The solstice magic we need right now

“To live a lifetime of audacity, dwelling in the place where joy meets justice, year after year, can only be sustained by being so in love with a vision of what’s possible that we no longer flirt with despair.” — Aurora Levins Morales

The solstice is a turning point in the year. A shift in the balance of day and night, light and dark, as the northern hemisphere approaches its longest night, while the southern hemisphere experiences its longest day, and the warmest of the sun’s rays.

Winter solstice and summer solstice mark an end and a beginning. Yet this year, they reach us in a global moment that does not feel like either. Instead, we are in the midst of collective grief, as violence persists across the world.

But solstice is also a time when the veil between worlds thins.

And this moment of heartbreak and upheaval, is also a time to receive wisdom from our ancestors, many of whom have lived through moments like this.

Our beloved Artist in Resonance, Beckie Masaki, often quotes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s reflection: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” in our Mending the Arc practice. We’ve all heard these words, often invoked as a hopeful affirmation that there is justice in our collective future. But in this moment, we can also find comfort in the first part: a reminder that the arc is long.

And as it bends into the future we’re building, we may not be able to see the end point from where we’re standing.

And that is why we imagine.

In these moments, we lean into our other ways of knowing — our art and our stories, our beloved communities, our embodied practices, and our connection to generations past, to ground us in what we know is possible.

Cultivating these practices toward our collective worldbuilding is Resonance’s reason for being.

As we close out this year together, we do so with a bow of gratitude to each of our participants over the last 10 years, as we celebrate a decade of worldbuilding alongside you. The beloved community we have built together is the heartbeat of our network.

And as we look toward our collective future, we are bringing our radical imagination into continuing to resource our work together for the long arc ahead of us, including relying less on foundations, and leaning into pathways for collectively resourcing the network. In that spirit, we invite you to join our first digital auction by placing a bid, or by making a one-time or recurring donation here.