new workshop & other tales

Hi friends,

In truth I write to you in the thick of the covid doldrums. For two years, health care and community workers have been on a cruel wheel of never ending burnout with no end in sight. Parents have juggled wondering where their next meal will come from, while also navigating parenting, educating, and providing for their families. BIPOC communities and the working class were once again left on the frontlines of climate catastrophe (pandemic included) to organize for survival. Small business owners lost their brick and mortars, their livelihood, their sense of purpose. Countless have gotten sick, have dealt with the stigma of getting sick, have suffered, are suffering; with long covid, the exhaust of the past two years, often unsupported and with no answers or energy left to deal. We’re all unknowingly/knowingly holding varying stages of grief for the over 5.5. million people we've lost to this pandemic. And the truth that we haven't just lost their bodies; we've lost their stories, gifts, culture memory, humanity, and so many other teardrops of their immense beings. There is so much more I am not even naming, including politicizing of this pandemic, and the severe harm and misinformation that have in turn actualized into a never ending k hole of ableist disaster.

I know you're probably reading this, exhausted by the sheer amount of lived experience and content you have read, digested, and synthesized over the past two years, burnt out beyond recognition, but I write all this to say : if you also find yourself in the covid doldrums right now, I'm sending infinite well wishes that you are finding comfort in a book, tv show, memory, animal friend, beloved human(s), stuffies and blankets, tasty food, daydreams, a good bowel movement, and literally everything and anything that gets you through and to another day.

And if tuning out/disassociating from our reality right now is the tip you’re on, I share all the same blessings to you. Whatever it takes <3

I've been finding myself relying heavily on old survival techniques to cope, and for me reading is my oldest ally in that fight. I just finished the broken earth trilogy, which I actually started from the very beginning again after getting to an earth shattering chapter in book 3. Feel free to email if you want to kiki all things broken earth, cause I would love to book club gossip so hard about it right now!

I'm also reading a Tracy K Smith poem each day as a divination tool (the poem above is a reflection of Smith's brilliance remedies, that I offer to you for your day.) I'm relying on ancestral medicines like saffron, cardamon, and rose, which provide me indescribable comfort and eternal mama energy.

I'm working with clay as a form of therapy, which has truly offered so many lessons for me to sit/work with. Right now, I feel most moved by the memory that clay holds. Clay can be worked, smoothed, and carry the illusion of lacking "imperfections.” But in the firing, and in the transformation that is catalyzed by the flame, the memory of the clay, the marks that have been imprinted early on in its molding are still there. In return, these revelations have had me reflecting on my own body and the trauma memory that I carry no matter how much I've smoothed out the small cracks and lines. The question i'm asking myself often is, what will my fiery transformation reveal, and in that revealing, how will I respond?

Would love to hear how you’re getting thru these days and what big questions you are sitting with. Keep reading below for a new wild gather workshop offering <3 mandana

new workshop offerings!

andddd I’m so excited to drop news of a portal into a respite from the doldrums that my beloved co-conspirator at Wild Gather, Lauren Giambrone and I have been brewing on! We’re feeling really excited to share about this much important form of care and hygiene, while keeping it light hearted and fun. Hope you’ll join us, and deets to register can be found below <3

Hater Gonna Hate: Herbs & Practices to Banish the Ha8ers

~roses are red, violets are blue, we all got a hater, so let's dish through~

Come kick it in on the stoops of zoom as we chill into a bitch, rap, and cackle sesh dedicated to the h8ters. We’ll highlight 4 hater archetypes {the hater within, the coming for you hater, the hater on the internet, & the contrarian} and chat herbs and practices to support being or dealing with each one. So come solo or make it a date with a friend… def bring a bag of your favorite chips, a stuffy or cozy blanket, and let's get into some life hacks for slaying the hater realms. We promise to keep it cute, respectful and Golden Girls worthy.

Monday February 7th, 5-8p EST online

To register email : wildgather@gmail.com