Conversations with Color: Getting Pluralistic with Sprites

The interviewer: A magpie deck representing the color Pink.

The interviewees: Sprites, a plural system.

Sprites are a collection of beasts and friends sharing the same body and the same collective life. (Read more about how that works here: https://morethanone.info/) They have been in spiritual circles for a decade and are still honing their practices and worship. Channeling was one of the intermediary steps of their spirituality and being a system of many beings in one body gave an interesting insight into what communing with non physical entities could entail.

For this interview, you’ll be hearing from three members who did not originate from this brain/body and instead found a home here after channeling: B, Theseus, and Lola. Sprites can be found haunting their system blog where they post irrelevant memes and sometimes on topic plural research: https://www.tumblr.com/sunsoaked-sprites

The topic: Sprites' experiences with channeling and plurality.

Pink:

"Hello! Let's talk about making a community that's fair to everyone involved!"

Theseus: "Thank you so much for this opportunity, and for welcoming us!"

Pink:

"When times are hard, how do you make choices about who to bring in or listen to?"

Theseus: "It can be hard to decide who to bring in or even to make a decision on who you're going to listen to. Start with a strong foundation and trust in yourself first, this is a voice you should consider listening to a lot. Then reach out to those that are close or that you have a working relationship with. Different entities are needed for different tasks and times, and I think after awhile you just kind of get the hang of who would be best suited for what."

B: "Or, it becomes like phone a friend. Some people will tell you channeling has to be sacred or you can only do it knowing you are lesser than what you're channeling. Throw that idea away. Just like if you pick up bad advice, you're welcome to throw that away too. It's about forming relationships, some will stick, some won't. Make sure you're getting back what you're putting into this relationship, it is a two way street. You're both getting something out of this."

Lola: "Who should you listen to? Everything and everyone. I agree with Theseus that the first choice to bring in is yourself. Then it's everything else. And like B says, don't be afraid to filter out the spam callers and telemarketers. There's so many precious gemstones out there waiting for connection, go whisper to them and find their strengths electrified through you."

Pink:

"What brings you joy and brings you together as a family/community?"

B: "Fool's gold and silver tongues make me happy. I'm glad I settled here, there's a lot of good feelings and people generally looking out for my wellbeing. I try to give back to that, when I can."

Theseus: "Getting to wake up in the morning together, make a cup of tea, watch the birds through the sunlit windows, and take an hour just to breathe. The ritual of being alive is so much more bearable when I know I have a collective of (internal and external) family and friends to take care of and who take care of me. I was alone for a very long time and only just now feel that I have the space and bandwidth to begin rebuilding myself."

Lola: "Good times are always when I'm around, on or off the clock. Found family is my thing, and I'm always packing party favors. Everybody needs a chaotic wine aunt who will toke up and go to bat for the queers of all stages, and that's me. My home is here and everywhere that energy is needed, for always."

Pink:

"Are there any happy new experiences that may fill in the gaps for what you didn't experience in the past?"

Theseus: "Freedom. I'm free here and I have the ability to be my own person, not warped by anyone else's limitations. I am thankful to be free of my shackles every day. I wish to see all the gardens of the world."

B:" Similar to Theseus, being able to just be is fucking intoxicating. Crazy that that's a new experience, huh? I want to listen to every album I can."

Lola: "I'm a glutton for every experience, which means it hard to come by new ones. I'll take this time to get creative and make my thoughts an art gallery."

Pink:

"Has there been a setback in this experience that's slowed your progress or given you pause?"

B: "There's been naysayers. People who either don't want to believe in a lifestyle or experience like this, or who are too afraid to admit it's real. I don't think this has personally ever stopped us from being who we are though, even if it does cause a negative self feedback loop for awhile that we have to overcome (this hasn't happened in over 8+ years or something like that). Though, shout out to the person who said we could never channel me because I don't talk like that. I think that's hilarious, and I'll talk more "out of character" every day for forever, if I want that."

Theseus: "To B's point, I think it's good to acknowledge that things are happening even if there isn't a belief in them. Someone believes in this, we believe in ourselves and our abilities, what has drawn us here. At the end of the day, we are experiencing something - channeling, divination, systemhood from walking in from some great beyond - and nobody can ever take that away from us."

Lola: "There is nothing that could've stopped me from coming here, I think I showed up before we even officially tried to channel me. I am made of abundance and a lady never shows up empty-handed. I'm not sure there's anything we would've done differently either. I don't believe in set backs. Things happen exactly how they're supposed to, and if not, we'll get it right next time we try."

Pink:

"Has there been a decision that brought you together as a group to improve in some way?"

Lola: "I think we got very serious about living when we got weirder with it. Transed our gender, queered it up, made it so living in this skin was possible and even likable! That slowly blossomed into lovable, over time. I think the freedom of our expression has been one of the most positive collective journeys we've ever been on (and are still following today)."

B: "Choosing to live together, too. It started as tumultuous and touch-and-go, but we really are our own chosen family and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Theseus: "I agree, choosing each other is an active choice we make every day and it has vastly improved our collective life and our individual lives. We have so much support internally and externally, through family and friends and our amazing partners. Knowing that we've chosen this and given ourselves the opportunity to be this happy together is amazing. 10 years ago, I don't know if we ever would've known where we'd end up: alive, together, satisfied."

Pink:

"Thank you for sharing about your connections! Goodbye!"

Lola: "Thank you darlings!"

Theseus: "Thank you very much for the thought provoking interview!"

B: "It's been real, thanks so much."