have my phone number – send me a voice note. Or you can email me a note or voice note too, see the show notes.]
To end, I want to speak briefly about storytelling as the ever-unfolding breath. Every episode of this series functions with Storyteller Technology. In every episode, we’ll breathe more of the story out, more of the medicine out, as an ever-unfolding breath.
I want you listeners to get the most benefit from this medicine. When you listen to the stories, meditate on what you really need, sincerely in your heart for your personal thriving, and what are your dreams for full planetary thriving?
Through sharing storytelling as beathing, we’re creating a collective storytelling altar, and a prayer garden. Speak what you need out loud while you listen, or type it in the chat, or comment on our posts. By doing this, you weave your journey with ours, and you add your seeds to the garden.
At the end of these two weeks – in divine timing – I’ll take this altar and I’ll offer it to my beloved friend, “Niigaani-GichiGami” aka Lake Ontario, on the land I’m currently on, TKARONTO, Dish With One Spoon Territory. This is deep solidarity and service to the healing of the planet as a whole. This lake is one of the most powerful bodies of water I’ve known, even though to many she might just be a Small Thing.
That’s it for today, Good Listeners. If you’re just finding us, sign up for our email list to keep updated on all of our episodes. Feel free to share far and wide. Check the links in the shownotes.
Until next time – Be brave! Be a giant!