On Eclipses

Hello friends,

There is a solar eclipse today, but it is too cloudy here in Portland, Oregon to see it. I’ve witnessed several in my lifetime. Felt the hush of all the animals and birds grown silent. Watched the strange light and seen the crescent moons made by the shadows of leaves.

I’m feeling the eclipse this morning. Feeling the earth cast its shadow on the sun. The sense of waiting for something to happen.

I’m not Armenian. I’m not Palestinian. I’m not Jewish. I’m not Syrian or Ukrainian. I’m not a child born into war, now grown. I’m not a Black parent grieving a stolen child. I’m not one of too many missing Indigenous women…

But I am queer and gender nonconforming. I am human. And, living in a crumbling empire, I am part of the interlocking systems that carry grief and destruction in their wake.

And I’ve worked for justice for over forty years. I’ve worked for social change for over forty years. I’ve imagined and created and written and sung better, kinder worlds into existence for over fifty years, since I first set pencil to paper or opened a book to escape the violence and confusion of my own childhood.

Prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba reminds us the that “Hope is a discipline.”

I was texting with a friend last night and she remarked that it used to be easier to be hopeful. I agreed. And we both said, even so, we were not giving up.

Don’t give up. Don’t give up on love. Don’t give up on creativity. Don’t give up on the quest for justice. Don’t give up on kindness. Don’t give up on each other.

Do what you can, when you can, where you can. Fight for justice. Feed your children. Dream of a beautiful world.

wishing you well — Thorn

It feels strange to talk about, given world events, but creativity is part of my attempt to lighten the pain of the world. There are a host of witchy books for the Samhain season collected here: Bewitched Book Faire.

And I want to thank everyone who has so far backed or shared the campaign for my magical meditation book and oracle deck, You Are the Spell. You make my life better.