Today is My 32nd Solar Return…
…and, I’m grateful to be here. There were many eras in my life where I feared as that I wouldn’t make it to this far. I now live knowing that every moment could be my last, and I have felt more liberated because of this acceptance.
In Hellenistic/Traditional Astrology, the 32nd year of life is the 9th house year. A year marked by foreign travel, higher education, and spiritual journeys. My 9th house contains Sagittarius making Jupiter my “timelord”. This means that I will be a student of Jupiter’s influence and significations. Jupiter signifies abundance, joy, expansion, spiritual gifts, and belief.
As I prepare for this 32nd trip around this glorious sun, I am accepting that I am what I choose to believe. Every action I’ve take, thought I’ve given my attention to, and imagination that I have crafted stems from the beliefs I inherited and cultivated within myself.
To begin this trip, I choose not to believe in any apocalypse stories because their temptation to become complacent is too satisfying. Instead, I choose to believe in revolution. From the belief of revolution I see how we have everything we need to create futures where humanity has healthy relationships with the Earth and our bodies as extensions of the Earth. I choose to believe that oppression has an expiration date and we will see its abolition in our lifetime. And, I choose to believe that our descendants will inherit the bounty of our good decisions.
As a living ancestor to these revolutionary futures, I joyfully run towards this 32nd year of life and beyond.
SATURN Fundraiser
To celebrate my birthday, I am hosting a fundraiser for my latest work in the SATURN world-building project, SATURN: A Revelation!
This performance installation is an artistic offering to my community and an invitation to imagine a glorious future post oppression. Through the ingenious use of primordial technology and dance, we are simulating a live hologram concert from the future by the Inter-Dimensional Time-Traveling Disco Space Opera Danceband, The Living Ancestors!
The fundraiser will give you an opportunity to meet some my collaborators on the SATURN: A Revelation project, watch a couple performances, view a screening of an earlier project SATURN @ BRIC, and offer a first experience of The Living Ancestors Time Capsule installation. A light dinner and refreshments will also be provided.
As a dance artist, I make sure that my lived experience and creative practice are as aligned with the values of each project I take on as possible. For SATURN: A Revelation, the requirement is for me to cultivate a life that moves in the direction of liberation for me, my collaborators, and our communities. Contributing to this fundraiser is a direct way of joining us in cultivating this future because your contribution helps:
Provide Artists A Livable Wage For Creating This Project
Support Local Community Organizers That Are Partnering With Us To Provide Essential Resources To The Community
Create A Public Installation For The Community To Radically Imagine Revolutionary Futures As Living Ancestors
SATURN: A REVELATION Tickets On Sale!
Quick Story Time…
I didn’t grow up regularly celebrating my birthday. My parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses so I rarely got to practice asking for what I want on a day dedicated to me. After practicing over the past few years I’ve come to realize that I often have what I want or have the confidence that I can get it. However, what I like to do most is share what I have!
My mother once saw me stop mid-task at the kitchen sink to explore some movement that suddenly came to me when I tuned into the jazz music playing in background. In all of 15 seconds, I went from washing dishes, to dancing, and back to washing dishes. My mom then said, “do you know how liberated you are?”
Confused, I turned to her as she continued, “you just exist so fully and freely in your body. Not everyone knows they can do that.”
I immediately saw the truth of that. It reaffirmed my belief that oppression enacts itself on the body (thank you Sonya Renee-Taylor), everybody with a body is impacted by it, and freedom from oppression can be found in cultivating places where we can live fully and freely in our bodies.
Having the opportunity to create art within the near-black void of this installation with projected images of Black folks imagining that they are free, and dancing like it, is a tremendous gift from the universe. And, all I want to do is invite everyone to this gift and imagine themselves as free with us.
Please consider donating to help us craft a gorgeous invitation.
I Don’t Want To Make This Too Long…
…so, I’ll wrap this up by saying thank you. Thank you for subscribing, listening, reading, donating, supporting, sharing, giving love, receiving love, and thank you for loving you.
I recently shared my past with suicidal ideation and my journey to get where I am at now with new friends. We were talking about how the delusion of individuality be fucking us up, and shared that remembering that I am not alone saved my life.
It was 2020, we were in lockdown, I was in the most physical pain I had been in in my life, and I was living alone for the first time. I had never felt so lonely. When I was the closest to taking that courageous leap, I stayed firmly in my body by meditating on the truth that I am not alone. There are billions of microbes in my gut with me. All of my ancestors are with me. The love of my family and friends got me here. And, my life is not only mine.
Meditating on the truths that reminded me that I am not alone, and never had been alone, guided me through this journey of being free from suicidal ideation for nearly 4 years.
Sciences, metaphysics, and many spiritual beliefs and philosophies reveal the truth of our unbreakable connection to each other all the time. But, my favorite is the African philosophy of Ubuntu. It means, “I am because We are”.
And, I am so grateful that you are.
-j.