aquarius season

a breath of fresh air

Hello all! 💖

My first letter for the gregorian calendar year of 2024 ✅

I was looking through my roster and wow…

So far I’ve written about:

• creating art

• connecting with ancestors

• following your gut

• mother earth

• gender

• grief

• collective healing & energy

• diaspora blues

• self love

…and more! Honestly what a library of thoughts. It feels good to see it all up on here.

What would you all like to hear from me ? What do you want to see more of ?

some housekeeping

For those who are new here, hello! I’m Jakari Wing, a multidisciplinary queer punjabi artist based in nyc, born and raised in yuba city, california.

I write, photograph, film, DJ, and make music.

My substack “Illumination Diaries” is a collection of memoir, magic, and musings.

still from film New Touches (2021) directed by Joyce Keokham

In this letter you’ll find a collective energy reading, a vision building exercise, along with a piece about a recent cord cutting I did. Just a note that I added a paywall for the cord cutting piece.

Before I get started I’m sharing a few resources for Palestine:

• Education:

  • Looking Back On Almost 20 years of BDS,

  • Education, advocacy, and solidarity resource

• Action Item:

  • Find your reps to call and demand for a permanent ceasefire or staff walk out

  • Sign Petition Call for LGBTQIA2S+ Organizations to Demand a Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza

    ---

collective energy / insight

painting by Riya Hamid

The Aquarius symbol is one of water, but also a vessel/pot that overflows. The element is air. Vast, expansive, quickly moving. Involving change, freedom. A sign generally associated with the collective, wisdom and humanity at the center.

How do we find grounding during this season?

I’ve been thinking about what I want to offer, what groups of people I want to intermingle with. Nourishment I want to receive from an outpouring of love, rooted in abundance.

I’m an aqua-pisces cusp, so my vision building is always rooted in ethereal dreamworlds.

During the winter where it’s harder to socialize, I think about unlocking new layers in myself. How do I want to incorporate more time and space to dream, play and imagine without doubt or fear? How do I give myself permission to do this on a regular basis?

How can I fill up myself to the point where I’m overflowing?

I’m thinking about habits I can easily tap into when I’m needing a retreat. How can I lean into the element of air for inspiration?

I learned about this town Cherán in the state of Michoacán through a documentary about Dia De Los Muertos. Elaborate alters set up by family members and neighbors decorated the whole town. There was a strong sense of interconnectedness through the celebration of grief.

However what was most special about this town was the uprising in 2011, where 5 women protested with their pots and pans, defending the land after the forests were burned down.

The community came together and pushed out political parties, institutional forms of government including the police and illegal loggers.

“For a decade, Cherán has been a self-governing, self-policing municipality, legally recognized by the Constitution of Mexico, which allows Indigenous communities their autonomy.” Romina Cenisio.

This story was so inspiring to me because it was clearly an act of the heart. The heart functions off of oneness and interconnectedness. Colonialism (sorry to bring her in here), is entirely cut off from heart energy. While heart energy knows that the collective will feel the impact and harm done on every a single individual.

To ground all that I’m saying, let’s do a vision building exercise.

Imagine… a well…. is it dry?

Is there water? What does the bucket/jug look like? How sturdy are the bricks holding the well together? What about the water quality?

What part of your life does this well represent? What can you do make it look so glorious and chic. What needs to be done so it can thrive? How’s the fit? Do you look like the baddest water bearer? hehe

---

an excerpt: on cord cutting

painting by Riya Hamid

I did a cord cutting ritual the other day and documented my feelings as I watched the flames reach their end. It was different from the others because there were 3 candles involved and tbh I was probably the villain in this story. I wanted to provide some energetic relief, lighten my load and allow some archaic bonds to float in the air.