Dear Kind Readers:

Hi all, I made this illustration for the Hilltop School (for pregnant teens).

Happy Full Moon in Libra (this Saturday). I'm writing to you with two things on my mind: Fractals and Clearing. I just had an interaction with a yt person who works for an arts organization. It was a reminder that most people who are in charge of the art world (curators, marketing directors, gallery owners, etc) are not working class people. Since the art world is an extension of the bourgeoisie, their workers are either aspiring to fit into the capitalist mold or already model examples of 'success'. They operate from an ableist, racist, sexist point of view; it is the default in settler-colonies like the USA. They are no different than the upper middle class who vote according to their liberal or conservative needs while ignoring the poor, ignoring indigenous people, ignoring people who have been incarcerated.

If, during an interaction in which an art marketing director was condescending to me, I chose not to stand up for myself then I would be setting up others who come after me for exploitation. Each time we BIPOC, Queer, neurodivergent people bend to the rigid, fractal trap of capitalism and capitalist expectation, we lose ourselves. We cut off our limbs to be small, to be on time, to be exploited at every turn. What do we do to jump off the spiral, the circular, returning episodes of micro aggressions and exploitation? We speak up. We speak CLEAR, we speak direct. Then, we clear energetically, Southeast Asian style:

Trinidad's formula for clearing (use as a spray for altar consecration & energetic cleansing of a meditative space):

1. Vodka

2. One glass jar

3. Dehydrated or fresh slices of orange, pineapple, grapefruit, blood orange or satsuma, clementines, Buddha's hand.

4. Dehydrated or fresh ylang-ylang flowers.

5. Cassia, ceylon, saigon cinnamon sticks.

6. Cedar sticks.

7. Sprigs of mugwort, sage.

8. Star anise.

9. Soursop (guayaba).

Fill glass jar with ingredients and seal it air-tight, store in a cool place for 3 months. Ask the ancestors and spirits of the land to protect the potion as it sits. Mix 1:4 with filtered water before use.

Xxx Trinidad