Day One
Waiting for Coffee and the Magic of Being With
The light comes in through the window as if through a veil, illuminating the jungle in an eerie haze. The air is humid, heavy and pregnant with Possibility. The house is quiet and still. It is Day One.
Two days ago, a the Women of Earth Possibility Lab ended. Thirty-five women came from all corners of our planet to expand their Boxes, to exit Patriarchy, and to create Archiarchy, the regenerative next culture rising from the ashes as our old world collapses. Twelve of those women came together after the training to form a Bridge-House, the third iteration of co-living experiment to practice sourcing Archiarchy and Being With one another. We traveled for hours over sun-scorched highway and muddy mountain roads to reach our new home, nestled deep in the jungle north of Rio de Janeiro.
We arrived last night. Now, in the light of day, half of the women are on the hours-long journey to get groceries. If you were inclined to believe in problems, it could be said we have a problem—there is nothing to eat in the house. There is a half-empty bag of coffee grounds and the world’s smallest percolator. Okay, we’ll make some coffee! Then, the stove does not work. Problem, solution, and problem again.
Laura McGuirk is standing next to me. I do not know her very well; I’ve met her once before the training and her fire frightens me. I asked her to have coffee with me before the problems bloomed like roses around us. I remember that coffee can be made cold (it just takes more time) and so I make us a pitcher. We have twenty minutes until it’s ready. The frantic energy dies away and stillness takes its place.
There is silence and in the silence I feel fear. The overhead lights are off and the light coming in through the window is as if strained through a sieve. Laura’s face before me is illuminated in the strangest way. It is as if she glows from inside. I feel fear of her glowing, of her Being, of this woman who is a stranger and a sister at the same time. I feel fear of disappointing her, of not being enough. I ask her questions. They are normal, getting-to-know-you questions. My palms start to sweat. This is not edgy enough, this is not dangerous enough, I’m being too normal, I think as I descend into the realms of Emotional Fear, trying so desperately to find the next question that will open up the space I truly long to be in with her.
At that moment, the skies open. The rain begins to pour around us in this dark, quiet kitchen in this dark, quiet house. My joy surges up in me, taking me completely by surprise. Words start to tumble out as I try to make sense of what’s going on with me, this sadness and joy and sudden awareness of the throbbing of my veins that reminds me I’m alive. I can’t make sense of the words coming out of my mouth, they’re jumbled and out of order and I suddenly feel fear that Laura thinks I’m insane. I offer a mumbled apology for overtaking the conversation and peter off into silence.
Laura — this stranger, this sister — tells me she saw me come alive talking about the rain, that this is the conversation she wants to have with me. This opens a brand new channel between us; we fly together into a space of appreciating the rain and each other’s Beings, of celebrating that we’re alive, that we chose to be on Planet Earth at this same time and place in history, and that we’re together in it. The energy flows like a river between us, gaining speed and energy until we’re jumping around in the kitchen, hands in the air.
The sound of raucous laughter breaks the silent stillness of the house. The clouds do not part, but there is still a change in the quality of light, a golden hue that rises from our stomping feet. We are not just celebrating, we are celebration. What moves between us and in us is an Archetypal force of nature; it is the joy of life experiencing itself consciously. The coffee is long-forgotten, we embrace to the sound of the rain like applause on the roof.
We eventually remember the forgotten coffee and sit on the veranda with our cold brews, the jungle and the rain encasing us in a bubble world of intimacy. The hours fly away like startled birds. Laura grieves and I hold space, she asks me questions and I cry as well. There is nothing in the space between us and from that nothing, togetherness blooms. Feelings happen, Swords are out, Love flows. This is Archiarchy, playing out in the space between us. This is what is possible. And it is only Day One.