Spells for Collective Liberation and Healing
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Updates
Pages that were recently created or updated.
Community
How can we make sure that living in community doesn't just stay a romanticized dream or a generic term? How do we want to live together in the future? What are the steps we can take to get there? We believe that community needs a strong foundation of †rust that can only be built over time and through conflict resolution. When talking about community and group dynamics, we sometimes forget that a group consists of many individual connections. Both individual connections as well as the group as a whole need to be nurtured.
Article: Care on Political Bypassing
On their Substack newsletter Erotics of Liberation, Care published an article called The wound I can't heal. Care mentions how political bypassing can be used to evade vulnerability. It is part of what we mean with externalization when focusing only on the outer layers of the spheres of responsibility. "Political bypassing happens when we use politics to avoid intimacy. When analysis becomes armor, we end up hiding behind theory instead of showing up in relationship. We name systems (“that’s just patriarchy,” “that’s your conditioning”) instead of naming how we actually feel. It’s similar to spiritual bypassing, where spiritual language or practices are used to sidestep pain or accountability — but in this case, it happens through politics." "Political bypassing replaces vulnerability with ideology —it makes us sound aware while keeping us disconnected." "Accountability became theoretical, and compassion conditional."
Attention
External attention (like feeling desired, admired...) can lead to spiritual ego. It's important to not confuse this type of attention with connection. "What you pay attention to grows." – adrienne maree brown in Emergent Strategy "The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." – ThĂch Nhất Hạnh - Gratitude Journaling - Awe Walk
Propaganda
Tools of propaganda: - Othering, us vs. them - Dehumanization - Poisoning of terms and slogans "The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human" – Aldous Huxley
Article: Damien Echols on the Bow
On his Patreon, Damien Echols published an article called The Bow. "The bow signals that you have crossed a threshold, stepping out of ordinary life and into sacred space." "Bowing is one of the first things we learn in martial arts, but it is also one of the last things we ever truly understand. It looks simple enough, just a gesture of lowering your head or bending at the waist. Yet behind it lies centuries of tradition, layers of meaning, and a depth of practice that can change the way we move through the world." "When you bow, you acknowledge that what you are about to do matters." "One of the deepest meanings of the bow is respect. When we bow to the mat, we respect the training ground. When we bow to our instructors, we respect the years they endured to make it possible for us to stand where we stand. When we bow to our partners, we respect the fact that they place their bodies in our hands and trust us not to abuse them." "Carried into daily life, this respect transforms us. When you bow often enough in the dojang, you begin bowing inwardly in other places too. You show respect for the food you eat, the people you encounter, the work you do, even the difficulties you face. Life itself becomes the teacher, and every moment deserves the bow." "Over time, the repetition of bowing works like the repetition of forms, mantras, or prayers. At first, it feels simple. Then it feels redundant. But slowly, something deeper emerges. You realize that the bow is not just a ritual at the beginning and end of practice. It is practice itself." "In this way, bowing becomes a daily act of alchemy. It turns routine into ritual. It transforms ordinary gestures into sacred acknowledgments. It keeps us from falling into the illusion that only certain moments matter. With the bow, every moment becomes practice." "Each bow is an initiation. Each bow is a threshold. Each bow is a chance to dissolve pride, to return to presence, to remember gratitude. Over a lifetime of practice, bowing transforms us…not because of the movement itself, but because of the meaning we bring to it."
Bow
"Dōgen, the great Zen master, once said that when you bow, the entire universe bows with you." – Damien Echols in What is the Great Work?
Blog Posts
Latest blog posts.
Reject Fake Harmony, Embrace Conflict
Today I realized again that my hypersensitive nervous system is ultimately a gift, not a burden. It helps me detect so many things, even when my mind doesn’t see them or can’t put them into words this fast. Being born into a family where nothing is talked about and everything is swept under the rug, I feel it is one of my purposes in this life to cut through all illusions and facades—to heal the illness of fake harmony. Fake harmony, fake niceness—these are some of the most important dynamics the empire relies on to hold up its structures, allowing the cancer to spread through every being, every relationship, and through that, the whole collective. Conflict can feel unsafe for the nervous system too, yes. But I have the power to heal that—and it’s already happened a lot. Everyone has the power to heal that, to learn to tolerate the short-term discomfort for the greater gain, for liberation in the long run. Conflict can be messy, and it can hurt. But chaos is part of nature and of every process. Chaos is part of the healing journey. Being in conflict, navigating conflict, is nothing compared to the cold walls of fake harmony. I want to commit to tearing down those walls. ❌ REJECT FAKE HARMONY ❤️‍🩹 EMBRACE CONFLICT
Love Journaling
As part of my morning routine I started doing gratitude journaling more regularly. Pia inspired me to do this practice at the beginning of 2024 (based on a post by Lida Pavlova), but I hadn't found the right way to integrate it into my daily life until earlier this year. Now, I keep a notebook dedicated to this next to my bedside, and I try to fill a page after waking up. Usually, I start sentences like this: - "I'm grateful for..."
Learning about Cancel Culture
We've dismissed the term cancel culture for a long time because we saw it mainly as a way for people in power to evade accountability when confronted with mistakes. What’s often forgotten is that the roots of this practice lie in Black liberation movements, where calling out harmful behavior publicly became a vital way to seek justice outside of systems that fail to protect marginalized communities. Over time, however, the term has been co-opted and repurposed—often by those in power—to deflect criticism. Rather than taking responsibility for the harm that was caused, people often focus on how the injustice is communicated. This shifts the attention away from the root of the issue. We believe it's crucial to listen to people experiencing violence and injustice, no matter how it is delivered. There should always be space for righteous anger. However, the more we reflected on our own behavior during conflict, we realized there is more going on. We noticed how punishment and fear of punishment–so deeply ingrained in our culture–affects how we show up in our relationships and results in hurt and disconnection in cases where more effective conflict resolution could be possible. We experienced this not only in personal conflicts, but also when trying to help organize for Palestine and collective liberation over the last year. There is a growing number of people in movement spaces highlighting the importance of finding more effective and connective ways of working together. As big believers in the transformative magic of conflict resolution, we feel drawn towards better understanding the underlying dynamics of cancel culture and how they show up in ourselves, our personal relationships, and our movements. We are exploring this as two white Germans. This means we're currently focusing on: - How German socialization affects our conflict behavior - The process of white Germans waking up to being complicit in structural violence - Doing the necessary shadow work to be able to show up in movement spaces in increasingly healthy ways
My Current Morning Routine
For July, I’ve decided to experiment with a more structured morning routine again. So far, it’s been giving me a lot of energy and I feel more in the flow. To track how the routine evolves over time, I want to write about it here from time to time. First things first: I’m trying to stay away from my phone and any kind of notifications or input throughout the entire routine. This method is called Low Dopamine Morning and it has really helped me stay grounded before opening up to the outside world. Here’s a post where I write more about it: Arriving Within Myself. My current morning routine: - Before getting out of bed: - Dream Journal - Gratitude Journal - Life Beyond Suffering - Countdown Meditation - After getting up:
Building for Transparency
We want to build tender.garden as a platform that supports our process of learning in public. Instead of showing just the result, we want to share our journey and the mistakes we make along the way. By focusing on taking responsibility for ourselves, by reflecting in the open, we strive to move away from pointing fingers and rather invite anyone interested to join us at eye level. For this, we try to be more transparent in two ways: - Transparent Updates: Being open to changing our minds and updating our content accordingly - Transparent Credit: Acknowledging and sharing who we learned from How do we deal with the situation when we learn something new, maybe even that we made a mistake? How can we change our content, take responsibility, while also making sure that this learning process isn't erased? As a first step, we added an Update History section that can be opened by clicking/tapping the Last updated date on a page. Here is an example how it looks like on the Countdown Meditation page: For bigger changes, we can also link to blog posts explaining the thoughts behind them. We are very grateful for so many hearts and minds that are offering their perspectives in conversations and resources. To show more transparently who we learned from, we just added an Acknowledgments section that can be opened by clicking/tapping the heart icon next to the other authors of a page. Here is an example:
Meditation Break
Somehow, my meditation practice hasn’t been working as well over the past few weeks. I’ve still regularly set a timer for 5-15 minutes and meditated, and I would still say it helps me come back to myself each time. But it no longer had the effect I was used to in the months before. It felt more mechanical; I wasn’t as present anymore. Especially during the 10 days I was sick, I noticed: - More structured exercises involving a lot of visualization felt exhausting and left me drained - The awakening in meditation (realizing I had drifted away) had much less impact and didn’t really help break thought loops On Saturday, I decided: That’s it, no meditation today. To recover better, I committed to looking at screens as little as possible and to not working. No laptop, just occasionally checking notifications on my phone. And it was really nice. I lay on the bed for hours, listened to soothing music in the background, and just stared at the ceiling, letting my thoughts wander. I was simply in idle mode. To avoid getting stuck in mental circles, I had a notebook next to me where I occasionally wrote down a sentence that came to mind. You could actually see it as a kind of stream of consciousness writing. That really helped. I felt like many thoughts just needed permission to flow through my system to be released. The decision to not meditate surprisingly dissolved many thought loops. Afterward, I felt lighter and clearer.
Concepts
Ideas and topics that help us understand our world.
Community
How can we make sure that living in community doesn't just stay a romanticized dream or a generic term? How do we want to live together in the future? What are the steps we can take to get there? We believe that community needs a strong foundation of †rust that can only be built over time and through conflict resolution. When talking about community and group dynamics, we sometimes forget that a group consists of many individual connections. Both individual connections as well as the group as a whole need to be nurtured.
Attention
External attention (like feeling desired, admired...) can lead to spiritual ego. It's important to not confuse this type of attention with connection. "What you pay attention to grows." – adrienne maree brown in Emergent Strategy "The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." – ThĂch Nhất Hạnh - Gratitude Journaling - Awe Walk
Propaganda
Tools of propaganda: - Othering, us vs. them - Dehumanization - Poisoning of terms and slogans "The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human" – Aldous Huxley
Bow
"Dōgen, the great Zen master, once said that when you bow, the entire universe bows with you." – Damien Echols in What is the Great Work?
Ritual Design
- Opening the container - Transitions between elements - Closing the container Ideas: - Light a candle - Bow - Start with three deep breaths or a meditation - Find a way to relax and warm up, e.g. through movement, laughing together - Set an intention for the session. Potential visualization prompt: "How do I want to leave this session today?" Take into account the current emotional depth, don't jump too much. On which emotional level are we right now?
Responsibility
To us, taking responsibility means recognizing which aspects of life we can truly influence and control. It's a practice of inner alignment and sovereignty. It also means leaving space for other people to take responsibility for their own choices and behaviors. We're realizing more and more that we can't make others act a certain way. We can't control anyone, and we shouldn't want to. Through shadow work, we learn how our unconscious patterns ripple into the collective. Taking responsibility then means practicing accountability when we're confronted with harm we may have caused.
Love
"The word 'love' is most often defined as a noun, yet all the more astute theorists of love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb." – bell hooks in All About Love "To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility." – bell hooks in All About Love
Accountability
Accountability means taking responsibility for the impact our actions have on others and our environment as a whole. It is the practice of being present with the consequences of our choices. It’s not about blame or punishment, but about recognizing with compassion when our conscious and unconscious behavior has caused harm. And then doing the work to reflect and repair, with the intention or rebuilding trust. "Accountability is an act of (self-) love, a commitment to choose relationship over righteousness, courage over comfort." – Care in We Can't Be Abolitionist & Conflict Avoidant
Cancel Culture
We've dismissed the term cancel culture for a long time because we saw it mainly as a way for people who are confronted with making a mistake to evade accountability. What’s often forgotten is that the roots of this practice lie in Black liberation movements, where calling out harmful behavior publicly became a vital way to seek justice outside of systems that fail to protect marginalized communities. Over time, however, the term has been co-opted and repurposed—often by those in power—to deflect criticism. Rather than taking responsibility for the harm that was caused, people often focus on how the injustice is communicated. This shifts the attention away from the root of the issue. We believe it's crucial to listen to people experiencing violence and injustice, no matter how it is delivered. There should always be space for righteous anger. However, recently, we started reflecting on our own behavior, how punishment is ingrained in our culture and how this leads to judgment and finger pointing in cases where more effective conflict resolution could be possible. When we focus too much on outer spheres and neglect the necessary inner work, this can lead to externalization and cancel culture.
Tools
Exercises and practices that help us shape our world.
Affirmations
Affirmations are short, positive statements that help reframe thoughts and reinforce desired beliefs and intentions. By repeating them regularly, we can affect how our consciousness perceives ourselves and the world around us. Since affirmations are typically used to shift thoughts and perceptions toward positive outcomes, they can be seen as a light work technique. - Choose an affirmation that reflects a belief, intention, or quality you want to strengthen - Keep it short, present-tense, and positive (e.g., “I am a source of calm, strength, and hope.”) - Repeat it regularly It is even possible to create a mantra out of your affirmation and repeat it over and over to focus your mind on it even more. Affirmations are not inly relevant on the individual level. We believe it's very important for the collective to use them to envision a better future. May our affirmations be as bold as our imagination allows. Examples:
Journaling
Journaling can be a helpful practice for recognizing patterns. - Finding the right medium: Try out different methods to see which one presents the least resistance and is most sustainable in the long term. Do I prefer writing by hand in a notebook, typing on my phone or laptop (e.g., using a tool like Obsidian), or does it work better for me to express my thoughts and emotions through drawings or voice memos? - Structured data: It can be helpful to track some things in a more structured way. For example: What was the weather like that day? What did I consume? What rituals did I perform? - Perspective and depth: Your perspective can evolve over time. What might start as "What did I do that day?" (external view) can deepen into "What was on my mind that day?" (internal view). - States of consciousness: Through which different states did I go? How much was I present, how much did I spend in other time states? There are different types of journaling, for example: - Free-form, for example using stream of consciousness writing - Guided, for example using prompts - Focused on a certain topic, for example gratitude journaling
Low Dopamine Morning
A Low Dopamine Morning is a morning routine that aims to minimize exposure to external stimuli and distractions. This practice is based on the insight that the amount of dopamine released immediately after waking up influences how much dopamine our brain will seek throughout the day. An important part of a Low Dopamine Morning is to avoid checking your phone or other notifications right after getting up.
Awe Walk
In his book Awe, Dacher Keltner describes an exercise called the awe walk. It is a form of walking meditation with the goal to evoke and deepen the feeling of awe by embracing nature and surroundings. Go on a walk and: - Try to see your surroundings with fresh eyes (feel, hear, smell...), as if you were a child discovering the world for the first time, cultivating a childlike sense of wonder. - Take new paths and expose yourself to new stimuli. If you walk in the same location, make it a goal to discover something new each time, something you haven’t noticed before. We've also had great effects when combining the walk with singing a mantra, especially Om Dzambhala Dzalendhraye Soha. For a study, researchers sent two groups of people on regular walks over the course of eight weeks. One group was assigned to do awe walks, while the control group received no special instructions—they were simply told to walk. In Awe, Keltner highlights three effects observed in the study: - The more often people went on awe walks, the more awe they felt over time. Awe is an emotion that can be cultivated through practice and experienced more deeply with repetition. - The more awe participants experienced, the less anxiety and depression they reported in daily life. They also reported greater life satisfaction. - Participants were asked to take selfies after each walk. Over time, in the awe walk group, their faces became smaller in proportion to their surroundings in the photos, whereas this ratio remained unchanged in the control group.
Om Dzambhala Zalendhraye Soha
Om Dzambhala Zalendhraye Soha is a Tibetan Buddhist mantra used to invoke Buddha Yellow Dzambhala, who stands for prosperity, generosity, and wealth. Om Dzambhala Zalendhraye Soha has helped us a lot with being more present during walks and experiences in nature. It helps us see and appreciate the abundance and depth that we already have in our lives. - We often listen to this version on YouTube.
Om Ami Dewa Hrih
Om Ami Dewa Hrih is a Tibetan Buddhist mantra used to invoke Buddha Amitabha. - We often listen to this version on YouTube.
Resources
Books and other resources that we recommend.
Article: Care on Political Bypassing
On their Substack newsletter Erotics of Liberation, Care published an article called The wound I can't heal. Care mentions how political bypassing can be used to evade vulnerability. It is part of what we mean with externalization when focusing only on the outer layers of the spheres of responsibility. "Political bypassing happens when we use politics to avoid intimacy. When analysis becomes armor, we end up hiding behind theory instead of showing up in relationship. We name systems (“that’s just patriarchy,” “that’s your conditioning”) instead of naming how we actually feel. It’s similar to spiritual bypassing, where spiritual language or practices are used to sidestep pain or accountability — but in this case, it happens through politics." "Political bypassing replaces vulnerability with ideology —it makes us sound aware while keeping us disconnected." "Accountability became theoretical, and compassion conditional."
Article: Damien Echols on the Great Work
On his Patreon, Damien Echols published an article called What is the Great Work?. "The Great Work is the purpose of your life. It’s why you’re here." "The Great Work is the process of remembering who and what you really are, and then living as that." Damien explains the phrase Solve et Coagula: "They represent the stages of breaking down the false self and reassembling the soul around something real." Solve: "In the early stages of the Great Work, everything begins with “solve.” You dissolve your old identities, your illusions, your wounds, and the programming you inherited from culture, family, and trauma." "Not all at once—but slowly, layer by layer." "This stage can feel like death." Coagula: "The second half of the formula is “coagula”—reassembly. Once you’ve burned away the dross, you begin to consciously, deliberately rebuild yourself."
Article: Damien Echols on the Warrior's Mind
On his Patreon, Damien Echols published an article called The Warrior’s Mind: Discipline as a Sacred Fire. He uses the image of the warrior to show how everyday discipline is an important skill on the transformational path, including: self-mastery, purpose, emotional resilience, presence, humility, service and integrity, stillness and solitude. "People think warriors are forged in battle. But the truth is, battle only reveals the edge you’ve already sharpened." "I’ve known cages made of concrete and cages made of comfort." "So what defines a true warrior’s mindset? It’s not aggression. It’s not fearlessness. It’s not domination. It’s clarity. Discipline. Presence. Purpose." And it doesn’t just happen. You cultivate it—daily. "Self-mastery isn’t about punishment. It’s about sovereignty. The ability to command your own mind, body, and emotions. To train when you’re tired. To speak with care when you’re angry. To act with honor when no one will ever know." "_You build self-mastery through daily practice:
Article: Damien Echols on the Bow
On his Patreon, Damien Echols published an article called The Bow. "The bow signals that you have crossed a threshold, stepping out of ordinary life and into sacred space." "Bowing is one of the first things we learn in martial arts, but it is also one of the last things we ever truly understand. It looks simple enough, just a gesture of lowering your head or bending at the waist. Yet behind it lies centuries of tradition, layers of meaning, and a depth of practice that can change the way we move through the world." "When you bow, you acknowledge that what you are about to do matters." "One of the deepest meanings of the bow is respect. When we bow to the mat, we respect the training ground. When we bow to our instructors, we respect the years they endured to make it possible for us to stand where we stand. When we bow to our partners, we respect the fact that they place their bodies in our hands and trust us not to abuse them." "Carried into daily life, this respect transforms us. When you bow often enough in the dojang, you begin bowing inwardly in other places too. You show respect for the food you eat, the people you encounter, the work you do, even the difficulties you face. Life itself becomes the teacher, and every moment deserves the bow." "Over time, the repetition of bowing works like the repetition of forms, mantras, or prayers. At first, it feels simple. Then it feels redundant. But slowly, something deeper emerges. You realize that the bow is not just a ritual at the beginning and end of practice. It is practice itself." "In this way, bowing becomes a daily act of alchemy. It turns routine into ritual. It transforms ordinary gestures into sacred acknowledgments. It keeps us from falling into the illusion that only certain moments matter. With the bow, every moment becomes practice." "Each bow is an initiation. Each bow is a threshold. Each bow is a chance to dissolve pride, to return to presence, to remember gratitude. Over a lifetime of practice, bowing transforms us…not because of the movement itself, but because of the meaning we bring to it."
Book: All About Love
All About Love is a popular book by bell hooks. "To open our hearts more fully to love's power and grace we must dare to acknowledge how little we know of love in both theory and practice." "The word 'love' is most often defined as a noun, yet all the more astute theorists of love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb." "To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility." "One of the most important social myths we must debunk if we are to become a more loving culture is the one that teaches parents that abuse and neglect can coexist with love." "Lots of people learn how to lie in childhood. Usually they begin to lie to avoid punishment or to avoid disappointing or hurting an adult." "In far too many cases children are punished in circumstances where they respond with honesty to a question posed by an adult authority figure." "When we hear another person's thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, it is more difficult to project on to them our perceptions of who they are." "All awakening to love is spiritual awakening."
Zine: We Can't Be Abolitionist & Conflict Avoidant
We Can't Be Abolitionist & Conflict Avoidant is a downloadable zine created by Care from Erotics of Liberation. The zine offers reflections on conflict avoidance in relationships and organizing spaces, with practical strategies to move into accountability and generative conflict resolution. "Trauma happens in relationships, and so healing has to happen there, too."