VDAY 2017.

A love letter because... why not...

Dear Loved Ones,

And you ARE LOVED. The year has been long, and it's only February! You might be weary, and that's okay. Your mental and emotional health may have been tested, and you may be in need of a little pep talk, a breath of gratitude, or just some good old fashioned TLC. 

I found this quote placard in an old post from when COM|PASSionate REVOLT was a wider collaborative community project. So much has shifted, changed, and evolved, but the messages that were left here still remain. They're this hodge podge of well worn love letters hidden in our communal queer family attic, and I'm so immensely grateful for every damn word. 

Each blog post was this wholehearted gift from it's contributor, a vulnerable offering of themselves, and commitment to show up and be present. Each project that went swimmingly, the playlists we curated together, the yoga practices where we ended up giving each other high fives in between asanas because there were too many of us for the tiny practice spaces we filled, the tarot spreads that had more truth than we were ready for, and even the groups, events, and series that never quite got off the ground were these immaculate works of art and intention in of themselves-- finished even as they were works in progress. 

So wherever you find yourself on this fourteenth day of February in the year twenty seventeen, take a breath to nurture your whole perfect heart, and know that is so much more than enough. Your life is the narrative of epic tales and heroic homecomings-- even if it's unclear exactly where you are in your plot line. 

One day we're going to pull this old letter out and flatten out the corners. We're going to have to squint to read the words that have gotten lost in the folds of time. We may even struggle to recognize ourselves in the handwriting. Were we the sender or the receiver? Still it won't matter because we're going to know that we are in the presence of greatness. An expression and subject of love is always a thing of greatness.

Thank you for showing up and walking with me. 

Happy VDAY,

Traci 

**I couldn't attach message hearts to this blog post so please accept around an hour of a "Life in Pink." The whole class gets one.** 

New Queer Tarot!

Happy Tarot Tuesday, friends! I'm on the road today, but I want to draw your attention to what promises to be an awesome column over at Little Red Tarot:

Queering the Tarot! by Cassandra Snow

I love how she digs into The Fool's more traditional meanings, opens space for what else this card might offer queer-identified folks in a reading, and moves playfully into more generally queering it, offering alternatives for interpreting a message from The Fool that speaks to navigating oppressions, community activism, and more. If you're looking for more in the world of queering tarot (are really, who among us isn't looking for that?), check her out.

And then, DO YOURSELF A GIANT FAVOR and check out Slow Holler's kickstarter for their tarot deck collaboratively illustrated and imagined by 29 artists and 3 writers who have Southern ties, identify as queer or both.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORH8yl3Qps[/embed]

It looks astoundingly beautiful, and a lot of folks are whispering about it carrying the legacy of our beloved Collective Tarot. I ordered my copy - I think you're gonna want one too.

<3

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Kaeti is a therapist, teacher, and dreamer based in Long Beach, California. All of her work (and play!) is interested in dismantling intersections of oppression and breathing magic and radical healing into all the daily corners of her life, into all the spaces of community she helps weave.

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. Photos in this post are attributed to Kaeti unless otherwise specified. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject’s or artist’s identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

COM|PASSionate Inspiration: Seeds

Dear REVOLUTIONARIES...

Get stuck in the potential,

the tomorrow,

the light to come,

the rainbow after the storm,

the strength that is fostered in those of us that have had to fight a little harder to be seen, heard, nurtured.

Any support that was begrudged you-

Any respect not given-

Any tears mocked-

Any experience invalidated is not a measure of your worth, your value, the divinity that is to spring forth from the seed that is your essence.

Know now, dear REVOLUTIONARIES,

you with soft hearts,

you with souls so deep that the darkness cannot be navigated,

you passionate fighters,

you compassionate spirits,

you with gaping wounds and blinding light,

you beautiful world weary animals,

you, You, YOU,

that have been buried alive and now claw for the sides and gasp for breath,

grow now you once buried, majestic seeds,

let your shivering, shimmering, strength break through.

In nurturing,

COM|PASSionate REVOLT

The Light in the Dark

Winter Solstice is this weekend, and has me thinking a lot about The Sun...

Here she is in her full glory - something we remember as we connect to her during this shortest, darkest time of the year. The light in the dark. The core of heat and vitality in the cold emptiness of space. The force of warmth and life-giving power that rests as deep in the earth as it does inside each of us. We celebrate our ability to endure, share, and honor what's born anew. We surround ourselves with reminders of what sustains us and nourishes us in dark times - community, color, sweetness, spice, warmth, fire, food, drink, joy, solitude, cozy comfort, and more.

Here is one of my favorite meditations on Winter Solstice, with a little bit about tea and magic, from the lovely creatures of Worts and Cunning. My Winter Solstice tea this year includes St. Joan's Wort for sun and light, Star Anise for stars and dreaming, Transylvanian Mountain Mint for calm, ease, and a reminder of the year's magic adventures, Hawthorne Berries for heart and movement between worlds, Rose Hips for sacred heart and vitamin C, and locally gathered pink peppercorns for the flavors of home and a little peppery kick. Have fun brewing and charming your own holiday tea!

I am loving practices like candlelight yoga - basically candlelight anything. (Attended by music about the descent to and return from the Underworld no less!) Being with the quiet and the dark, tending the spark and seeing by its light. Holding the spark of whatever comes to me in these quiet moments as a seed, held and nurtured by the darkness as it germinates, waiting to bring new magic  into my life in the coming year.

What might you do to mark this time of honoring the light in the dark?

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Kaeti is a therapist, teacher, and dreamer based in Long Beach, California. All of her work (and play!) is interested in dismantling intersections of oppression and breathing magic and radical healing into all the daily corners of her life, into all the spaces of community she helps weave.

COM|PASSionate Inspiration: The Wound

There's a lesser known Hindu Goddess I stumbled upon as I traipsed across the interwebs...

She's the Goddess Akhilandeshvari, The Goddess of Never Not Broken.

I don't claim her or own her- her image has not been something I've grown up with and yet whenever she graces my presence I have the innate knowledge that I have always known her. We haven't spent a lot of time together but the time we've spent has been intimate and awe inspiring. She's seen me at my most challenged, even when it was so dark no human eyes could make out shapes or lessons. From a deep pit with seemingly no way out she peaked over the ledge as I crawled and clawed my way up the sides, thirsty, dirty and bleeding with desperation and hopelessnes creating a lump in my throat  and wells at the corners of my eyes.

She didn't offer me a hand.

I fell back a few times tumbling to the bottom- more scratches, more bruises, bones broken, muscles torn. I learned in the dark where my body met the landscape. Aches and pains screamed out to me from places of myself I hadn't talked to for a great long while- the loudest most blood curdling screams came from places so hidden, off the beaten path, and without directions that I had managed to erase their existence altogether until that moment when I felt them rip open.

I struggled and my wounds spread. As my wounds spread light poured in- illuminating images of tears, and sighs, and traumas, and stories, strength and weakness, vulnerability and power. Flickering images connected one after another creating resplendent backlit stories where I was antagonist and protagonist, observer and observed, nothingness and universe. As my light grew so did hers, reflections of reflections, lifting me out of the pit which was suddenly full of pathways made visible and easily traversed.

As my wounds sealed over she faded into the distance but there remained a phosphorescent glow emanating from the path I had taken. As I looked behind me I saw the long trail of my story, lamplights hung where I needed them most.

You might not know her as Akhilandeshvari.

You might know her as Heartbreak, Grief, Suffering, Loss, The Tower or DISASTER.

She remains NEVER NOT BROKEN to remind us that "The wound is the place where the light enters you {RUMI}."

Take this darkness REVOLUTIONARIES, take these hardships, these marginalities, these struggles and most importantly these WOUNDS because (as the Collective Tarot Reminds us):

"Do not be afraid. Do not get stuck in Oppression. Coping. Trying not to change. You cannot control the disaster. The change is inevitable. It is our nature to preserve ourselves. Our dreams. Do not be afraid. The Star awaits."

In Broken-ness,

COM|PASSionate REVOLT