Like winter, stay ungovernable
our collective futures depend on it
Winter is ungovernable.
I shared this concept during our last Global Healing Festival, and these words are especially true for me today as I prepped for, and am now witnessing, yet another winter storm. No matter how much I have the routine down: get groceries, re-stock emergency supplies, shelter in place, etc., it’s f*cking hard.
Yet, you want to know what’s harder?
Denying the medicine of winter.
And I’m not going to lie, the medicine of winter can be brutal.
Just like winter strips the trees bare of its leaves. Winter can strip us bare, forcing us to take stock of what’s no longer working: Ways of being, ideas of self and other, our work, our friendships, our intimate relationships.
That’s because winter is akin to death, and existing in a death-phobic, youth-centric society our resistance to winter, and in some cases hatred of it lines up.
In world where billionaires are trying to live forever, and where women and femmes are pressured to freeze our faces, shrink our bodies and stay silent once we’ve turned 40, winter is the ultimate middle finger to the system.
As I’ve gotten older, my respect for winter has widened.
Winter will not only slow us down, it will shut the whole damn thing down.
Side note: As I’m writing this, I received a notification that schools are closed tomorrow. A reminder, that winter doesn’t care about the capitalism’s clock.
A sacred pause, as I share this precious moment with my snow angel, who loves winter by the way. I’m so grateful for all the lessons my Sun has taught me and the way that love ignites the fire in my belly.
I clearly see that winter has much in common with women and femmes in mid-life and beyond.
We are the women who stand our ground and said no to contorting ourselves to fit inside the colonial nightmare.
We are the women who recognize that the catcalls have stopped or lessened not because we’re less beautiful, but because our beauty is now married to our power.
We are the women who are dangerous to systems of harm, ped-0-philes in power, divine feminine frauds, and fake se-x-ual liberation empowerment that are really weapons of grooming, all for the gratification of men hellbent on creating a dystopian world.
Yes, women at mid-life are dangerous. We’ll speak truth to power and stand up to protect our children and communities.
And that’s why there’s a not so covert plot to silence us, kill us and control us.
And what keeps many of us under control? Chasing maidenhood and desirability.
But winter Beloveds, is the Wise Elder, that’s preparing us to become Wise Elders ourselves and one day Revolutionary Ancestors. And winter knows that as we grow older our truth sharpens.
There’s a saying in Creole that my mother always says, and that makes me laugh every single time…
“Bouche granmoun met santi, men parole granmoun pas santi.”
Which means…
“Old folks breath might stink, but old folks words don’t.”
Winter, like dangerous women, said what she said, without apology, because her wisdom is hard-earned.
From a nervous system perspective, when the body is in perpetual freeze, it’s one of the most detrimental somatic states to be in, however, the medicine of winter doesn’t require us to be in somatic freeze state. These broken systems do.
While on the surface winter appears to be frozen, new life is teeming beneath the surface.
Winter initiates: You. Me. Spring. Meeting us at our thresholds.
Winter in their kindness, reminds us that we’re blooming underneath.
The medicine of winter wants us alive, awake.
The medicine of winter wants us ungovernable, untameable, unbreakable (not in a way that solely centers the self) but in a way that wildly cares for the whole.
When we embrace our aging faces and bodies, we become ungovernable.
When we say no to to ICE in our communities, we become ungovernable.
When we actively stand for truth, for justice and refuse anything less than a beautiful world for all, we become ungovernable.
As we navigate our external and personal winter terrains, stay warm, turn towards one another and for the sake of all existence, stay ungovernable, Beloveds.
A reminder…
If you’re called to deepen this work, join me in-person for our HEAL DEEP ELEMENTAL RETREAT taking place on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Our intergenerational circle will be nestled between the Pacific ocean and the majestic Sierra Madre Mountains on 200 lush acres. The elements will be our wise and wild teachers and initiate us at our current thresholds. We’ll be honoring the medicine of winter as we welcome Spring. Come join us and remember your ungovernability.
And in celebration of Global Healing Festival (today’s our anniversary!) there’s 1 day remaining to receive a generous discount.
Review the details on the website.
Then book your space with these special codes:
Private Room: HEAL ($400 off)
Shared Room: HEALDEEP ($600 off)
IN DEVOTION TO OUR LIBERATION,
