In 2020, I channeled a public message that said:
May the Next Cycle Be Birthed With Rest.
Turns out, it wasn’t just a thing I said.
It was a Planetary Directive, an Ancestral Prayer, and a Prophecy that requires our collaboration, commitment and understanding.
There’s an accountability to this request that I can’t ignore as someone who spoke it out loud to a room full of witnesses and has been carrying it ever since.
I have to embrace the fact I can’t move forward into my next cycle without claiming my / our birth right to live with deep rest in the bones (in the soul) and peace in the heart (in the mind).
Welcome to the first offering that we’re dropping in our 40-DAY VENUS RETROGRADE (otherworldly) GIANT GIFT BASKET / banishing spell.
During this period we’ll be packing this gift basket with love, storytelling medicine, and good, small things.
This Venus Retrograde Gift Basket is our second series exploring the question: “the truth about what art can do (in times of genocide)”
This first offering in this series is a storytelling tincture from our TEMPLE OF PARABLES, called: “And So, The Next Cycle Was Birthed With Rest” (Introducing the East).
THE TEMPLE OF PARABLES is our collection of trailers, tinctures and time stamps – all under 10-minutes.
In this ~5-minute episode, Shaunga runs into a conundrum. What happens when you visit the place in your personal altar where you are supposed to find deep rest in the bones, and peace in the heart – but what you find instead is a great RAGE cascading through your body?
To address this conundrum, Shaunga calls on a very old and yet familiar Ancestor. Instead of giving Shaunga clear answers, the Ancestor instead asks Shaunga a question that throws us back to the first episode that started this storytelling journey.
WILL SHAUNGA INTENTIONALLY SCREW UP HER NEW BUSINESS / NEW CHAPTER LAUNCH??
We finally put this question to rest (pun intended), and Shaunga makes a decision.
LISTEN NOW
“AND SO, THE NEXT CYCLE
WAS BIRTHED WITH REST”
(Introducing the East)
EPISODE EASTER EGGS
Easter Egg #1 🐣
If you’ve been paying attention you know the Ancestor we speak to in this episode is none other than SPIDERWOMAN.
We met SPIDERWOMAN in a few previous episodes of Magical Reality TV for the Revolution, namely our “Time Keeping” series:
THE TIME LOOP: notes on slayers, watchers & witch hunts
TIME IS A HEARTBEAT: notes on past lives, climate change & mighty ducks 2
THE WOLF WHO STOPPED TIME
…plus, she’s the guiding Ancestor behind our movement toward spiritual, artistic and financial sovereignty, aka the SPIDERWOMAN TECHNOLOGY that we spoke about in these episodes:
A VISION FOR A UNIVERSAL BADASS INCOME
ANCESTRAL ARTIST GRANTS ARE HERE
(For those keeping track – yes, as a voice actor and channeler, SPIDERWOMAN is one of my favourite characters to play, if not THE favourite.)
Easter Egg #2 🐣
The very first time I ever wrote for SPIDERWOMAN was way back in May 2019 when I finished writing the script for my play PLUTO. The next month, for my 35th birthday in June, I called a bunch of friends over and read them the script.
(You can learn more about PLUTO and watch a scene from the play on this page.)
During that script reading my friend Sze-Yang drew this beautiful photo you see in the video, inspired by SPIDERWOMAN and the overall story. It’s been on my fridge ever since.
Now you get the pleasure of enjoying the drawing in this episode! Sze-Yang is an incredible visual artist, martial artist, actor, activist and dancer, among many other magical things. Check out their IG pages: @seeyinandyang and @onethreadweaves
Easter Egg #3 🐣
FUN FACT: At the end of this episode, you hear me cackle. That’s technically a blooper or out-take. I started laughing immediately after I recorded SPIDERWOMAN’S line: “And don’t forget to write!” …because she’s just so fun to play!
I left it in because I was like, OH SHIT! THAT’S A WITCHES CACKLE! DUDES, I’M THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST!!
You can file this under our ever-growing list of “you can’t make this shit up.”
TAKE IT AS A TINCTURE
Remember, our storytelling is packed full of energy healing, prayers and practices devoted to birthing and experiencing the dream of Mass Collective Earth Stewardship, in our lifetime.
This episode is the first in our VENUS RETROGRADE series, devoted to infusing rest, joy, fun and pleasure into our lives, and banishing the energy of “belligerence” aka anything that would derail you from living and claiming what is truly yours.
You can read more about the spell for Venus Retrograde here.
I invite you to go experience this banishing spell and reconnection to rest with me.
To take this tincture:
- sit for 5 minutes and listen/watch the story
- take a few deep breaths after you listen and allow the energy of the story to move through your body
- take some time to meditate or journal on a few questions:
*What does rest mean to you?
*How can you re-define what it means for you to rest right now (I gave some examples in the previous blog post)
*How can you infuse every part of your life (work, social life, private life, etc) with a little bit more of what truly resources you?
*Is there anything “belligerent” in your ecosystem? Anything unnecessary or derailing?
To banish the energy you don’t want, you can simply say out loud:
“Belligerence, I cast you out. Belligerence, be gone!”
You can also call in the rest you need, or anything else you want to call toward you in your own words.
Remember – your way of resting in the next 40 days gets to be imperfect and within your capacity.
There is nothing more exhausting than holding yourself to impossible standards of perfection or things that are not accessible in your reality.
CREATIVE / MEDITATIVE EXERCISE
If you were to design the most juicy, gorgeous, fulfilling restful 40 days ahead of you, what would it look like?
Let yourself imagine your absolute DREAM even if it’s not possible right now.
Take 20 minutes and see yourself experiencing it.
There was one morning a while back that I was so tired I just couldn’t get out of bed. I imagined myself going through the rest retreat of my dreams.
I took 20 minutes and saw myself living like this, for months on end. At some point, something clicked in my energy – I felt refreshed, awake and ready to get out of bed.
Sometimes, it’s our Spirit that needs the most care. Allowing your Spirit to have it exactly the way you want it, can make a huge difference.
Now – what would a rest retreat for the next 40 days look like if you were to integrate it into your daily life?
Let yourself get excited about things that you want to do, that are possible right now, and also excited about leaving behind shit you’re done with.
Let yourself indulge in the fun of designing the most delightful ancestral, creative and spiritual spa. Whether or not you actually follow it, is not as important. Just have fun and let your imagination indulge.
DID YOU KNOW?
Otherworldly Giants just opened our
SPA TREATMENT ROOM!
These are luxurious, day-long ancestral artist retreats for individuals or 2-person teams.
You spend the day with us and we offer you a personalized menu of our best medicine. You get to experience a creative and spiritual “spa day” for your gorgeous artistry.
These are very limited in our schedule, and they are reserved for those who want to make an investment into their spiritual and creative care.
SOME WRITER / DIRECTOR COMMENTARY
“And So We Birthed the Next Cycle With Rest” is both the last episode of the first series, “the truth about what art can do during times of genocide”…
…And, it is also the first episode of our VENUS RETROGRADE series.
That tracks, given the question the first series asked is “how to start a new chapter in life when you are still grieving the old chapter you haven’t quite yet left behind?“
This is what a year of NINE (2025) is all about. It’s the liminal space between an ending and a beginning.
During our first 2-week series, I said that once we were done with the series, I’d take the altar and offer it to Lake Ontario.
But the truth is, we have only just begun to scratch the surface when it comes to exploring the question…
What CAN art do in times like these? What is the role of the artist, healer, creator in our movements of liberation? Are we helping? Are we contributing in a meaningful way?
I wrote a blog post reflecting on the first part of this series, and while there are many ways to answer this question, I came to the point that the truth is…
…we don’t actually KNOW the truth about what art can do in times of genocide, or times of anything.
We have been so displaced from our ancestral technologies and traditions of art making that we haven’t yet found out as a collective what kind of impact or global change we could facilitate if we reclaimed that kind of power.
What emerged for me through creating the first series is deeper clarity for my advocacy.
I am here to birth, co-create and protect a movement dedicated to the Planetary Artist in Residence.
I quickly realized that this Storytelling Altar is far more glorious and glamorous than just a two week series. What we’re doing is more similar to creating a gorgeous 5-layer cake (you know the kind they do on baking competition reality TV shows).
The first 2-week series was just the base layer, the foundation.
Now we are entering our second layer, which is this Venus Retrograde period.
In the end, both of these conversations speak to each other.
This episode with SPIDERWOMAN asks us:
How do we reconcile the rage in the same place where we want to find peace?
What do you do when you know you have to move on, but you’re not ready?
This does bring us back to the original assessment: we don’t yet know the truth about what art can do in times of genocide.
That’s precisely the point. The planet is asking us to be brave, and go deeper. Find the deeper questions, find the deeper power. Just take a deep breath and go.
So many of us have been stuck in the question: Does my art matter?
But we stop the conversation at the place of reassurance. You matter, don’t worry, you matter.
The truth is, the planet is asking us to move with something deeper than reassurance.
We’re saying – we don’t actually know the truth. But are you willing to find out? The planet is not asking us a question. She’s making a declaration.
This is the time to find out.
That’s what SPIDERWOMAN means in this episode when she asks me: Are you prepared to enter here, in the East?
She says: the East is where we hold beloved, the ORIGINS of fire. The ANCESTRAL ROOTS of ceremonial, celestial musical theatre.
Are we prepared to RE-MEMBER our arts and healing practices? Are we prepared to remember more of how we lived and died in thriving villages?
Can we get prepared to get prepared?
Are you ready to enter here, through this gate? And meet all the sacrifices, heartaches, challenges, gifts, triumphs and dreams awakening?
Are you ready to find out what it really means to live?
No.
But I’ll do it anyway.
That’s…what I do.
…Alright then.
That’s good enough for me.
Let’s Rock and Roll.
And don’t forget to write!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
NARRATOR:
in my ancient memories of when we lived and died in thriving villages…
(Music: “As Time Passes By” by Clarence Reed)
in my future memories of a healed and ever healing planet earth
we know ourselves
as fellow planetary altar carriers
as devoted planetary artists in residence
we know where and how to sit each day
qe know how to move each day
holding and caring for each day
as an altar
itself
today, I sit here in the east
before it started
right
here
where the next cycle
was birthed
with rest
that’s how they’ll know us
our descendants
they’ll say
that was the cycle they birthed
with deep rest in the bones, in the soul
with Deep peace in the mind, and in the heart
that was the cycle, they’ll say
and they entered it
through the east
(music builds beautifully, and then stops abruptly with a record scratch)
but hold on wait
there’s a problem
i’m an altar carrier
and I mean, okay this is a longer story but a while back I was sitting in ceremony and I felt this rage in me cascading through my body
like I’ve never felt before
and it was so old, it was so big
and I thought I must be sitting in the north
because…well, I’m always sitting in the north
and then I looked down and I was like
oh shit! I’m in the east?!
dudes, I’m the wicked witch of the EAST?!
how is this possible
how is this reconciled
how is this primordial rage
this ancient relationship drama
in my field of intimacy
all but over powering me
so present and alive here in the part of an altar
that was meant
to lay rest
deep in the bones
(echoing: in the soul)
to sit and move with sincere peace
(echoing: in the mind)
in the heart
i don’t know
but I’ll do what I always
do when I don’t know
something
i will ask
my ancestors writers room
come through
who has something for me on this?
(sound: click click click)
oh hey. i know you.
you’re the one
who tried to kill me and all my friends
in my dreams.
how’ve you been?
ANCESTOR: who made you mad?
NARRATOR: me? nobody. don’t go there.
ANCESTOR: ah but it is you who came here
(sound: click click click)
this is the east.
(music: tabla drumming)
and I am the guardian of fire
i am the doctor of everything
that burns
Question:
(low voice chant)
spiritual scholar
celestial researcher
the great diagnostician
little pipsqueak
before they banned ceremony from public life…
they banned artists from ceremony…
and before they banned artists from ceremony…
what did they do little talky meat?
(drumming stops)
NARRATOR: They banned fire from theatre
ANCESTOR: egg-sactly.
this is the east.
the origins of fire.
the ancestral roots of
ceremonial, celestial
(sshhhh)
musical
theatre
(sound: click click click)
We DO do drama here!
so, the question that YOU,
little pipsqueak (ssshhhh)
must apprentice
if you dare to sit
here (ssshhhhhh)
is just this:
is it you?
are you the one?
who is ready
to enter
here?
Now.
NARRATOR: No.
But that’s okay.
(music: “The Kill” By Particle House)
i’ll do it anyway.
that’s…
what I do.
ANCESTOR: Alright then.
that’s good enough for me.
let’s rock and roll.
(sound: a sword unsheathing)
and don’t forget to write!
(music: “The Kill” drops the beat)
(sound: a witches cackle)