Yesterday was my birthday, and this year I finally remembered to take the day off.
I always say I’m going to, and then I forget, and then I get annoyed at myself because that’s literally the whole point of not having a boss. You get to decide what you do with your time.
So the fact that I forget is kind of ridiculous.
Anyway, I had a great day. My partner Jeff and I went to the beach.
We saw whales!
And also, like every other day but especially on my birthday, I think: “We’re all gonna be dead before we know it”. Or to put it more mildly, I found myself thinking about something that is part of my actual spiritual practice.
I ask myself, very directly:
When I die, am I going to be okay with how I lived?
I know that can sound dramatic, but I don’t mean it that way. I mean it as a real way of checking in and making sure I’m living the life I want to live.
The truth is that we are going to die, and we usually don’t know when, and the time in between is not a theory. It is being used, whether we are paying attention to it or not.
So I want to be paying attention.
Right now, that question feels even more charged, because what is happening in the world is deeply demoralizing.
And not just in a distant, conceptual way.
Here, close to home, 3 days ago ICE was kidnapping people at the San Francisco airport in a way that honestly felt like something out of a horror movie.
And I do a lot of political and social change work, so there are moments where I wonder if I am doing enough.
And I notice that sometimes that question turns into something else, which is a kind of doubt about how I am spending my time.
Like, should I really be focusing on Bruja School and Liberation Magic when there is so much other work that is urgently needed?
That thought does come up.
However, that only lasts for a second, because I know in my heart of hearts that the root cause of all the fuckery in the world is spiritual disconnection.
And teaching people how to reconnect spiritually is the most powerful weapon to dismantle oppression.
When people are disconnected from themselves, from reality, from truth, from spirit, they are much easier to control, to manipulate, and to turn against each other.
And when people are deeply connected, they are not.
So for me, teaching people how to reconnect spiritually is not separate from political work.
It is one of the most powerful ways to dismantle systems that do not have our best interests at heart.
That is why I chose to start Liberation Magic the day after my birthday.
It felt like the most honest way to begin my own personal year, by focusing on my practice and by sharing with others how to develop theirs.
I genuinely believe that people who are spiritually awake and alive are a real threat to the rise of fascism.
So yes, write to your representatives, join marches, participate in mutual aid, do all of that.
And also make sure that you are spiritually rooted and connected.
Because without that, it is very hard to sustain yourself in this kind of world.
My program, Liberation Magic, has room for you if you want to join.
The content starts right away, so you would not be behind.
But regardless of whether you join or not, this is what I would invite you to sit with:
What is your practice?
How are you using your power?
And how are you staying connected?
If you do not have clear answers to those questions, or if what you have does not actually hold under pressure, that is not a personal failure.
It just means you have not been taught how to build something that works.
And if you want support with that, it is not too late.