welcome to Weave the Web

greetings, fellow earthlings! (or wherever you happen to be from - i don't assume. i know some of us hate being in a body. salutations to you as well)

you may have migrated with me here from Substack, which I chose to move away from due to the Nazi shit they allow on that site. if that's you, welcome! you have been seamlessly integrated into this new spot hosted by Ghost but where I retain rights to my own work, writings, and creative space.

As you shift from Substack and into this space, I want to orient you to what's happening here. Free members will continue to receive intermittent access to my writings and work, as you did on Substack.

For paid members though, I've made some changes... and I think you'll want to read about the fucking coolness that comes next!

The paid membership part of this site connects to something i've been wrestling with since 2016 (when i first tried starting a nonprofit for trauma survivors): how to make care accessible and affordable for those who need it, while ensuring skilled practitioners, healers, oracles, and guides get the support we need too.

i'm basing this on a daydream of the world i want to see. a world where there's not just one healer/medicine worker/practitioner, but a whole council. where that council is well supported by their community. ideally - capitalism wouldn't exist and care workers, oracles, medicine folks would be recognized as essential, with housing provided, food offered, and care truly valued.

with capitalism eliminated, those who need care would come and receive it, and perhaps offer gifts if they desire out of gratitude (rather than compulsion). it would be as easy as walking next door or to the edge of town to the practitioner's house.

i've nurtured this dream for some time, and if you've been around for awhile, it's exactly this dream that Drop-In Hours came out of. I still desire to offer drop-in again, but am trying to do some reworking about how to do it in a way that honors my own rhythms (trying to change times each week means I have to have the executive function to remember to email the Zoom link to each person who wants to participate, every week).

meanwhile, out of this same dream is coming the new set up for the membership system I'm offering here (which Drop-In will become a part of when I figure out how to rework it):

enter: Weave the Web, a membership which gives you access to:

• dispatches from my ongoing projects and reflections
• longform written and/or audio and/or podcast based pieces from myself, Sirius Heart, along with other contributors
• features from trans, mad, and disabled practitioners Fyerlyon Sortino and Amber/Ember Katzirah
• Access to the complete archive of past Substack posts, now hosted here on this site.
• Subscriber-only written, audio, or video body-centered practices from our contributors—gesture, movement, and sensory explorations that honor the wisdom living in our trans mad bodies
• potential Discord or Signal chat space specifically catered to somatics and community for trans mad folks (coming soon)
• free once monthly practice spaces via Zoom for members, determined at practitioner capacity

the proceeds of the membership benefit not just me, but at least TWO OTHER trans mad practitioners, as well as supporting scholarships + contributions to Black and brown trans mad disabled practitioners - to honor collective care.

My desire has never been for a "get myself secure as a healer only" kind of set up. When I dream of abundance, I don't dream of just getting myself set. I dream of all of us.

It means nothing to me to just make sure that I myself am secure. That sits like dust in my mouth when I know that's not how true care, true practice outside of capitalism works. I don't thrive unless I know my people are thriving and my fellow practitioners are coming along with me (very Aquarius sun of me).

The bulk of what is offered here, writings, somatics, podcasts, etc - will be created by me, Sirius Heart, with occasional contributions from Amber/Ember Katzira and Fyerlyon Sortino, 2 fellow trans and mad disabled somatic practitioners. I have already determined where the 30% of proceeds that go to QTBIPOC trans mad practitioners will be going if not to scholarship, and if those practitioners are also willing I will highlight their practices here as well.

Of course, you are welcome to stay a subscriber to free essays only, and if you are integrated in from Substack, that is where you are placed automatically. If you'd like to subscribe to a paid tier, please select which one you'd like. If you do choose to subscribe, you'll receive the above-listed perks. 😄

also - if you are a member of the Global South and want access to the membership but aren't able to pay much/at all, please contact me at siriusheart at proton.me and I will give you a free or highly discounted membership as able (the scholarship fund makes this possible).

so what's in it for you as a subscriber?

you get to be woven into a true ecology of care. when you're a member, you're getting access to work that comes from people who are living this every day... trans, mad, disabled practitioners who aren't just talking about liberation but figuring out how to do it in our bodies, in our relationships, in the daily work of staying alive and connected.

you'll receive writings, practices, and reflections that are born from this lived experience, plus you get to be a part of a project that's actually attempting to do what it says about accessibility and mutual aid. your membership doesn't just get you content and access to your own care. it creates scholarships, supports working-class practitioners, and weaves an ecological care network that benefits all of us.

you become part of creating the web we're all weaving together. your individual healing journey becomes part of collective transformation—as you tend to your own embodied wisdom, as you participate in this space, that medicine returns and also mends the web.

being part of a web and ecosystem that means that you receive accessible care, and your contribution to support that care also supports multiple people... especially in this collective moment, that's part of creating the world we so desperately need.

In support of the new space for all 3 practitioners - introducing, Amber/Ember Katzira and FyerLyon Sortino. here is a bit about each of us...

Sirius Heart
they/them

Sirius is a mad, trans, and disabled white somatic practitioner and web weaver. They offer animist and ancestral somatics from an explicitly mad, disabled, and politicized lens, specifically in service of integrating developmental and shock trauma for queer and trans folks. They have been offering somatics in various contexts for over 10 years, and in their own specific practice Spiderweb Somatics for the past 5 years. Their lineages include hatha yoga via Root Center for Yoga and Sacred Studies, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, generative somatics practices via Vanissar Tarakali, cultural and politicized somatics via Resmaa Menakem and others, and developmental trauma approaches via Kathy Kain, NARM based work, and mentorship from Laia Jorba.

They are also a divested therapist, by which they mean both divested from licensure and purposely continuing to divest from the white supremacist and sanist legacy inherent in therapy modalities.

Outside of their somatics work, they love their 3 kitties Moon, Villie, and Mochi, long-distance hiking (they hiked over 1000 miles on the PCT in 2019!), writing, music, poetry, and sometimes gaming.

You can read more about Sirius in their bio here.

Amber/Ember Katzira they/them

I'm an Autistic and Mad, Chronically ill and Disabled white Jewish person, also a Single Parent. I’m non-binary and use they/them pronouns. I like to be called either of my names and preferably mix them up. 

Kohavah Somatics and Spirit Work

Mad and Neurodiversity affirming Spiritual Somatics. 

My training is in Somatic Experiencing, however, my lived experience and my spirituality, which derives directly from my Mad perception, has led me to emphasize Neuroqueer and Mad experiences, Disability Justice and Spiritual guidance in my work, pretty far outside the scope of SE. I consider my work primarily spiritual and centered around deepening in relationship to Ancestors, Spirit and the Earth, and healing the Somatic configurations of colonial and capitalist separation from Land, as well as Spiritual Gnosis. I believe our Soma is inseparable from the Earth's and we heal by reforging that innate connection. I cannot leave out the Earth from Somatics as that would be leaving out the greater part of our actual Body. As well as I believe in the reality of the beings we encounter in this work as Spirits, not just as “parts” or “archetypes”. These are the forces which transform life and culture from the bottom up. In this work we reforge essential relationships disrupted by capitalism, and Shape Change, while yes, absolutely, engaging with trauma. 

You can read more about Ember at their bio here.

Fyerlyon Sortino

hi yall, i’m FyerLyon. i’m a white disabled transfeminin artist, educator and somatics practitioner formally based in beautiful Altadena. for over a decade iv facilitated educational programs as a camp counselor, art teacher, studio manager, and special ed counselor primarily working with queer, trans, and disabled youth, children, and their family / caregivers, to support their human development. in recent years, my work has shifted to include the healing arts, which iv studied for 9 years, emphasizing in somatics and trauma healing modalities the past four years.

You can read more about Fyerlyon and her work here.

Supporting the membership is going to do the following things for the practitioners connected:

• 40% of funds increase support for Sirius and their work by paying directly into paying down their extensive debt + getting me more of a savings to cover if I end up sick and need time off.
• 30% of funds to directly support trans disabled practitioners, namely Fyerlyon Sortino and Ember Katzirah, who are working class poor and precarious. (these practitioners may rotate seasonally)
• 30% of funds pay into a scholarship fund to provide care to QTBIPOC + trans mad disabled folks, if not through scholarship for my or fellow practitioners' services, then donated to different funds who support folks in those spaces. Funds from an early donor have already been allocated towards this, to Black trans disabled mad practitioners, and will continue to be.

I want to expand the amount of practitioners who both benefit from this fund + people connected to this fund receive care from. i believe in building at the speed of trust, for real, so the people i'm already considering practitioner-wise are people i've known for multiple years. as we all (they and myself) continue to develop relationships, i hope to expand this web and weave deep layers of care and support for -us all-.

As we move into this together, I'll introduce new folks (+ the Black brown indigenous disabled and mad practitioners we are supporting, if they consent) as I have spoons!

if you believe in this purpose, if you are seeking sustainable, low cost, but quality care, and want to support trans mad disabled practitioners, i hope you sign up for a paid tier. Finding sustainable care and practicing into it is so paramount as we move into the next unfolding phase of fascism. care is what's gonna make it possible to bring in the world to come; i know it. we can do this - together.

may we re-member the web.