Monday, July 5, 2010

Something Else: Saturn's Return and the Edge of Wonder

“Even the most content Black person in America lives with an
edge of wonder. There is something
else to us, and we know it.”

-Lucille Clifton on Black people as ruled by Gemini (the 12th house) in her unpublished manuscript Soul Signs: An
Astrology for Black People


There is something else to you and you know it. Lucille Clifton was something else, and her proposed book Soul Signs,
was a little too quirky (even for the 1970's) to ever be published in
book form. But Lucille already knew we were coming, she knew what we
would survive to this day and need to read this. So she saved it. And
nosey, eager, expectant, obsessed and listening Lex dug and dug through
her archival papers and found it.


According to Lucille Clifton, Black people on the planet earth are living under the sign of Gemini, which is Mercury, the
messenger. We have a message for the world, and even when we dodge it,
we know it. We know our lives are sacred texts, that everyone in our
society can learn from. And we know...like our intersectionally
ingenuis Black feminist ancestors and elders have taught us..that there
is more than one thing going on here.


Lucille Clifton describes it this way...human beings on this planet have a major lesson to learn about duality, about
what it means to be flesh and more than flesh at the same time. How at
once to be living in a finite body and participating in an infinite
spiritual reality. And Lucille Clifton argues that Black people are
here on the planet all day teaching about this...about what it means to
live beyond one body, about what it means to create something from
nothing. Our people. We are something else. And we know it.


But we don't always want to know it. And I for one have sure not been very willing to listen to astrological guidance.
But you live and you learn (and sometimes you have people like fellow
birth Gemini QBG Moya to help you out.) Like the rest of my QBGs who
were born any time between September 22, 1980 and November 29, 1982 OR
May 7th 1983-August 24th 1983...Moya and I are on the countdown to the
marathon of Saturn's Return a MAJOR life lesson time that starts July
22nd. Thank the stars a sista lent me a book on this because lawd knows
I barely know what day it is.


SO for me...and everyone born in that date range our lessons are about Saturn in Libra, which is about looking at the
other in your self, that something else that you may not really want to
know about, or nurture, or deal with, but that you somehow seem to
always notice in other people who you don't like and avoid for that very
same reason. They are something else and they are you. MAYBE, just
MAYBE its even an issue that makes you distance yourself from larger
concepts of other Black people. Because you know, our people...are just
something else sometimes. But our people are still our people, are
still us, all day everyday. Isn't THAT something else?


Saturn's return is a time when we might find ourselves embodying some of the things that we are the most critical of
in our daily lives. And according to this book (that I personally think
could have been better written by Lucille Clifton, but whatever) the
key to learning all the lessons from this Saturn's return period (which
by the way...doesn't end until October 5th 2012) is to notice when we
are highly triggered or upset by another person, or other people more
generally and to realize that there may be something there to learn
about ourselves (even if the person is really ridiculous, and verifiably
messed up, and even criticizing you in a way that is really off base).
What happens if there really are no other people, just different
manifestations of the energy flowing through all of us? Something else.


Of course the thing about planets and all of us living on the same one, is that these lessons may be impacting a set of
us very intensely for the next couple of years, but they are also up in
the air for everyone.

What's the "something else" that you see emerging in you? Use this
space to share about it:


http://quirkyblackgirls.ning.com/forum/topics/something-else-saturns-return


Let us emerge at the end of 2012 more connected than we can even imagine.


We are excited for what those connections will look like. Stay tuned for updates on the next incarnation of the Quirky
Black Girls social network after ning goes bling.


Also check out the second Sunday Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast "Blessing the Boats" and practice writing
blessings...to yourself and maybe also to those people who are pissing
you off the most right now:


http://vimeo.com/13086340


And make it the best summer ever by checking out these projects that our fellow quirky black girls are taking on. I
promise every single thing that an/other quirky black girl does has
inspiration and lessons for the rest of us. Thanks for bringing all of
your messages to the world!


For example:


Quirky Black Girl Sheila put us on to the Me and My Sis Foundation for self care and inner beauty! Check them out on
facebook:



http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14951&post=61304&uid=24704646014#!/pages/Me-My-Sis-Foundation/114335645261229?ref=mf



and Rainbow Blak (what a poetic way of expressing the deep diversity of blackness) has started a "creative social network
for Black lesbians) you can find it here:

http://rainbowblak.ning.com/


And Redbone Press...one of the most beautiful and transformative independent presses around now has books available for
order directly from their website! A whole bunch of QBG's are featured
in the new edition of Does Your Mama
Know?: Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories

check them out at www.redbonepress.com


Look at us! Look at you! Something else!!!

I love it!


Always,

QBG Lex

Visit Quirky Black Girls at: http://quirkyblackgirls.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

No comments: