Soon But Not Yet: Postcards from Cortes Island

This summer, I attended a retreat at Hollyhock Leadership Institute facilitated by Wild Soma on embodied practices for collective thriving. Shannon Litzenberger, Andrea Nann, Roula Said, and Julia Aplin engaged us in many activities throughout the week around worldmaking. When do we step back and when do we step forward? What capacities within us can shift the world around us? How can we learn from the non-human and more-than-human beings of the world?

On my way back home, I suffered the sharp reality of a 5am layover in Chicago. As I was waiting in line for a cup of coffee, I noticed that my fellow weary travelers were lining up perpendicular to the coffee shop, the line extending by the minute and cutting sharply across a very busy walkway. Using the language of our retreat, I made a proposal to those standing on either side of me that perhaps we reorient the line to extend along the side wall so that others could pass more gently. A couple confused looks, but the line shifted and when I walked past the coffee shop again 30 minutes later on the way to my gate, the new shape held: patrons hugged the side wall, traffic flowed smoothly in the aisle. Everyone got where they needed to go. A gentle reminder to me that we can indeed make new worlds together, even when we're weary, even in O'Hare Airport.

Archived here are notes and photographs I took throughout our group’s time together on Cortes Island. Edited to, as Julia says, protect the sacred.

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TURN RIGHT AT THE ROSES

ARRIVE IN A CIRCLE

DEER IN THE ORCHARD

SALMON BERRIES

6AM HOT TUB AND OCEAN

LOW TIDE

HUMMINGBIRD

OPEN SKY

SCAN AND ACCEPT “THIS IS HOW I FEEL IN THE MOMENT”

FORGOT BOOK AND Q-TIPS

RED POPPIES

BLACK ROCK

CIRCLES & SPIRALS

REALMS & CYCLES

ACCEPT, ADAPT, DISCARD

12 DAYS TO REPLACE WATER; DOES CRYING SPEED IT UP? 

HOW THINGS FIT TOGETHER

EYES AS PORTAL; SITE OF EXCHANGE

INNER TOPOGRAPHY; OUTER GEOGRAPHY

TAPPING INTO PREFRONTAL; LITERALLY, TAP !

QUICK STEP INTO CHAOS

NO NEED TO DO THIS ALONE

RESONANT STRUCTURES

THE TONE IS TREES

THE NATURE OF THIS

ECLECTIC / ERRATIC (BOULDER)

THE INTERSTITIUM (ORGAN)

“OUT BEYOND IDEAS OF WRONGDOING AND RIGHTDOING, THERE IS A FIELD. I’LL MEET YOU THERE.” -RUMI

FIRST IDEA, BEST IDEA

1:45-2:15PM: ASSIGNED TREE NAP

EVERYTHING IS OPTIONAL

HOW WE FORM A RESONANT CONNECTION

POROUS FRAMINGS

LIGHT

BEAUTY 

BELLY

MYSTERY

THE BREATH THAT PROCEEDS

CAN YOU STAY IN AND COME OUT AT THE SAME TIME?

THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE

YOUR HEART BEATS IN A SPIRAL

ATTUNE TO THE WATERS OF YOUR BEING

WALKING AS EXCHANGE; OFFERING AS SEEING AND RECEIVING WITH THE EARTH AND OUR BREATH

INFINITY SWEEP

THE MIRROR RUNS VERTICALLY

BETWIXT AND BETWEEN WITH NORLEEN

BEAUTY, BEAUTY, BEAUTY

HIGH TIDE

LATERAL THINKING

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘UNSTABLE’ AND ‘DYNAMIC’?

HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER?

TREES DON’T HAVE A FRONT OR A BACK

CONSECRATE; SACROSANCT

TAPROOT; CROWN LIGHT

DESTRUCTION; REGENERATION

THE TRUTH OF WHAT WE ARE LIVING THROUGH AND WHAT WE ARE WORLDMAKING TOWARD

SING FROM THE SACRED

WHAT MATTERS MORE THAN GETTING IT RIGHT

GESTURES OF PLACE: BUTTERFLY SEASHELL; PAINTED ROCK; SEAWEED ORB; OYSTER POCKET

ELLA FITZGERALD SINGING CREAM

SYNERGY

HARMONY

TRANSGRESSION

REFLECTION LOOM

EVERY REACTION TO AN ACTION DETERMINES THE OUTCOME

PROTECT YOUR TENDER HEARTS

RADIATE AND VEIL

SOON BUT NOT YET

THIRD FLOOR FOOD COURT

WE LOVE YOU