Visionary Compass: Polaris Manifesto Part 9

I am a commitment to liberation

Greetings! This is Part 9 in a series about myth, speculative fiction, and social change. Catch up on the rest of the series using the links below.

• Part 0: Introducing the Polaris Manifesto (article)

• Part 1: Starshine and Clay (article) (audio)

• Part 2: God is Change (article) (audio)

• Part 3: Your Fav is Woo (article) (audio)

• Part 4: Mythic Critique (article) (audio)

• Part 5: Suspend Disbelief (article + audio)

• Part 6: I Made It Up (article + audio)

• Part 7: Woo x You (article + audio)

• Part 8: Phone Home (article + audio)

I am a big fan of astrology. Have I told you that already? Only thirty times? Cool… Anyway I like to describe astrology as one of my first loves. In fact, the first iteration of this very publication was all about how I'd been teaching myself and documenting my astrological education. Though grad school put that project on the sideline (you can still read all my old posts if you're interested because I didn't delete them), my love for astrology has never waned, even if my weekly studies have. Actually, one of my sleeper missions for enrolling in my graduate program has been to learn to understand multiple symbolic languages better, and astrology is at the top of that list. One of my professors even called me a "star person" because I talk and write about astrology often enough to make an impression, which is one of the most affirming things anyone has ever said to me.

So fancy my reaction to learning that my Sun sign, the portion of the birth chart typically associated with purpose and one's life direction in Western schools of astrology, is next to the fixed star Polaris. Ha! Maybe I knew that subconsciously from my hobbyist practice, but color me shook, honey…

When I began writing this series about myth and social justice, including my personal reflections on the meaning of Polaris, I was not conscious of this: the North Star is tied to my purpose,  and my birthday is Juneteenth no less! Then—get this— the same day that I read

Maeg Keane

’s newsletter about fixed stars and learned that Polaris and I are besties, I also ran across a very long but insightful questionnaire about intuitive types. One of my intuitive types according to the framework is The Galactic, which the creator

Natalie Miles

describes as someone who feels, “innately connected to the stars, the sky, and other possible lifeforms beyond Earth.”

These experiences—synchronicities—were personally meaningful, especially since they happened in succession on the same day. Synchronicity is my favorite thing in the world because of the sense of magic and wonder it brings to life, and it helps me when I feel lost or confused. For me it most often manifests as a sense of déjà vu or timelines collapsing into one another. Those moments of synchronicity related to Polaris—learning that the work I've already been doing is what I should be doing—were much-needed encouragement to keep going.

Marc Schulte on Unsplash

What does any of this have to do with what we've been talking about since January, Jasmyne?

This piece, “Visionary Compass,” is the last in the Polaris Manifesto. I'm supposed to encourage you, the reader, to pull it all together and invite us into what you're imagining, and I will, but I also want to share with you.

In many ways, writing these posts has felt vulnerable and uncomfortable to me, like yelling into a void on good days, or creeping out of my shell to risk being gobbled up by some predator in the worst case scenario. I get on here every week or so and open a proverbial vein by sharing with others some of my most dearly held dreams and desires with the hope that someone out there feels moved by my words and sees themself in what I share. It is work that fills me with pride and fear because its price, if manifested, is the world as it is, life as it is, shifting for the better. The stakes feel very high, and I could pretend like it's just a hobby, just Substack and I don't care all that much. But I do care. A lot I am very much chalant about my dreams. I didn't write this manifesto for shits and giggles; I wrote it for my life and for my freedom. So to have the stars affirm that freedom is part of my purpose? Whew...that ain't nothing to play about. And that scares me.

I resuscitated Between Starshine and Clay in May 2024 at the beginning of a necessary but surprise sabbatical. Fresh out of a job but still neck deep in grad school and trying to stay afloat, I wanted space to process all the life that felt like it’d been happening to me rather than for me since about 2019.

Here we are a little over a year later, and I’m still going! I’ve had many blogs in the past, and none I could sustain more than a few months. Short attention span? Lack of inspiration? Too much life in the way? I don’t really know why I let them go, but I’m proud that I’ve made it this far with Between Starshine and Clay, and that I’m still going. I believe it’s sticking now because I have a clearer sense of who I want to be and what I want to bring to this world, and this is part of how I express it. I doubt I’ll write this newsletter this way in perpetuity; I feel a shift coming, though the change is still revealing itself to me. In the meantime, let’s recap the entire series:

Part 1 was about social constructionism and how mythic frameworks can help us see where we are living out stories. The stakes of this realization is the very fiber of our social reality, which we can change if we collectively say so.

Part 2 was about wielding change with intention rather than fearing it. This means embracing its inevitability so that we might get ahead of destruction on the horizon and maximize generative change.

Part 3 discussed how the weird, the woo, the heretical, and the mystical contain secrets to our freedom, and point to the very nature of what it means to be human in an indescribable universe.

Part 4 covered mythic frameworks that have been used to oppress people and steal their freedom, physically and socio-culturally. It reiterates Part 1 from the lens of world-building, showing how we can see through myths of harm and disaffection.

Part 5 introduced the importance of speculation, especially speculative fiction, for helping ourselves see that what we can achieve in the struggle for freedom is limited only by what we can imagine together.

Part 6 doubled down on the speculative notion of Part 5 by asking us to link our what-if questions to vision and liberation, not just apocalypse.

Part 7 elaborated on how spirituality can be a gateway into a stronger relationship with others and deepen our commitment to freedom. This deepened the exploration we began earlier in Part 3.

Part 8 was all about finding the people whose vision is most tied up to your own, and building something bigger than any of you could even dream of alone.

And this is Part 9, where I am sharing how fulfilling and terrifying it has been to call down my vision by creating this manifesto for others to see.

It has been an honor to be on this journey with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this work evolves moving forward. If you've stuck with me through this journey, please let me know in the comments. I’m not sure what comes next for Between Starshine and Clay but I know it’ll be a good time!

For now, enjoy one last batch of creative prompts and companion resources as a token of my gratitude.

Creative Prompts

Use these prompts to pull a new world from your imagination. They’re an essential component of the Polaris Manifesto because I want you to use them as an imaginative spark to invite us into your creative vision, whether that’s through visual art, songwriting, cooking, or something else.

• What is your purpose? Put another way, what gives your life meaning? How do you know?

• What people, places, and actions help you feel most aligned with your purpose?

• If you don’t know your purpose, do you want to? If so, how will you find out? If you don’t want to know, why not?

CEUs

Each part of the Polaris Manifesto has audio, text, and video resources for you to enjoy.

It's important to me to share other audio, text, and video resources that may help you tap into the wave of wisdom that informed this part of the Polaris Manifesto. Most of the resources are free and listed on Are.na for you to enjoy, but there is additional list of pdf and epub materials exclusively for paid subscribers below.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase books using my Bookshop affiliate links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase.

• The Gleaming Feast Substack newsletter by Maeg Kaene (especially “getting started with fixed stars” post)

• Intuitive Foundation questionnaire by Natalie Miles

• Constellations of Words “Polaris” blog post

For paid subscribers