Casting a ballot is casting a spell: a meditation for hope
Something to do besides doomscrolling.
It’s November 5: Election Day in America.
Before I say anything else, please VOTE TODAY. Remember that you are legally entitled to paid time off work to vote in most states, and as long as you are in line by the time polls close, you have a legal right to vote.
This is my first presidential election while living in Texas, and in a red state. I canvassed for Austin mayoral candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido, and I’ll be poll greeting for her later today. I provided voter info to everyone I know. I voted early, for Kamala Harris, which was a complex choice I stand by. And when I went to vote I experienced a pressing fear, anxiety, and heaviness I had not expected to feel. I was finally allowing all the dread I’ve long been pushing down to seep into my body in the present moment, to fully feel the weight of this election year and the possibly terrifying consequences waiting for us on the other side.
Now, all that’s left to do is wait.
We might wait for several days. And I’ve pledged to do election week differently this time. I won’t be drinking. I won’t be staying up late with Steve Kornacki. I won’t be refreshing social media, desperately seeking relief yet feeding myself endless gloom and doom.
I will be nourishing myself. Taking long walks and noticing birds. Cuddling my cats. Reading books. I’ll do my best, anyway, and I invite you to consciously do the same.
While we all wait, why not do some manifesting?
My close friend Becky Bullard, founder of Democrasexy, has been running a weekly meeting for Civic Mystics, a civic action support group to help get out the vote, over the last couple of months. It’s been very witchy and uplifting as hell. One of her main messages is that casting a ballot is casting a spell.
In one of the first meetings, we split into breakout rooms and did a manifesting exercise led by The Center for Artistic Activism that I haven’t stopped thinking about.
If you have a friend you can do this with, go for it! Try it in person or on the phone. Or write it out with your higher self in a journal, or talk it through with yourself out loud. (If you ever see me talking aloud to myself while walking around Lady Bird Lake, you know an important meeting with my High Priestess is going down.)
Here’s the simple visualization exercise:
First, ask the question: “What would the world look and feel like if you got what you wanted?” Really try to feel the reality of that world in your body.
Next, have your partner (or yourself) respond with, “Great, all of that happened! What do you want to happen next?”
Repeat for three or four rounds until your dreams get SO HUGE even you are like, “Who gave you the audacity?!” Revel in how hopeful, joyous, and triumphant you feel. Take that “I can do anything” attitude with you into your day, banishing a bit of existential dread.
Repeat this hopeful meditation as needed all week long. Call up different friends and hear their dreams, see how this exercise delights them and shifts their spirit. Do it in the morning and before bed. Do it instead of opening Instagram. Do it when you’re feeling hopeless.
Whatever happens, we’ll get through this week, and all the ones after that. Whatever happens, there will be more work to be done. But not today. Be good to yourself and your loved ones.
More Election Day reading:
An anti-anxiety guide to Election Day by Catherine Andrews
Election Day care package by Sera Bonds
As we head to the polls, our ancestors would like a word by Kelcey Ervick
Thank you for sharing the importance of voting! Hope election week treats everyone kindly.
THANK YOU, FRIEND!!!