Event: Finding Ground, Guided Trance with Self Love Tribute (Virtual)
I feel like I've been living among many worlds lately and have been trying to give myself more grace as I navigate them.
On the Spring Equinox, I began an in-person plant medicine apprenticeship that takes me to the mountains of upstate New York once a month through November. Starting this class also feels like a formal step (in a lifelong journey) toward being in right relationship with the earth. When the time is right, I also envision integrating plant medicine into my practice. If you'd like to support me through my current travels and education, I welcome this via my tip jar or by booking sessions with me.
I am also slowly working on a new album for my experimental sound project taupe set xl (you can peep an unreleased track featured in this recent mix on NTS - the track starts around 20:10 and the entire mix is a lovely curation of fringe electronic projects) and look forward to a few potential performances. As I build my hypnosis practice, I continue to sustain myself through work as a PR Coordinator and copywriter, stewarding the stories of BIPOC artists, organizations and businesses.
Needless to say, I have a lot going on and it doesn't always make sense when I'm “in it.” As I remember my own lineage of care workers, earth tenders, teachers and even singers (my paternal grandmother, for example, was a sarsuelista or opera singer, in the Philippines for some time) it somehow “feels” right to be on this varied, evolving path.
I'm also not sharing this to glorify a full schedule. Being someone who tends to fluidly move and act among different worlds, I sometimes lose sight of / touch with myself — which is how I'm feeling in this moment. When I need more grace and perspective, I try to reorient myself with variations of these questions:
What part of the cycle/spiral of life am in in right now? Is this a time to rest? To integrate? To release? To act?
What narrative am I currently living? From whose point of view?
How am I currently feeling and is the story I'm creating from these emotions nourishing or hindering me? Are these feelings pointing to a deeper need that isn't being met?
Can I ground into a higher purpose? Or the earth? Or simply, my body and breath?
How can I fill myself up with my own energy / essence again?
I've especially been preoccupied with that last question and have been playing with ways to ground into and recharge my energy. I am trying to develop a daily practice of grounding through breathing, movement, singing, and self-hypnosis. This practice has inspired me to develop a monthly virtual grounding trance on IG live called “Finding Ground.”
For this month’s Finding Ground I spoke with my friend Elia Diane Fushi Bekene about their work as an artist, healing practitioner & creator of the Ancestral Healing Tarot Deck. We talked archetypes, tarot, imagination, co-creating with spirit & ancestors, finding home/belonging amid displacement and alienation, and SO much more.
Elia also talked about energies of the moment through three cards from their oracle deck-in-progress (~40:00): Empress, Temperance, Liminal Space (aka Hanged Man in the Rider-Smith deck).
I then led a hypnosis trance relating to our conversation (~24:00).
Elia is currently raising funds via GoFundMe to print a prototype of their deck. Some words from Elia on their deck (you can read the entire statement on their fundraiser page):
I have created each card as an altar on which Ancestors can rest and share their wisdom.
My goal is to create a ‘portal’ through which displaced people can step into a healing, imaginary space unburdened by colonialism’s many violences.
I also want to pay tribute to Pamela Colman Smith, The Black femme occultist & artist who created the iconic imagery for the Rider Waite Tarot, but was completely erased from history.
I hope that gazing into each and every ancestor's eyes brings you as much healing as it has brought me creating those cards.
With gratitude,
Kristen
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If you’d like to work 1:1, you're welcome to set up a consultation or book an appointment with me. Please reach out if you’d like to explore sliding scale or payment plan options.
