Often, when being asked about Kapwa Tarot I am asked “What was your inspiration?” “What brought me to create the cards?” and “Why did I decide to create them?” The answer was that it was not a decision at all, it was a necessity- that was amplified by the encouragement of community. And the cards themselves are not just cards, they are not just a deck of illustrations, or words written on a PDF file. Kapwa Tarot is a creation connected to my way of life.  I have been answering my ancestral, scared calling for many years now, in truth I have been answering it my whole Life, without understanding the fullness of it, and without the intention and awareness I walk with.  2 years ago the messages were clearly directing me to create Kapwa Tarot, as a way to hold many of the core teachings I had gathered and was developing through my work of re-membering ancestors and practicing decolonization. I didn’t imagine the Divine timing of it all.  I just knew I was ready and that they would be manifested through me.

The call was echoed by community and family to create what I didn’t know I had the capacity to and to share it at a time where the “demand” for this work was being made. I could not have created these cards at any other time, but in this very auspicious period when so much that is of Diasporic Divination work is emerging and being made visible to the world.  I bring us into awareness of the generations that are rising, that are being born on Turtle Island that are the descendants of those who were, in many ways, forced to leave their Motherlands and brought to be servants to the “American Dream.” That dream was rooted in that servitude, in allegiance to Colonization- Capitalism, Racism, Patriarcny/Heteronormativity- and it is us, and our descendants that are being born in these similar land bases in the Diaspora, on Turtle Island, that are creating a new paradigm, creating radical change, and creating tangible revolution, through the re-membering of Divination and Magic based practices that we seek to re-member. These practices and tools that are emerging through our inception and manifestation, are entryways that are being distributed throughout the global diaspora to help ground our, communities to begin the path of returning to Life as Spiritual Practice.

Individuals and communities are currently seeking divination and magic as means of survival, for guidance, for healing and for creating a relationship with Spirit that can help to heal the traumas of this existence. That is why we see our learning of these tools and these modalities of metaphysical healing and empowerment as practice. What I have understood that the true goal is not to be great at reading cards, or at creating herbal tinctures and oils, or at playing sound bowls, and identifying and working with crystals to elevate spirit- the actual goal is to re-member the magic we can surface in all tangible things, and in all our relations because of the magic that is within ourselves. The goal is to understand the magic of us all, and these tools and practices are there as a reminder.

That is what I feel in this work with Kapwa Tarot and with all the divination tools that are being created in this time. How many decks have you seen emerging from different communities? How many tools of divination, books, crystals, herbs, iconic figures and use of earthly elements configured to support so many seeking spiritual knowing and connection? There is a call, within us, from a place so sacred and beyond this physical world that is asking us to create in line with the greater creations of change that have been built throughout these years in the work toward liberation of our communities. I believe this so firmly.  Our ancestral re-membering has brought us here, to this time, where magic is emerging on the surface, and is resonating with everything from what we eat, to what we wear- so much because that is being paradoxically supported by Colonization itself. It is being fetishized and capitalized on, just as it is healing and liberating us.

The powers that be are working to contain the Divination Work that is being interpreted by them as that “demand” I mentioned. And thus Spiritual Capitalism has been born of this intersection. They are looking to be the markets in which we “purchase” our prayer.  But what they don’t understand is that our communities are working around all of this in such intentional ways. And maybe even in none intentional ways, but are creating because it is necessary to, because something inside of us as creators is inviting us to embody the Divine in all that we create in this world. And a larger part of ourselves re-members. We re-member what it was to have our magic stripped from us, what it was like to be killed and tortured into shifting our beliefs for reading our cards in public, for praying amongst the trees and open sky, to gather in ceremony and ritual. We re-member the labeling of savagery, and uncivil, the being seen as un-human, unclean and demonic. We re-member how much it took for our Ancestors to adopt the beliefs of their Colonizers, all the death, all the pain, all the trauma to the bodies, minds and spirits of our people.  

There is a conflict that is intrinsically arising, the conflict between producing for capital and our relation to monetary survival and the necessity for money to live– and creating in relation to sacred calling and purpose and the survival and liberation tools that are necessary for revolution to come to be. The lines often get blurred because we are only beginning to understand the truth of what it means to be in Radical Imagining and Manifesting. Capitalism still feels necessary to live, and to live in wellness. That has been the most trying part of having brought Kapwa Tarot into this world-  and the trying part of all my divination work that is rooted in my artistry, activism and work as an educator- that in relation to ability to create this work for it to be used by community that there has to be a process of monetary exchange that allows for the materials, the labor and the creation fully manifested, to be sustained. In this world everything has monetary cost, we have invested in this as the way of life and bound ourselves to putting price points to all aspects of our creations and measuring demand with whether or not to pursue what may feel like a part of our understanding of what we must create and perform.  I think of the many times where I was taught that something was a “waste of my time” because it did not honor me with payment. Negotiating this is challenging.

We have made it our way as human beings, to find necessity in one another, in service-  that what we cannot, or have not learn to do for ourselves, we look to others to produce for us, and we’ll pay them, for the convenience, for the ease. So if you have more money, then you have more options, more resources and more ability to utilize the service of others and in turn can then create a greater service and gain greater capital in return. It all is a complex system that was created and sustained by humans all these years and relieving ourselves of the oppressions that it is rooted in is not something that will happen without complete destruction of its structures.

The navigation of this is rooted in the Principles of Sacred Exchange where I am continually working to build for myself and to share with my community. For now, it is a reworking of my relationship to capitalism, but what it is intentionally working toward is a radical shift and dismantling of capitalistic practices and creating practices of exchange within our communities that will not feed into the persistence and growth of Big Banks and Corporations ruling over our survival, our well-being and our ways of living. I share the following with you all as a part of a process that is always being added to, reoriented, reimagined and communally created on the daily. I believe that it is crucial to have these conversations, without it the Powers that Be will take hold and this will be the beginnings of how people weaponize our spiritual movements- through capitalism- by having ego, power and fame lead our creation and practice of divination work.

1)    Re-membering the Deep Histories of Creation that Makes My Creations Possible

No thought of creation is to be owned by another. Conceptions of copyrights, patents and other labels of ownership dishonor the truth of how at the core of all creation is the Ancient Divine. Our creations, just as our lives were created by a Great Creator, have lineage, have ancestry, that begin and are rooted someplace Ancient and Divine. If we can recognize and honor this, then we can pay reverence and homage to our work without having the Ego in place. If we see our brilliance as being detached from the brilliance of all, then we run into technicalities created by Capitalism that create practices and procedures of enforcing misguided states of scarcity, competition, glorification and divisiveness.  I create with honoring of all that is called in for that creation to take place. Create with the permission and/or the recognition of those before me and those who I am in Sacred Service of in my creation. Honor the lineages of your work. Understand that no idea is ever just yours. It is important to understand and pay homage to how you have created from a space of channeling something Divine, but true Revolutionary Creations, were never just ours to have. Kapwa Tarot yes, was manifested and labored by my hands, and came through me from my imaginings and creations, but I know every image, and every word shared will never be just my own. If the words echo yours, or the images are similar to what you have imagined, it is because they are meant to be ours to connect and hold in union and Kapwa (the Shared Self).

2)    Reframing Being “Independent” or” Corporate” as Options that Bind Us to Ideas of Capital Worth and Overall Value in Creating

I don’t consider myself an Independent Artist- I know that all my Art, all that I create, is through the support of community. And to be Corporate is never the goal. I was raised in beginning with this type of languaging and I remember the first time I claimed myself  I be an independent artist, how empowering that really was to make a statement that I was doing it all on my own, not bound by a company that would determine how I spent my creative energy and capacities. And then throughout the years, I realized every being an “Independent” artist still bound me to the Master of Money leading the way I navigate my work. I found myself being coached and mentored to “brand” myself, and to be in a position of selling that brand. I was imagining products that would suit my consumers/audience versus imagining limitless possibilities. I was also looking at how to be cost efficient, and how to source materials in order to get the best deal, and make the most profit. That mentality poisoned my space of creation. My Art was losing its depth and connection to the Divine. I began to gauge the value of my work on monetary acclaim. This, became another dishonorable practice. I found myself not taking any exchanges for my art because of it, or taking very little- and at some points not doing any art at all for fear of becoming consumed by capitalistic relationship and value of my Art.  It was not until Kapwa Tarot, that I understood in greater capacity how important it was to find a balance in exchange. And so just beginning with no longer consider myself an “Independent Artist” and categorize myself based on how my Art created income, but identifying myself profoundly as a Creator, a Cultural Bearer and a Revolutionary has allowed me to lead by the Spirit and Sacredness of my creations in connection to how they are filled with influence and wisdom of community, ancestry and descendants.   

3)    Being Right with Materials That I Utilize to Create and the People Whose Labor is Offered to My Work

I have come to understand that no creation that comes from our making will be manifested without the collaborative efforts of other creators and of the Great Creator(s) themselves.  An intention from the beginning of designing the cards for the Kapwa Tarot deck was to find a printer that would be equitable and that had practices that felt collaborative and would not make me feel like I was just another customer making a transaction. I went through 4 printers before landing with one, where there was practice of humanized communication and that really saw my deck as work that they were co-creating and cared for as well. It made the process one that felt honorable for all of us, I felt the way they cared for each card as it was processed into their design lab, and there was continuous clarity up until the packages were shipped. I also worked to be in understanding of where the paper was sourced, and sought recycled stock to print on, to pay homage to the trees that gave their bodies for the manifestation of the work. I have been in reflection of all that gives to these cards being manifested, the ink, the steel that cut the cards in processing, every hand that packaged and shipped them. And I imagine all the Earthly Elements and how they gave to the tangibility of these cards. My part was only a portion of a larger scheme of manifestation that I recognize and honor. These days, this a large part of how I am seeking to relate to all objects created by human being- to re-member their sacredness.

4)    Considering the Way I Hold the Process of Exchange- The way the Process is Humanized and That Exchange Does Occur

This process of creating the cards and distributing them has been one of the most challenging acts of creation I have ever given my life to. My work has not ended in just creating the cards, it has continued in making Sacred Exchange and taking care of this in the best way I can. Every deck is packaged by me and carried to the post office to be sent to the homes of community that have given of their support and seen this creation as a support to their own Spiritual practice or their re-membering and Decolonization path. I have had so many individual exchanges with those who have been receiving the cards, and inviting them to hold them and their communities with their lessons. Some exchanges have been tough, with the delay of delivery, mistaking of addresses, the damaging of casing, and other unforeseen challenges. And when these moments have occurred I have experienced how much the exchange cards have become an extension of how people relate to me.  I work to relieve any individual of these feelings that often arise in us when we make a monetary exchange, that feeling like we are not getting what we paid for- or that the service does not feel sufficient. The distribution of these decks in a good way, does not come from the want for repeated consumerism, or for satisfied customers. The exchanges are Sacred ones, because I know that what I am sending to them is filled with the Spirit of re-membering the divine in all things, of honoring ancestry and descendants, and of understanding Kapwa (the shared self). I fill my exchanges with Kapwa, I seek to connect with whoever it is that has invited these learnings into their home. I am elated with each note sent, each conversation about the cards, with every post tagged in and photo/screen shot forwarded of the cards being used for what they were meant to- in service of Diasporic Divination work in relation to my heritage and ancestry being elevated. I am working every day to make these exchanges more than meaningful, and in this reflection, I realize I am even seeking for them to be more than acts of humanization- I want these Sacred Exchanges to feel Divine, and I pray they have.

This writing is an invitation for all of us who are being called at this time to be in connection to Divination Tools, to create a good relationship with what rituals and ceremonies you are practicing and what you are using to surface and make tangible that practice. Understand the power in your Sacred work, creations and exchanges and be in reflection about the way you honor the tools you work in union with. If you are a creator of any of the tools of Divination that are being greatly manifested, I embrace you from a far and thank you for answering your calling. May you honor the Sacredness of what your work embodies of the Divine. We are together Kapwa, toward the re-membering and liberation of all our peoples

If you are interested in KAPWA TAROT click here: http://www.janalynnecreativeproductions.com/shop

Living a Vision of Healing- Decolonizing Accountability and Acts of Forgiveness

(Creating Practices for Rebuilding w/ Those in Our Communities that Have Harmed Us)

What does it take to heal, especially when the hurt and trauma come from within your community? People of Color communities have been facing very visible and very real humanizing revelations of our idols- that have been harmful to communal identities and social justice movements. Particularly we have seen the ills of White Supremacy and Patriarchy arise in relation to Cis Men of color who have been influencers of justice and liberation in our communities, speaking and acting in ways that diminish our ability to feel we can hold them to their past actions and word that have served community awareness and uprising (Kanye, Fabulous, Nas, Bill Cosby, Junto… and this is just some of the most recent defaming. The list goes on.)  In reality, these men are protected by a society that upholds justification for these actions, imbedded in their own trauma from oppressive structures. A long list of excuses as to why they were lead to living out these offenses are brought to light- though validity is present in these moments of empathy and compassion, it should never discount the harm and damage they cause. The real deal, is if they decided to be on the defense, or denial tip for their actions, these men I listed, like many men of celebrity before them, could go on and continue with their lives- protected and supported by Patriarchy and Capitalism, and still glorified by many.

Should the response, as it has been so prevalently made by our communities, to “dead” our idols? To disown them and discount who they may have stood for to us before the moment in which they have harmed and offended us.  Is there no coming back from these harmful words and action? Is there no possible means of reconciliation? I ask these questions, not just in reflection to celebrities of influence, but I ask them in connection to those within our closest circles of relations that influence and inspire us, when they say, act or create in a ways that disrupts relation, offending, harming, disrupting and destroying bonds that have been built, particularly in the walk toward building Love and Liberation.

I’ve been sitting deeply in listening to the questions arising in my heart about how the journey of accountability in our communities asks us to move beyond the very real reactionary feelings of anger, disappointment and mourning from the pain, the damage and the destruction. This moment asks us to move beyond these feelings that often make us cut off, remove people form our lives. I ask us to vision how those who have insulted and injured us can be held to enact daily practices and actions that are in the “Vision of Healing”. I think on how because of the complexities of trauma in this world, that it is a common practice to rather than work on restoration and reconciliation, that we sever and erase. Often we do this to avoid further hurt and deeper creation of injury and often it is because of fear, of further hurt and harm. We cannot believe that after someone inflicts pain and offense on us, that they would be willing or able to heal what has been destroyed. And because of the constructs of this world, often they do not. Partly because of their unknowing of how to, or because the ills of this world have made them really feel they have not wronged us.

The complexities of the work of accountability go beyond just “calling someone out” and disowning and disregarding them – it becomes much more difficult to “invite them in” to a vision of betterment and rebuilding that asks us all to shift and see each other underneath the constructions that make us forget our responsibility to one another. We must see how much we are responsible for the maintaining of suffering and oppressive cycles, when we do not see beyond our pain and trauma. If we cannot as a whole community make room for these difficult healing processes to be created, we abandon hope, we maintain the rupture, that breeds in us distrust and fear and that relieves us of examining what it is that we communally have not worked to heal, so we can as individuals in times of human error and injury, see the ability and need to heal.  It is time to create Visions of Healing, that we can live out. It is our responsibility to become clearer about what it will take to restore and reconcile what has been broken in our relations to each other.

I believe that we are being given an opportunity with the visibility of communal harm and hurt from idolized figures of celebrity, to begin processes of creating protocol for accountability and for healing these egregious acts. And we must live out that healing, with sound discernment of what accountability looks like as practice beyond just statements of regret and promises to make things right. Or one action that will create a bandage, that seeks forgiveness, though the hurt and harm need much deeper healing. What does it look like to reconcile? How do we make room for the healing needed not only for the relations who have been harmed, but also for the individuals that have caused harm?  How can they take responsibility in a way that their Living becomes continuous acts of healing for self and community? For any given situation where we have felt a loss of faith in someone, where we have felt reprehensible damage has been done- what will it take to heal?

In moments in my own life when I have felt the actions of others have been harmful toward me, I practice for myself a level of demand that the harm is known, and that also with compassion and the want to heal that we look at where it was rooted. The invitation to move toward sustained and deepened accountability through a Vision of Healing, asks us to see one another in ways that may not have been possible before the offense. In these moments we are being asked to look at our most insidious traumas, the parts of ourselves that if confronted would change parts of ourselves that we never knew were limiting us, and holding us hostage to behaviors of oppression toward self and other.

It is important to understand that when we are harmed and hurt by others, we become victim, not just to the individual who has spoken the words, or done the actions that have harmed and hurt, but also by all the societal and human created influences that are rooted in oppression and injustice subconsciously supporting these damaging moments to occur. Capitalism, Patriarchy and White Supremacy are the main agents of Colonization that influence so many of the actions that harm and hurt self and others. To be in a position of understanding how we are all moved by these constructions of oppression, especially at the core of any moment and dynamic of harm and hurt that is lived, is crucial to the possibility of healing. When the harm and hurt occur, we are being confronted with much more than a moment of offense from a single person- we are being confronted with a lifetime, and often ancestrally inherited, traumas that propel and fuel an ability to hurt and harm, even those we cherish and Love most in this world.

I have been formulating protocols for myself as to how to hold community and self-accountable to moments of offense and invite a collaborative understanding of creating Visions of Healing together and root those visions in clear lived actions and practices that will sustain a path toward healing and liberation for all those effected.  For now they have remained quite simple, and it is the actual continuity of practice that is where the complexities lie:

1) Speak- on the immediate reaction to the harm and hurt. Honor your feelings that come instantly, but do not these reactions be what leads your process of addressing the harm and hurt.

2) Learn- Be in active and communal examination of where the harm and hurt are rooted for you- personally/relationally/societally. There is no timeline to this, it may take your whole life to understand where it all comes from- or you may never fully understand in this lifetime.

3) See Each Other- Recognize dynamics and create exchange for understanding of all perspectives connected to the hurt and harm. Let yourself become aware and in relation to all that contributes to the ability for the hurt and harm to take place and exist.

4) Vision the Healing- Ask “What does it look like to heal this?”- understanding that there is never a quick fix to any hurt or harm. Be conscious about what it means to be in “continuous healing”- center all means of healing with continued action and practice.

5) Live in your Vision of Healing – Know that healing is a lifelong journey- that moments of hurt and harm stay with you and so it takes constant addressing and confronting when that hurt and harm show up to live beyond these moments in a good way. Root yourself in daily actions and practices that you mean to grow into your behaviors and ways of being, that uplift, empower and Love beyond just the reconciling of the hurt and harm, but that seeks to ground you in the ability to be held and hold others accountable for the liberation of us all.

The specifics of this process will vary from moment to moment, but it is a starting foundation that I have begun to implement in my daily life. Continuously asking myself- and now asking of you all “How do you create your Vision of Healing? Your Vision of Communal and Individual Liberation? And live in it, inviting all others to join you?”

ReVisioning- Utilizing Our Most Revolutionary Tool in the Resistance

Curricula compiled and Conceptualized by Jana Lynne “JL” Umipig (www.janalynnecreativeproductions.com)

Full Curricula as a Doc. File and Supplementary Hand Outs Found Here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9CDbYZlCoGZSWtTRnJfQ2pmV2M?usp=sharing

INTRODUCTIONS and CHECK-IN: Who are you, Introduce Yourself and your Personal Pronouns and what is something that you want to call into the space to energize and uplift our gathering today?

Tool for Entire Workshop: ONGOING KNOWLEDGE COLLECTION: Have participants take out a piece of paper and let it be their place they can take notes and in particular have them write down questions that come up for them throughout the day that they want answered. This will be an invitation for them to find the answers, from each other beyond the space cultivated, or for

ACTIVITY #1 OPENING: RELEASE, RE-MEMBER, RECLAIM

This is a condensed version from the exercise of Release- in the curriculum “Release, Re-Member, Reclaim–Healing the Activist (Curriculum for Holding and Uplifting Leaders in All Communities)” (Insert Link: https://kayumanggingapilipina.com/2016/11/12/release-re-member-reclaim-healing-the-activist-curriculum-for-holding-and-uplifting-leaders-in-all-communities/ )

(*If you have a mixed class with Trump Supporters, do the Awareness exercise first and then you can use this tool for reflection)

STEP 1: You can do this in exchange in many ways- the two options that I want to offer are

1. This is a good choice for groups that know one another very well: Make two concentric circles, an inner circle and an outer circle. Where there are pairings of two, one person in the inner and another in the outer. Have them face one another. For each question you will rotate the inner or outer circle so that they are facing a new partner for each question.
2. This is a good choice for groups that are new to knowing one another or mixed- it allows them the opportunity to leave with at least one person who they connected with deeply: Pair up, you will be building with one

STEP 2: Each question will have an action in place with it, these actions naturally support release. Use them to help your soul be supported with release of your words.

Questions to ask:

1. ACTION: Shake your hands, arms, feet, legs out as you speak there as if you are shaking these things off your body

QUESTION: Release any feelings and thoughts you have regarding the days that have passed in connection to the inauguration of D. Trump.

1. ACTION: Jump up and down, as if you are putting your words down into the earth with each landing.

QUESTION: What issue do you feel is affecting you most personally in relation to the human rights violations Trump has set up?

1. ACTION: Use the motion of wiping off of skin downward to the ground, imagine that you are taking it off your body, your spirit

QUESTION: What is a hard conversation you have had to have, or one that got you really emotional?

1. ACTION: As you listen put your hand on your partner’s shoulder

QUESTION: What are the things you have done in the past week in response? What have you done for yourself and for your communities (your family, your friends, your children, etc)?

1. ACTION: Hold the hand of your partner.

QUESTION: What is something you read or heard or witnessed in connection to the Presidency that you feel has troubled you most?

6. ACTION: Sit with your partner and hold their hand

QUESTION: What is something you read or heard or witnessed that has given you hope?

1. ACTION: Stand together and hold both hands

QUESTION: What is your most important

SEE: BEGIN WITH AWARENESS

To being ReVisioning, we have to start with being aware, to understand how the visions of others may not serve our own. We have to understand what roots policies being in place. Many of the policies that the Trump Administration are administering are rooted in ideals that are divisive, hateful, charged with fear, ideas of White Supremacy and Patriarchy, false notions of patriotism that insight violence, and are centered around Capitalism and Corporate gain. Really seeing this laid out helps us to know what we are up against- and allows us to work in a way of not just Resistance and Reaction, but also invites us to Vision. 

ACTIVITY #2- THE POWER OF KNOWING: KNOWLEDGE AS A LIBERATION TOOL

These are ongoing tools of awareness, you can put up a version of this in your school, community center, your home, on your computer desktop, allow it to give you reason to not be complacent to this administration and why action is necessary.

STEP 1- Community Issues Resistance Knowledge:  Have the group take time to look over the posters on the walls or on the floor in the room. Tell them it is important for them to think on what it is striking them, what did they know, what did they not understand?

***You can also print these out and give them to your participants to take home with them.

For each Community Issue, there will be the following- look to attached Google Doc “Community Issues Resistance Knowledge Poster” documents for the created on-going visual documents for this exercise/tool (Insert Link)

If you want to rework this tool, these are what will be included in the document:

• Community Issue
• Policies That Have Been Passed and When (* = passed by executive order)
• Who it Affects
• Resources for Resistance and Action, What They Have

3 Daily Actions

For all of these issues there are will be 3 things you can do with ease:

• Call- Numbers will be listed with any script available for calls to be made – otherwise look for numbers of Congress persons in your location.
• Conversation- These are topics you can bring up to speak on in connection to this issue
• Post – these are hashtags and groups/ individuals to follow

Community Issues that will be addressed are as follows (Key Resource: Resistance Manua- https://www.resistancemanual.org/Resistance_Manual_Homel )

*Already Addressed by Executive Orders                 *Pending

CONNECT: VIOLATION OF RIGHTS FOR SOME, IS THE VIOLATION OF RIGHTS FOR ALL

This part of the curricula is all about seeing ourselves in connection to these violations in a deeper way how does this relate to our everyday, how do they effect the closest people in our lives? How does this effect the progress that has been made by our his/herstory and the ancestors and what they have faced, that are we continuing to face? How does this effect our children in the future, the generations to come?

STEP 1-  How Trump’s Platforms Have Direct Effect On Me:

Pass out the “How Trump’s Platforms Have Direct Effect On Me” Hand-Outs

Have Participants look to their lives in reflection and choose 3 of these issues around the room.

(*Choose 2 that affect you most directly and 1 that you can make a connection to in the scope of your community, and your greater humanity)

This is a reflection sheet, to allow of us to see and analyze how these policies affect us. Take the opportunity to really understand the policies on the way that they affect you personally here, but also reflect deeply on how they affect us all on a larger scale. Remember: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”- Martin Luther King Jr.

Questions Posed on the Worksheets-

STEP 2 Small Group Reflection: Split into small groups of 3-5 depending on how many participants there are and share how you have connected your lives to the knowledge of violations being implemented by the Trump Administration. Allow for conversation to deepen.

STEP 3 Whole Group: Bring the group back together to share and create dialogue of what came up in their groups, look for the most crucial connections that have been made thus far.

REVISIONING: CREATE YOUR LIFE INTO EXISTENCE

This is where we begin to work together in a way that is not just about how to counter the Trump Administration’s work. Now we move in a direction of understanding what we have, what makes us powerful, what makes our communities powerful and we are going to map this out for ourselves so we can see and make tangible the power that is our existence.

ACTIVITY #3- EmPowerment Mapping

This exercise is all about creating connections. And is a creative exercise as well. There will be an “EmPowerment Mapping” Guide- Printed Out as a Handout and Put up on a Large Sheet for reference. This guide is just that, a guide, and you can arrange this content the way that makes most sense to you, something you would want to put up in your home, your workspace. If you want to categorize folks and make a list, do that- if you want to arrange the names of people in your life around you and make symbols that represent what they provide for you like on this guide- do that! Be free with your expression.

THE PEOPLE THAT EMPOWER YOU IN YOUR LIFE:

• MENTAL EMPOWERMENT- These are the people who have or who continue to contribute to our Knowing and affirm our Values and Ideas that we have formulated about the world? Who are the teachers in our lives? Who are the people who we feel give to our ability to Know? Who are those that challenge and expand our Knowing?

• SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT – These are those that create Exchange in our Passion Areas, that ground us and uplift us. These are the people that believe in who we are and that we have power within us to do. These are the people we grow with, whose betterment and liberation are bound with ours. Who are the collaborators in our lives? Who are the people who show up and who root for you? Who are the people who encourage you to do what makes you happy in the world?

• PHYSICAL EMPOWERMENT – These are the people that take care of you. These are the individuals who keep you well in a sense of healthy living. These are the people who understand that when you are in optimal health, then you can serve better and deeper. Who are the people who care about your health? Who are the people you can go to have a good meal- that feed you? Who are the people that provide space for you to rest, to take pause, to reflect and recharge? Who are the people you exercise and train with?

• JUSTICE EMPOWERMENT – These are the people who connect to your care around Justice. These are the individuals who share your values and your politics. These are the people who you can go to, to talk politics and to be kept updated and in line. Who are the people you go to seek conversations around Justice? Who are the people that are willing to CHECK YOU, to INVITE YOU IN to a conversation that will make you examine your words, your actions and the way that they connect to justice? Who are the people in your life that you can seek news and resources that are credible to you and that keep you aware and critical?

ACTIVITY #4- “I AM” The Most Powerful Statement We Can Make

The vision of Change should begin centered in self-understanding of who we are in the world. What are the ways in which we speak, act, live with justice guiding our intentions? This is the time to be creative, to be in vision, to ReVision what has been what has driven our movements in the world.

Standing in who we are is one of the greatest acts of resistance. When we live in the “I AM” that supports our vision and not the “I AM” that keeps us in roles, confinements and states of victimization that are built by oppression and supported by hate, indifference, violence from colonial, patriarchal, white supremacist, capitalistic structures.

STEP 1: “I AM” The Most Powerful Statement We Can Make Hand Out and allow yourselves to answer the following questions:

• Who Am I?
  • The Roles I Hold – Who do I serve in this Role? (Feel Free to include specific names)
  • What are my Skills and Talents?
  • What am I passionate about?

• What is your Vision?
  • What do you hope for in the world?
  • What are the things you stand for?
  • What do you want to create?

STEP 2: MAKE A DECLARATION

Begin here. Answering for yourself in no more than a 3-5 Line Statement:

“Who am I? And what type of World do I Vision? How do I contribute to that Vision?”

Creating your Vision and standing in your truth make your actions more powerful and rooted. Life shifts with the shifting of mindset. It begins here.

Something as simple as the way we eat shifts with our vision in place solidly. Even our fantasies change, when our vision is in line with justice, and we see that we can serve even in the smallest ways, we have no other choice but to do, to act, to live more intentionally than ever before.

ACTIVITY #5 – Ceating My Revolutionary Existence (Personal Plan of Action- Daily)

This part of the curricula invites us to charge our Daily Living with our visions. How can we look at our day today and understand how placing our Vision at the Center of all we do gives us the opportunity and agency to create an Existence that is Revolutionary.

STEP 1: Use the Creating My Revolutionary Existence Hand-Out to think on how your Daily schedule looks like.

What does a Day to Day look like for you?

What are the different activities that fill your day?

Think of EVERYTHING:

• What time do you have your meals, where do you have them?
• What time do you sleep, what are your routines around this?
• Who do you see often?
• What do you do at School? Your Job?
• What do you do to unwind?
• What does a moment on Social Media Look Like for you?

STEP 2: Think about how you can shift the way you do the things you listed that happen in your Daily existence. If you did these things in service of your Vision, how might it change the way you do them?

Every action, every word, every breath, of your existence can contribute to the revolution.

When we prepare our meals, when we meet to train and exercise our bodies, when we hold our children, when we listen to our elders, when we take time to pause, rest and sleep, when we hold our partner’s hand, when we tell a friend we are here for them, when we sit in community and family in presence and in conversation, when we play and laugh and enjoy, when we take a moment to breathe in the air deeply, when we feel the earth connecting to our feet, when we let the sun embrace us, or the rain wash us, when we say thank you in our prayers for this life we’ve been given- we are contributing to the Revolution. Don’t let anyone take away our freedoms to do these things that make life so miraculous and wonderful.

 Do all these things with fullness and Love. Revolution begins here- in us.

Fill the following boxes on the Hand Out with intentions about how you will shift the way you do the things you mentioned in your Daily Routines lead by your Vision, feel free to also remove some of the activities you listed- and add new things that you want to do on your daily.

CLOSING MESSAGE FROM JL:

Indifference is our greatest enemy right now and inaction is what will be our detriment. Understand that Action does not only have to come from the pushing for and rejecting of Policy. We need folks to work on that level, yes, petitioning, lobbying, attending town halls and public forums. We also need people in the street protesting in large demonstrations stopping the regularly scheduled programs. We need people who are providing accountable press with full representation of the voices in our communities. We need brothers and sisters to be providing direct services and seeking ways to provide direct services for health, wellness, shelter and all basic needs of living. We need teachers to be bringing awareness to our students, to be instilling in them the agency to make their own movements and create their own Actions. We need all these impactful Actions to be happening

.

And also- Action has to begin at home. Action has to being with you.

How are you working in your own households, schools, religious institutions, community spaces and work places to address and act in a way that promotes just learnings and behaviors, that breaks down the presence of intolerance- that does not accept Racism, White Supremacy, Sexism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, or any other forms of Hate and Violence on other human beings?

How are you promoting care and protection of our natural resources, our Mother Earth, our sources of living- the Earth, the Waters, the Skies and Air we breathe?

Actions come in conversations, they come in artistic expressions and sharing space with communities. Actions come in reading and researching to find understanding of the larger picture and multiple perspectives, they come in connecting with your neighbors. Actions happen on Social Media, when we share, when we speak out, when we challenge the unjust.

Action comes from being present for those in your life, holding space for them to grieve and to feel that they are not alone, whether it be on in person, on the phone, or in a exchange of messages.

Action is taking moments to care for yourself, to work on your own self preservation, sleeping, eating well, being out doors, exercising, taking time to do something you Love, praying, hugging the people you Love.

There is so much to do right now brothers and sisters. It’s time to do it; wherever you are, with whatever capacity you have. Be in Action.

We are together.

I marched in D.C. this past Saturday.

I chose to make the drive from NYC to be in that particular space of gathering because of my identity as a Pilipina, a Womxn of Color, the daughter, grand daughter and great granddaughter of Immigrants, the teacher and community organizer of Afro-Latinx, Undocumented, Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Poor youth and their families and as an advocate for every underrepresented and unable who could not make it to D.C, or who are not yet in a place of understanding why being visible with our concerns and our perspectives on equality and justice are more important than ever.

I’m writing in reflection and also as a call to action to all of my community, not just my sisters around the world, but anyone who is caring to read this refection and share it with their own communities- even just as a starting dialogue piece.

I’ll start by speaking the obvious that is extremely powerfully, Millions of Women marched in a massive demonstration of Womxn’s solidarity GLOBALLY, in what is being proclaimed to be the largest peacefully gathering in history. This is something to celebrate, to feel a surge of energy from, but my concern is that this will all be displaced, or forgotten because it is not clear to many the deep issues of racism, sexism, nationalism, homophobia, islamophobia, poverty, climate justice (the list can go on) in this country that Trump’s presidency is threatening to make even more severe than we have experienced in decades. He has already begun.

Remembering and Understanding Why We are Against Trump

I showed up to the rally in D.C. with a particular eye, surveying the crowds to see the messaging, to hear the conversations, to feel the vibrations of what was truly being stood up for and against.

At the March in Washington D.C. we were surrounded by posters that were messaging so much about Trump having a “Small Dick” and “Tiny Hands” and about his affinity for “Golden Showers,” that to me were all messages of sex shaming and quite frankly distractions- or chants that were like “We want a Leader, Not a Creepy Tweeter.” It was humorous, no doubt, understanding just how much this man is not being taken seriously as a leader of this country, but after the first hour of taking in the outlandishness I was already feeling so deeply unnerved.

Here I was in one of the most packed demonstrations I have ever been in my lifetime and I was searching so deeply for the posters, and banners and the words being amplified that would speak to the devastating issues we are subject to be facing from the Trump administration. Let alone any messaging that represented People Of Color, Indigenous Peoples, Immigrant, LGBT Community issues and so on, and so forth.

The most predominant issues that were seen on banners had to do with Womxn’s health and reproductive rights, which is such an important issue to bring attention to with this being threatened greatly by the Trump administration and the conservative values of the right wing, and also, we have a lot to address around how these rights violations are specifically threatened for those who have other factors of injustice and oppression magnifying their risk and vulnerability. Racism, Immigration, Transexuality, Religious Persecution when intersected with Womxn’s Rights Issues becomes much more severe and life threatening.

In D.C. it was clear the moment my sister Vanessa Ramalho and I touched down and entered the crowd that the majority that was present were White sisters and their families, I don’t mean to mention this as say that White Cis Womxn should not be present or that their massive presence is not valued, I know that some may hear this in me making this observation, but if that defensiveness is what is arising for you, I invite you understand a different and very important narrative- which is the narrative of the underrepresented and most vulnerable. I note the prevalence of White Cis Womxn at the march, the prevalence of the privileged, the considered, the already highly visible and want us all to understand how when it is the privilege that is most visible and leading that we hear about the issues from privilege lens- which is in this case Womxn’s issues “in general”.

The Privilege narrative allows for us to put on the forefront the overarching Womxn’s issues, that don’t speak to intersectionality. The rights that effect ALL womxn are not just womxn’s rights- they are the rights of ALL. And so, the specific issues that affect particularly Black Womxn or Trans Womxn or Womxn with disabilities or that effect Immigrant Children or that effect Men of Color who are subject to police brutality are extremely important to bring up at the largest public protest gathering in history. To discount these narratives or push them to the side amidst messaging that has to do with Reproductive Rights is where privilege comes in, and where intersectionality is misunderstood.

Intersectionality vs. Divisiveness

My presence in D.C. was a hope to link with others who felt the importance of our communities who are affected by all these human rights violations to show up amidst many who may sympathize, but who do not live with a daily experience that a transgendered black man living below the poverty line, or an undocumented afro Latinx boy with learning disabilities, or an indigenous Muslim mother is facing in the wake of this presidential administration. I work with these individuals, to navigate these systems, they are my students and their families, they are my own family, and I know it will take the deeper understanding of those who do not face these issues on the day to day to really make change happen.

I want to talk about intersectionality more, and what makes intersectionality truly viable. To have a White Womxn feminist tell me that it is just as important to bring up White Womxn’s rights, as it is to speak on Black Womxn’s rights does not understand the full depth of what it means to be intersectional. The more intersectional we become, the more we understand the importance of addressing issues for those experiencing multiple threats and violations concurrently, which in these lived experiences that are so much more prevalent, but under represented, makes it much more severe than waking up as a White Cis, Middle Class, Christian Womxn who walks in lines of privilege every day they wake up. Intersectionality also invites us to understand the privileges we wake up with and to see where and in which ways having those privileges can give us the power to support those who do not have those same protected experiences. I invite us to wake up every morning and understand our privilege alongside recognition of our disadvantage.

Intersectionality is not just the recognition of the representation of all issues of injustice, it is the understanding of the severity and the urgency, in connection to the history and present day relevancies of some of these injustices especially when overlapped over others. And so yes, it is to say that there is a level of importance to speak on some issues, that make some more marginalized and vulnerable to having their livelihoods threatened and disrupted. We have seen and experienced this throughout time and it is now becoming more visible- there are communities who have and continue to be verbally, physical and systematically brutalized by this country’s policies and it is becoming more visible and severe because of Trump’s proposed policies and his overall stance and demeanor in relation to our communities.

Trump, his cabinet and his supporters have made his presidency reason to resurface Hate in this country in real tangible ways in the House, in the Senate, on the Streets, on our Social Media Feeds.

Actionable Steps, Moving Forward

One of the reasons why I decided to march in D.C. is because of the release of the platform principles of the march.  These principles spoke clearly my shared values that All Human Rights Violations are Womxn’s Rights Violations. And when I talk about intersectionality I think on how intersectional my own experience is in relation to these threats on human rights. I look to these and I share the concern of many organizers about what happens past the march. I question why there was not more that was actionable during and after the gathering. I looked for the individuals who were holding the petitions in hand, and passing out the informational pamphlets around proposed policies to fight against, I looked for the presence of camaraderie in the crowd. And I understood that there was lacking

I know that there is much guidance to be given, to those who are just beginning to feel the urgency at all to even join a rally march, let alone understand how to make it more impactful than just mass presence. I wonder how many actually read about these platforms or understood how hard Womxn of Color fought for our presence and visibility at that march.  I wonder how many stopped to listen to Sophie Cruz in ratio to listening to Maxwell singing “This Woman’s Work.”

Many people in my life, including my parents and so many elders who have experienced much blatant discrimination, segregation and brutalization in this country, have told me:

“You can’t do anything about it now. He’s already our President.”

“Let’s just give him a chance.”

“Be careful with what you are saying, and what you are doing opposing him. It’s dangerous.”

My response, is that I will stand up and resist every moment I see injustice, without fear, because I know we can shift the outcomes. We don’t have to continue to be victims to this country- more than ever the things we have been fighting against are being seen by those who did not believe they still existed in this “free country.” Trump and his white supremacist, capitalistic, patriarchal, war mongering followers are making it visible, are making those who were more complacent to these issues feel the effects that many of us organizing in our communities throughout our lifetimes have already felt. They are turning to us for guidance, for leadership, for understanding.

My father called me yesterday after he saw photos of me in D.C. with the concern that being so outspoken was dangerous, that I would be seen as a “vicious, rioting protestor, with nothing better to do.”   And I told him that I didn’t want to wait until things were as bad as we are seeing in our own Motherland in the Philippines. I asked him “Are we going to wait until we are stripped even further of our right to any health care if you are of a poor background? Are we going to wait until they start encampments and registries of our people, like they did with the Japanese? Are we going to wait until they segregate restaurants and public spaces? Are we going to wait until this government is instating militia on the street and gunning us down?”

My dad listened as I told him- “Dad, I know you didn’t work so hard all these years for me to have a better life, a free and prosperous life beyond what you had to face amidst confronting racism and prejudice- just so that I would have to face those same things or worse. I will put myself in danger if it means that I will be helping so many more including you and mom, and my future children won’t have to suffer.” He responded by telling me stories of how bad it was in the 70’s and 80’s in the US and the Philippines, and that I won’t have to worry about that because that is not how things are anymore. I told him, they are- and they will get worse if we don’t say something and do something now. He said I was hard-headed.

I am.

And I am this way because my grandmother and my parents taught me through their actions of resistance- that was their labor and their persisting in this country to build a life for their children and my children and future generations to come. I won’t back down, because they didn’t. And I will start at home, making sure that those I grow with and surround myself with will stand up for what is just and what is right, and see urgency to resist unjustice before it becomes more life threatening than it already is.

My fear has always been that the urgency will only come as things worsen, as we experience Trump’s policies and proclaimed wars and destruction of our natural resources and homes come to fruition.  I have already seen millions rise together. What would that look like if we did so with a more radical agenda than just to impeach this man- because let’s face it Mike Pence is no better, he may be worse. My call is for dramatic shifts in the way we see change in this country- to think deeply on what it means to be self-determined, what it means to be truly liberated and how that begins with your own individual words, actions, and values that you uphold in your everyday living.

Showing up at the March in D.C. was important to me. I carried my signs with representation of Indigenous, Pilipino, Spiritual An-sisters and Womb*n and I will continue to write and draw and speak and act and move and live in a way that keeps in mind the power of Womxn to make deep change, and uphold future generations to come. This is the greatest thing to understand if you are looking for next actions- the work does not BEGIN now, it has already been forged by so many, it is time to continue with greater visible force than ever before. Look to those who have before and are currently fighting for justice in this country and learn from them, receive lessons from them about what resistance looks like, take time to even just LISTEN as an action. This is not the beginning, it is a continuation.

I have been unpacking a core limiting belief throughout my growing as an artist, that “I am not good enough.”  And that belief has tied in deeply to my ability to truly envision and manifest abundant exchange for what I create in the world.

This is a Spiritual Wound that has been passed down through the generations of my people’s colonized existence. It is a part of the ancestral burden that they never knew would be carried on by their descendants- a belief that was planted in my heart by my parents, and by theirs before them, and their parent’s parents and further back yet, as my family has had at least 5 generations here in the US, the center of capitalistic, patriarchal, white supremacist governance. And before that generations of our lineage were inflicted with wounds from countless colonizers who fed beliefs of inferiority, of dehumanization, of diminished self and communal worth. The more I understand this, the more I confront how these beliefs come up in my daily living and how they are driven by a misguided sense of worth and value.

I am in a moment of my life where I am confronting it more fully than ever, and I am seeing how much Money has become key to what keeps that wound existent. We can quantify worth by monetary wealth, and we do, we have set up systems, and structures that support this being a truth for all of us. We allow ourselves to determine the value of a human being with ease just by looking to the amount of money they have, and their ability to consume and contribute to this time we are living in where capitalistic Value has become so crucial to existence, that it is a key determinant of survival.

So if you do not make enough money, not only are you faced with the inability to live in health and wellness, but you also are seen as devalued by society and in turn devalued in self.   As I examine this wound, this belief that “I am not good enough,” and how it is connected to capitalism and my survival- it becomes even more important that I open the wound that it represents even further and see it fully for what it has been doing to my spirit. I understand the societal construction of these beliefs, how capitalism has and continues to serve those who adhere to the constructs of division and inequality that keep a fraction of this existence in power over others and make them in control of who benefits from resources natural, manmade and also the labor resources that come from human beings all together. These constructs have been created to tell me my value, someone else has the power to determine that, and to mark my worth by a dollar.

And they have convinced those who love me most in my life and see me for all I am to feel they need to do the same.

My family gave me many gifts and lessons to uplift my being, they taught me to work hard- that labor would reap benefits, that the satisfaction of accomplishing, of producing, of creating what I intend to would grow me into greatness. They also taught me to find humility and humble myself through having immense gratitude for life, that even in moments of triumph and achievement to remember that many people, many experiences  and God/the Creator, contribute to my ability to succeed. They also simply believed in me, they saw the manifestation of their dreams and my own living out through my existence. You would think that this would be enough for me to thrive in this world, but what also exists within me are the more insidious beliefs that were instilled in my ancestral bloodline by a world driven by power over others, and not just the power of living fully in self.

And as I have been unpacking here, in this existence, power has been accepted as being tied to capital. And for those who have been taught that they have little to no power above the governing bodies that are in place, capital has been tied to survival. This is the story that I have been raised to believe- that money is the final marking of my ability to step into my greatest power, because it will assure my survival. This is what my parents were taught as well, and so in contradiction to all the beautiful beliefs that they taught me so I can see myself as great- there were also messages laced with the need to show for that greatness with monetary wealth. And because I have not been able to attain this in my almost 30 years of living, I have not yet reached a place of full potential in their eyes and in many moments, my own.

I hear the echoes of their concern that I have not yet “Made it,”-  “I don’t know why you don’t just find a better job… I don’t know what is happening to you out there, but you need to figure it out, you need to make more money, maybe you need to just look for work that is outside of your field…” By speaking their beliefs out loud in this way, I have been put in positions where I have examined my work as worthless, because I know, to them, that in all the communities that I have and continue to serve, with all the creations I have birthed and all the artistic expression that I have poured out of me, with all of the love I have given to everyone of my students and colleagues and any relationship I have built in my artistic, activist and spiritual work, it still is NOT ENOUGH, because I still do not MAKE ENOUGH MONEY to show for the work I do.

I know they mean well when they say,”You’re so smart/talented/hardworking you can do so many other things that will pay you more… why don’t you find something else to do, there has to be someone who will pay you more for your work, you can do better…,” they  are seeking to encourage me and remind me of my gifts and they are also telling me, that without the monetary exchange I am being undervalued- I am not living in my full value.

I have pushed myself to remove my mindset from the need of that monetary recognition, because I have convinced myself that the type of labor, no matter how arduous I work, in this world, cannot reap those rewards. I have taught my self to live at the barest means, from pay check to pay check, without need for extraneous spending, without need for any materials, experiences that may be luxuries and mostly it has made me see how broken the world is because of its capitalistic structures of living. I understand that value goes deeper than monetary worth, that we have lost sight of that, as a society that has invested in the doctrine that allows us to believe that with the existence of money we can determine whether an individuals has the worth to live the fullness of life,  that allows us to divide ourselves between the wealthy and the impoverish.  We live in a world where self worth is diminished with lack of monetary gain. And I have told myself not to accept that, that my value should not be tied to money- which is in principle, so true, and yet I have suffered many times because I have refused to believe that I need money to be held as such a high determinant of my worth. How do I even begin to shift, to say “Okay, I accept that I need and want more money, to show for my worth in what I create and what I labor and give to this world.” It feels almost like giving up and giving into something that I have worked so hard to not. But why?

I don’t want to tell myself the things I have heard about adhering to the workings of capitalism the messages that say, “that is just how things are…the world is not going to change,” and play into the idea that I need to fall in place like everyone else. I won’t make this the belief that drives the shift I am making in welcoming monetary value into my life, because it will not help to heal the ancestral wound of being “good enough” and seeing my self-worth being abundant- because I understand how money is a construction that has replaced the need to understand fully our whole value of being.  It is not the whole determinant of self value, it is not the core determinant of self value, but in this world it is part of it. I’m working on accepting this so much more than ever, and it is difficult, because I have worked against living with this lens that intentionally placed any value of self on money.

As I dream of a life with my partner where I can raise a family with him, where we can grow our children in a home that we call ours and can give them the opportunities to grow with enrichment of experiences and connection to life, I think of how money is necessary to do these things. And I pause and confront deeply my continued ideas of living at my barest needs and not asking for more monetary exchange, because of the two fold belief that I should not buy into the capitalistic marking of value, and that I would not be able to attain that anyway because I never have. I understand Value in a deeper way than just being determined by monetary worth, and also, I need to live. I need to survive. I need to experience this living beyond the narrative of struggle and oppression that is written with capitalistic divide. And so I am teaching myself  to see all the notions of value being important for me to accept in abundance, because I am worth all of it. 

Everything that I create in this world of art, expression, relationships, community, sacred space, and existence is valuable. I am valuable, by all means. All I create has abundant value. All I give in labor and service has abundant value. All I contribute with my living has abundant value. I am abundantly valuable. My value is abundant. This is the belief I am intending to live by, that will include exchange that gives to the monetary value of my creations, of my labors, of my contributions to this living, because although it is not the center of value and self worth in my life, it still is a means of value in this world and I believe that I am worth all of what this world has to offer. I believe we all are.