Dear Friends,

What a month!! Happy New Moon (yesterday), Happy Solstice! And don’t forget the eclipse, and National Indigenous Peoples Week! The pandemic still burns among us and so do the streets in many cities in the U.S. The question I ask myself over and over, as I see ever more possibilities for action to bring in a better world, is “What is MINE to do? Now, at this time of my life, here in my city, here in my aching body?”

At the beginning of most lunar months, I not only start a new journal, but create both a mandala and an affirmation for something that I want to grow as the moon itself is waxing. At the Full Moon of most months, I create a different affirmation, for letting go of whatever needs to be dropped as the moon wanes. This month I put into visual form how I’m experiencing my life: there is so much abundance, starting with the colors of green exploding all around me, to the pictures and memes on my FB and other internet feeds, to the posts of so many dear friends attempting to support justice for all peoples in this time where we must remind others that Black Lives Matter; Indigenous Lives Matter. Yes.

And, it’s easy to despair. I remember 1968, growing up in Chicago, living through this the first time (at least in MY lifetime). The television brought me the race riots not even 5 miles away from my home, police brutality at the Democratic National Convention not even 30 miles away, the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy, and of Rev. Martin Luther King. Twelve years old, I wondered what life would be like in 50 years, if I would even be alive.

There is plenty to do. In just about any direction, go forth and work for the better. There’s all kinds of ways to make change, and let’s not waste a second in thinking that any one way is the only way.

And I ask myself again, at this time, with the aching body I have, “What is mine to do?” In the mandala above, the center is where I stand at my most effective. All around me are all the other worthy tasks, projects, activities I could become involved in. And outside of that circle are all the other interesting things I’m pulled toward as I wish for 48 hour days. Abundance is a kind of wealth; but too many choices overwhelm, and I suffer from overwealmth. The arrowhead is my reminder to focus. And so I do.

Now, over to you: What is YOURS to do, to have, to be?

Much love and many blessings to you,

Cat

P.S.: The following poem is one of my responses to this past month, to this current world:

TO THE OLD GUARD, or ANTI-RACISM ACTION 202
Cat Charissage, June 2020

Do not mistake my silence today for agreement.
Do not assume I’m in your camp, you self-satisfied snool, 
you, who still benefits, 
whose whole family, for generations,
has still benefited from other people’s 
blood, sweat, and death. . . , death. . . , death.

I am watching. I am thinking. 
I am planning, I am plotting.
I am teaching, both underground and in the streets.

We are strategizing. We are listening.
We are gathering our supplies.
We are gathering our allies, and all our resources.

You’ll probably never even know what hit you.

You’ll soon be outdated, 
gotten around, replaced
when no one listens to your speeches anymore,
when no one asks you for your opinions anymore,
and no one tolerates your antiquated hatred
anymore. . . , anymore. . . , anymore.

You will die sometime, you know.
Prepare to meet thy Maker,
and atone for all thy sins.

Meanwhile. . .  
I hear our new world a’coming.
Get out of the way!