a hymn for grief

the lights and internet have been disconnected in gaza as the empire carries out its deeds in darkness, but we know what is happening, and we don't need sight to feel the ripples of loss and violence surging through the web of life.

no matter who you are and or what you believe, i hope you take time to grieve and withness, not consume the Palestinian peoples' struggles of resistance.

may none of us believe that our physical distance from these events serves as any measure of safety or boundaries from the global reach of empire and oppression.

may we all remember that we are moving towards collective liberation for all.

may we abandon our composure, may we grieve, and may our hearts be broken wide open.

#ase #grief #hymn #freepalestine #liberation #collectiveliberation #wheredoesithurt #gaza #loss #healing #together #solidarity #grieve #composure #heartbreak

grief medicine

dreaming of communal grieving that is held in the integrity and vast resource of deep ecology.
✨
holding visions of all of us being braided into deep webs of resource, presence, and community as we grieve.
✨
join @nora.dennis.md and I for a communal grief & hope ritual at Jubilee Healing Farm.
we will invite in the vast resource and presence of ecologies rooted in love and liberation to guide our ritual and withness our grief and hope offerings.
📅oct 29
⏲️1-230 pm
🔗 www.tamiracousett.com/gatherings
[quote reads:
grief medicine moves us deeper into ecology.
its presence invites an ecological response of holding & withness.
how is our grieving impacted when systems
of domination work overtime to push us out of ecology and back into economy & productivity amid our grieving?
brown background with dark candle lit.]
#meditation #grief #griefmedicine #ancestralwisdom #ritual #gather #healing #community #ecologicalbeing #ecology #reflection #inquiry #vision #dreaming #hope #ase #love #ecologicalresponse #kin #presence #resource #integrity

postures of protection

a self reflection
a prayer
a meditation
on the practice of embodying love

[Quote reads-how does it feel to embody & experience love beyond postures of protection?
.:.
what becomes possible
when i move beyond posture
and rest into states of being? ]

#practice #love #selfinquiry #selfreflection #protection #being #human #relationshipgoals #experience #embodiment
#meditation #prayer #dream #rest #lifelong #student #classisinsession

a reminder

we are not at the beginning or the end of the collapse; we are in the thick of it— co-creating it in real-time.

let go of the timelines- linear time is irrelevant amid the grief and death that intersects with the impulse to live.

time here is measured in thickness

it demands a thickness of presence

a thickness of being.

we are engaging collapse with every fiber of our being.

it is being archived in our tissues and cells, stretching across our bones.

there is no possibility inaction, we are tethered to one another by intra-actions because, beloved, we are ecological beings.

doing nothing is doing something; it is still an act of participation.

every action, thought, prayer, ritual, way of being, and breath is participation.

may love and collective liberation be the center of our beings and all we strive to build.

may love and liberation accompany us as we mid-wife these systems through their collapse in bodies and our worlds.

may we remember that when love and liberation rest at the center of our beings, all generations will be fed by our lives, and all beings move closer to embodying love and liberation.

field notes on protecting love

love does not need my protection...
love does not need my protection...
love does not need my protection...
love is inviting me to embody it...
love is inviting me to embody it...
love is inviting me to embody it...
🕯️
as a black woman living in the states, i have been socialized into upholding models of protection that systems of harm and oppression actively shape
🕯️
when i’ve felt into my embodied experiences of protection, i’ve often noticed myself assuming postures of hyper-vigilance, defense, hyper-surveillance of myself and others, gatekeeping, fatigue, and being ready to go to war
🕯️
in many ways, the residues of these systems live in the models of protection they inform, and thus, as i’ve practiced these models of protection, i’ve found myself further enabling cycles of harm and oppression
🕯️
as i deepen into love, this path is not asking me to assume postures of protection but to redirect that energy into embodying love and responding from that space in times of great challenge/unrest and grief.
🕯️
i’m asking myself how i can embody love in my solidarity and mutual aid practices with the people of Palestine and all beings impacted globally by genocide and oppression.
🕯️
I am asking myself if I am meeting my grief and our collective grief from a space of love.

#ase #ancestors #ancestralwisdom #ancestralconnections #fieldnotes #life #love #learning #growing #embodylove #grief #human #solidarity #protection #decolonizing #curiosity #ancestralecosystems #ecology #peace #mutualaid #kin #relationshipgoals #selfcare #selflove #collectivecare #takecareofyourself

a reminder

A reminder
🤲🏽
Bring your whole self to your ancestral connection practices.
🕯️
Our ancestral ecosystems are not in some far-off place watching from afar. They are with us always, witnessing.
🕯️
Presencing what is, while rooting in ecology is how we affirm our interconnectedness.
🕯️
Our broken hearts are potent pathways of connection.
🕯️
[image shows the profile silhouette of a black woman with braids facing the sky. quote reads: Bring your grief, rage, confusion & heartbreak to your ancestral connection practices; this is an invitation to be withnessed. Bring your whole self into your practices of connection and trust the ancestral ecosystems to embrace the layered complexities of your human experiences.] #ancestors #ancestralwisdom #healing #peace #egungun #support #prayer #spell #ritual #community #love #liberation #courage #spell #meditation #ancestralconnection #grief #rage #trust #ecology #interdependence #interconnected #collective #human #life #brokenheart #heart #connection

a prayer...a spell... a meditation for love and liberation

a spell for dismantling systems of harm and oppression.
🕊️

Quote reads: beloved ancestors of love and liberation
as we dismantle systems of oppression in the world
please help us to dismantle these systems
as manifest within us, our lineages, our rituals,
and our communities.

🕊️
[ image of black woman in a white dress standing in a field with her hand on the forehead of a black man kneeling before her. Both have simple symbols painted on their face with white paint. Quote reads: beloved ancestors of love and liberation
as we dismantle systems of oppression in the world
please help us to dismantle these systems
as manifest within us, our lineages, our rituals,
and our communities.]
#ancestors #ancestralwisdom #healing #peace #egungun #support #prayer #spell #ritual #community #love #liberation #courage #spell #meditation

remember

You are woven into something much greater than your current conditions.

🪞

You belong to something much more vast, loving and generative than the managed realities of empire.

🪞

Move accordingly.

🪞

[image of dark skinned black man with corn rows. He has pink and red flowers tucked behind his ear. His eyes are closed and he has flowers painted on his forehead and chest in bright colors. quote reads: your ancestor work began long before you answered the call of incarnation in brown font.]

#ase #egungun #ancestors #ancestralwisdom #ancestorwork #ancestralconnection #ecology #ancestralecosystems #elderwisdomfield #remember #move #live #love #truth #medicine #belonging #being #reality #life

celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day 365

This anthology is everything ❤️

a spell for the living

let us be in the practice of gathering with the hopes of being gathered.
🕯️
A field of practice opens tomorrow:
Elder Wisdom
🗓️Oct. 9th
⏳7-9pm EST
🪞via Zoom
🔗In bio// recording available
[ tan background and semi circle watermark. Quote reads: let us gather our dead, beloved
to re-weave pathways of belonging and accountability
🪞
let us gather our dead, beloved
to practice locating ourselves in ancestral ecosystems of love
🪞
let us gather our dead, beloved
to release the mythologies that dispossess us of these connections
🪞
let us gather our dead, beloved
to celebrate our interdependence
🪞
let us gather our dead, beloved
because we, too, are in deep need of gathering
🪞
in the spirit of reciprocity,
let us gather our dead, beloved]

#ase #egungun #connection #ancestors #practice #ancestralwisdom #ancestralconnection #learning #growing #trust #heart #medicines #love #ancestralassignment #ancestorswisdom
#trustyourheart #ancestralecosystems #ElderWisdom #embodylove #embodyliberation #ritual #gathering #fieldofpractice #descendantofradicalimagination #descendantbelovedkin #kin #reciprocity #interdependence #spell #poem

ancestral connections 101

I have gathered many gems along my path of rooting in ancestral connections. Today, I want to share just a few that I always find myself returning to:
🔑
1) Allow your practices to be authentic to who you are. If your practices don’t resonate, you’ll be less likely to engage them. I habitually ask myself what practices reflect where I am right now. Sometimes, that connection practice looks like savoring a walk after school drop-off and meditation. Other days, it looks like making school lunches with a full heart and tired hands.
🔑
2) Simple offerings and rituals are the most potent. We don’t have to partake in grand rituals and make elaborate offerings. There is a time and a place for everything; simplicity is key. Our ancestral ecosystems delight in being woven into the magical and the mundane aspects of our lives. What do you have access to today that can serve as a love offering of beauty to these ecosystems? Is it your laughter, a leaf, or libations? The possibilities are endless.
🔑
3) Allow your practices to evolve. We are always growing and changing, and so should our connection practices. Today, I have more skills and resources to engage in ways that didn’t seem possible years ago. Our connection pathways evolve as we become students of our own hearts and begin to trust our medicines. The question is, are you willing to trust your heart and your medicines?
[video image 1 reads ancestral connection 101. Image 2 reads make your practices of connection authentic to you. features an image of black woman with braids, wrapped in a gray blanket and sitting cross legged outside in nature. Image 3 reads the simplest rituals and offerings are the most potent. Features an image of black man soaking in a tub w/oranges slices floating in the water. His eyes are closed and he had gold eye masks beneath his eyes. Image 4 reads allow your practices to evolve with you. Features video of white buds.
#ase #egungun #connection #ancestors #practice #ancestralwisdom #ancestralconnection #learning #growing #trust #heart #medicines #love #ancestralassignment #ancestorswisdom
#trustyourself #trustyourheart #ancestralecosystems #ElderWisdom #embodylove #embodyliberation #ritual

remember.....

When life is full on life-ing, I come back to this.
👣
I am so grateful for the many fields of practice life continues to offer in all of its weirdness, beauty, complexity, and divine chaos.
👣
May our fields of practice be invitations into presence. May life move us towards deeper connections and love amongst ourselves and the ecologies that affirm liberation.
👣
May we embody love & connection. May love & connection be our foundations of home & kinship here on Earth.
👣
If you feel moved to join our field of practice, the Elder Wisdom portal of practice opens on October 9th 7-9pm EST.
🔗register in bio
[quote on brown background with cream outlined double circled reads :
This life is an invitation to practice embodying love & connection with the vast ecologies we are woven into. The second image reads: Practice makes perfect (crossed out). Beneath that reads: Practice invites presence.]
#ase #egungun #connection #ancestors #practice #ancestralwisdom #ancestralconnection #learning #growing #trust #heart #medicines #love #ancestralassignment #ancestorswisdom
#trustyourself #trustyourheart #ancestralecosystems #ElderWisdom #embodylove #embodyliberation #ritual #liberation #embodyliberation #human #kin #presence #life #gratitude #thankyou

fall magic is afoot

Fall magic is unfolding:
🔸Crisp mornings at @carrborofarmersmarket
🔸Floral wonders-photos1-2 (not shown)
🔸beautiful kale greens-photo 3 (not shown)
🔸taters for soup-photo 4
🔸our haul included paw paws-photo 5
🔸rainbow chard is my love language - photos 6-8(not shown)
🔸new adventures with okra water- photos 9-10
#fall #lovelanguages #love #local #farmersmarket #carrborofarmersmarket #flowers #veggies #herbs #rest #innerspiral #life #seasons

remembering our ancestral ecosystems

Remember you belong to entire ancestral ecosystems of love.
🫶🏽
Join us in our field of practice and remembering.
🔹Elder Wisdom
🗓️October 9
⏰4-6pm PST// 7-9pm EST
🪙$65 sliding scale
🎥Recording available for 2 weeks
👣Returning participants may re-enroll at no cost.
🫶🏽
[image of underwater sand colored sea anemone with purple tips swaying in the currents. Text reads “Remember when we accept the invitations to embody love and sustain ancestral connections, we practice being and becoming, living and breathing, while rooting in the integrity and vast resources of entire ancestral ecosystems.]

field notes on knowing your role

field notes on role and destiny.
💡
I’m chewing on a few questions:
❓If I know my role(s) how might the socialized aspects of my being try to talk me out of accepting them? How might those parts of me tell me that i’m not qualified or that the work is impossible?
❓what have i been socialized to believe about the importance of knowing my role(s) ?
❓How deeply invested am I in those beliefs? How do they shape how i love and know myself?
💡
Have you reflected on these questions before? What came up for you?
Happy digging as the journey continues.
#ase #ancestralwisdom #learning #growing #fieldnotes #destiny #role #questions #relationshipgoals #love #reflection #curiosity #ancestralecosystems #unlearning #life

musings on destiny and role

Lately, I've been curious about destiny and roles. Specifically, I've been poking at the external messaging I've received that emphasizes the importance of knowing your role to fulfill your destiny.
👈🏽
Spoiler-alert, that math isn't mathing because much of my lived experience isn't reflected in that messaging.
👈🏽
Wrapping story and language around my role(s) has never made me feel closer to actualizing my destiny; it has often left me more confused and depleted. If anything, my stories about the role(s) I have accepted and assigned to myself have felt like distractions. And I've often felt a collapse of possibilities as I've struggled to perform/uphold those role(s).
👈🏽
As I keep poking, it feels almost impossible to entertain that any aspect of my destiny is tethered to me or anyone else understanding my role(s).
👈🏽
In this phase of my life, I aim to live, breathe, move, and exist in the sweet spot of trust. I am learning to trust my destiny's emergence. I am offering up all accepted and assigned roles as compost for the ecosystems that resource my life and destiny. The mysteries of life and the ecosystems of creation will be my primary pathways for relating to my destiny.
👈🏽
Quotes against pale pink and light brown backgrounds with abstract triangles read:

what if your destiny is emergent?

what if your work is to trust in the emergence
of your destiny and the ecosystems that support it?
❓
what if your work is about releasing
attachments to any ideas about what your role is?
❓
what if you don't have to understand your role in order to execute your destiny?
❓
How does it feel when the mysteries of life and creation become prioritized pathways for relating to our destinies?

a love offering for bell hooks

dear ancestors, web of creation and ecosystems of love thank you for the life, medicines and spirit of bell hooks.

setting altars

Happy Autumn Equinox Folks
🕯️
Deep gratitude to the folks that showed up for our equinox ritual yesterday.
🕯️
In honor of the change in season, i’m sharing some tips for setting altars. I could honestly do an entire class on setting altars because there are so many layers to this practice. These tips are literally the tip of the iceberg.
🕯️
What’s on your altar?
🕯️
Comment below
🕯️
#ancestors #altar #ase #spirituality #autumn #autumnvibes🍁 #equinox #fall #magic #love #reverence #mystery #elements #air #water #fire #ether #practice #learning #growing

field notes on doubts and fears

when doubt and fear arise in your ancestral connection practices, gratitude, presence & curiosity are potent and transformative medicines.

🤲🏽

i find myself often engaging a gratitude practice around fears and doubts that arise. Sometimes this is very challenging work.

🤲🏽

the present moment is where we practice rooting in our agency and have the potential to create new experiences for ourselves.

🤲🏽

presence also enables us to engage with our curiosity and gather information. 

🤲🏽

ancestral connection work is an invitation to make space for our full selves and everything we are carrying including our fears and doubts.

🤲🏽 

#fear #doubt #ancestors #ancestralwisdom #ase #practice #ancestralconnection #growing #learning #ecologicalbeing #ecology #ancestralecosystems #support #curiosity #medicine #history #projections #now #healing #agency #choice #selflove #ancestrallove #acceptance #love #ritual #patience

1 year death anniversary

dear auntie it has been exactly 366 days since your last response in our group text
🫶🏽
i’ve been feeling your absence even more deeply as the one year mark approached today🫶🏽
on my walk, the chill in the air felt like your cool damp fingertips smearing grease across the neat parts you etched across my scalp almost 2 years ago.
🫶🏽
On that day your magic wand was a rattail comb and each part was a rune, a sigil, evidence of your magic.
🫶🏽
On that day i sat on a pillow between your knees as you archived your love for me across my scalp and along every strand of hair you twisted
🫶🏽
thank you for this embodied experience of love archiving. I am so grateful to carry some of your spells and stories. I love you and i miss you. #ase #grief #ancestors #spells #story #archive #evidence
#love #death #life