I was on a Zoom gathering yesterday and someone mentioned the times we’re in as apocalyptic. A spark of curiosity and a swift internet search resulted in the following:
a·poc·a·lypse
/əˈpäkəˌlips/
Old English apocalipsin, via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin from Greek apokalupsis, from apokaluptein ‘uncover, reveal’, from apo- ‘un-’ + kaluptein ‘to cover’.
We are in a time of uncovering, revealing…
…the deep trauma that has festered into disembodiment from our physical bodies, dehumanization and divisiveness among our human kin, and desecration of our more-than-human kin and home-planet.
…the longhaul commitment towards the arc of social justice seeded and tended to throughout centuries by our resilient and courageous ancestors, the aged and sacred alchemy of righteous rage and grief into one of vigilant labor of love and healing, and the wisdom of our soma and the power of our heart’s intuition.
Scientists believe we are heading into Earth’s sixth mass extinction; the last one took place 65.5 million years ago.1 In this time of uncertainty and upheaval, I am meditating on how I move through this passage.
Vanessa Andreotti’s (fka Vanessa Machado de Oliveria) Hospicing Modernity and Valarie Kaur’s 2016 post-election speech are guiding the way.
What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb but the darkness of the womb? What if our America is not dead but a country that is waiting to be born? What if the story of America is one long labor?...What if this is our nation's greatest transition?…we will labor in love.
We are being called to doula the death of modernity and doula the birth of a new way of being.
We are in this dark passage together.
We breathe and push, together, beloveds.
[Image of a womb ceremony I held for my maternal great-grandmother at the Salish Sea, Mother Water, in October of this year.]
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-is-the-sixth-mass-extinction-and-what-can-we-do-about-it#:~:text=A%20mass%20extinction%20is%20a,fish%2C%20invertebrates%E2%80%94dies%20out.