Juneteenth meditation portals
meditation portal 1: Juneteenth and the shape of time
Juneteenth carries many times at once.
the past arrives in the present every day.
sometimes through memory.
sometimes through place.
sometimes through the work that remains unfinished.
our bodies understand time as relationship.
we are living with ancestors and descendants
we invite our ancestors to remain present through the stories we tell
the songs we sing, the food we prepare, the names we remember,
and the ways we care for one another.
this is one way our communities have long understood memory.
future generations are already present in the choices we make.
the children are already listening and telling their own stories
life unfolds through relationships that extend beyond a single moment.
the future arrives in the choices we make and in the stories we preserve.
allow the relationship to arrive and notice what comes first.
a voice.
a laugh.
a song.
a story told again and again.
a way of moving through the world.
a way of loving.
a way of showing up for others.
stay with whatever arrives.
notice how little effort it took.
a moment ago you were here.
now you are here and somewhere else as well.
you are in multiple times and multiple places.
you are multiple versions of yourself all at once.
where are you? use all your senses.
let the memory arrive with as much clarity as feels right.
a smell opens a door into a room.
a song collapses decades.
a dream feels more vivid than waking life.
a person who has been gone for years feels close enough to speak to.
invite this memory to share who you are becoming.
christina sharpe tells us about living in the wake.
a wake is what follows a ship.
a wake is a gathering after a death.
a wake is evidence that movement continues.
the people who shaped us continue shaping us.
the stories continue.
the consequences continue.
the responsibilities continue.
notice how this relationship lives in your choices.
notice what you carry.
a set of values and hopes.
a way of caring for others.
a way of surviving everything that comes to challenge you.
a way of celebrating joy.
all of this that you practice and carry arrived through relationship.
Juneteenth lives this way.
generation after generation remembering freedom
by practicing freedom,
teaching freedom,
imagining freedom in new forms
creating portals for freedom to exist in our lifetime
take a breath.
notice how many people are gathered inside this moment.
notice how many times are gathered inside this moment.
notice how much life is moving through you.
let yourself rest between what was, what is,
and what might still be possible.
rest there until you are ready to awaken.
meditation portal 2: Juneteenth as a living Black archive practice
on Juneteenth, we are practicing freedom.
we are experiencing today together as a living Black archive practice.
we have long understood that archives live in places institutions cannot reach.
so, we are practicing freedom in the stories we preserve.
the relationships we nurture.
the land we care for and that cares for us.
our bodies remember because the land remembers.
rain gifts us with memory and possibility,
then the river carries our grief and joy.
into the communities we are creating.
take a breath and bring your attention to something you know how to do.
something that lives in your hands.
something that arrived to you through another person.
or through deeper memories in your body
is it a recipe that comes to you easily?
is it your way of welcoming people to your home?
is it your way of planting certain seeds?
a way of braiding hair?
a prayer you love to say?
a song that fits your voice?
a story you know by heart?
a way of caring for children?
a way of moving through grief?
a way of loving your community?
is it some or many or all of these?
stay with your attachment to that practice.
recognize it as a practice of freedom
and one of your many contributions to the living Black archive
notice how deeply it lives in your body.
notice that you share it with your ancestors and descendents
both given and chosen.
now, allow yourself to become curious about the path this knowledge traveled.
re-member or imagine how someone carried it to you.
re-member or imagine how someone practiced it before you.
re-member or imagine taking the time to teach it.
re-member or imagine how it became part of who you are.
how many people protected this knowledge long enough for it to arrive here?
how many people practiced these same ways of being?
how many gatherings?
how many conversations?
how many kitchens?
how many generations?
notice how different this feels from information that can be stored outside of our bodies.
it can create an archive that doesn’t care if we exist.
our knowledge also lives through practice.
our knowledge asks to be embodied.
our knowledge asks to be shared.
our knowledge asks for relationship.
our knowledge carries the past into imagined impossible possible futures.
our living Black archive is here as long as we practice it
and as long as we stay connected to each other
bring your attention back to what you are carrying.
what stories are you carrying that you haven’t told in a while?
what lessons have shaped you that you can pass forward?
what wisdom have you inherited that you can demonstrate in the way you live?
what dreams were entrusted to you that you can dream into the future?
what is already moving through your life toward others?
where is someone already learning from you without you even trying?
what do you want them to know next?
what do you need to be nurtured or safe in order to do this?
take a breath.
feel yourself inside a long conversation.
generation speaking to generation.
story speaking to story.
practice speaking to practice.
the archive is alive in this conversation.
the archive is living because you are becoming
you are part of its unfolding.
rest there until you awaken.
meditation portal 3: Juneteenth as sanctuary practice
we carry Juneteenth forward with us by continuing to practice freedom.
we are practicing freedom by remembering that we belong to each other.
we are practicing freedom by remembering that we belong to the land.
we are practicing freedom by receiving the gifts that surround us
and considering the gifts we may offer in return.
take a breath.
notice the ground beneath you.
notice that it has been holding you this entire time.
notice that the land is already participating in this moment.
the air enters your lungs.
water moves through your body.
plants, even the ones you can’t see right now, creating beauty and nourishment.
trees creating shade through their long lives.
birds carrying seeds here and there.
rivers shaping the places where communities gather.
the land continuously creates the conditions for life.
stay with the feeling of being surrounded by all this abundance for a moment.
bring to mind a place that nourishes you,
whether you are close to it or far from it right now.
allow the place to arrive in its own way.
perhaps it is somewhere you visit often.
perhaps it is somewhere from childhood.
perhaps it is a place you return to when you need clarity.
a place you know or a place you can dream of.
notice what your body remembers and senses first.
the feeling of sunlight.
the smell after rain.
the sound of wind moving through leaves.
the feeling of your feet touching the earth.
the shape of the horizon.
a cool touch of water.
stay there.
notice what this place gives you.
is it energy?
is it peacefulness?
is it perspective?
is it awe?
is it a way to hold grief?
is it healing?
is it feeling more like yourself?
in this place, and on this land,
you are participating in relationships that began long before your arrival.
the soil beneath you carries stories.
the water carries stories.
the plants carry stories.
the land remembers migrations.
the land remembers fires.
the land remembers floods.
the land remembers footsteps.
the land remembers gatherings (of humans and many other beings).
the land remembers generations of care.
the land remembers pain and grief too.
notice how many gifts arrive from simply being in relationship with land.
robin wall kimmerer writes about the gifts of the natural world.
the berries offer themselves.
the trees offer shelter.
the rivers offer movement.
the soil offers nourishment.
life flourishes through exchange.
consider what gifts you receive from the places that sustain you.
take your time.
now consider the gifts you offer in return.
attention.
stewardship.
care.
protection.
gratitude.
beauty.
your voice.
your touch.
consider what sanctuary means to you.
is sanctuary is a place where nourishment arrives abundantly from many directions?
is sanctuary a place where giving and receiving are easy?
is it a place where people, plants, animals, water, memory, all are interconnected?
is it a place where you can imagine futures with the people you love?
is it a place where you belong? where you can practice freedom?
take a breath.
feel the gifts moving toward you and through you.
bring the sanctuary into yourself so that your body becomes the sanctuary you need.
rest in the sanctuary you imagined or remembered.
rest in the sanctuary you are creating in yourself.
rest there until you awaken.
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