Hi friends,
For today’s solidarity spotlight I want to share with you some folks who light my way, and some great opportunities to show up with kinship and care in the world.
First, a few words from one of my favorite teachers, John O’Donohue; if they speak to you, write them down, hang them up on the wall, attach them to your heart and mind:
“Prayer is often the space where the poor and the oppressed retrieve and express their nobility and graciousness.”
“Real prayer opens the heart of desire, at a level below your image, words and actions. Real prayer is the liberation of that inner voice of the eternal.”
“…the providence which weaves your days sees the greater horizon and knows what your life needs in order for you to come fully to birth as the person you are called to be.”
Yes, I’ve been thinking about prayer a lot lately, about the expansiveness of it, about how we access the sacred depths of ourselves and stretch beyond ourselves to ask how we exist and move in this universe with grace and love.
First, a poem by Rob Hardy, from Minnesota, called “Communion” which calls us to bear witness to what’s happening with ICE in their communities:
There’s no bread.
The bakers have gone into hiding.
The seats at the table are empty.
The Twelve are marching with the thousands.
The streets are filled with a new song.
Only Judas sits at Target Plaza, counting his silver,
while Pontius Pilate issues a carefully-worded statement.
Meanwhile the centurions have quotas to fill.
But out on the streets there’s a Communion.
Jesus takes the city in his hands and says,
“This is my body, broken for you.”
Rob Hardy
2nd February, 2026
Next, I want to point you to two astrologers, healers, light-keepers who constantly gift me their wisdom in our time.
First is Jonathan Louis Dent, who I found on Instagram. Jonathan is an astrologer and numerologist, a teacher and writer, and an initiated priest of Ifá and Ọ̀ṣun. Jonathan’s work lives at the intersection of tradition, lived experience, and careful listening.
Follow Substack below, and check out his instagram page.
What I love about Jonathan’s spirit is that he speaks into the time we are living in, helping us hold the liminality of it all. We can look at our own inner lives, but also pay attention to how our lives are reflected in the world around us. That’s important, prophetic work.
The next person I want to point you to is Christian Totty, who I’ve had the privilege of following for a few years now.
Christian’s substack is called Wholly Earth, and I encourage you to subscribe!
Christian is a contemplative practitioner, consulting astrologer, licensed acupuncturist, mother, and gardener in northwest Ohio. Her work is holistic, tender, truthful, and so important for us to ask how we can stay grounded.
And while we are thinking about prayer, there are two books that I believe approach prayer and our inner world in really beautiful ways, and I was honored to write the foreword for both!
Margaret Somerville is an educator, interfaith minister, and founder of Interfaith Alignment, and a dear friend. Her book, published through Iona Abbey in Scotland, is an intimate, liminal, powerful look at what prayer is and what is may not be.
And her organization, Interfaith Alignment, is a beautiful organization bringing people together from across the globe.
Bethany Wilkinson is a beautiful soul, and has a book coming out that I am so, so excited about. A More Beautiful Way to Live is “an invitation to those longing for a slower, deeper, and more meaningful way to live.”
Bethaney and I will be around Substack for the next few weeks having some live conversations, so watch for those! In the meantime, follow her on Substack:
And two more things
this beautiful song:
So grateful to Nathan Davis Hunt for writing about my new book, Everything Is a Story, on his Substack today.
Read it here:
He says some really kind words about my writing:
Kaitlin is someone I have admired for several years now. She is one of our most gracious, winsome, poetic, and visionary guides to enfleshing ways of life-together that spark abundance for the whole community of creation. Every time I encounter her work, I learn something new and am offered practicable guidance for entering a spiritual life that pulsates through real relations with all our neighbors: soils, traditions, plants, animals, landscapes, family and all others who are different than ourselves. Rooted in the practices, stories, and life-ways of her Potawatomi heritage, she has been weaving together one of the most constructive imaginations I’m familiar with — and she does so through books, poetry, essays, speeches and workshops that are approachable for anyone.
Please give his substack a follow; it’s all about solidarity, something we need to practice in the world today.
That’s it for today, friends. Dive in deep. Learn from one another. Celebrate each other. Onward.
(leaving you with this picture of me years ago, playing guitar and singing to my son on an Arkansas hillside. Joy.)
Oh my gosh, the last line of that poem - "this is my body, broken for you" ❤️
Kaitlin, you’re the best. Thank you. 🙏 And I’m thrilled for these connections to other writers, makers, thinkers!