GARDEN ALTARS: WE COME FROM SOMEWHERE TOOLKIT
Many cultural and spiritual traditions across the world mark the season between Fall and Winter with festivals, celebrations and rituals of remembrance -- such as All Hallows Eve (Halloween), Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), All Souls and All Saints Day, and Samhain. Many traditions recognize this as in-between time and space, or ‘thin space,’ when it’s imagined that not much movement is needed to go between worlds and those we love in spirit might be closest. The Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC) works through a Politicized Healing model. We recognize that remembering ancestors puts us in touch with the trauma and loss held in our bodies, spirits, and communities -- particularly for Black, Brown and Indigenous people. As we remember and grieve, we seek to heal not only from trauma due covid-19 and police violence, but also from incredible harm and loss in courts, jails and carceral facilities and from centuries of dispossession in our communities. We name the loss, the pain, the rage -- as well as our defiance, resilience, radical care, and unapologetic joy -- ALL as part of what it means to grieve and honor ancestors. We claim all of this as part of what it means to be in relationship with grief and with healing. As part of what it means to find our own place within these legacies. We invite you into this season of remembering our ancestors and those we love who have gone before. We can acknowledge that none of our ancestors were perfect -- they were real people, too -- and still draw needed inspiration for today. Remembering a loved one who has passed may also bring up feelings of anger, sadness, longing, hurt, despair, dissociation, joy, hope, connection, peace, frustration. Whatever you are feeling right now is okay. We hope these practices and resources can support deeper reflection and healing practice, and help you nurture your own resilience.
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Body Settling Hold for Racial Trauma Click here for a short video that will guide you through a calming/grounding exercise.
Reflection: Strength & Wisdom from Ancestors Remembering the ancestors helps us recall we are not alone -- we hold within us their spirit, and remain connected to their essence. Below we offer a couple writing prompts that will help us reconnect to our ancestors and the love and communion they offer us. Our ancestors can hold space for us: our joy, our pain, our creativity and so much more. We can call on them for strength and sustenance. What do you need to release to the ancestors in order to make space for transformation? Bring to mind an ancestor whose legacy inspires you. Meditating on their impact in your life, we invite you to write down your reflections on this question: how does their legacy anchor you? We have abundant wisdom, resilience and love within our communal lineage. Revisit these reflections as often as it feels useful. Know that you, too, are a part of this legacy. Click here to read the full zine, Ancestral Resilience: Offerings and Practices.
Journaling & Reflection You can use these prompts as a way to help you reflect on what is on your heart in this season: What do I need to bury? What would I like to see bloom/blossom in my life? What tools/resources do I need to dig deep within myself? How will I honor the memory of those ancestors who have gone before me with my life?
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“Because isn’t that what all of us might do, grow, because and in spite of it all, enveloped in rhythms of sacred darkness, and holy light. Reaching deep, rising up.”
Poetry
-- Enfleshed “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, it’s insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” -- Cynthia Occelli
Quote by Francis Weller, Art by Molly Costello “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.
#WeGrieveTogether by Bimbola Akinbola
-- Tupac Shakur They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds. -- popularized by Mexican activists of the Ayotzinapa 43, adapted from Dinos Christianopoulos
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Ritual of Planting in Honor of a Loved One In this season of shortening daylight and deepening night, as the leaves fall and the world around us browns and withers...as living things die and are composted back into the soil...we are reminded of our own place within this cycle of life and death. We bear the memory of those we’ve loved within the restorative power of earth. We draw on the earth’s power to restore itself. This reminds us of the power of our body to restore itself -- bodies that come from the earth and return to the earth. While there are many causes of death that are not natural or just, dying itself is part of this great cycle of release, decomposition, rebirth, renewal. Together, we will each plant a bulb to bury, returning it to the earth in connection with those we love who have returned to earth. Prepare the place you will plant your bulb. This can be a pot you fill with soil or a hole you dig in the ground in a place that’s special to you. Take a moment to pause and give thanks for the ground you are on. The bulb you plant can symbolize at least two things: both an offering and an intention. You plant this bulb to symbolize your offering back to your ancestors. How will you keep their legacy alive? Your bulb is also an intention for future ancestors as well -- including yourself! What are you planting for yourself and those who come after you? As you find yourself in this legacy, what do you need to let die, bury, and release? What needs to crack open so that growth can occur?
Closing Blessing I hear the love of those who have loved me echo in me. All the notes of my song sing over theirs, the only kind of beauty. The song does not die. May I live with love and mercy for it will echo long after. -- Steve Garnaas-Holmes CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG/POLITICIZEDGRIEF