Building a Village Around the Discovery Cards

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the first Moving Rasa “Field Note."

Here I will share more intimately about the unfolding journey of bringing the Moving Rasa Discovery Cards into the world. That includes things like the back and forth to create the cards between me and the artist, Cita Farani (@citaaaticat), who is in West Java, Indonesia, as well as working with OG community members, Karin M and Colleen R, to create a beginner virtual series to facilitate discoveries, and making like-minded consciousness buddies like Lea and Revel (@BlackmoonAstrology) thru one connection to another.

So, originally, I had hoped to launch the Kickstarter to fund the final production of the oracle cards by June 27th. I romanticized that 40+ people would come to the Understory, a worker-led restaurant in Oakland, to support a pre-launch of the deck. Moving Rasa had been doing one to two workshops in the Bay for the last few years.  However, by the time we were a week away from the event, it was clear we would not be anywhere near that number. We had not prepared properly for a Kickstarter to succeed.  

I hadn’t realized that I was unconsciously holding my breath. I had been fixated on the numbers. Wondering how many people might attend a pre-launch event? Of that number, how many would commit to buying a deck when we launched the Kickstarter? From that number, how many would actually follow through? I was tripping in my anxiety and had lost touch with something core to Moving Rasa.

So I have postponed the launch.

What a relief! I began returning my attention to the quality of the relationships around the work. I had gotten lost in the perfect website, the smashing Kickstarter, the automations, and trying to make seductive offerings to attract people to buy. I wasn’t Leaning into Loving Relationships (Our tag line).

I was in survival mode. erhaps a little ironic for someone who is constantly supporting people to find their way out of it, although perhaps not surprising.

One of the central practices of Moving Rasa to spend time orienting to our interconnectedness with place, people, and body before charging into direct engagement. This not only orients us, or I should say, me, to my interconnectedness with the world around me and my intentions and ancestors, but it allows me to prepare my nervous system and consciousness to face new and stressful situations.

In trying to bring the cards into the world, I had jumped to engaging with sales…

I needed to return to orienting. I needed to reconnect with my people.

***

It was so good to be in the Bay to realize this. I reconnected with old friends, colleagues from the American Rescue Plan Grant (a 2.5 yr federnal grant we had gotten in 2023), and various members of the Contact Improvisation community. By stepping back, I could see how much I was doing in unskilled ways because life felt urgent. My strength was to build curriculum and to facilitate group processes, not to see a product through from conception to completion, nor to connect with new markets, nor to build buy-in for a product. I needed more help and advisors. This project required a village.

I followed new leads to Cherysse and Akaysha at Marcus Books, a progressive, Black Panther-founded bookstore; to my mentor Nina’s brother, Adhi, who has an Indonesian coffee shop in San Francisco called KopiKita; to a weaver named Forest who hosts gatherings at their home for Queer and Femme AAPI Healers once a month. With each conversation, I found resonance and unexpected ways to dream about sharing the cards.

One relationship at a time.

So, all of this shared, this doesn't mean that the Kickstarter is not important. We still need a successful campaign to print the first edition of the Moving Rasa Discovery Cards. But it is not just a fundraising campaign.

Relationship comes first.  

I will share more of these discoveries with you in future Field Notes. I feel vulnerable sharing my process. I hope what I learn inspires others to make their dreams come true, too. Please send me comments and questions as they arise; I want to take this journey with all of you.

-Andrew

Some behind the scenes: Cita Farani is the artist from West Java that I am collaborating with to create these cards.

Over the last year, Cita has shared different sketches with me to get to the rasa, the essence, of what I am looking for with each card and the deck as a whole.

In this Temple/Storm Card, our initial sketches played with different kinds of temples. Some were more spacious, and others more imposing, like this one. Then we figured out our Point of View. One of Cita’s initial sketches was like a drone view from high above a pagoda-like temple. While beautiful, I could not reconcile that with the many people who appreciated everyday access to their sacred space. This led not only to having it be a ground view, but also to inviting the viewer to possibly even enter a slightly ajar door.

A choice that Cita made that I really appreciate was to balance a feminine face in the storm cloud with the masculine forest spirit at the entrance.

So, there is so much I could talk about; it can’t possibly fit within these notes. If, anything in this Field Note speaks to you, or if you have had other experiences with the cards, I am interested in what you have to share via one-on-one, a comment, or over tea! Let’s hang out!

My hope with these Field Notes is to provide all of you with more touch points so you can play a role in the co-creation of the Discovery Cards.

P.S.S. If you have yet to experience the Discovery Cards, I have made a short series of audio and written offerings based on our latest simplified approach. Please sign up through the link below.