Imagine a World Meant for Flourishing
Bright Blessings of the full STURGEON moon to you
Let your imagination run wild
Do you remember that episode of The Office when Pam is describing her dream home? And then she stops herself and says it doesn’t matter because they don’t even make houses like that in Scranton? What a punch to the gut. So often we do what Pam does and censor our hopes and dreams - sometimes even before they leave our mouths.
It’s OK to dream. It’s OK to want a life that no one else has modeled for you. I am honored to sit with you and hear the wildest of your dreams and to help you break down the mental barriers and beliefs that make you think you shouldn’t want what you want. Your desire is welcome here.
AUGUST 9, 2025
Up and Out
As we learned on the new moon, sturgeon are huge, ancient fish that can live over 100 years. They spend most of the year in the dark, close to the bottom of their body of water, feeding. But every year, around this time, these giants surface. And not only do they surface, but they leap fully into the air.
There are 28 species of sturgeon and they vary in size, but all are large. Atlantic sturgeon, what we have here in the Chesapeake Bay, can get up to 11 feet long. And they breach all the way out of the water. Massive and impressive. And the fascinating thing is that no one seems to know why they breach like this. Here’s what Wikipedia says:
Why they do this is not known, but suggested functions include group communication to maintain group cohesion, catching airborne prey, courtship display, or to help shed eggs during spawning. Other plausible explanations include escape from predators, shedding parasites, or to gulp or expel air. Another explanation is that it “simply feels good.”
So the question during the sturgeon full moon is, what draws you up out of the depths and into fresh air? What is calling you forth? And what makes you feel alive?
When have you felt most alive?
Our practice for this month is two-fold. First, spend time journaling individually. Then I encourage you to invite some friends to engage in the collaborative world building exercise below.
Individual practice
Think back to a time when you felt truly alive. A time when your body and soul were in alignment. You felt at peace with your choices, circumstances, environment, and the people around you. A time when you didn’t feel the weight of other people’s expectations - or at least felt free to shrug them off.
Spend some time back in that place. And then reflect on/journal about any of the following questions that resonate with you:
Where were you? What kind of environment were you in?
Note the specific place, but also what key features it had. City? Forest? At home, or in a public place?
Who was around you?
Were you with anyone in particular, or surrounded by strangers or acquaintances? Or were you alone?
Were there animals and plants around you?
What are the qualities of the people and relationships around you that felt so good?
What were you doing?
Did your activities engage your mind, body, or spirit?
Your artistic side?
Your critical thinking parts?
Your love of adventure?
Jot down anything else that comes to mind about that time that you want to capture, particularly about what made it a juicy time of feeling free to be yourself.
Set down your pen and spend another moment or two in that memory, just appreciating how it felt to be in alignment like that. Offer up a word of gratitude to yourself, others who supported your alignment at that time, and your higher power or the universe.
Community Activity
In her book Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown writes about fractal theory. Fractals are things where each part is a smaller version of the whole. This can be seen in nature in trees, where branches are like small trees themselves. Romanesco broccoli is a great example, where each segment looks like the larger sections.
Photo by Mario Mesaglio on Unsplash.
Photo by VENUS MAJOR on Unsplash.
Fractals are found all around us in nature. And brown encourages us to think about how our individual life is echoed throughout the collective.
If we want to heal our community, we have to heal ourselves.
If we want to liberate our community, we have to liberate ourselves.
If we want to find freedom in work, play, and relationships - we must allow others the same.
If we want the world to be infused with love, kindness, joy, and generosity, it begins with us - and we must be open to receiving those things (imperfectly) from others.
Gather one, two, four, or eleven friends, acquaintances, or strangers. I know this may feel risky, but doing this exercise will be so much juicier with others. Cover a table or some floor space with paper and together, draw a neighborhood that represents your individual experiences of feeling most aligned. For some, that environment may be a city. For others, it may be a forest or mountain. The benefit of this practices comes in navigating these differences and seeing where they take you as a group. How can you generously and lovingly make room for what helps each of you feel most alive?
Things to consider including:
Housing
Spaces for gathering and activities
Businesses and organizations
Roads / transportation
Nature
Infrastructure and technology
Agreements and expectations
Reflect
Bringing this exercise back to fractal theory, consider how living a more authentic, aligned life would ripple out to your community. How does your authenticity invite other individuals, whole groups, and communities live their lives more authentically?
And if it feels like a lot to imagine your whole life this way, fractal theory can help there too. If 10 minutes or one hour of your day was more life-giving, how would that impact your day? Your week? This year?
And the last question for the group you’re practicing with: how can you all support one another in making small but important changes toward feeling more alive more often?
Join me
Are you in the Baltimore area? Join me and others from the Wild Maven community on Saturday, August 9 at 7pm at The Space Within. We’ll have some time for individual journaling and then we’ll spend some time dreaming together about what kind of world we want to create.