Today I will not give up.
I acknowledge my terror,
but I will not give up.
I acknowledge my anger,
but I will not give up.
I acknowledge my sense of hopelessness,
but I will not give up.
I will feel my terror, anger, and hopelessness,
but I will not let them be my permanent home.
I will use my terror, anger, and hopelessness as power.
I will believe in love’s power.
I will believe in beauty’s power.
I will remain an agent of love and beauty.
I will not be a doormat; I will go into battle if need be.
I do not know if I will survive the coming strife.
But my spirit will live.
I will not surrender my integrity.
I will be an agent of love.
I will find calm in the eye of the storm.
I will bring peace to all my relations.
I will trust the Divine.
I will continue to make love and beauty my home.
November 9, 2016
Francesca:
Sorry, I was not clear. They are not familiar with your work. Could I send them the link to your page?
O my yes, anyone is always welcome to send someone the link to one of my webpages. Thank you.
Francesca:
May I share this post (with author credit and copyright of course) with two of my friends who are hurting? One was attacked and is afraid to leave her apartment (her friends are rallying around her) and the other grew up under Jim Crow and was targeted by the Klan as a child. She was walking home with a gallon of milk and a car full of Klansman pulled up next to her. They told her to stand perfectly still or they would shoot her. She could see her house and her grandmother weeping in the doorway. She does not know how long it was before they tired of their game and moved on, but even though it’s been 50 years, this election has brought it all back to her. I think your words would be very comforting to both of them.
Hi, noelle, i’m so sorry to hear about your friends. I’m in my 60s, and I remember too well the time of which one of your friends speaks. I’m a little confused by your question, sorry, are your friends unable to come to my page to read the post? Let me know so we can take care of them. ❤️❤️❤️
Dear Francesca,
Thank you so much for your post.
Here in Germany, we are all (no, not all, but mostly all, the radio was very clear about it that all parties/politicians, with only exception of one small right wing one were very shocked and displeased, and “normal” citizens of course also feel very affected) under big shock about the outcome of the US elections.
Please do all know that we feel with you all, and of course, we fear that this outcome might have big effects on the whole world, that is my personal opinion, that means also on us, who not even had an oportunity to vote. Now we all together will have to face the present and whatever future that will show up.
Your poem/prayer is wonderful. Yes, that it is.
The last days, I came in close contact with Durga, the Great Mother Goddess of ancient India, and of course her tiger/battling – aspect. The beautiful message she had, was, that she is not only defending against evil, protecting the Goddess-people, and, how she is called, the mighty one and the undestroyable one (wonderful in this context) – the one that will fight the demons and will always win (that she is called in India) – but that she dwells within all of us, and she is not, as it might seem when you see her fighting, a purely violent or aggressive aspect – BUT pure love and pure light. One of course, that strikes like a lightening! 🙂
Pure love, – the only response – and only safe way – to face the opposite.
I was very surprised and greatful about this encounter, as from outside, she alsways seemed great to me in her power, her fighting abilities, but I perceived them as also violent and maybe life destroying – but NO! her answer is that she is the purest love from inside, and this love and light is able – with all her decisiveness and clear action and striking like a lightning – to hold the demons she fights apart.
I am not sure if I convey in this words what I understood …. but what I want to say is that I find similarities in your words, that holding the love and the beauty inside, AND not allowing it to be affected – this will continue to change the world.
Francesca, I am not sure if I could explain what I wanted to say in a good way, and I am so sorry that of course, it does not change the outer facts of the conditions you (all) face in US.
Please feel my best wishes, courage to continue, and my joy about your beautiful being.
Dominique
ps: I started with BaG today again, and it works so magically on me, and of course, as it is second time, on a new level – thank you so much for your transforming work and present to us, it really changes me and my life. The text in itself is imbued with power, love and magic – that directly work on me – which, as I have the impression, do not come from the words themselves, but flow from the spirit and love with which you wrote the book and are woven into and inbetween the words. An impressing experience. Thank you from all my heart!!!!
Dominique, thank you for your loving, generous support and beautiful comments.
I understand what you said about Durga. Often, people, deities, and forces in nature are slandered so that no tries to access their actual nature, because if they did, it would help them overcome oppression. In fact, let me share something I wrote so you know I understand.
It is in regards to trickster, in my new Book of Shadows set. Though specifically about trickster, its basic principles are the same as what you’re saying:
“Trickster is usually portrayed as a deity or person who
perpetuates cruel jokes that, in the long run, are
for our own good. This is an erroneous view derived from an oppressive societal structure. Trickster is not cruel. In a kind manner, she opens the door to freedom and joy. … The holy fool embodies innocent wildness. I think human
powers-that-be slandered him so we’d fear our wildness
and think it harmful. Thus tamed, we’d be malleable and
impotent, aka controllable.”
If you want more info about the book set:
http://stardrenched.com/2016/10/01/book-of-shadows/
I will definitely ask Durga to visit me so she can help me. Thank you for introducing me to Her.
As to a god’s power of love being unrecognized, again, let me share something I wrote, so you know I understand you. Though it is about me, it’s still the same principles. It is from a blog I wrote last year. In the blog, I speak about doubting myself then, in the part I quote below, I remember my power. The first part is not relevant to our discussion but is context for what follows it:
“I know so many secret magical techniques and powers—information near impossible to find—that one greed-ridden Pagan tradition goes to great lengths to discredit my knowledge, so they get students instead of me. … (but) no matter how many spies they send to my home, they’ll only learn the smallest bit of my power, let alone glean the pure love that radiates from its center, making me unstoppable.”
If you want to check it out, the blog is at
https://www.outlawbunny.com/2015/05/19/what-constitutes-easy/
Finally, I want to thank you for what you said about my energy in my books. Not everybody spots that, so kudos to you. Like the above discusses, people try to steal my power, but they can’t because they don’t even really see it! I pour my heart into my books, and no one can see that power unless they come to the book with love in their own heart. Bless you.
Thank you and thank you and thank you for such a wonderful exchange!
Thank you so so much Francesca!
As I could read in internet – after getting into contact – Durga is today the oldest, first, comprehensive mother Goddess in India and still very very venerated there. In Western Goddess Oracle sets I she is only described as the fighting and defending aspect of the Goddess, but in India Durga is the Whole Big Great Goddess before separating into different goddesses (that is how it is taught there)… the HIGHEST Goddess so to say, where everything came from. Durga is one of her old names, another is Maha Devi (Great Goddess)… – and my understanding is, that before the Oldest Greatest Goddess was called Durga maybe in India there was an earlier Kali Tradition, before the indoeuropeans came, but I do not know exactly. But I strongly recommend Durga :-)))))) – she is impressive! 🙂
Thank you Francesca for your words. Dominique
Thank you for that information, my dear.
I scrambled back, mortified at having left such a fraught mess of words, and here is a gracious response from you. Bless you.
Briefer, and surely better…….dearest Francesca, you possess the startling grace as a teacher and shaman of speaking not TO where we are, but FROM where we are, and with Sight and great heart that you are always literally showing us we possess as well.
It really helps. It does!
Love you.
Rebecca
Oh my goodness, Rebecca, you are so kind. I will always treasure both comments you posted today. You are wrong to think the earlier post was a muddle. Both comments are beautiful, eloquent, and greatly needed—they are balm on my heart. Thank you!!! Love, Francesca
Blessed Francesca.
This post, it seems to me, is an expression both of what you do and of what you are, a beautiful oneness of the weave of your being, often, as now, a manifestation of innate grace, but also great courage when it feels as if Grace has gone. And it’s so MUCH a blessing to us reading it. Walking the Spirit Roads, we so often bear the burden of feeling we ought to be unafraid, that we have to overcome the dark that drowns. Here, you actually embody your message that we hold both at once: the fear and the courage, the dark and the light, and one choice at a time we affirm the way of compassion, of love, of what we say no to, of what we embrace. Fear isn’t failure.
I was thinking how completely YOU this affirmation is. It’s an entirely, radically human response to what has happened and what may come. That’s such intimate comfort! So often those who are our lights and our teachers sink under expectations of a kind of monolithic stability and high flight. You, on the other hand, walk the ocean floor with the rest of us, and find ways to produce light under water.
In this, oh, you are both at once: richly, desperately human and AT THE SAME TIME the shaman with Spirit Sight, the tools for both battle and healing, and a voice that is always, in some way, singing the Forever songs.
I’m so grateful for this post, but most of all, and always, I’m grateful for you.
Blessed be, Francesca. You are so very loved!
Rebecca, I don’t have words, my sister seeker. In everything I do, you meet me with love. And you meet me with a lyric beauty of both prose and spirit that is unsurpassable. Thank you for accepting me in all my parts. I love you. I have your back.
Francesca:
Many blessings to you for sharing this with us. I am also in shock–it’s almost like the last eight years were a long Twilight Zone episode and this is the “gotcha!” at the end. I already have friends who have been verbally attacked. I still haven’t been able to think clearly enough to truly process this. I pray that it won’t be as bad as we fear, and I also pray that I will have the courage to do what needs to be done.
Noelle, you’ve described the situation so well with your twilight zone metaphor. What a world! I am so sorry to hear about your friends. Your prayer “I pray that it won’t be as bad as we fear, and I also pray that I will have the courage to do what needs to be done” is one I hope many of us are making. Your prayer nails it! Thank you for taking time, despite what’s going on, to write me supportive words.
Thank you Francesca for your words of strength during this time of dark uncertainly.
To read your words I know I’m not alone and hope, love and compassion will triumph.
I’ve been in a comatose state of shock as most probably are and traveling the streets of
Mountain View today I’ve heard rumblings of similar disbelief. Life will go on and even
if we build walls to keep people out we will only be locking ourselves in, closing our eyes
to the richness that helping the less fortunate can bring.
Thank YOU for your comment because it is positive and filled with love. I’m glad I helped you feel you’re not alone because your comment helps me feel I’m not alone. We are in this together. Onward! As Keith Olbermann just said, “Watch your back.”