Clarity & Surrending
At the end of January, my friends Medulla Ohm Blongata (MOMB) and Openi invited me on The Abstract Podcast. I love podcasts. I love listening to them, talking on them and sharing different podcasts with people. I remember one of the first podcasts I listened to was Serial (does anyone remember that?). If you’re into crime and mystery, I highly suggest you listen!
I met MOMB and Openi when I still owned my shop About The Goods and was still DJing out in the clubs and bars. At the time I was doing a lot of events and they were always around the scene. We even collaborated on a First Friday showing called Valentine’s to My Ancestors which also ended up being the unofficial closing party of our store. It was such a magical night.
Back to The Abstract —MOMB and Openi have created something so amazing that I’m honestly not surprised. Everything they touch and create is straight fire.
“The Abstract is a resource for self-investigation & mental health that makes tools for coping and resiliency both accessible and actionable in our everyday lives.”
MOMB
They / Them, He / Him Pronouns
A first-generation genderqueer Nigerian-American born and raised in Chicago, IL. Originally earning their Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, Daniel recently attained their Master’s degree from Hawaii Pacific University in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Daniel’s theoretical approach blends Choice Theory, Positive Psychology, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT) with a holistic perspective for healing.
Openi
They / Them Pronouns
For the past decade, Cultural Worker, Designer, and multi-hyphenated Artist Lala Openi Cheung has created designs, films, and spaces for the extended & multifaceted communities in which they live, work, love and grow, as a genderqueer (gnc) 5th-generation San Francisco Bay-bred “American Born Chinese” (ABC).
I feel extremely aligned with all of their visions and values so when they asked me to come onto the podcast, I was extremely flattered. We discussed trauma (you know we had to talk about vicarious and ancestral trauma), pandemic anxiety and reflecting on all of our experiences getting through last year. I talked about my crazy anxiety working in the healthcare field last year, being in a relationship + raising two teenagers, and adapting to the changing social landscape as a DJ. ALL THE THINGS haha.
If you’d like to listen, press play below and be sure to show some love and support to The Abstract. They have so many great toolkits (like Tips on Meditation, Holding Space, Black Mental Health and Deconstructing Racism to name a few) and even a Patreon. Also I love their website so much. Aesthetics galore.
Thank you again MOMB + Openi! Thank you for sharing the space with me and making me feel seen and heard and witnessed. I’m so excited to see more from them!
March Collective Message
Last night I recorded the monthly collective message for March and listening back to the podcast I did with The Abstract, I realized that there are so many synchronicities happening.
Clarity is the theme for March. I accompanied this reading with a clear quartz and I highly suggest working with clearing - translucent crystals this month. For this reading I used the Filipino Kapwa Tarot -- I'm in love with this deck.
The big question that you can journal about is: How can I speak and move more with intention? How can I do these things in honorable and honest ways? How can I find more clarity with my vision and path?
I hope this helps you out, I've attached the Headhunter Prayer by Jana Lynne Umipig-Lawag, the creator of the Kapwa Tarot. Use this prayer in times where you need affirmation. Thank you all for your support.
Ang panalangin ng Headhunter
I pray you honor your intuition
As it meets your logic
That you find balance in your knowing
Re-member that human beings
Have the response-ability
To their Spirit and their Mind
That both make the miracle of your human being
I pray you listen to the lessons
Of your lived experiences
And of the experiences of Ancestors
Before you
And that you make room
For the lessons of descendants
That will grow us all
And move us forward in revolution
I pray you honor where you have come from
And honor where you are going
And you are present to the place you are
In this very moment
Be ever in learning, relearning and when needed, unlearning
And let your judgements
Always be fueled by the wisdom that you gather
That is ever growing
And ever changing
