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June BlueSpruce, MPH

Intuitive Healer, Mentor, and Life Coach

Dig In

Imbolc, observed around February 1, is a time of new beginnings and initiation. Here in the US, we are undergoing a huge, painful initiation, living under a newly empowered oligarchy that is intent on destroying our democracy, the rule of law, and the institutions of civil society. It is easy to feel that we are not equal to the tasks before us, that what we do doesn’t matter. Our first task is to realize that these are lies. Don’t believe them; to do so is the first step toward giving in to the oligarchs.

Yesterday I slept in, allowing myself to rest after a period of surgery recovery followed by insomnia. I took action to address racist behaviors at a meeting I had participated in earlier in the week. I edited and sent an email, a collective effort, urging the Seattle Mayor’s administration and City Council to amend proposed zoning changes to preserve our urban tree canopy and prevent displacement. I wrote a draft of this blog post. In the evening, I went swimming and prepared for a handyman to repair a broken sidewalk outside our house. Five weeks ago our son fell near there and injured his knee. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Will any of those acts protect immigrants who are living in fear of deportation? Keep Trump’s toxic Cabinet nominees from being confirmed? Save the lives of people around the globe now endangered by the abrupt freeze of American foreign aid? No. Are these actions important for my own and my family’s health and well-being and those of others in my local area? Yes. Will they contribute in a small way to altering the power structures that damage lives and landscapes locally and nationally? That is my hope and intention.

Our adversaries want us to exhaust ourselves fighting to stop their juggernaut, their wrecking ball, their abject cruelty. Each of us has to determine what we have the ability and power to do, and do it. In a war, some fighting proceeds house to house, street by street. Every act we take to oppose the would-be fascists has an impact. That includes taking care of ourselves, our families, and our communities as a priority.

One of our most important tasks is to hold a vision of what our local areas and our country could be. We collectively have the resources, skill, and expertise to create a vibrant multicultural, multiracial democracy with everyone’s basic needs taken care of and in which everyone is treated with respect and dignity. We had three months before Nov. 5, 2024 to get a glimpse of what that would look like. Now are are living the opposite. But the vision, the seeds, the webs of connection still exist, underground, under the radar. We will lose sight of them at times; we will forget we have them. We owe it to ourselves, future generations, and all beings to nurture and sustain them.

Take heart, take care, and dig your roots deep for the long haul.

One Response to “Dig In”

  1. Christie Denhart

    Thank you, June. I needed to hear everything you wrote ….!

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