Blog

The Value of Economic Independence

10/14/2019

A few weeks ago, I wrote about ways we can dismantle the patriarchy. One of my main points was, be or become economically independent (being interdependent is fine, too -- just don’t put all your eggs in someone else’s basket).

This was always such a basic one for me. I’ve heard countless stories of women who depended on their husband’s income and then upon divorce, believed their only option for survival was finding another husband. Even though this situation is more rare these days, I still hear women say every once in a while, “I wish I could find a rich husband.” Even if they are half serious or only joking, it is disconcerting they’d even have that thought in their consciousness. It means they feel like they don’t have the ability to create the kind of life they desire on their own and the only power they have is the aptitude of attracting men. That’s the old paradigm.

It might be fun for a while to have a free ride, but there’s nothing that equals the feeling of accomplishment by generating your own income and being able to take care of yourself financially. That feeling of accomplishment translates into confidence. This combination of capability and confidence gives us power! These are the kind of things we need to upend the patriarchy. Plus there’s really no such thing as a “free ride.” We wind up paying for it in other ways.

I was in a tight spot myself when I was in my 20s. I was living hand-to-mouth, on the road in a small RV with my then boyfriend. We often didn’t know where our next meal was going to come from. After four years, I was ready to go my separate way, but didn’t have any money put aside for renting a place. I had no idea what I was going to do and felt very trapped. Luckily, I happened upon the book Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. I practiced a couple of the visualizations from the book twice a day for a month to manifest the two things that would help me become independent: a house to buy for myself and a bead store to own. Long story short, I wound up manifesting those two things which eventually brought me financial independence.

How are you doing in this arena? Do you need help?

Here is some suggested reading:

Creative Visualization, by Shakti Gawain
The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life, by Lynne Twist
The Attraction Distraction, by Sonia Miller
Wild Money, by Luna Jaffe
Think and Grow Rich,by Napoleon Hill
The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham, by Esther Hicks
The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, by Catherine Ponder
The Courage to be Rich, by Suze Orman

Dismantling The Patriarchy

9/4/2019

Women still get raped, still experience domestic abuse, still don’t get equal pay, still take on the brunt of housework. I could go on….

We often feel helpless when faced with the injustices of the world. Seldom do we feel like we have the power to do anything that will make a difference. Maybe we don’t have the capacity to twitch our noses like Samantha in “Bewitched” and make things right, but we do all have it in us to do little things that can add up to make a significant impact.

The main systems on the planet (social, economic, political, religious, etc.) are flawed. All of these constructs are offspring of our main patriarchal system that has been in place for millenia -- a system that has valued the masculine over the feminine, so much so it has become toxic.

Merriam-Webster defines patriarchy as: “control by men of a disproportionately large share of power.” The planet is still controlled by men with a disproportionately large share of power. We have come a long way in dismantling the patriarchy, but there’s more work to do. When women claim more power, they can help even out the scale and cleanse the earth of this toxicity.

Power is sourced in money, knowledge, voting, emotional maturity, the words we use, and unity. Here are a few things we can do to claim more power, some small, some bigger -- that can really add up and help shift the sick paradigm to a more healthy one:

VOTE!!!
Be or become economically independent (being interdependent is fine, too -- just don’t put all your eggs in someone else’s basket.)
Learn as much as you can. Be a student of life.
Focus on personal development: therapy, introspection, mindfulness, learning.
Be mindful of what you are saying. Speak with confidence.
There is enormous power in words. Don’t take on your husband’s last name (unless you already have). Let your husband take your last name if he’d like, create a hyphenated name or just keep your last name.
Join and be a part of women’s groups. Support women. Love women and womanhood.
Keep as much of your money as you can out of big banks. Men still own big banks and wield a lot of power of which they channel in destructive ways like financing the fossil fuel industry instead of clean energy.

Please let me know what other ideas you have of things we can do, whether it’s another category or ideas within each category. I will be expounding on more specifics in the months to come!

Yours in elevating the divine feminine,
Susan

Goddess Swim 2019: Celebrating Women’s Equality Day (the next day)

8/19/2019

Women’s Equality Day celebrates the anniversary of the day women -- white women, that is -- got the right to vote. We’ll be celebrating everyone's right to vote at our Goddess Swim this year.

Given the power we achieved getting the right to vote, I’m surprised more women don’t use it. After all, this is one of the ways we can dismantle the patriarchy? How can we inspire more women to vote?

When I was growing up, they never taught politics in school, yet it is so important to be involved and make our voices heard. Learning about government should be mandatory in all high schools (like it is in Portland Public Schools), including how to be civically engaged. How can we make this happen?

Let’s inspire each other to use our power, to exercise our voting rights, inspire others to vote, become more civically engaged or maintain our engagement. It’s not easy when we’re up against such a strong headwind with the current federal administration. Sometimes we have to disengage to keep our sanity. That’s why it behooves us to come together. We need to bolster each other and reignite the fires in our bellies to help make some positive, desperately needed change.
Details on our Goddess Swim.

We're Live!

6/14/2019

We’re off to a good start! My heart is full from all the wonderful support that’s come flooding in from all of you!
Every day things come up to remind me why this project is so important. Last night I went to a women’s business networking event. I spoke with a lawyer who, besides having a regular practice, also has a start-up that services attorneys online. She told me about a recent experience with a potential investor. After they talked for a while, he said to her flat out that he wasn’t going to invest in her company because he figured she was just going to become a mother and devote all of her time to being a mom. My blood boils when I hear stories like that! How dare he?! He would never say that to a man!
We need a place to come together to shore each other up and strategize how to deal with the day-to-day and the big picture. Moondays will be the perfect gathering place for sisterhood, women’s empowerment and self-care.

It's Hard To Ask For Things

6/7/2019

I just sent out the emails asking people if they would commit to backing the project. It's so hard for me to ask for things. I remember one time when I was a kid and I was with my dad in a store. There was something I wanted very badly, but I couldn't bring myself to ask for it so I stood there and cried because it was so painful. I think many women have been in the same boat. Men have the feeling of entitlement in our culture and we just don't because of the way the patriarchy is structured. I've been getting a lot of yeses, so that's a relief! :-)
I finally got to see the video and it's great! I'm very excited about it. It's interesting how the filmmaker had to edit together bits and pieces of the footage to tell the story.
We're creating a bunch of Facebook ads, so you'll be seeing us a lot if you're on that platform.
I'm so excited and nervous because we go live in just 4 days!!!!!

Video Shoot and Feedback Rolling In

6/1/2019

We did it! We filmed the video last Sunday. It was really fun to build-out a mock up of a Moondays. Michael, the filmmaker, was very professional and I'm excited to see the finished product. It was a blast working with a bunch of sisters who were totally jazzed about it, too. And I am so grateful for their help!

My critical perfectionist eye kept going to all of the not-so-perfect details, or second guessing things like my outfit, the way my interview went, etc. I was so grateful for Morghannah and Morgan agreeing to be the two other interviewees. They are such eloquent, articulate speakers and passionate about the project. I was also overjoyed with how our volunteer models help set up some of the shots, for instance in the "cafe." They did such a magnificent job making the food and place settings look beautiful, way better than I could have done. It was a lot of work to set up and take down in 5 hours and get in all the different scenes we wanted to capture. Then Michael and I went downtown to shoot some scenes at my store, The Fossil Cartel. All of that time and work and the finished product will only be 2 minutes long! It will be interesting to see which cuts make it in the video and how Michael puts it all together.

I've sent the preview link out to those who agreed to help review it. I am amazed at how many thorough responses I'm getting! People have been so kind spending time to really look it over, take it in and make suggestions. I've already changed the page a great deal due to the feedback. The power of having a couple of hundred eyes looking at it is phenomenal. People think of all sorts of improvements I would not have thought of. Plus I've received a lot of encouragement through positive responses and messages from others who believe in my vision. It helps to know I'm on the right track! It makes all of this hard work so worth it.

Rendering

5/27/2019

I hired someone to do a rendering of what Moondays could look like. I only had one revision after the initial submission. There's so much I'd like to change, but it would get too costly to keep going. Hopefully it will help people picture it, along with the video that's coming and how I describe it in the body of the Kickstarter page.

Preparing & Lubricating My Mind

5/26/2019

Nervous about my video. Michael asked me to journal for 4 days leading up to the shoot to " lubricate my mind" for the interview. Will I say the right things? Will I say everything I want to say? Will my mental health be okay?

Sound bites I'm working on:

What is the pain point/ issue?
What's my solution?
What will users learn?
What is my background? (that's the easiest!)
What future am I creating?

There are many various pieces to the video shoot: 2 main interviews besides me, and these scenes: cafe, retail, henna, massage, tarot & astrology reading, hair braiding and Jen playing her dobro. Will the various vignette scenes work? Will we remember and have all the right props? We have from 8:00am-1:00pm to get it all done. I have a feeling we'll have to rush to get everything all cleaned up and out the door at the end.

Having to keep track of thousands of emails and people's responses is a big task. I wonder what people's responses will be after they see the link. Will I be inundated with billions of responses? Hopefully, all good? :-) This is definitely an interesting adventure.

Being Vulnerable Is Scary!

5/19/2019

It's scary putting yourself out there! Thank Goddess I came across Brene Brown's latest talk on why it's necessary to have courage to be vulnerable. It really helped shore up my confidence. Often it takes a lot of courage to go for your dreams. No matter what happens, I'd be satisfied if they put on my headstone "At least she tried." We'll never know if something is possible unless we try.
I've been sending emails and direct messages asking if people would give me feedback on my next step and I will send the link when it's ready. So far, I've been getting great responses. I wonder what people will say when I send them the Kickstarter preview page? I'm really happy with the way it's coming together, thanks to Michael Zelig's help from Start Motion Media. Michael is a crowd sourcing expert and filmmaker I hired to help me with this project.
My transiting astrology is prime for the timing. My Saturn return is happening and Jupiter and Pluto are all in my 10th house. The 10th house is the house of career. My natal Saturn and Jupiter are also on my mid-heaven which has to do with career, and they are coming into conjunction, which is a very positive aspect. Saturn is the planet that makes you focus and is a task maker. Jupiter is the benefactor planet that has to do with expansion and money. Pluto represents death and rebirth and transformation. Sounds like I'm in for a ride!

Validations & Resources

5/11/2019

I often hear women say that they'd love to have a place for women to gather. Every time I hear that, it gives me fuel to move forward with my project. We are all yearning for a place to connect with other women, take a respite from this crazy world, be authentic, be witnessed and share deeply. We deserve it! There are women's circles happening all over the world where we can do just that. Check out http://www.findawomenscircle.com/ as a resource to find a women's circle in your area.
Watch the videos of my weekly updates to follow along with my crowd sourcing journey, which launches in June, to establish the first brick-and-mortar Moondays location!