Closing the Spaces Between Us: A Call to Community
Hello loves,
Happy New year! I hope that you are able to find places of groundedness, expansiveness, and delight amidst all that is going on in our world and in our daily lives. In case you could use it, I’m hear to remind you that we can hold grief and joy, gratitude and anger, fear and pleasure all at once. And they are all valid. May you feel all your feelings without shame or judgement, and cultivate the courage to show up for them all.
I’m sending extra love to all beings impacted by the fires in LA… as residents of fire country, the suffering and devastation of our more southerly neighbors feels close and real. It’s yet another reminder how connected we all are as beings sharing this planet home. May it inspire us to build resilient, mutually supportive communities on all scales, beginning in our own homes and neighborhoods.
To offer a bit of emotional support to be with it all, we’re offering 20% off some of our favorite herbs for calming the nervous system for the rest of the month. I’m also offering 20% off the full price of parts work, tarot, and astrology sessions—these sessions are sweet opportunities for you to tend to yourself in a safe, grounding, and nourishing space. Use the code EASE for your discount. Plus, I always have a sliding scale and encourage folks to use it!
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I also want to let our Southern Oregon people know that we will be at the Conscious Living Fair in Phoenix this Saturday from 10-3. This event is full of speakers, music, and vendors of a wide range of wellness products and services. Come find us a get a free mini-tarot reading from me!
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Finally, I am excited to announce that Full Bloom—the intentional community where Seth and I live, wildcraft herbs, make our products, grow wildflowers for seed, tend the land, and are perpetual students of interpersonal relationships—is launching a membership community for folks near and far! Below you can read the invitation to it that I recently posted on the Full Bloom website. Read on to learn how you can deepen your sense of community by spending time on our land, in our sauna, and connecting through online gatherings!
In love and beauty, xo Bex
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Dear ones,
I don’t need to tell you this, but I will. We need community. More than ever. Electoral politics remind me daily that the structures and systems that many of us have counted on to protect our freedoms, regulate industry, and offer institutional support may not be reliable in the near or foreseeable future.
But we can count on each other. We can meet the increasing isolation and divisiveness that permeates our society with the ancient power of community. We can gather with others who believe there is a more beautiful human story to be told than the one we are creating now, and together we can breathe that story into being.
We can take care of the land beneath our feet, whether it’s an urban patio or rural back-forty. We can work with our own anxieties, fears, and traumas, so they don’t erupt sideways as harmful reactivity and othering of people different from us. We can approach conflict as an opportunity for personal and collective growth, healing, and understanding. And we can offer resources and material support to one another through turbulent times. We can build new, just, equitable, and joyful cultural norms together. And we must, because nobody else is going to do it for us.
At Full Bloom Community, we are dedicated students of all of these things. We have learned that living in close proximity with other humans can be hard and messy. And yet, 20 years into this experiment, we’re still here. We’re here because we’re learning how to meet the mess of being human with compassion for ourselves and others, how to communicate more skillfully, how to transform through conflict, and how to support one another’s growth and healing.
We’re here because we’ve found that living in community offers a sense of belonging, mutual support, joy, and fulfillment. We’re here because the land holds us close and offers its bounty as we protect it from development and extraction.
And we’re here because we believe that a society built on nonviolent, cooperative ideals is a society that supports the wellbeing of all beings.
While we are just one small group of people in the middle of the woods learning about living well with other humans, I know we know we are not alone.
We are unofficial members of an ever-growing superchoir of people of all walks of life who long to live in a world where everyone’s basic needs are cared for and conflict is met with curiosity and care. We want to help this superchoir grow so big and so loud and so beautiful that the ideals of mutual support and pervasive wellbeing permeate the collective psyche so deeply that no one will settle for less.
And so, we invite you to join our growing collective! While our onland community is limited in the number of people it can hold, our Extended Family is limitless in the branches it can sustain. By connecting in community with you and your networks, we all get to cultivate a sturdy root system for the collectivist culture we want to usher into being.
So what does joining our Extended Family mean??
Starting January 2025, we will offer a monthly online community circle that will include freewriting, sharing + connection circles, personal-growth work, book groups, mini-workshops, and other topics driven by group interest. We will also share a monthly blog post inspired by community living, personal evolution, and social change, as well as weekly recorded meditations and writing prompts to support a grounded nervous system. As we grow and evolve together, our offerings will grow and evolve, too.
Extended Family members who live in Southern Oregon (or want to visit) are also invited to seasonal onland pot-lucks and gatherings, prescribed burns and harvest days, and are welcome to visit the land for personal rest and renewal days on Sundays by appointment. Local members may also rent our sauna, and receive discounts on our Air B+B and other offerings.
In reciprocity for the time we spend cultivating these offerings, please join our Patreon membership community with a $5 or more contribution per month. Your generosity will help us protect this land in perpetuity by supporting our goal of constructing a new residence to house a younger generation of land stewards.
If you’re not ready to become a contributing member, a free membership includes some of our offerings and will keep you in the loop!
In love and connection,
Becca + Seth