This post was sent to my newsletter at the new moon, the first missive of my Word of the Moon series. If you'd like to receive this when it's fresh - as well as insights and announcements about other creations of mine - please do sign up!
I trust that each of us knows the sense of surety that rises when we stand up for what we believe. Even if this is a private moment, such stances send roots deep into earth, calling up strength for whatever may come to challenge us. In the arc of the year, we are poised between making and harvesting, when the babies have grown but not yet left, the fruit is full but not yet fallen. We are full of the force of life.
And so, the word of this moon is
advocacy.
In our current context this word evokes the world of social justice, and the web of allies who work to lift up those who have been trodden under. It is a show of solidarity in which we speak the shape of potent, potential action. In light of these collective forces, I challenge you also to reflect on advocacy as an internal experience - a personal confidence in your own values and the way you live them.
The root of advocacy is ‘to call,’ even to one’s aid. Humility rests at the root of this word. And yet, it is also a declaration. To speak our truth to the world - even if it reveals a need for help - is to make a clear declaration of yourself and your role. It is to stand up for something valuable.
Outside, the world bursts with this form of advocacy. While tending sites for my work in ecological restoration, I have watched as waves of plants stand tall, throw out their fleshy leaves and flashy flowers, and take up the space required for their life. They claim nutrients from the soil and the sky, repackage them into their progeny, and cast those seeds in abundance onto the earth. They advocate for the continuance of their own magic.
Before we slide towards a selfish accusation, let me tell you too of the swarms of bees and moths, bunnies and birds that gather around these flowers and seeds. By taking up room and advocating for what they have to give, the plants also bring wide nourishment to the beings with which they are in relationship. Building their own strength is the way that they build the resilience of their community, in the form of food and shelter, resource and protection.
You, too, have a unique gift whose proliferation will bring riches to the world. When your roots are deep and your leaves flush, you become an advocate not only for yourself, but everyone who comes near you.
Advocacy is a call to relationship. It is the embodiment of an outward benevolent force: without pride, without aggression. If we do not act in the aid of our own souls and bodies, we lose the great power of advocacy. And in so doing, we lose both ourselves and the life of our communities.
May we all give voice to the beauty and the need.
