There is so much healing to be done. Globally, ancestrally, ecologically: healing from the wounds of patriarchy, imperialist and colonial iniquities – the list is long, and the legacy is profound. It effects all of us on so many levels, and it keeps on resurfacing in different forms. The healing work is ongoing, often being done by marginal groups who may not even consider it in this way.
Community arts, allotments, public libraries, festivals are just a few examples of spaces where people can interact authentically, and are integral to keeping sane in a capitalist society in which the systemic prioritisation of private profit over human or social need bears a parasitic character. (Paul Kennedy)
adrienne maree brown writes that if we are willing to undertake what she calls the sacred work of practice, making life our practice ground and focusing energy where we have agency, we can exist as more than hungry ghosts in capitalism, we can begin to thrive. She acknowledges those ancestors who did the work for us to continue:
even the simplest practices become deep when i think of how much history and struggle it took generations to claim the time i have to now sit quietly, listen for a poem, swim in a public pool, read books of self-improvement, say what feels true, love myself as i am, and reject any construct that limits my humanity… i take none of my current freedom for granted. i have the freedom to become more and more self-aware and self-responsive every day, which allows me to be a more honest, boundaried, authentic and loving member of my relationships, communities and species.
https://adriennemareebrown.net/2022/03/18/deep-practice/
She encourages us to reclaim the sacred ground from which the world is made—our imaginations.
Pictures from a recent gathering of women from many cultures at the allotment we work together in Wales. It can be as simple as coming together to share home-grown food, insights and ideas. To imagine, to acknowledge, to keep moving as close as we can to a sane way of living on the planet.
Sarah J Featherstone 