Episode 5: Grief and the Solar Plexus

Episode 5: Grief and the Solar Plexus - Show Notes

Brief Summary:

In this profound episode of the HDxLiberation Podcast, hosts Andrea Ward Berg and Courtney Napier delve into the complex interplay between grief and the solar plexus, touching upon themes of racial justice, collective and personal mourning, and the transformative power of understanding our emotions. They share their personal journeys and pivotal moments, notably the impact of Trayvon Martin's murder, which served as a turning point in their racial awareness and activism. The episode weaves together discussions on the role of the solar plexus in processing grief, the societal pressures against grieving, and the importance of embracing our emotional waves for healing and liberation.

Main Topics:

1. Special Introduction Honoring Trayvon Martin [00:00:00]: The episode kicks off with Andrea and Courtney sharing the synchronicity of the podcast's release with significant dates related to Trayvon Martin, underlining the ongoing importance of collective grief and remembrance in the journey towards liberation.

1. The Solar Plexus and Emotional Processing [00:09:00]: The conversation shifts to the solar plexus, exploring its evolution and its crucial role in navigating grief. They discuss how societal norms often suppress our natural grieving processes and the importance of understanding the solar plexus to fully experience and move through grief.

1. Collective Grief and Liberation [00:22:00]: The hosts delve into the collective aspects of grief, emphasizing the interconnectedness of personal and communal mourning. They highlight the transformative potential of grief in fueling movements for racial justice and liberation, advocating for a deeper engagement with our emotions as a pathway to change.

List of Resources, Suggested Materials, and Social Media Handles:

- To support The Trayvon Martin Foundation, visit: https://www.trayvonmartinfoundation.org/  

- To learn about this historic event and how it has impacted the world, read or listen to this incredible episode of the podcast, Code Switch: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/07/31/631897758/a-look-back-at-trayvon-martins-death-and-the-movement-it-inspired 

- If you are struggling with grief and lack the community support you deserve, please reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting Text HOME to 741741: https://www.crisistextline.org/ 

Contact and Support:

For more insights and to join the conversation, follow the HDxLiberation podcast on social media at @hdxliberation on Instagram, subscribe to their YouTube channel, and join the Liberation Lab on Substack for exclusive content and community benefits.

Chapters

• 0:00 Special Introduction in honor of Trayvon Martin: The episode begins with a reflection on the significance of the podcast's timing in relation to Trayvon Martin's birthday and the anniversary of his murder.
• 0:10 The Solar Plexus and Grief: The hosts dive into the role of the solar plexus in experiencing and processing grief, contrasting emotional experiences now with those in the past when humans had a seven-centered design.
• 22:00 Collective Grief and Healing: Discussion shifts to the nature of collective grief, the impact of societal structures on grieving processes, and the importance of acknowledging and working through grief for personal and communal healing.
• 33:00 Grieving in a Capitalist Society: The conversation turns to the challenges of grieving within a capitalist framework that often values productivity over emotional health.
• 55:00 Closing Reflections and Hope: The episode concludes with reflections on the transformative power of grief, the potential for hope and liberation through emotional processing, and the importance of collective support and understanding.

Transcript

Andrea Ward Berg: 0:06

We're introducing the grief episode, which we recorded last November. Um, and unfortunately, uh, not a lot has changed. So there's that. Still so much to grieve, more to grieve. But, as we were figuring out what we were going to release when and, um, You know, recorded our, uh, liberation theology podcast. This, um, I don't know, synchronicity revealed itself. And so I think it's really special and I'm excited. We get to talk about it a little bit before people get to hear the episode.

Courtney Napier: 0:54

Yeah. So something that me and Andrea connect over is our journeys to, um, really embodying the struggle towards liberation, specifically via racial justice. That's where we both started. And, um, it's interesting because when we started talking about our stories, um, what you'll hear, what you can hear in our first episode, actually, um, a crucial turning point for our racial awareness was the murder of Trayvon Martin. Honestly,

Andrea Ward Berg: 1:39

And we didn't know that we had this moment in common. We didn't know, we didn't know each other's liberation stories before we recorded the liberation theology episode. So I didn't know that Trayvon Martin was a turning point for you and you didn't know that his death was a turning point for me.

Courtney Napier: 2:01

We both remember where we were when we heard it, we both felt very deeply, um, for different reasons regarding that entire, um, injustice that happened and that tragedy that happened. And, um, what we did not know, uh, is that the launch of our podcast was the. What did you say? The day after his birthday? Yes. Um, we launched a podcast a day after his birthday and this episode, this grief episode is coming out two days after the anniversary of his death. And so once we realized this, um, a couple of weeks ago, we knew that we needed to commemorate. It was fated to commemorate this time and this incredible human being and a life cut way too short. Um, and injustice that is still haunting our country to this day.

Andrea Ward Berg: 3:11

The fact that we released the podcast the day after his birthday is mind boggling to me because it was like a three or four month long process and we didn't really know when we were going to have everything ready. Like we were just doing the next thing we knew to do and then all of a sudden it was ready. And so we just, we just. Put it out there. We just like published right without even like and yeah, we're not

Courtney Napier: 3:38

even like picking it It wasn't like a day that we picked especially for a certain reason at all And so we, one of the things that we wanted to encourage is that there is a Trayvon Martin fund. And so we highly encourage you, um, firstly, if you don't know this Event, go educate yourself about the event, of course, um, and then give to the Trayvon Martin Fund,

Andrea Ward Berg: 4:08

It specifically supports the families who have lost someone to, um, police violence. Wow.

Courtney Napier: 4:18

And so, um, his death, there's, there's never any justification for loss of life. No. And. His, his death was a massive turning point for all of us. It was a launch of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a movement that was led by queer black people, queer black women, and, um, that still remains with us to this day, um, and has, and will never be the same after it. This country has never been the same since, um, and that's, that's power. That's real power. Absolutely.

Andrea Ward Berg: 5:00

Absolutely. Part of my ability to comprehend and hold the grief is. Um, witnessing the impact. So when I say that I am in awe, I'm in, um, I'm moved by the fact that his, the loss of his life woke many of us up. Um, it helps me reconcile that it's not in vain. It's not okay. It's not in any way giving permission or, um, Explaining away the absolute loss of life and the devastation for everyone that knew him. With that in mind, is there anything that you want listeners to pay close attention to as they listen to the episode?

Courtney Napier: 6:04

Yeah, I would, I, I would love to point people to understand that. Um, grief is a part of our life and that we live in a society that works against our need to process our grief. Yes. Um, because grief has its own cycle and timeline. We talk about our emotions, including grief and how they happen on a wave and how they happen on a wave all on their own. And so if you find yourself right now, just like we are reflecting, um, Man, I think it's 12 years later, evoking the name of Trayvon Martin, grieving the loss of such a precious. child's life, um, or anything you are grieving that has happened in the past, that is happening now, that's happened in your neighborhood or is happening, um, on the other side of the world. It is all natural. It is all important and it is all, for lack of a better word, productive because it is changing us, our spirits, um, and our hearts. and our vision of what our lives can be in the world that we're building together. So, um, those are the things I really hope, um, folks can hold, um, while hearing our podcast.

Andrea Ward Berg: 7:46

Hmm. I love that so much. Well, without further ado, we give you the grief episode. Yes.

8:05

Hi, I'm Andrea. Hey y'all, this is Courtney and welcome to the Human Design and Liberation podcast. This is a space where we explore how human design and liberation theology intersect with the past, present, and future. With the intent of sharing the beauty and pain of the human experience to encourage you in your liberation journey.

Courtney Napier: 8:38

Hey girl. Hey.

Andrea Ward Berg: 8:39

Hey. All right. Here we go. Welcome back to HD and liberation.

Courtney Napier: 8:46

Thanks for

Andrea Ward Berg: 8:49

joining us again. Thank you. So glad to have you here. So we were just talking about, what is coming up right now. And one thing that feels really pertinent and timely is this conversation around grief. And specifically grief and the solar plexus, what it means to experience grief now versus when we were seven centered. And also just in light of winter and the holidays and several ongoing wars, conflicts, mass. extermination of groups of people. There's a lot of collective grief layering with individual grief. Yes. Communal grief.

Courtney Napier: 9:59

Yeah. It's a heavy time. It's such a heavy time. It's, for those folks who follow what's happening astrologically, the Pluto return for the United States is almost set back to where it was during, our revolutions as a country. And so you're seeing that reflected and the, intensity. To the point of belligerence of our current government right now. But yeah I think you nailed it. Like the personal and the collective, past and present recent past and present, grief struggle suffering that is happening right now is very, real. And, we are. We're never going to be without grief. I don't even think that's the point. I don't think it's the point to, I think that's a very like kind of capitalistic, idea that we can progress out of pain.

Andrea Ward Berg: 11:20

Yeah. Or even, I think, even more harmful, I think, is this idea that grief is not productive. Yes. Yeah. And I, I understand where it comes from. If you think about thousands of years ago, stopping to grieve put you at risk of death because there were existential threats, right? There were, maybe, lions and tigers and bears, there were And bears, there were potentially other tribes, right? There were real threats to, if you had to lay things down to grieve, then you weren't able to gather the food that you needed to gather or whatever, right? But if you look at native Indigenous cultures, there are very specific grieving practices that have been around for thousands of years, and those practices were held sacred. It's really only the industrial revolution and post industrialization that those practices have been abandoned, have been shamed. And there's just so many layers of harm done in that abandonment.

Courtney Napier: 13:05

Yes, Yeah, there was this is so interesting. I was just having a conversation with my dad yesterday about, that idea of productivity. And it's interesting that we're having, I don't, we did not plan on having a conversation with, about productivity while we're talking about grief, but I think it's important because that's our reality. Are this reality has pitted those two things against each other, right? Like our human processes, like our human emotional processes and, being a, abuse. Yeah. And we were just talking about this idea of productivity and someone that I love is struggling because their work. Their work is not as consistent their salary, but their work is not as consistent as they think it should be. And so they're like, struggling with this idea of I have a job I'm being paid, but I'm not sitting and producing every day. I'm not being given things to do every day. What does that mean? Am I do they still need me and want me like, how secure that kind of thing? And that's all I I told my dad that he's yeah, that's Definitely an industrial revolution construct, right? Yeah. And it connected in my mind to something I I read about the conveyor belt, like Ford and the conveyor belt and, why that was such a pivotal moment in how we work and produce is because the speed of production was taken out of the hands of The expert, the one who was crafting, and it was mechanized. So now the people on the conveyor belt have to work as fast as the speed of the belt. They can't work at their own pace anymore.

Andrea Ward Berg: 15:08

Which the belt is determined by. The ownership, right? The belt, right? This is where we get into the outer authority situation, right? This is where conditioning looks like. This is exactly what conditioning looks like. Yeah.

Courtney Napier: 15:28

Yeah. And so bringing it back to grief. When we have large emotional experiences, like grief, pleasure, I think, as well, joy,

Andrea Ward Berg: 15:43

bedfellows, right? They exist, right? Same center, like they're both a part of the solar plexus.

Courtney Napier: 15:52

Yes. And we are on all of us are on this capitalistic conveyor belt, or I should say, we are Conditioned in a conveyor belt. Those types of you have those stories about Amazon and people peeing in buckets and passing out from not eating like that's happening on an emotional level. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Ward Berg: 16:21

Yeah. Yeah. And what's interesting is the, solar plexus. So the solar plexus evolved right around the same time. As the industrial revolution. So we didn't have solar plexus awareness until 1781 and the industrial revolution started a little bit before that. So it's just, it's so clearly linked to the seven centered way. Yeah. Because we didn't, it didn't even exist. And so then it took time once it did exist for people to understand what it entails and how it works. And when you look at a lot of the literature in the early 1800s, like some of the most important works. We're all exploring this emotional range that we were starting to see for the first time. So they definitely like that evolution and then this industrialized approach to living life are at odds, like from the get go, right? Yeah. And so when you think about grief, all of a sudden, a lot of it just is directly linked in with this survival instinct because the not giving yourself space to grieve comes from it not being safe. Not being safe to take the time that it needs to take. And then you bring in the solar plexus, which is now really governing that grief. And the solar plexus works in its own time. Yeah. It don't

Courtney Napier: 18:10

care.

Andrea Ward Berg: 18:11

It does not care. I have one of my dearest friends. She's been my best friend since we were 16. She has defined solar plexus and she is convinced that she's broken because she feels things so deeply and human design has really helped me understand like that is your process and the world is not set up to support you in that process. Yes, let alone patriarchal family structures and all the rest of it. It's really something to hold and be gentle with and also to make space for right because we still have this survival energy going on that's part of why capitalism is so harmful is because it keeps us in survival. So recognizing, okay, I can't grieve this right now because. I need to be at work or I need to, I need to make money to keep a roof over my head. So when can you craft out some space to allow yourself to go there? Because otherwise it's going to come out sideways, it's going to come out in different ways, right? It's going to come out with you being short with your family. It's going to come out with you, moving from grief to rage, which is another, close cousin. Yeah, just recognizing that and we we're two undefined solar plexus. Reflecting on this very undefined Yes. I, but I do wanna ask, yours is completely open. Completely. You're just completely open. Completely. Yeah. I have, several gates, but, still undefined yeah. What happens for us and for anyone with an undefined solar plexus is we feel that grief amplified. And if you have an undefined solar plexus and you are feeling whomped by grief rather than internalizing it, thinking there's something wrong with you, that sort of thing, the call is really to be with it and resource yourself so that you can sift through the wisdom that solar plexus energy is trying to share with you. And it's so interesting. We're having this conversation right now because, in the collective, everyone has a defined solar plexus right now. I

Courtney Napier: 21:12

wanted to, I want to take a second cause you're like, you're going exactly where I'm hoping you go, but I really would love for you to just take some time to talk about the emotional wave just for folks who are like, if folks are newer to this information, like the solar plexus works. The defined solar plexus works on an emotional wave. Yes. And I'd love for you to like just explain into what that means. And then you can go back and talk about like how that affects the undefined, but

Andrea Ward Berg: 21:41

yeah. And this, will be relative for everybody with a defined. There are four different types of waves and I'm not going to go into Each of those different types, but The thing to know is that depending on which channel is defined, the wave is different. And the wave is always gonna have ups and downs because it's a wave, right? It's gonna look different depending on the definition. And that's something that. It's going to be very specific to each person's chart. So when we're talking about grief, depending on which wave you have, which wave you're exposed to, right? So let's say for. You and me, if we are in a space like right now, we're getting exposed to a transit wave, right? Yeah. Or if you are with someone who's an emotional and you're going to experience their wave amplified, it's going to have similar characteristics. The. So we were talking about pleasure and grief or pleasure and pain, and this is one of those aspects. I've, been studying this well before human design that I think we are so ill equipped to really hold. Yes. As a, post colonial capitalistic society. Yeah. And, a lot of that has its roots in the seven centered way because a lot of that comes from, 14th, 15th century Puritanism, Protestantism. Yeah. We call them Puritans here in the U. S., but really it, the roots are in Western Europe. And again, all of that was the Victorian era and all of that was before the solar plexus mutated. So the solar plexus mutated in 1781 and for sure there were some like signs of that before it isn't a switch flips, right? But, it takes a while after that for the awareness to be built. So the solar plexus is an awareness center and it is the loudest awareness center. It's twice as loud as the Ajna. It's four times as loud as the spleen. Yeah. Wow. Wow. So I think that especially as it relates to grief, the thing to grapple with for us as a collective right now is that the fact that we are non functional with the amount of death that's happening. is actually healthy. Oh my God. Yeah. That is actually a healthy expression of the solar plexus because it's fucking loud for a reason because we are designed right now to be in communion. We're designed to be in communion and to express that is the definition of being a human right now being communion and express. And so when you have these legacy energies, Completely interrupting the possibility, right? The violence is preventing people from being in communion or expressing because their lives are being cut short and they're in the not self. It's coming from the not self, right? It's coming from fear, extraction, extortion, all of the, energies that lead to death. The solar plexus is super prominent right now. And when we're going into a moment where there's going to be more space, like here in the U S right now, we're recording this early December. We're about to go into the holidays, right? People have time off. People are going to be with their families. These are all things that can trigger an emotional response. Like, all of a sudden the things that you have been avoiding are going to want you.

Courtney Napier: 26:26

Yeah. Yeah. And if you haven't started feeling that yet with, mercury and it's. Shadow. Retrograde shadow right now. You will. Yeah. I would love to, I know you're on a roll and one thing that I think is so that struck me most about understanding how the solar plexus works and the emotional wave and the experiences that we have emotionally is that they. You won't arrive to a place of rational certainty, it's like after you ride the wave. It's more of this sense that like consensus or this feeling of the way that Rod describes is you're going to feel 75 to 80 percent sure on how to move forward, but you're not going to have a rational. Like an internal rational consensus about what to do, which is wild as a generator, as a pure generator right now experiencing this transit defined solar plexus. I'm like,

Andrea Ward Berg: 27:41

That is the medicine of the transits, right? When we look at, again, we're here to be communal beings. And so in order to be communal, we have to have space for each other to be ourselves. And the way that we create that space is. Being intentional when you're with other people and recognizing what happens in a relationship chart or a Penta or these different forms that are created, but the transits give us a fantastic school on relating to other people just because of what is happening in the sky. We're recording this on December 7th and right now. I just had it up. The sun is in gate five. And the earth is in gate 35, which is creating a channel from the 36 to the 35 because Neptune is in the 36. So it's a little technical, but for those that want to dive in a little deeper, you can just Google human design transits. There's a ton of different ways to check them. Some people live by the transit. Some people look at them every day. I go off and on when big things are happening. I check them. So this week is a great example. Grief is very present this week. And I have had more than one occasion where I just have felt like I have no energy to do anything. And I'm in just like this deep low, which as a non emotional is very unusual for me. Yeah. Yeah. I was also feeling really undecisive about things. And so I know when I start to feel that way to check the transit

Courtney Napier: 29:35

Oh yeah. I love that. I love that. You're right. Yeah. In retrospect, like like letting your experienced reality kind of guide when you check in. I like that.

Andrea Ward Berg: 29:47

Yeah. Yeah. And then it's I think it lands for me. Deeper, because I have whatever I've been navigating very present. And then I see the transit and I'm like, Oh, wow. Okay. This makes so much sense. So we can talk specifically about this transit, which is again, the 35 to the 36. It is a collective wave. So the wave and collective circuitry is very big highs, very big lows. It's the biggest wave. It's also, this channel is all about experiences. It's all about, the expectation of what an experience is going to bring and then the reality of what the experience,

Courtney Napier: 30:39

which you can screen the holiday season. I don't know what does

Andrea Ward Berg: 30:45

and it's interesting because we have this transit every year around the same time. This transit is going to last for another couple of days and then we'll be on to a different energy, but not every year. Does it make this channel? It just happens that Neptune is in the 36 and I know this because Neptune has been parked on top of my son for over a year. Oh, wow. Which is like a whole nother thing that we can talk about. That's a whole yes. Neptune on top of your sun is very disorienting. But I learned from my dear friend Daje who goes by the story doula. I love, her. I know. I love her. Please come

Courtney Napier: 31:26

hang out with us one day. Come hang out with

Andrea Ward Berg: 31:27

us. Oh my God. But one thing that she told me I did a session with her earlier this year and she was like, this is a wonderful time for you to dream. And I was like, that is so empowering. Thank you. I am so going to do that. So while it is hazy and foggy and disorienting as Neptune can be, It has been a great time to like dream of what's possible and, start imagining, really using that imagination, dreamy nature.

Courtney Napier: 32:05

I appreciate that so much. I appreciate that because what I'm getting, I'm just knitting a bit together. Some of what we've covered so far is in this collective wave that we're experiencing, this collective emotional wave of high highs and low lows, which is Oh my gosh everything, happening in the world right now feels just like that, just like extreme. It is critical as those of us who are working towards collective liberation to imagine the new world. Like we holding that, holding onto hope, holding onto our creative power to see what could be is imperative to bringing it to being and I, I really I love like you, that was like the perfect setup for, me to see this. It is the only way forward. I think if there's anything for me. And I think this is what the emotional wave does, what the solar plexus does, what nine centered beings can do is to see past, while we are trying, while we are surviving, we can see past their survival, we can see Kristin's The intentionality behind our survival can be collective liberation. It can be informed by an emotional reality that we are building for, that we are surviving for, absolutely. Ultimately it's peace, right? Like we are working towards peace. We are looking towards all these things. Yeah, go ahead.

Andrea Ward Berg: 34:04

I think what is coming to me as you speak is The reckoning that, that hope can only come through the grief. If we can't allow ourselves to truly move the emotion, to let the emotion move through us, whether that means crying or, whatever ways that you use to move emotion, then the hope is going to continue to elude us. And we're going to say stuck in that part of the wave. Liz Hayes talks about this a lot. She's an emotional projector and she talks about, emotions are meant to move. We are not meant to be fixed. We're not meant to be fixed. Happy. We're not meant to be fixed. Sad. And the holidays can be a real trigger for this because a lot of people experience depression over the holidays. Yes. Yeah. For whatever grief that has not been tended yet, hasn't been fully allowed to come in, it's going to creep up these certain times of the year. And sometimes it'll be around the anniversary of a death of a loved one. The holidays, because we have so many childhood memories and because often that's when we're most present to. A loss, a recent loss, or maybe not recent, right? I know for my mom, it's very triggering because she lost her mom very young. And the holidays remind her of those younger years and the many years that she's had without her, right? In general, I think also with, for the Northern Hemisphere, this time of year being the time of year with the least sunlight. It is literally the darkest time of the year. And ancestrally that was the most dangerous time of the year. Like the holidays would not have been the most dangerous. It would have been, four to eight weeks after the holidays, but the holidays would have marked we're going into this dangerous part of the year. Yeah. We're going into this part of the year, not knowing who of us is still going to be alive in three months and whether or not we're going to have enough food to survive and that sort of existential question. And so that's why I think there's so much pressure, to make the holidays so amazing because inside there's this like residual memory, there's this cellular memory, and for. Those with lineages that didn't have those extremes, it's going to show up in different ways, right? I think, I'd be curious, like how that shows up for you with, the different traumas that your ancestors went through, but also recognizing on the longer term. If we look further back in history, like your ancestors were not dying during the winter, right? Not right. Not in the same ways.

Courtney Napier: 37:28

Absolutely. We had our,

Andrea Ward Berg: 37:30

yeah, they weren't conditioned as heavily by industrialization until much later. It's much more recent conditioning around that, but, and also really traumatic trauma. Absolutely. In forced. Labor and enslavement. And so it's I think this is where the intersection is so potent to talk about because there's so much we can learn from the experiences that your ancestors had versus mine. And that can shed light on, Oh my God, that's why we're getting conditioned this way. And it's Oh my God, that's why there's so much more joy and so much more, freedom and communion. For your ancestors. It's just it's a really beautiful contrast.

Courtney Napier: 38:21

I appreciate that. And I see this is One of the things that I think is really interesting that's coming up for me is as you're describing these festivities before this darkest part of the year, this more this I guess the barren part of the year, right? Where everything you've done or been able to do, the first. Several months, at least like you're saying in this part of the world and in the U. S. kind of specifically, it's supposed to sustain you through this dark, barren season and you said that this collective wave, this transit happens every year and What it triggered in me is the one of the most devastating things about the industrial revolution and the enlightenment, all of that stuff like what you know what I think by God's grace, we evolved. In 1781 Yes. To break down what we built during the industrial revolution as quickly as possible is the individualism. So we are conditioned in a society, in an individualistic society, and we are going through a collective emotional wave. Yeah. And that clash for me sheds a lot of light on why this time is so hard. It's because we are trying to accomplish something individually that we are literally wired at this time of the year as above. So below the whole, universe our, universe is telling us, no, this is a time where you lean on each other harder than ever. This is time where you share resources is a time where you open your home. This is a time where where you go to others homes like I was going through a bit of a hard time. A couple of weeks ago when I was talking to my friend, I was like, I just want to see my dad. She's yeah go snuggle with your dad. Get that. There's good. That good, like dopamine just like serotonin feel good. Yeah. All those good things. It's yes, That's how we are literally wired. And the. This is how creation was built to work and the grief remains. All of those things remain, but why it's so intense right now. And I mean that I've literally been reading articles about how different states in the United States are. There's like a whole new branch of architecture around suicide prevention because people are there's Three people who, died by suicide at Disneyland in California this year. The Golden Gate Bridge is building these mechanisms, these like all universities are building mechanisms around their buildings that have to keep people from, victim to suicide. And it's we weren't built to bear the burden of this society. This is the burden of society places on us alone. Yeah, we literally aren't built for that. And this is a time Of the year where literally the, cosmos are pushing us toward each other to share this load and our society is finding every single way possible to tear us apart. And it really is just something that feels so, it feels obvious now, right now sitting with you, but our, solar plexus. Yeah, it's picking up on the bullshit. It's totally

Andrea Ward Berg: 42:32

100%. And the, so that's part of what the solar plexus does is it's picking up so many different layers that we don't even really have language for yet. Yeah. And it's interesting because we're talking about the transit this week, right? This collective wave, and. Neptune moves, really slow. And so we have had Neptune in gate 36 for years now. At least three years, but, but it's not like this always. And so it's not, we're not always going to have this connection this time of year, but in particular we have it right now. And, that 35 is always going to be reaching towards the solar plexus. So even if once Neptune finally moves on, which it's going to take. A couple more years to do I think, the other thing that is really powerful about this definition that we experienced in the transit is it can give us some compassion for what defined solar plexus is experience on a day to day basis. Yeah. It gives us a little window into their lived reality, especially for your partner. I think, yes, I think he has this

Courtney Napier: 43:55

channel. He has that channel. He has. Yeah. Yes. At 36, 35 channel. Yeah.

Andrea Ward Berg: 44:01

So we're all feeling what he feels. All day, every day. And the thing to know is that it's just a lot. It's a lot to hold, especially in a society that isn't hasn't evolved to support it yet. I just wrote

Courtney Napier: 44:19

a lot on his chart. A lot. A lot. It's a lot. I love you, babe. I'm

Andrea Ward Berg: 44:27

so sorry. So really just gets back to resourcing, right? And so what are some things that we can do to make space for these big feelings that are coming up? This big grief that is coming up that is wanting to be felt personally, I'm feeling it on multiple levels. We talked a little bit about what's happening collectively, but a dear friend lost her daughter. to overdose this week. And yeah, I'm just, I'm really present to, how hard it is to be a human right now. Like it's really just hard.

Courtney Napier: 45:03

Oh, hard. So hard. It's hard. Yeah. So what are some, yes. What are some of those ways, Andrea, that you share with your, clients about how to resource yourself around this time of year, or just

Andrea Ward Berg: 45:20

in general, yeah. In general, when it comes to emotional energy, space, time alone, space to be able to just process it, nurturing your inner child. Really just asking your inner child, what they need, always communing with other living things that don't have a solar plexus. Plants, animals, that is a great way to co regulate. I always. There's a whole lecture that Ra has done around the power of plants and how really you have to touch the plant to get into the plant's aura, but touching plants really helps regulate the plant's aura. Your own energy and helps to mimic that natural energy that the plant is giving. And it just gives like a whole new perspective on tree huggers. I don't know. Yes.

Courtney Napier: 46:32

Listen, I. I hope, Bex is listening, of course, and I am sure Bex will listen, but we did a girls trip. I guess it's been two years now, a year, two years last year and, we went to DC and we went to go see the cherry blossoms and there was one, one in full bloom. It was just the wildest season. But we all went and it was so beautiful and we just all hugged it and we were like, Oh my God. And we each took a picture of each other hugging the tree. And every time I see it, it was just, I'm a kid of the nineties. So tree huggers, we just made fun of tree huggers, save the whales, blah, blah, blah. What is this? But I did it and it was, visceral. Yeah. What happened to my body? Yeah. It just, I let out like just this, like this side of just it was so just pleasant and it just felt like breath,

Andrea Ward Berg: 47:43

felt like ease. Yeah. Yeah. What happens is that your body gets some support from the life force of the tree to process what it's having a hard time processing or any discharge or any layers that need to be moved that movie synced. A lot of my clients love to garden, I think for that reason, or they love to work with like herbal medicines or make teas or there's just so many ways to weave it in. But those are really beautiful tools to bring in to this time of year. And then also just. Honoring the path that your lineage has taken, right? Just like spending some time asking for stories or going through photos or just really being intentional about witnessing because there's tremendous power in witnessing. Yeah. Things happen because we're meant to learn from them. When we witness, then we allow those learnings to actually take root and we start to stop cycles and live more fully outside of these learning cycles that we can get stuck in.

Courtney Napier: 49:05

Yes. Like literally my Cheney app is now's the time to ask for stories. Now's the time to and if, you have the, bandwidth or you have, if I have the, pull to choose difficult stories, I can, but even the, light ones, even the, the, cutesy like that one story that your mom or dad tells you about bringing you home from the hospital literally every time they see you every single time over and over again. Like that might, you just might need to hear that. You might just need to call up a parent and be like, can you just tell me that story again? Like, how big was I big as your forearm? And then what did you do? Yeah. Put the cap on me or whatever. Like that, like those types of things that they are, they're grounding. Erasure of your ancestry of your heritage, of your history, is a very important part of, the capitalist society. Yeah. And it's not just I know that many people imagine the indigenous peoples and black African American peoples as the primary examples of, that, but literally if you. Came into this country. If you're in this country, period, your real true heritage is actively being, erased or ignored or obscured or rejected all the time. White, black, brown, Asian American from the Swanna region, you're, I'm telling you I cannot stress that enough as a writer, as someone who literally, that's what I do. That is I don't know what channel that is. I'm not looking at my chart right now, but that that channel of the, I look at the old and I pull in like the truth that we can hold right now. That's. Part of who I am and what I do. And, so I, because that's what I do. I understand. I see all the time, the ways that all of our true selves, our true stories are being obscured and. Exploited and gas lit. Every day. Yeah, it's tough, but it's, but there's so much beauty to be found to like when you, once you go on that journey and I'm speaking, especially to those listeners who, identify as white. When you dig below the tragedy of the things that are Your ancestors have done. There's so much more there. There's so much more there. Yes, you need those stories, but you need the other stories. You need the stories of survival. You need the stories of love. You need the stories of, resistance and resilience and truth, the truth bearers in your lineage. You need all of that. And it's all there. Yeah. It's really, truly all there for you to find, but don't let. Talking heads, don't let, people intent on defining you, which the conservative. GOP party is very intent on I on, pigeonholing and boxing us in and being able to like taking that power of self identification away from all of us. Yeah. Don't let their fear mongering. Keep you from exploring who you are, your own history, your own heritage, because there's power lying there. There's empowerment in, that space that they are intentionally keeping you from.

Andrea Ward Berg: 53:26

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it gets back to the survival in the busyness, right? Because all of those things take time. Yes. All of those things take time. And so if you are, in survival mode, then you're less likely to take that time and then you're less likely to get your power back. So if I can distract you with, you need this other shiny thing or, whatever the million different ways that we get thrown into the not self, It keeps you from taking the time that is really required for understanding your humanity, understand fully understanding your story and your trajectory, why things have happened the way they have in your family. And what's. What's possible for you now that you understand that, right? The cool thing is strategy and authority is always going to bump you up against that. Like you don't have, you don't even have to go and try, right? If you're listening to this and you're like, I don't care about. I'm not having a sacred response to my family's history. That's fine. Like when it's time to dive into it, you will respond. Or if you're listening and you're like, wow, I've never thought of it that way. And now I'm feeling really curious, follow that response. And absolutely. What's really beautiful is that your timing, whatever that is, is going to lay it out for you. So for me, I didn't really, I didn't, understand. The power in understanding my ancestors. And that was really opened up for me in 2020. That was really when I went down the rabbit hole of just really understanding my lineage. And it's so funny because in multiple like workshops and courses, et cetera, that I've done since there's always this joke of white people always think that they have a native American ancestor or, and every single, or they think, Oh, my great grandparents were immigrants or there's always this these assumptions and every single one of those is true in my case. Like I definitely, thought that on my dad's side that we were only three generations U S no, like definitely 11 or 12 generations on both sides. Both sides. So you landed on me.

Courtney Napier: 56:13

I'm just kidding. You're in the man's flower. No, I'm just kidding.

Andrea Ward Berg: 56:18

Close to it. Definitely close to it. Yeah. Like literally early 1700s is as far back as I've gone. Still in the U S in Maine and Massachusetts in Virginia. Oh yeah. Incredible. It's wild. And What that does, or what that did for me was it opened up grief and more capacity for me to hold the complexity, right? And I think that is part of the way, the disservice that, post colonial capitalism does to us is it really shrinks our capacity for complexity. It shrinks our ability to hold all of this myriad of. Of emotional intelligence that the solar plexus is bringing, whether you have the capacity or not. And so if you don't have the capacity, you just get shut down by it. And it's going to keep happening because this is the age that we're in. And so you can make that choice. But, and also don't blame it on other people because it's up to us to build that capacity.

Courtney Napier: 57:30

That part, I really appreciate the way you said that. It's up to us to build the capacity to hold complexity 150%.

Andrea Ward Berg: 57:43

And that's why we're doing this. That's why we're doing the

Courtney Napier: 57:46

thing. Yes, that's why we're doing the thing. Absolutely. Oh, that was so good. This

Andrea Ward Berg: 57:53

whole conversation has been so

Courtney Napier: 57:54

good. It really has. We don't take notes, y'all. This is not written down anywhere. No. This was good. This was, I needed this today,

Andrea Ward Berg: 58:09

honestly. Yeah, I think we all need a little tune in before we dive into the darkness.

Courtney Napier: 58:19

Yeah. Yeah. So build up. Yeah. It is going to be beautiful. And like, we both can encourage you to, if you haven't considered that you have the power to increase your capacity to hold complexity, I think that's just something to really spend some time with, if it moves you, if it hits you, to do so because. Bottom line, we're in a complex time and it's not going to get any simpler anytime soon, just like you said, just like you said but even going back home, going back to your hometown, going back to or going to a new place, maybe you have parents who have remarried or dating or maybe there's one parent there instead of two or no parents there and you're going to a sister's home and it's like the ways that our traditions and our, yeah. Expectations exactly like you said, aren't there, things have changed, life has happened, like preparing yourself to empowering yourself to be able to step into that with your honesty, with your truth, with your complexity, your own complexity, yeah, embracing that I think is Like a really beautiful way to use the time we're leading into the holiday season.

Andrea Ward Berg: 59:52

Yeah. I love that friend. Thank you. Thank you for ending us with that.

Courtney Napier: 59:57

Aw, thank you. This was so good.

Andrea Ward Berg: 59:59

So good.

Courtney Napier: 1:00:02

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