Rest and Rituals
Protect. Aid.
Happy Friday, my lovies.
I had to go back to last week’s post to remind myself that it had, in fact, only been a week since I wrote—and not years.
Like most of us, I’m struggling to catch my breath. I have to be constantly reminded that feelings don’t need an aim—productive or otherwise. They can exist in the interstices of care, despite the cognitive load, when the rapid flow of events feels immense and uncertain.
As personal and historical time collapse onto one another, our sense of living through History is heightened, making everything feel more immediate, more urgent.
It’s important to decompress these turning points, to reinstate ourselves in private, intimate time—the time of care, nurturing, sleeping, and presence.
Let’s enter the decompressing chamber together with five offerings, shall we?
1. This article: “At Least Two Layers of Support: An Anatomy of Collective Care”
In this marvelous article, Susan Raffo explores how both biological systems and human communities thrive on dual layers of support and protection. She reflects on interdependency as essential—not just for individual well-being but for the survival of the collective.
Two layers, this gift of our ancestors, which is evolution, asserts support as that important, that necessary for life. So important, that there are reinforcements. One balancing the other.
Pair with another wonderful article of hers: Building collective liberation: wondering about a protocol for healers
2. Miggy Turns Eight
I adopted this potato three years ago. She was five then, and I picked her up straight from the airport, where she’d landed after a long trip from Spain to Montreal. As a galga, she had lived a volatile life, far from the comfort of domesticity, and we weren’t sure how she’d adjust.
She fit right in.
Sure, she has no idea what fetch is and her recall is abysmal. But her quiet presence in our lives has been an everlasting gift.
Happy birthday, Migs.
3. GEN Grief Toolkit: Embodiment Tools and Rituals to Support Grief Work in Community. By Camille Sapara Barton
I began outlining the third part of my book this week. I cannot tell you how stressful this stage is—the unknown, the gathering of notes, the possibility of a misstep.
While researching interconnectedness and ancestral knowledge among white European descendants, I stumbled across this toolkit and devoured it in one sitting.
I’m grateful it found me, and I plan to play joyfully with many of its rituals in the coming weeks.
Let me know if you do the same!
4. A Hollowed Tree Trunk Carved by Termites
Perfect for welcoming fairies.
5. Lazy Sunday
My husband and I rarely fully rest on weekends—a shame, really. Not because our schedules are packed, but because our systems are hard-wired for grit, grit, grit.
But last Sunday, we finally hit a wall. Our bodies demanded rest. We obliged. I snapped this picture as we bathed in the lazy light, our bodies barely touching, breathing together.
May you find a pocket of softness this weekend.
Love, always.
a. xx