What happens in the darkness?
A look at underground movements and our inside worlds: how to make sense of the darkness personally and politically.
When I began, I swam in dark waters. I didn’t have to think of much, my only choice was to trust my mother, whom I didn’t know yet. I trusted that she would feed me, give me rest when I needed it, and nurture me. In there, I didn’t know who my mother was, but I did know the darkness, one might say the Darkness is the first thing I really knew, for my human self developed in it. It was peaceful, protected, and safe. Today, when I am overwhelmed and need a moment of peace, I return to darkness by closing my eyes. When I die, I assume I will return to darkness too.
November is a dark month in the Northern Hemisphere where I live, leaves start to fall, and every night, the darkness comes a little earlier. Today is the first day of the collaborative series I started with Kindra Calonia, it is called Poetic Antidotes In Movement, and the theme this month is Darkness. You will find the movement class by Kindra at the end of this essay. I don’t have a full ritual for today, so I will leave you with a few playlists I have been enjoying in preparation for this essay. If you do want to prep for the class I will suggest essential oils, colours and music (it’s getting sensual!) to work with for this theme.
This essay is meant to carry us on a journey where we can make sense of what Darkness represents both politically and personally. The movement class is meant to move the feelings that surface in this process.
I would like to acknowledge that the concept of Darkness can have different meanings. I see darkness as the unknown, as what hides in obscurity, as what doesn’t want to be seen. I also see darkness as a place I can surrender in, one that is silent and peaceful, somewhere I can be away. Darkness is also the place where liberation takes shape, where networks of sisterhood grow together and save each other, and where enslaved people can practice their beliefs freely. Darkness is where the seed of revolution is formed. I want you to focus on this darkness today, the same darkness where a human is created is where liberation is also made alive.
