Greetings Good Listeners,
In my last 2-week series, “the truth about what art can do (in times of genocide)” the central question and unfolding mystery became: “Why Would Shaunga (Intentionally) Screw Up Her New Business Launch?” (learn more in episode one)
On a deeper level, this was about exploring what it means to re-introduce yourself to the world, after a tumultuous journey of Ancestral awakenings and initiations (both traumatic and glorious)…
…And how to start a new chapter in life when you are still grieving the old chapter you haven’t quite yet left behind.
The series brought us deeper into the questions we’re really asking ourselves as a collective: what SUPPORT do we need that would make starting over possible?
What do you really need in life – to feel like you, to feel happy and purposeful to be alive at a time like this, and what happens if you don’t get it? (that was episode three)
What support do we need as individuals, and also what SUPPORT does an entire movement need to survive, thrive and live well?
That is, a movement dedicated to preserving, protecting and birthing a world dedicated to Mass Collective Earth Stewardship.
What support do we need to Care-Fully close the last chapter / era of life, and what support do we need to re-launch a new era of Ancestral Movement and Organizing for Liberation?
These questions are where we are at in the cosmos, and as a collective, dear listeners.
In episode four, we explored What a Fully Funded Ancestral Artist Rest Retreat could look like.
My Ancestors made it very clear that I need to engage a 40 Day Rest Retreat Protocol before I personally would/could be ready to do anything new in life.
As we entered this 40 day Venus Retrograde portal (March 1 – April 12)…I knew that this period of time was meant to be my 40 Day Rest Retreat.
Okay. Soooo…?
How do you rest when you can’t rest?
How do you indulge in a luscious Ancestral Rest Retreat when you can’t afford to take time off like that (and also cuz a retreat like that doesn’t exist yet?)
…Because, someone like me cannot afford to skimp on the very clear protocols that my Ancestors very plainly lay down on my table.
I’m just too far gone in this healing game. I have to just follow my guidance, otherwise…haywire, catastrophe, stagnancy, time loops, unnecessary repeating trauma, all the things, you name it.
Why would my Ancestors give me a protocol that was impossible or inaccessible?
Because, they didn’t.
What they’re doing is holding me accountable to something that I have been actively and loudly praying for, for many years: a daily life AND a business where Rest, Grief, all parts of Love and Death are completely integrated into the whole.
In other words, I don’t have to shut my business down to grieve or rest. I want these things deeply woven into the energetic and practical fabric, structure and architecture of how I design my work, play, solitude and relationships – in collaboration with the challenges and gifts of our current time.
What do you automatically think you have to do when you know you have to rest?
My first inclination is – I have to stop working. I need to sleep all day and not move. Resting means going insular, right? Unplugging from everything, going off the grid, being in a private space.
Sometimes, that is what it means. But right now, not only can I not afford to stop working, on a deeper level I can’t “afford” to unplug and go into 100% solitude because this is truly a time for connecting more.
My Ancestors are asking us to look deeper and re-define what resting means.
I feel well rested after a good movement session with my body.
I feel well rested after a really good effing LAUGHING FIT.
I feel well rested after being in or around big bodies of water.
I feel well rested after spending time with really good art.
(aka – I slept so well the night after I saw Syrus Marcus Ware’s “Does That Make Me Crazy”)
I feel well rested and recharged after spending good times with good friends.
Resting is showing up, expressing yourself, and sharing things with others that are overflowing from your abundance, wisdom and wealth – do you know how exhausting it is to suppress sharing something that’s bursting at the seams?
Resting is being brave and doing things out of your comfort zone that you know will bring you more enrichment and fulfillment – do you know how exhausting it is to constantly feel “meh” or “bleh” about life, even if you’re comfortable?
Resting is prioritizing fun, play, pleasure and meaningful purposeful work – do you know how exhausting it is to constantly power through what you think you “should” do for “practical” reasons when it brings you no joy?
Last month, on the first day of our Butterfly Sanctuary (that’s our 4-month Ancestral Artist Retreat journey), when I asked my Ancestors what this time period was about they said:
“BELLIGERENCE, BE GONE!”
I didn’t know at first what that meant. (And also, LOL). I had to sit with it for a while.
But now, I get it.
We all remember the truth
about Venus Retrograde, right?
SHE’S A BANISHING SPELL.
My Next Storytelling Altar
My next storytelling altar is in dedication to this Venus Retrograde period.
In this 40 day period, I’ll be creating an (otherworldly) Giant GIFT BASKET – a living, breathing, evolving storytelling medicine bundle...packed with love and full of good, small things.
At the same time, I’ll be completing this banishing spell: “Belligerence, Be Gone!”
This period is about BANISHING THE ENERGY OF BELLIGERENCE from your energy field and your life.
We’re removing habits, practices and paradigms that deplete us rather than resource us.
We’re connecting to the deeper spirit of rest, joy, love, sensuality, play, fun, meaningful purposeful work, and allowing those energies to fill every area of our lives, so much that they push away anything BELLIGERENT in our ecosystem.
Venus Retrograde doesn’t have to be angsty. It doesn’t have to be full of relationship drama. It doesn’t have to be a sordid confrontation with your ex. It doesn’t have to be full of frustration and heartache and despair.
(These are things we often associate and even experience with this transit. But this time, it doesn’t have to be.)
For many of us, this period is about getting really no-nonsense about your self-care, and turning away from anything/everything that derails you from staying peacefully centered in your lane, your path, because you know your leadership is required.
…Whether that’s leadership for your Ancestors, in community, in the business or projects you steward, the planet, or simply your Self leadership.
You know you need to be well resourced and…well, actually happy…you need to feel happy about your life, in order to show up with the level of heart, wisdom, and sincerity that our planet needs from us right now.
I invite you to join me and follow along as we undergo this 40 Day Venus Retrograde Rest Retreat and Banishing Spell!
But wait.
So, did Shaunga screw up
this launch, or what!?
The first offering in this gift basket FINALLY answers the question, once and for all!
In this offering you’ll find:
a 5-minute storytelling tincture from our Temple of Parables (this is a new webpage I’ve set up to house our stories that are 10 minutes or less.)
This one is called:
“And So, The Next Cycle Was Birthed With Rest”
(Introducing the East)
Along with a link to listen/watch the story, I share some easter eggs, writer/director commentary and instructions on how to take in this story as a tincture.
I invite you to join me for this 40 day rest retreat and banishing spell.
Take this as a time to connect to the deeper spirit of rest, joy, pleasure and purpose in every area of your life, and banish anything that is derailing you or causing belligerence in your ecosystem.
In this offering, you’ll find journal prompts, a creative/meditation exercise and suggestions on how to welcome this energy.
Follow along as I continue to add to this grand gift basket / storytelling medicine bundle over the next few weeks. Sign up for the mailing list, if you want this gift basket dropped in your inbox, one by one.
Catch Up On What You Missed
MY LAST BLOG POST: More reflections on the truth about what art can do during times like these, and building a movement for the Planetary Artist in Residence. READ NOW>>
A NEW OFFERING: The Otherworldly Giants Spa Treatment room is open! This is for anyone who wants to indulge and invest in the ancestral roots of their creative practise, or inherent artistry of their spirituality.
You spend the day with us, and we offer you a personalized “spa menu” of our best creative and spiritual medicine. Treat your your most important art project, spiritual business, sacred space or healing intentions to GIANT care package, and leave the day feeling refreshed, beautified and more ready for success than ever. LEARN MORE>>
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