A Community of Voices
A Stormy Stellar Nursery | NASA
When you feel you've had enough
You gotta breathe
Just remember who you are
You forget, look to the stars
Even the strong get weak
-Tiwa Savage, Keys to the Kingdom
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff. - Carl Sagan, Cosmos
People who are conscious of their connections to the cosmos will not be deterred from full exploration of their gifts, because true liberation includes the ability to conceptualize freedom beyond social configuration. - Barbara A. Holmes, Race and the Cosmos, 2nd Ed.
Within The Awe
Tree Stump + Finger Print | The Far Woods
I don’t know if you know this, but...You are made of stars.
Literally.
So, in ultra simplified layperson terms, here's what I mean: A star (or stars) died and released loads of energy. This energy carried the elements from within the star (some named in Sagan's quote above) through the universe and eventually to Earth before Earth became inhabitable. Presumably, these very elements from stars are the reason *why* the Earth is inhabitable at all.
So, quite literally, what's inside of you originates from a millions-years-old supernova.
I know, right?!
While there are *so many places* we could go with that information, I'm most interested in connection. To me, this is the ultimate connection. An interconnectedness that is about the beings in front of us right now, and also a tethering to the far-flung past that brings ancient perspective to our present reality.
Being made of stars, stardust, star-stuff, or whatever you'd like to name it isn't a uniquely human reality. Everything Earth has birthed - plants, minerals, animals, humans, even the air and atmosphere - contain elements originating from the hubs of light photons, heat, and gas we call stars. There is a phenomenal level of awe in the fact that humans are molecularly connected to a tree because of what happened millions of years ago on a cosmic level.
It's also fun for me to think of how we are also ongoingly made of stars - well, at least one. We cannot live by Earth alone! If we are to be the animated embodiment of the cosmos, we need our star who we call Sun. Sun is the one star that we are utterly connected to moment by moment. The stardust that is now alive in plants uses photosynthesis in connection with Sun. We humans get Vitamin D and other life-critical benefits (like warmth!) from the 8-minute old light and love of Sun.
Friend, I want you to be in awe of the cosmos. When you look up, or see pictures from a telescope, or hear a creation story, or just consider the vastness of existence, I hope it leaves you with your mouth wide open and no words to say. Secondarily, I want you to be deeply astounded by your connection to it all. The cosmos don't exist for humans. We aren't the center or even the "crown jewel" of the universe. But we are here with the cosmos. You are here and that means something. How you got here - all those complicated processes required throughout spacetime for you to be here right now - is an amazing and lovely and awe-some story. A long time ago, a star went supernova and sent its remnants in the path of Earth. And now, there are elements from a star from a particularly part of a galaxy contributing to your very being. You and your neighbor (whether a human, a horse, a hyacinth, or some howlite) are interconnected to one another. Earth, Sun, and the unfathomable cosmos.
It can feel really big. And it is! Within the bigness, I invite you to live into that connection you have to awe. Awe is not something outside of you. You are an observer of awe and a participant in it.
How do you live in the awe-connection? Pay her your attention. Set rhythmic reminders, like our ancestors did and so many still do. From giving thanks to all the beings that made it possible to eat the food on your plate to feasting at a solstice or equinox event, you can create rhythms that match the cadence of the Earth and the Stars to honor the gifts we receive because of them.
It is easy to live disconnected from awe...until it's not. Once you realize that awe is not only somewhere outside of you, but that you are directly tethered to it, that changes things.
My hope is it changes you.
I hope you start to see awe everywhere. In the purple flower, that yellow butterfly, in the laughter and a smile. May you see and feel the connection of the worlds right in front of you, and the worlds millions of light years away.
What Has My Attention
From morning.star.designs shared via redhouseseries
I don’t usually include this portion on the free subscription, but I wanted to amplify the content below to all subscribers.
I’m sending this out on Sept 30th, Canada’s federally recognized National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. There is still so much to be done around the atrocities of genocide, assimilation, and erasure of First Nations communities across Turtle Island. In this little corner of the universe, I want to participate in recognizing the need for Truth and Reconciliation to every First Nations community by sharing just some of their gifts given to the world that I am grateful for and benefit from.
This is a very short list. Keep seeking and supporting the voices, beauty, and stories of First Nations people from Turtle Island.
I’ve been listening to Prentis Hemphill and their guests on the podcast Finding Our Way. I would say I’m “binge listening”, but this is the kind of podcast you listen to slowly and deeply. So, suffice it to say, it is my preferred podcast these days. The episode with Rowan White of the Mohawk community of Akwesasne was one of my first listens. I will listen to it many times over, and I hope you will too.
Eloy Bida is an artist who’s work has truly captured me. There is beauty, social commentary, truth-telling, wonder, and authenticity in what he offers us.
I shared last month about Rebecca Roanhorse’s speculative fiction work Black Sun. Other books I have basically drooled over because they’ve been so good: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (she did a beautiful podcast episode with Krista Tippett), Becoming Rooted by Dr. Randy Woodley (find out more about his work at Indigenous Center for Earth Justice).
Lauren Good Day shows up authentic and glamorous in her designs, whether they be art or fashion.
Pass The Feather Indigenous connects us to art, words, and events that support and honor Indigenous peoples. One of my favorites is what they offered about stars:
4. Ritual of Connectedness
5. What Weariness Needs
PLUS: The accompanying podcast episode to this issue: Liberated Into Connection
Upgrade your subscription by hitting the button below.
Also! Come hang out with me over on Instagram, Twitter, or in my membership community, The Dignity Nation!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Of Earth & Of Stars to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.