This fall I’ve found myself deep in an inner spiral and in the presence of a mysterious, healing and profound teacher that I’ve come to know as Power. The lessons this one continues to offer have been deep, stirring, transformative, empowering and humbling. These lessons continue to deliver authentic calls of personal accountability to not only myself, but to those ancient and beloved forces that conspire to gift me life.

Within this spiral, there have been many moments of clarity, folding into obscurity and looping back again and again. Old wounds, long ago scabbed over and maneuvered around, have been lanced by the unobstructed flow and potency this teacher, whose impact continues to be thorough and much to my gratitude, unyielding to my internal desires for comfort and fears around change. 

As the lessons continue to flow and healing deepens, all of the stories I have consumed regarding power have been stirred from the darkened corners of my heart and consciousness. Revisiting these tales in the presence of true power, has illuminated their fragility and lack of viability as I am called into a more authentic embodiment and fuller expression of my being. As I stand at this powerful threshold of transformation, I can sense the story-lines of scarcity woven through backdrops of fear and separation coming undone within me individually and collectively within the web of creation. My knees feel soft as I stand witness to and grieve the beloved and outgrown parts of myself borne out of and sustained through these limiting narratives. In my witnessing and grieving, it feels deeply important to share what I am learning about power, as I offer up parts of myself and old stories for death and greater transformation.

1)     Power does not warp people and people do not have the capacity to warp power.

For much of my life I have experienced, heard, spoken and reinforced narratives regarding power as though it is some static, fixed external object, as though power itself is responsible for corruption and as if it is yielding to desire of any being, human or more than human. These particular beliefs and ways of being, have met a great deal of challenge in recent years and in the presence of authentic power, I can feel them dismantling at an accelerated intensity and pace. In the course of my learning, I’ve recognized that neither power nor beings (embodied or non-embodied) are static however, they are both dynamic forces which exist in relationship with one another and exist through the living presence of one another. Life-force, presence and consciousness are expressions of Power.

Furthermore, it has become increasingly clear that to adhere to the idea that power warps an individual, is to displace one’s personhood, autonomy, accountability and responsibility for their behavior and choices on an external force. Contrary to what is reinforced in dominant culture, I no longer believe that any persons have the capacity to warp power- this is one of the many falsehoods embedded within mainstream narratives regarding power. Power, at its essence, is life-force and flow, it is the inherent birthright of all beings and no one has the capacity to bend or warp it. However, people and systems, especially systems of oppression, both have and exercise the capacity to inform, filter and manipulate the conditions under which people experience relationships with power. The true state or essential nature of power and the conditions under which we come to experience power are two very distinct things which invite deeper realms of contemplation and study in order to distinguish between the two.

2) Language influences and informs our relationships with power.

Communication in any relationship is a vital and within the realms of communication, the breadth and depth of impact that spoken language carries within the context of shaping, influencing and filtering experiences is becoming more clear to me with age. What am I reinforcing within my relationships to power with the language, dominate narratives and ideals I’ve been fed and believe? What does the use of that language, rooting in those narratives and ideas reflect regarding my relationships with power? Where has that language, those ideas and narratives become rooted in my body? As these questions arise, I can feel an inner magnetic pull to refine my language and deeply examine the narratives and ideals I’ve adopted when describing relationships with power. The ritual exercise of using language, expressed through the sacred dance of the tongue, feels like a potent anchor, akin to binding spell work, which has the potential to reinforce existing dominant narratives, thought forms and experiences relating to power. As I take all of this in, I can feel the steady clarity of silence wafting over me, insisting that I measure my language rather than mincing words. I can feel the gravitas of thoughtful and consciously crafted spells, ripening the capacity to create the conditions for reparative and healing narratives, thought forms and experiences with power to emerge.*

3)     Power is neutral and we are in relationships with it always. 

What is not neutral, are the intentions that we bring to our relationships with power and the impacts of those relationships on ourselves and one another.  We are always in ongoing relationships with power as both embodied and non-embodied beings. In the course of these relationships, some facets may be conscious or unconscious, and we may relate from places that are well, wounded and or some combination of both. All facets of our relationships with power and where we relate from are reflected in how we move through the world, the language we use, our actions, our presence, our relationships with one another (human and more than human) and the choices that we make. These relationships with power do not exist solely in the privacy of our homes or in some kind of nebulous vacuum. These relationships exist in the world at large and in the greater web of consciousness; thus they have varying degrees of impact on all that are within the web. This means that we are all both experiencing and impacted by one another’s individual and collective relationships with power. Whether the impacts and experiences are direct and/or indirect, sustained and/or intermittent, adverse and/or beneficial, we are in the path of these experiences as well as the after shocks rippling outward to varying degrees.

When I think of power, I get a clear image of water, a necessary, vital and life sustaining force. I notice how water has the capacity to take on the shape, quality and characteristics of the system that it flows through and carries no charge or intent while doing so. However, as water exists within relationship to/with the structures that it moves through or inhabits, aspects of the health of those relationships are mirrored in how others experience and are impacted by them. For example, if fresh water is flowing through pipes contaminated with lead, the impact of this relationship (between water and lead pipes) to one who drinks the lead filled water is toxic. Inherently water itself, prior to coming into contact with the pipes is not toxic—it is simply fresh water. Yet, when it flows through lead pipes taking on the qualities and characteristics of the pipes, people are often adversely impacted by the toxicity of that physical relationship. The same feels true for power, as it exists in relationships to/with beings (human or more than human), if the integrity, qualities or characteristics of the vessel are compromised, lacking or in need of healing, it is likely that those aspects may be present in how folks experience and are impacted by that relationship. This is in part because as one is in relationship to/with power, much to the egos chagrin, there are no corners, cracks or crevices within the vessel (human or otherwise) that power does not touch. Those raw, tender, and wounded places, deeply in need of growth and tending, the spaces that confine the ego, judgment and/or undesirable aspects of self to, still despite our greatest efforts to create distance, inform our relationships with power, they are within powers reach and will be illuminated repeatedly throughout relationships with power as a means of encouraging transformation, healing and growth to those aspects of self.

4)     Power is a patient teacher.

Within our relationships with power lay our capacities for transformation. The patience of power generously stewards over our transformation process, constantly delivering lessons to each being at the intensity and frequency that is needed for maximum retention and to enact true change. It places beings (human and more than human), relationships and situations in ones direct path to serve as mirrors which both illuminate and reflect facets of one’s relationships with power and places within one’s being that need healing and growth. It does this, while patiently acknowledging one’s choices to relate from places of wounding, fear and comfort and/or from those places which welcome the healing and transformation that accompanies its teachings. Power has a persistent awareness that regardless of how we are relating to it in any given moment, its teachings are always being delivered and will both impact and inform the present journey of growth. 

Finally, the patience of power allows the grace of arriving at the realization of the direct and collateral impact/damage/harm to human and non-human life that one accrues along their path of transformation in their own timing. It gifts the grace of arriving at means of repair and offers continued re-alignment during the course of one’s learning on how to authentically extend recompense, untethered to conditions or expectations, that is commensurate with the impact/damage/harm sustained. Considering these pieces of wisdom, it feels true to affirm that aspects of our relationships with power are mirrored in the depth of impact/harm/damage we are willing to accrue and if, when or how we will choose to reconcile while showing up for those relationships with power and one another.

5)     What denotes Power?

Modern western culture at large reinforces the ideology, that the amount of power one holds is in some way proportional to the number/value of one’s possessions and/or responsibilities/titles/influence/ect.. A couple of things stand out here: 1) The idea of power referred to as held or wielded, if there is truly a balanced and reciprocal relationship, use of this language feels like a non-relational and disembodied way of framing that relationship. What is the language of “holding or wielding” or any other verb of control reinforcing within the context of describing relationships with power? It feels more authentic to engage language which centers power existing within the context of ebb and flow, in relationship, rather than language which stagnates power by centering it on a single person/system, while also subjecting it to the constructs of possession. 2) The idea that there are externalized representations which reflect the quality of ones relationship with power and the belief that they increase or decrease in proportion to the health of the relationship seems maligned and reinforcing of the idea that power exists and expressed within linear confines. There are countless examples human beings who have incredibly unbalanced and toxic relationships power that are on display in the world. These folks perceive themselves and are perceived as holding a great deal of power, in large part due to the presence of increasing externalized representations of power which they have come to identify and equate power with i.e. social media followings, fan base, money, possessions ect.. Based on this observation alone, it has become increasingly clear that power does not flow in ways that are linear or confined to the understandings of the rational mind and that more of anything does not necessarily reflect the quality of another’s relationship with power.

As I sink deeper into the gift and experience of consciously co-weaving a balanced relationship with power, more questions arise, I encounter more moments of surrender in awe of the mystery of what is being woven and I experience the liberation of no longer rationalizing or extracting answers from this experience. I feel myself expanding and stretching into unknown dimensions of presence in order to fully meet the multitude of questions surfacing, questions which initiate deeper reflections and invite in new experiences, questions which give way to infinite possibilities and questions which create internal and external conditions for newer and truer narratives to emerge.

Wishing you kindness, levity, ease and deep reflection in your relationships as well as larger collective relationships with power. May you be held in the transformative growth and lessons that power brings and may you welcome the growth and receive those lessons with deep humility and trust for the vision of your destiny that you have woven in collaboration with your vibrant ancestors, the loving powers that weave the fabric of creation and the ancient beloved parts of yourself that have called you into this lifetime.

In deep reflection,

Tamira Cousett

*I recognize that there are many levels of communication outside of spoken language and that those modes of communication are also to be celebrated for their vast depth and potency, however I refer too spoken language as it is the primary mode of communication that has shaped and informed a substantial portion of my lived experience. On going recognition to those lovely and potent means of communication which are not spoken.