changing tides
new moon. new tattoo. new ways of being.
hi substack universe!
Today is the new moon in aquarius, sign of innovation and rebellion. I read that pluto recently entered aquarius too, for the first time since the 1790s. I am no astrology expert, but I can attest to the deep shifts I have felt in my spirit and sensed in my environment. The world as we know it is cracking open, veils being lifted. Tears of grief from hundreds of years of imperialist violence have watered seeds that are beginning to sprout. I believe in the world on the other side of this precipice.
In the meantime, a blessing.
May this new moon meet and invigorate us. May our hearts remain open to the changing tides. Like the tides to the moon, may we be magnetized by radical love. May we imagine new ways of being.
The barbarism of the current world systems, the barbarism of capitalism and colonialism, have been exposed. And the need for something radically different, radically more compassionate, a world motivated by the value of life rather than by the value of profit and death, has never been clearer. We must be the ones to build it and bring it to fruition.
If not us, who. If not now, when.
-Joshua P. Hill (The West enters full Complicity)
who i’ve been and where i’m going:
I recently explained to someone the tenderness behind my tattoos. Each one holds stories of my past selves. Each time I sit for a tattoo session feels sacred. There is a distinct air that settles over me, a recognition of the new physical self I have trusted the artist (my lovely and exquisitely talented friend, Sarvani) to usher forth. My most recent tattoo is a majestic luna moth. Sarvani and I sat side by side on her couch while I described a vision she brought beautifully to life. I wanted a tattoo that would pay homage to both where I came from and who I am becoming. I don’t quite have the words for that story, but I have the tattoo, and this poem that came to me after getting it. I hope you’ll enjoy.
bold, vibrant, and gentle the moth that graces my left arm her bottom wings, traditional and confined like my childhood. still beautiful, foundational but not the finish line the moth's upper wings, stunning ebbs and flows and incongruence they spread wider, stretch farther pushing boundaries leaving room for expansion
If you’d like to share a story about your tattoo, I invite you to leave it in the comments. Tell me about yourself as a canvas. What does the art mean to you? How has it transformed you?
thank you for your presence,
kenzi