algiz | rune of the half-month | feb 12 2020

i have felt the presence of the Unknown more thickly lately. a feeling of a hand on my back - supporting me

owls appearing as a symbol everywhere. (update march 15 - they still continue, specifically barn owl)

words that are shielding and providing protection this week

braiding sweetgrass

+ animacy

+ "I heard the zap of synapses firing...a bay is a noun only if water is dead.

+ "when bay is a noun, it is defined by humans, trapped between shores and contained by the word"

+ "wiikwegamaa - to be a bay - releases the water from bondage and lets it live."

+ "to be a Saturday"

+ "it robs a person of selfhood and kinship"

+ "the universe...is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects" - Thomas Berry (ecotheologian)

+ "speaking and thinking in English gives us the permission to disrespect Nature"

+ "when we tell them the tree is not a who, but an it...we put a barrier between us, absolving us of moral responsibility and opening the door to exploitation"

+ "saying it makes a living land into natural resources"

+ edgewalking

+ "bilingual between the lexicon of science and the grammar of animacy"

+ matter and spirit, indigenous knowledge and western scientific discovery

+ "Native scholar Greg Cajete has written that in indigenous ways of knowing, we understand a thing only when we understand it with all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit"

+ "my natural inclination was to see relationships, to seek the threads that connect the world, to join instead of divide"

milk and honey

199:

of course i want to be successful

but i dont crave success for me

i need to be successful to gain enough

milk and honey

to help those

around me succeed

188:

the goddess between your legs

makes mouths water

177:

it is okay to sell what's

between a woman's legs

more than it is okay to

mention its inner workings

169:

i like the way the stretch marks

on my thighs look human and

that we're so soft yet

rough and jungle wild

when we need to be

i love that about us

how capable we are of feeling

how unafraid we are of breaking

and tend to our wounds with grace

just being a woman

calling myself

a woman

makes me utterly whole and complete

165:

the next time he

points out the

hair on your legs is

growing back remind

that boy your body

is not his home

he is a guest

warn him to

never outstep

his welcome

again

153:

loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself

137:

i am water

soft enough

to offer life

tough enough

to take it away

126:

people go

but how

they left

always stays

122:

neither of us is happy

but neither of us wants to leave

so we keep breaking one another

and call it love

72:

on days

like this

i need you to

run your fingers

through my hair

and speak softly

65:

how do you turn

a forest fire like me

so soft

i turn into

running water

54:

he placed

his hands

on my mind

before reaching

for my waist

my hips

or my lips

he didn't call me

beautiful first

he called me

exquisite

31:

he guts her

with his fingers

like he's scraping

the inside of a

cantaloupe clean

19:

every time

you tell your daughter

you yell at her

out of love

you teach her

to confuse

anger with kindness

which seems

like a good idea

until

she grows up to

trust men who hurt her

cause they look

so much

like you

heart talk

207:

i think about

needing

how strange shame

comes

from needing another

how what's worse

is

the way

we try

to not need

anything from

ourselves

209:

be

the moon

if you want to

be the lightbulb

in the kitchen

or a flashlight

in the wild

all

i ask

is that

you

shine

210:

when the past

is

the past

and you are

sharing ghost stories

with your

new heart

the clearest route

to bliss

is to

be

alive

while

you

are here

to

be

with yourself

in a

love

so deep

the oceans

get jealous and

even outer space

wants to

be inside

that

is

the type

of love

that

shows us all

how

is the starting point

from which

to build

a home

you can invite

the

whole world

into

131:

tired

i was tired of worrying

so i gave myself my peace back

;