Guidelines for Peaceful Protest

                           Know Your Rights: Demonstrations & Protests

Also

People Power United posted this.  It is great information!

Civic Engagements Guide: How to Make an Impact at a Protest

Protesting is a powerful tool for civic engagement, allowing individuals to voice their concerns, demand change, and unite with others around shared causes. To make the most of your participation, it's essential to be prepared, informed, and strategic. Here's a guide to help you make a meaningful impact at a protest.

1. Do Your Research

Before attending a protest, understand the cause you're supporting. Learn about the key issues, demands, and goals of the movement. Familiarize yourself with any specific legislation, policies, or public figures involved. This knowledge will help you engage in informed conversations and amplify the message effectively.

2. Plan Ahead

Preparation is key to a successful protest experience. Check the event details: date, time, location, and organizers. Dress appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Pack essentials like water, snacks, a fully charged phone, and a portable charger. Bring identification, but consider leaving unnecessary personal information at home.

3. Create Clear, Impactful Signs

Signs are a visual representation of the protest's message. Use bold, legible lettering and concise language to convey your point. Powerful slogans, facts, or calls to action can resonate with the crowd and media. Consider waterproofing your sign if there's a chance of rain.

4. Stay Safe and Aware

Your safety is paramount. Attend with a buddy or group, and agree on a meeting point if you get separated. Be aware of your surroundings and exit routes. Know your rights as a protester, especially regarding interactions with law enforcement. If tensions rise, remain calm and avoid confrontations.

5. Encourage Ongoing Organizing

While protests are impactful, sustained efforts create lasting change. Nudge the organizers to continue organizing around the issue beyond the protest. Suggest follow-up meetings, educational workshops, or community actions to maintain momentum. Offer your support to help build long-term strategies that drive systemic change. If they don’t continue to organize, pick up the torch and continue to champion progress!

6. Engage Peacefully and Respectfully

Peaceful protests are often more effective and garner broader public support. Chant, march, and express your views passionately but non-violently. Respect fellow protesters, law enforcement, and bystanders. Remember, your goal is to persuade and inspire, not to alienate. No littering! Keep public sidewalks clear to allow space for pedestrians. Keep your eye open to assist seniors or folks with disabilities.

7. Amplify the Message Online

Use social media to extend the reach of the protest. Share photos, videos, and updates with relevant hashtags to connect with a broader audience. Highlight personal stories, key messages, and the energy of the event. Digital activism can influence public opinion and attract media attention.

8. Follow Up

A protest is often just the beginning. Continue your advocacy by contacting elected officials, signing petitions, and supporting related organizations. Share your experiences to inspire others to get involved. Reflect on the event's impact and consider how you can contribute to ongoing efforts.

9. Take Care of Yourself

Protesting can be physically and emotionally exhausting. After the event, rest, hydrate, and process your feelings. Connect with fellow protesters for mutual support and debriefing.

Also from People Power United:

• ACLU

  • Know Your Rights

• Natural Resources Defense Council

  • How to Protest Safely

• NYU Law - The Center on Race Inequality and the Law

  • Protest Tips and Resources

• Sierra Club

  • Safety Tips for Attending Rallies & Protests

• Politico

  • Notes to the American People — and Government Workers — on How to Stop Trump

We, the People

The acts of the U.S. regime are horrific.

  They are intentionally layered onto us!
  Their purpose is to smother our lifeforce.

The unfolding tragedy is a magnetic force,
  drawing us ever closer into its vise grip
  wherein we will get lost in the sea of souls
  imprisoned by fear, anger, despair, horror…

I see myself among them.
  But I cannot stay there.
  For there, I am nothing but a scream.

We are so much more than that.
  We are light.
  We are love.
  We are promise.
  We are intent and will.
  We are creators.

NO!

We shall choose.

  We can find common ground, despite our differences.

  We can stand together.

  Together, we can Stop the Coup!

Choose Your Sources of Information Carefully

Billionaires own the major media and are controlling what information is shared.  Major media shares all the horrors.  There is so much more to this story!

There is all of us standing up.  You can find hope if you know where to look.

Democracy Now, Business Insider, The New Yorker, The American Prospect, The Atlantic, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Reich Substack.

The Singing Revolution

If these folks can stand up to ferocious, deadly power, so can we!

The Singing Revolution Explained 

 

https://youtu.be/Wz44Q9_34-4?si=IkaXpD43z507mdLE

Stop The Coup d'état!

Stand in Solidarity!

The Coup d'état is illegal!  

This is OUR democracy, OUR country! 

https://youtu.be/iHxFx7at50U?feature=shared

24 Hour Economic Blackout - a People's Movement Against the Oligarchy

The 24 hour Economic Blackout

As our first initial act, we turn it off. 

For one day we show them who really holds the power

WHEN:

Thursday February 27th from Midnight till Friday The 28th Midnight

(A full 24 hours of the 28th)

12:00 AM to 12:00 AM

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

~ If they don't listen (they wont) we make the next blackout longer (We will)

 

This is our first action.

This is how we make history. 

February 28th

The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

There is Reason to Hope!

I decided it was time for me to catch up on the events of the last two weeks, so yesterday I did a deep dive into the news.  And to my surprise, I didn't emerge from it feeling defeated or fearful or angry, or even overwhelmed.

I emerged feeling a transcendent hope, a knowing that there is something so much greater at work than the horrendous antics of a deranged man and his oligarchy.

What I witnessed, over and again, were acts of courage, resistance, coming together, standing strong in one's beliefs, refusals to submit to the intentional fearmongering, continuing the good work that has been moving in this country for hundreds of years...

These acts of courage were moving, so moving that they brought me to tears.  People sorted through the chaos, stood strongly in their beliefs and demonstrated repeatedly that the human spirit will not be denied, and that we can do this...together.

Here is one of the courageous acts I witnessed...a sermon by The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, at his inauguration.  

There is reason for hope, my friends....and it lies within each of us and across all of us as we take each other’s hands.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/24/bishop-mariann-edgar-budde-sermon-that-enraged-donald-trump?CMP=share_btn_url

New Book!

I'm happy to announce the release of my new book

One Moment, One Chance, Always: Finding Hope in Despair

Please use the QR code or the link on the title to get the best price for your copy!

Walking through the Dark

Fear is being unleashed into our society.
  It like a plague, is highly infectious.

Given any license, it will sink its tendrils deep into
  our hearts, souring our perspective.

It will trigger our most ancient instinct to survive,

  place a pall over our minds and ability to think.

It can turn us into automatons;
  reacting instead of choosing,
  fighting, running, freezing
  rather than taking measured actions.

Fear is normal, natural, part of the human experience.
  Feel it, honor it, love it, and then

quiet your body, your mind, your heart.
  Remember the beautiful, sacred, loving.
  Reach out to, and develop, your community.

Once recentered in your heart and your community,

  consider the thing that caused the fear
  from a new perspective, with supports.

You are a powerful being,
  a being of light and love,
  a being able to live into your highest ideals

  a being standing in community.

Together, we can do this.

I Still Believe

I was feeling the urge to write again. 

  But what this election promises 

  compelled me to start now.

  

I have a different vision.  

  I see a different future.  

  I believe.   I still believe.

Visit My Other Blogs

Spirit Walk

Soul Embodied

Kristen Magis in Viet Nam

Author's note:

I originally believed this to be a blog.

  But I realized that it, in fact, is a book.

I endeavor to keep up the blog, 

  but find it is not a suitable format

  for the stories that unfold in a book.

So, I ask for your patience with the blog

  and hope that you will look for the book

  that emerges even as you read these words.

'One Moment, One Chance, Always'

Abundance Born of Strife

The inauguration of a very difficult four years is tomorrow.

I need a moment to honor my heartache and sorrow.

  How do I do that without nourishing the scourge?

  Focus on what I fear we could lose, less blame.

The rich human diversity that exists in this country.

  The significant progress we have made learning 

  to respect one another, celebrate our diversity.

The joy of finding and living in one’s love for another.

  The sanctity of pronouncing that love in marriage.

  The rights of marriage that sustain a life shared.

Living your days knowing your difference is honored.

  People accommodating your needs in welcome.

  Life becoming increasingly accessible for all.

The right and joy of voicing one’s thoughts freely.

  A political system that celebrates community.

  Solidarity to amplify our voice and influence.

I could go on, listing all the things I fear we may lose.

  But, as I write it becomes increasingly clear to me.

  We created it all; we embody it; it is who we are.

So yes, systems can be torn down, people attacked.

  But we have the experience and the capability to

  create and re-invent it even better and stronger!

So, stand steadfast through the coming onslaught, 

  and know it is a temporary assault by a minority 

  on the many who, collectively, will overcome.

Are We the Answers to Our Prayers?

This poem is republished from Spirit Walk: Journey of a Soul Embodied.

Another night of Kundalini energy.

  Woke me in the dark of the night 

  when it exploded out of my head.

  It carried a dream and a message.

'Create an intentional community of love.'

Over and again, I heard the message.  

  I immediately started examining it, 

  reviewing the many times we have 

  built community, and the myriad

  ways we destroyed our creations.  

Despite our highest intentions, 

  we can’t escape our humanness, 

  the fears that capture us, and the

  illusions we label rational thought.

But perhaps despite, or even

  because of our shortcomings,

  we can create community now.

This community is not defined

  by geography, culture or religion.

  It is bound by a singular commitment

  to shine light and love on darkness. 

Imagine light and love emanating

  from trillions of people, shining

  on the darkness we have created.

Imagine…WE are the answer.

But...

  Spirit stepped aside, gifting the people precious moments to ponder.  The people disbursed, caught up by the juxtaposition of an impossible, lethal predicament with the hint of an equally inconceivable, yet potentially extraordinary solution.

  However, there was one left standing, his facility to consider any solution held in abeyance by his inability to grasp reality.  The gravity of the impending situation challenged even that most optimistic and visionary part of him.  

  This one was born, as Hazel, with a tender heart, a soul filled with love and compassion.  He was born into life laughing and singing, lifting the hearts of all who met him.  All his young life he gifted himself to the care of others.

  A soul born of light and love, he was literally unable to comprehend the nightmare described by spirit. So as others pondered spirit’s word, he was flooded with emotions…fear, foreboding, denial, anger, the exasperating inability to understand what was happening…all at once.  

  He recognized that the feelings are natural to the grieving process.  He knew that allowing grief to run its course is necessary for profound healing.  

  But he also gathered from spirit’s words that grief would be stirred many times as the assaults against humanity rained down all around us.  And each bout of grief may not find closure before others are layered upon it, creating a torrent of unresolved, terrible, undulating grief.  

  A society awash in grief and agony.  

  He felt himself marshaled into a dark corner, denial the warden.  Hearing the truth of it all was unbearable.  He literally couldn’t imagine the world they were to create…in just days.  

  Crying, he called out to spirit, ‘How do I move from this impossible place to a place wherein I can even start to consider solutions, and finally to imagine what I might possibly do about it all?’

  Spirit listened lovingly to this angel embodied.  ‘I was doing the work I was born for,’ the young man cried.  I was loving with my all, gifting myself to life.  I had just started, you know!  It all is overwhelming!  It frightens me so.  It makes me question why I came here.  It makes me want to leave.’

  Falling into quiet, the young man contemplated, ‘This dark corner in which I hide… At least I can see the boundaries of the corner.  I understand how far I can step, what will happen if I venture too far, when it will be light and dark.  I know this dark corner, retched as it is.  And though I fade into a memory of life in this corner, at least I still live.’

Beings of Light & Love

This morning, I awoke to the realization that it is just days before life changes into an unfathomable and horrifying reality.

--------------

In these, the final moments, 
  the lambs dine with the wolf.   

The sneer upon the wolf’s countenance 
  as it anticipates the taste of its first kill
  is surprisingly unrecognizable to its prey.

Spirit counsels that we answer its question
  without ado for the meal is nearly finished.

‘What blinds the lambs to their certain peril?’

Without pause, lest we turn aside, Spirit adds,
  ‘You are the lambs led now to your slaughter.
  ‘Open your eyes now, see the reality unfurling!’

‘Unfeasible, we are an advanced, learned society.’
  ‘Immaterial, the sight needed is from the heart.’

‘What you herald, impossible in the United States!’
  ‘America is no longer united.  Look now and see.’

‘But we have a system designed to fend off dictators.’
  ‘To be dismantled without delay when he takes reign.’

‘The reality you prophesy is horrendous, preposterous!
  When we try to hold this unbearable vision, it vanishes
  into the corners of our hearts and souls.  It is too much!’

‘Why would you ask us to step willingly into this nightmare?
  We endeavor so to not fall into fear, to walk instead in love.
  What could possibly be the purpose of plunging us into fear?’

‘Because, if you view the world as it is, you can create solutions.’ 

‘But how can we create solutions when we are consumed by fear?
  The fear destroys our ability to think, provokes us to run or fight.’

‘Yes, if you succumb to your fear, it will compromise your abilities.
  Rather, honor the lessons it offers, then choose your path forward.
  Use the knowledge to find the gifts unique to you that you can offer.’

‘Every one of you was born with distinctive gifts to offer in this moment.
  The gifts will come to the fore when you see opportunities to offer them.
  You were born for this moment because your unique gifting is imperative.’

No more, lambs led to slaughter.  Now arise powerful beings of light and love.

Spirit, Ever Present

The young man, finally ready to talk, challenged spirit,

‘So, tell me spirit, why should I leave this corner?

  The future you depict foretells agony and death.

  Here, I can disappear from it, wait for it to pass.’

Spirit consoled, ‘I hear what you say, I understand.

  You accurately describe this impossible quandary.

  And I understand that you may select your corner.’

Lost to the horror of it all, the young man withdrew.

  ‘Might you stay with me this moment?’ spirit queried.

  The young man quaked as he saw it all in living color.

Stunned by the rising awareness that the choice was his,

  such an awful choice, to live in terror or simply survive.

  It seemed a contemptible choice, or was it really a choice?

‘OK, whatever,’ he conceded, positive his demise was certain.

  He felt himself plummeting into the vacuum of hopelessness.

  ‘What does it matter?’ he asked. ‘It’s over, just a matter of time.’

Spirit touched him, held his soul as he wept, brokenhearted, bereft.

  ‘My child,’ spirit lovingly counseled, ‘look, see who embraces you.’

  And he felt the familiar warmth and kindness of his mother’s arms.

‘Look around you,’ spirit advised. There was his husband, life partner.

  Family, friends, community, families who entrusted their care to him.

  ‘They,’ prompted spirit, ‘are your reason to live, why your light shines.’

‘Remember child,’ it said, ‘that you were born a gift to the world, to life.

  Your work has just begun, and while you have no idea how to proceed,

  you have all that you require to contribute everything you came to offer.’

Spirit proclaimed, ‘The love of which you are made is sacred and eternal.’

  You came to this life to gift yourself. Know also that I endowed you the

  chance to discover how to accept and flourish in the love of your family.’

Spirit clarified, ‘You cannot walk this passage alone. Only together can you

  cross the threshold of this moment to create a tomorrow of love and light.’

The People Return

The people returned, having mulled over spirit’s words.

  Some were devoured by fear; some hunted the culpable.

  Others, as the young man, were wholly unable to fathom

  the nightmare into which they seemed destined to awaken.

One gift that spirit holds, which eludes the whole of humanity

  is perception forged by time eternal, creations past and future.

  From this omniscient sight is borne wisdom, equanimity, grace,

  but most extraordinarily, an everlasting love for every living soul.

Their hearts torn asunder, the people collapsed before spirit, crying.

  They wept, ‘We glimpsed in our dreams the terror you prophesied!

  Fear contorted into horrific action perpetrated against one another.

  As we beheld it, we fell into chaos and created the hell you foretold!’

Alarmed, they appealed to spirit, ‘It is we who create this horrid future?’

  Spirit shared, ‘You are borne as creators, bequeathed self-sovereignty.’

  Incredulous, they challenged spirit, ‘What do you suggest, sovereignty?’

  ‘I mean,’ spirit explained, ‘you are gifted the inviolable right to choose.’

‘Yet, this vision proves that we are utterly incapable of wielding this gift!’

  ‘No,’ countered spirit, ‘your vision demonstrates your capacity to create.’

  ‘And’ persisted spirit, ‘it bares indisputable evidence of your sovereignty.’

  ‘Hence, the question,’ ventured the young man, ‘is how we wield this gift.’

The Ineffable Force

This is not a fairytale of leaders, nor titans, nor giants towering o’er humanity.

  No, this is a story of you and me, simple, pedestrian, dispirited though we be.

  We each carry within us a light, bound to the eternal, that shimmers with life.

  

Only we, no other person, hold power to kindle, shine and extinguish our light.

  We know the truth of the terror that one human can perpetrate upon another.

  But for time without end, we alone bear the light gifted us by the eternal light.

Though we know it not; though we hide it behind layers of suffering and pain,

  the light blazes in our souls, pulling chi into our lungs, animating us into life.

  This is the ineffable force to which I call, stirring it to arise, shine within you.

For this sacred light, this ineffable force is you, is who and what you really are.

  Through your light emanates the wisdom of the universe, agape love, infinity.

  It is you we need, your strengths and gifts, your flaws and faults, your doubts.

When you awaken to the treasure living inside you, you will find the way ahead.

  You will find gifts, uniquely yours, forged through your life, that are essential.

  You will be gifted sight and discernment about their use for the benefit of all.

Step into Your Birthright, Creators All

  The people fell to silence once again, ruminating on spirit’s words, considering the possibility.  But one among them arose, I believe a direct descendant of Estelle.

  Standing tall and noble as her grandmother, she declared, ‘Your words are fanciful, I’ll give you that, even a little inspiring.  But this is a pipe dream you describe, for it can’t possibly define this lot!’ she said, waving to all the people.

  Abashed, the people recoiled from their imaginings of the possible and settled back into the familiar albeit self-effacing position of powerlessness.  It was true, they thought, this spirit hasn’t suffered as have we, doesn’t toil endlessly just to survive.

  ‘Well,’ demanded the young woman, squaring off with spirit, ‘what have you to say to that?’

  Spirit, loving the young woman’s courage and power, smiled, infuriating the young woman.  ‘Stop making sport of me!’ she yelled, desperate to maintain her standing within the group.  ‘I express the words they are frightened to speak.’  And some gathered the courage to nod their agreement.

  ‘You are a woman of remarkable power,’ spirit said.  ‘Do you see how the people look to you?’  And the people waved encouragingly at her.  ‘Tell me please,’ spirit asked, ‘what is it in you that inspires the people to entrust you to speak for them?’

  Embarrassed, the young woman, started, ‘You are…’  But she was interrupted by an elder man who stood to speak.  ‘I wish to share my idea,’ he said, looking to her.  Hastily, she declared, ‘You don’t need my approval to speak!  We are all free to speak our minds.’

  Smiling at her, he looked to the people.  ‘I knew Estelle,’ he started.  ‘She was irascible, for sure!’  And the elders among them smiled, remembering.  ‘But she was wise beyond belief, and she had an incredible way with words.’  Turning now back to the young woman, ‘You carry her spirit, dear child.  You are wise, outspoken and courageous.  We all recognize that gift in you and we adore you for it.’  With that, he sat again among the people.  

  The young woman stood silent.  She felt awkward with the attention and elated by the fact that she was seen and honored by her people.  She held her grandmother in high esteem and felt small at the very mention of her name.

  As if hearing her thoughts, spirit ventured, ‘Dear child, hear the words of your people.  You are gifted with wisdom and the ability to express your thoughts.  And it takes courage to stand up and give voice to your feelings.’  The young woman listened, aware that the conversation had moved to an entirely different place than she had intended.

  Spirit continued, ‘Thank you for shining the remarkable light within you for all to see.’  An elder woman now stood, ‘And thank you, child, for sharing your gifts with us all.’  The people stirred to venerate the young woman.

  But the elder woman knew of their propensity to raise others on pedestals and in so doing to relegate themselves to insignificance and subservience.  So, she waved for them to sit.  Puzzled, they sat once again, the young woman now joining them.

  She cautioned them, ‘Yes, we all agree she has wonderful gifts.’  The people applauded, still excited to celebrate their new leader. ‘But,’ she continued, ‘so do you,’ she said pointing to a woman, ‘and you,’ pointing now to a young man, ‘and you,' pointing to a child.

  Soon she was waving her arms across the entire people.  She called to them, ‘You all have gifts.  I have seen them.  I have witnessed you each offering your gifts, so many times!’  ‘But,’ started a middle-aged woman, ‘we don’t have her gifts.  Her gifts are special.  All I do is cook and care for my children.’

  And another stood, ‘But had you not cooked for me, I wouldn’t have grown up strong and able to help our people.  That gift you gave me, and all of us kids, is incredible!’  And now multiple children stood up and applauded, both her own and the neighbor kids who knew her cooking well.  The woman, awash in love and appreciation, sat with the dawning realization that she, too, had gifts, important gifts.

  The elder woman now looked to spirit, who moved to her.  ‘You say,’ the elder stated, 'that we are all gifted.’  ‘Yes,’ affirmed spirit.  ‘And you say,’ the elder continued, ‘that all our gifts are essential.’  ‘Absolutely,’ spirit declared.  Whispering now, for this idea tested even her sagacity, ‘And, you say that each of us carries a light, is a light.’ 

  ‘Yes, I say it for it is the truth,’ spirit affirmed.  The elder woman, mystified by this idea, hugged spirit and took her place among the people to learn.  And spirit said, ‘Please come with me on a journey.  Close your eyes and see with your heart.’  The people closed their eyes and waited in silence.

  ‘Breathe deeply and slowly.  With each breath, feel white light and love flow through your body to your hands and feet.  Feel it filling every organ, every cell.  Feel your body transform into white light.  Feel the love flood your entire being. Exhale your concerns through your heart.  Continue this rich, divine, healing breathing.  Feel each breath healing and opening your heart, mind and body.’

  Spirit watched as the people relaxed into the healing breath, their bodies releasing pain and suffering.  ‘Now, send the white light to the heavens and behold your soul, a divine and eternal presence.  Feel your soul’s connection to your blessed body.  You are a soul-embodied.  Feel your soul shining like a star through your body.’

  ‘As a soul-embodied, you walk in both the earthly and spiritual realms.  You have chosen a noble and sacred earth walk.  Send the white light into the earth.  See the light fusing with the magnificence of Gaia and radiating back to you.’  

  ‘You are a being of light.’

  After a long pause, spirit continued, ‘Open your eyes now, slowly.  See with your heart.  See the light shining from each of you.’  The people opened their eyes and saw, for the first time, the light that emanated from every soul.  They sat in reverent silence, seeing light and love embodied in their own.

  ‘You are born of the light.  You are the light.  You carry within you all possibilities, every prospective future.  You are creators,’ spirit affirmed.

  ‘My question to you,’ Spirit posed, ‘is what you will do with this remarkable gift.  Who will you be?  How will you walk in this world?  What will you create?’  

  And with that, spirit faded from their view, but never from their side.

The Extra in the Ordinary

The people rose to attend to their routine yet compulsory doings of daily life. 

  But their vision had changed, enabling them to see the extra in the ordinary.

  Each action, and the donation of it to the community, was a remarkable gift.

  And they came to recognize that gifts could be both ordinary and remarkable.

The woman who cooked and cared for her children shared her gifts exuberantly.

  She delighted in the value of her contributions to the community, her gifting.

  She touted others’ gifts, finding the extra in the ordinary, holding all in honor.

  She inspired a communal project to find and acclaim the extra in the ordinary.

The people began to understand spirit’s message about their innate sacredness.

  They started to see themselves as important and valuable exactly as they were.

  They grew to trust their wisdom and gifts, to affirm and own their sovereignty.

  And those who claimed superiority found no devotees to genuflect unto them.

For the people finally knew they were gifted, powerful, sacred, sovereign creators.

The Resilience in Community

There were some steeped in, and unwilling to let go, the ways of the recent past.

  They had profited greatly from those days; prestige, special treatment, riches.

  They were loath to share the wealth or to discharge governance to the people.

They watched with rising trepidation as the people discovered their true nature. 

  Established strategies to mollify the people were now impotent and obsolete.

  However, they executed the strategies, for they worried they could lose it all.

The premier strategy: fracture community by turning people against each other.

  But people united, and their devotion to each other and community deepened.

  All strategies suffered the same fate, for the people possessed their true selves.

And the people reveled in their newfound gift to create a life of love and light.

  They saw the community’s wellbeing improve as they stepped into their gifts.

  And they realized that the future they desired could only be created together.

Loveworthy

I republish this poem from Spirit Walk: Journey of a Soul Embodied

  because Loveworthy appears in the following story and because

  I mourn for the human diversity this régime intends to destroy.

-----------

The landscape, dreamlike, floated past her motionless body.
  Reliving the events recently past threw her into a vast,
  swirling pool of confusion, revelation and incredulity.

‘Did this really happen?!’ echoed through her mind.

The memories captured her,
  binding her body to the earth,
  opening her mind to the universe.

It started so innocently and gently.
  She saw Loveworthy, felt at once a
  connection, a profound love for her.

She followed eagerly the mystique.
  Loveworthy knew her immediately,
  and without pause, they united as one.

There are those you meet in this life
  with whom you share a soul-contract,
  a covenant to share a hallowed journey.

So, they loved and walked,
  fell deeply one into the other,
  shared exquisite bliss and delight.

Then, a man swaggered out from the mist,

  clad in grays and browns and garnished with
  eyes of steel and a smile contorted into a scowl.

He too knew Loveworthy,
  and approached her with the 
  arrogance born of power and rank.

Sanction and consent, his to confer,
  he wasted not a breath pronouncing
  his opinions and judgment against her.

‘What are you doing?!’  he exclaimed.
  ‘Who do you think you are, parading
  around like this, with another woman?!’

Loveworthy spoke not, but gathered her
  partner’s hand in hers and stood silently,
  resolutely defying his dogmatic judgment.
 
In revulsion, he disappeared back into the mist.
  The women gazed into each other’s souls and
  vowed that nothing would separate them, ever.

But as they walked, more stepped from the mist,
  lambasting them with profanities surpassed only 
  by the hatred and disgust coursing in their hearts.

Acerbic ridicule escalated into physical threats.
  Loveworthy stood fast, devoted to her partner.
  Peacefully, she asserted their right to share vows.

And as her community and family exiled her
  for this profound and singular love, she wept, 
  her heart shattered by their hatred and betrayal.

Her heart grew hard with anger and defiance.
  She would never again kowtow to the doctrine
  of a community defined by ignorance, fear, hate.

She was inspired by the love of her partner
  to find and express the greatness in herself.
  They healed, developed and thrived together.

A love so precious could not be wrong,
  and she,
  she was love worthy.

So she and her partner stayed the course,
  created their lives and journeyed together,
  strengthened by their love and commitment.

But the others, fed by fear and ignorance,
  could not allow such a shameless display
  of love and pleasure between two women.

Nor could they abide deviation from dictums
  that bound tightly that community of believers.
  So, they set out to stop the abhorrent abomination.

Clandestinely, they approached Loveworthy’s partner.
  ‘She is disgraceful.  She can only mean trouble for you.
  Best you stop now, while you still can,’  they admonished.

Frightened by the others, Loveworthy’s partner drew to her.
  ‘I’m confused!’  she cried.  ‘They say our love is not natural?!
  They call us depraved and atrocious!  Is our love worth this?’ 
 
The hate had poisoned her partner’s heart and mind.
  It had made her question her own wisdom, and worse,
  made her doubt her own worthiness to be and feel love.

Loveworthy gazed at the one who made her heart sing,
  the woman with whom she shared a soul contract.
  And, she wept.

Brokenhearted, Loveworthy turned away.
  Their journey and their love had been
  desecrated by ignorance and fear.

They caught Loveworthy that day,
  walking alone by a stream.
  There, they took her.

She walks no more by the stream.
  Her light, her love, her life,
  all perished that day.

And here I lie, next to the stream,
  transfixed by the memories of the 
  love that was mine and that I let go.

Through my tears, I see her spirit,
  I feel her touching my heart,
  and I realize, finally, that
  I am love worthy.