Ray’s Rays Number 8

You Are Enough

By

Radiance Angelina Petro

Without you the world is incomplete.

This isn’t said to guilt you.

It is said to simply let you know

you are here and deserve to be here.

You deserve to take up space,

to breathe, to laugh, to seek your own way.

As the saying goes: You are enough.

But enough for what?

Does it need an explanation?

Of course not. And it’s also important

to think/feel through this idea of being enough.

What are you enough for? You are enough

for whatever it is you want/need to do.

You are enough so much that you know

sometimes you need the help of others.

You are enough as you are without the need to follow

social constructs of appearance, gender, sexual

orientation, gender roles, and the harms

of capitalism. You are enough no matter what.

You are enough to rejoice, to sing, to create, to dance,

to march, to stay home and read or watch TV.

You are enough to rest, to love yourself

with all the compassion as you do your closest friends.

Sometimes following our dreams is difficult, if not impossible

in today’s late-stage-terrorist capitalism, racism, marginalization.

And that’s what holy anarchy is for.

Forge your own way as best you can. Join a community

of like-minded, like-hearted, like-spirited people.

Pray and meditate if you choose, engage in pagan rituals,

cast all the binding spells you need. You are enough

to know you won’t stop fighting for justice.

You are enough to experience joy, happiness, contentment.

You are enough to take breaks and retreat into yourself.

You are enough to realize the importance of comfort zones

and why sometimes pushing past them is unhealthy.

You are enough period. So please, stay. Seek help

if urges of self-harm and/or suicide take up space in your head.

You are worthy. You are beloved. Your story is important

in the constellations of the universe. Take one more step.

It may or may not turn out OK. What is certain though

is you are loved and enough whether your brain believes it or not.

Ray’s Rays Number 6:
Dance in the Dark
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

Learn to love the dark.
Why should it need to be feared,
avoided, and something to conquer?
So much of what informs modern, western mediation
and spiritual practice is based on colonization and twisted competitive energy.
There is nothing to push through where darkness is concerned.
Deconstruct the ingrained paradigm that blackness is evil.
Refuse to participate in those racist roots.
Darkness is necessary for babies in the womb,
for seeds in the ground, for sleep, for the love of the moon,
for the inspiration of stars, for the carnival of fireflies,
for the magick of a candle burning, and, perhaps, most of all,
for the gifts of imagination, of dreaming, of meditation.
Dive in the darkness. Dance in the darkness.
This absence of light is holy.
Experience the timelessness, the spaciousness of darkness.
Watch the light come, the colors. And not to dissolve the darkness,
instead participate in the nourishment darkness provides.
Bathe in light if you choose that is gifted by the darkness,
but also try to bathe in the darkness itself. Focus
on the darkness, become one with the darkness. Unlike the light
it doesn’t hurt your eyes. Give thanks for the night, and rest easy, safely
in the refreshing coolness. Light may shine the way,
but not without the darkness that guides the light.

Ray’s Rays Number 5:
Tag, You’re It
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

There is no center of all things other than
You.
From your vantage point—you’re it.
There is nowhere you can go
where you are not the center.
There are those who will say: “But that’s self-centered,”
by which they mean ‘egotistical,’
and they are right. Perfectly right.
What they don’t know is that the world needs you
to be egotistical. Reclaim the ego for what it is–
it is YOU. It is not the social construct of something “bad.”
It is your-self–a living sacristy–
every inch of you holy and worthy of space,
and time, and attention. Having an ego—better put BEING an ego
is common to us all. Thing is there are many who believe
the ego is arrogant, self-centered, something to be gotten rid of,
conquered (fuck colonialism), meditated away.
They have the second part right:
the ego is “self-centered.” It is the holy center
of a city that is You. Perhaps you’d prefer a forest rather than a city.
Maybe you want the holy center to be a sun, a moon, the third eye
of a dragonfly. Point is you are the center of all things. The universe
expands and unfolds from you. And not just some place in your mind.
The ego is far more than the mind. It is your totality—your body,
heart, and mind. And each of these are holy and have powers
to create, powers to survey, powers to sing.
Whether you consciously realize it or not:
You’re It. You’re the Big Bang. So make some noise,
even if that means whispering. Whispering can be
as powerful as a roar. You are every galaxy and star within
that galaxy. You are every nebula and planet. Make some noise and delight
in Your-Self. It is no one else, which makes you
the center, which makes you beloved, like everyone is.
So go–create the best kind of anarchy,
and have as much fun as you can.

Ray’s Rays Number Four:
You’re Perfect
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

Thing is, you’re it.
You’re perfect.
Do you have things you want to change
about yourself? Cool.
You’re still perfect.
You’re still whole and complete
and enough just as you are.
You may have things about yourself
that you’re “working” on.
Work is for capitalism. Work is shaded
with the patriarchy and the idea
you’re nothing if you don’t produce.
Work has to feel hard or else
it isn’t work, or else it isn’t valid.
It’s not a race. There is no finish line.
You won’t reach your goal
of self development.
You ARE the goal right here, right now.
Sure there will be difficult, challenging days.
Of course sometimes self-unfolding
may seem hard or be hard. Try reframing the work
as play, as an adventure, a dance. A dance with no
destination on the dance floor to get to. Try
reframing it as play. Try reframing it
as one, long, unfurling prayer.
If that doesn’t fit, try making it a game–
an elaborate game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Be whoever you want. Change if you want, if you need,
only remember:
You are perfect right here, right now just
as you are.

Ray’s Rays Number 3:
You Are Already Enlightened
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

There are no levels.
There is no place to reach. No destination.
Meditation is not a competition.
There is no kindergarten enlightenment
that leads progressively up to a master’s degree in enlightenment.
You have light inside you, therefore you are already enlightened.
The west—the capitalistic west,
is all about conquering, fighting, winning, reaching a goal.
One doesn’t conquer one level of meditation
and then progress to the next.  It is a beloved journey.
There is nothing to fight—not the body, not the mind, not the ego.
It’s all you and it’s all holy and it’s all one big meditation.
It’s all one collective spiritual loveliness.
Meditate just because.
Please don’t feel bad or beat yourself up or stop meditating if it “feels” like
you’re not “getting anywhere.”
Meditate for whatever reason or reasons–
just not to reach a higher level.
Spirituality isn’t like that.
And if you have a teacher who says
they have reached such and such a level,
and tells you that you haven’t—then run.
They are full of shit.

You be you.

Your Way is Valid

Ray Number One
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

If you’re reading a book on spirituality, religion, meditation, or mindfulness,
and the author says their way is the “only,” way or the “one true way,”
put the book down. Line the birdcage, kindle a fire.
In matters of spirituality there is no such thing as an “only,” way or the “one true way.”
Run from the teacher who says their way is the “one true way.”
There is no room on the broad highway of the spirit
for elitism, exclusivity, or a profound lack of humility.
Everyone is different. Everyone’s journey is different.
No one has the only way, and no one
has the right or the authority to say you’re way is wrong.
Believe in yourself. Your journey is valid.
Your ways of praying, meditating, searching, praising, and longing
are perfect as they are.