Every Monday at 6pm for the past month we’ve gathered together in a circle of folding chairs in the middle of the HausWitch store - lights dim, binaural beats playing - and we’ve SAT. Why we’ve sat is probably different for every single person who’s shown up, but at the heart of it we’re all neighbors living in the same community who have chosen to take 30 minutes out of our otherwise input-heavy lives to be SILENT and STILL. And perhaps most importantly, to be both of those things TOGETHER.
At a time when the world feels especially intense and, let’s face it, isolating (despite of or perhaps in relation to our increasing digital connection), hopelessness feels like almost a given. How can we not be when the world is on fire and all the power to make real change seems to be in the hands of those without a sense of humanity? But there is real POWER in togetherness and especially in togetherness that supports our own spiritual foundation - the kind of foundation that allows us the inner stability to truly SHOW UP in the world in our own aligned compassionate ways.
I know for myself I’ve spent a lot of time in a state of self-loathing, questioning what if anything I have to offer the world and also feeling very alone (and very powerless) in that state. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If day-in-day out we spend our energy seemingly at war with our own spirits, is it even possible to show up for the peaceful world that we long to create? How can we expect to show up for others, to have compassion for their struggles if we can’t have COMPASSION for ourselves - aren’t we all just beings from the same Source?
“Peace starts from within” is a phrase that’s been made into its fair share of spiritual memes. But there’s Truth in it. And it’s not about touting the merits of self-care while negating the struggles of the world all around us. As far as I can tell, it’s about learning to FEEL what Peace even is before we can really dare to expect others (who also don’t know what Peace is) to make the Right decisions for Humanity and for the Earth and for All Beings.
For the world to HEAL, we must all practice in our own way THE ART OF SHOWING UP and how we show up is a practice in itself. Meditation, like so many other tools that have been prescribed as productivity hacks or a merit to be won in the world-wide sport of competitive spirituality, is really just a PRACTICE IN PRESENCE. Can I sit with my shadow? Can I sit with all the mental stories and distractions and boredom and all the discomfort that isn’t really Me, but the me I’ve learned to to think of as me? Can I sit in non-resistance and let all of those energies pass through my body, so that finally I can start to glimpse the TRUTH of my own Spirit? And it’s in those (often brief) moments, that we begin to feel what peace can be.
All of that to say: if you live around the Witch City Area or are just passing through on a Monday @ 6pm you’re invited to sit with us. We focus on our breadth for the first 20-minutes and our hearts the last 10, sending out loving-kindness to ourselves and then the world-at-large.
And if you want to start practicing loving-kindness on your own, with your hand over your heart you can repeat the following phrases (via Spring Washam) first to yourself and then to the world:
*May I/ The Earth be happy and peaceful
*May I/ The Earth be safe and protected
*May I/ The Earth be strong and healthy in this body
*May I/ The Earth live in ease, joy, and well-being
Moonday Meditations are held free-of-charge Every Monday 6-7pm inside the HausWitch store. Cash donations to support our unhoused neighbors via Witch City Action and Salem Survival Program are welcome, as well as paperback books in good condition for our Prison Book Program collection box!
