Inspired by Tricia Hersey’s book Rest Is Resistance, Julie Peters shares her thoughts on the radical healing power of rest.

“A grieving person is a healed person. Can you guess why our culture does not want a healed person in it?”

I was stuck in a snowstorm in rush hour traffic when I heard this line from Tricia Hersey’s book Rest Is Resistance. As I listened to her powerful voice explaining in no uncertain terms that slowness is a powerful reclaiming of power in a world that disempowers us, I didn’t mind the traffic. I drifted with the snow, taking my sweet time to get home, letting Hersey’s words wash over me.

This line in particular has been haunting me: “A grieving person is a healed person.”

Instead of viewing the universe as a confusing, scary place, try seeing the universe like a social media algorithm.

Defining one’s spirituality isn’t always easy. If we are raised in a religious context, the rules are laid out and all the answers are provided for us, usually by a book or an authority figure who can tell us why there’s suffering in the world and why bad things happen to good people. Believing in something outside of those dominant narratives can be a bit more challenging—we still want to know why horrible things happen, why praying doesn’t always get us what we want, and why it hurts so much to be a human being so much of the time.

I’ve been thinking about ways of getting together as a group to feel into the moon phases, explore some Tarot, and connect groups in a healing capacity. And I think I’ve got it—let’s start a coven!

A coven is a gathering of witches. The word “witch” can mean a lot of things, but all it means to me is someone who taps into their own intuitive powers and the powers of the natural world. Being a witch doesn’t have to require initiation, a leader, or any religious doctrine—in some ways, it rebels against all that. It’s a practice of inner connection that doesn’t need an authority figure.

What do you think laziness means? Most of us think of it as idleness, especially when something needs to get done. The image of a “lazy person” is of someone sitting on the couch watching TV or scrolling through their phone when the garbage needs to be taken out. Laziness is associated with procrastination, an inability or unwillingness to complete the task required. Most of us also think of this as a bad thing.

What if it’s not? What if laziness—sitting on the couch scrolling on your phone, unable to get up even though the garbage needs to go out—is a natural human need? What if it’s even more than that: a resistance to productivity, a rebellious act of rest?

We’re all familiar now with COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. Most of us have encountered it intimately, whether through infection, vaccination, or both. But it’s a new virus, and such a strange one—it shows up often as a cold or flu, but sometimes as vomiting and diarrhea. It can have some strange symptoms, like loss of taste and smell, pink eye, light sensitivity, mental fog, rashes, menstrual changes, and “COVID toes,” where your toes turn purple. For some people, the COVID-19 infection is no big deal, while others get hit hard for weeks or even months, and we know that it can threaten our lives.

There are many layers to why we get sick with one thing as opposed to another. There isn’t always a rhyme or reason to it, but understanding the energetic signature of a certain illness or injury can help us align ourselves with what’s best for us spiritually, physically, and psychologically. If you are sick, talk to your doctor or health practitioner about your best course of action. But we can complement that health advice by looking at things from a more spiritual perspective and see if there’s anything we can learn from the illness. What is the spiritual meaning of COVID-19?

Broken bones force us to slow down and seek medical help, but they can also offer us spiritual lessons about what’s happening in our lives.

A broken bone is a powerful experience. When a bone is broken, we are forced to stop doing things the way they were done before. Depending on the type and placement of the break, a broken foot means we may not be able to walk at all. While attending to the advice of your doctors and other practitioners, let’s consider the spiritual meaning of a broken foot.

“A grieving person is a healed person. Can you guess why our culture does not want a healed person in it?” 

I was stuck in a snowstorm on rush hour traffic when I heard this line from Tricia Hersey’s book Rest is Resistance. As I listened to her powerful voice explaining in no uncertain terms that slowness is a powerful reclaiming of power in a world that disempowers us, I didn’t mind the traffic. I drifted with the snow, taking my sweet time to get home, letting Hersey’s words wash over me. 

Endometriosis is a complicated but common condition. When Western medicine offers no explanation, you may want to explore the spiritual meaning of endometriosis.

After exploring what the Western medical model has (or doesn’t have) to offer, what might endometriosis be trying to tell us from a spiritual perspective? What if we could listen to its messages and help manage our symptoms better or improve our general wellness through that knowledge? What is the spiritual meaning of endometriosis?

When the medical system fails to heal chronic illness or chronic pain, we may find solace in a spiritual understanding of our lived experience.

When we’ve exhausted the support we can access from the medical system, it may be time to think about a spiritual understanding of a chronic illness or injury. What might our bodies be trying to tell us that we do not yet understand? What is the spiritual meaning of these chronic issues? Let’s practice some ways to learn the language of illness and injury so we can understand them (and ourselves) better.

Rest doesn’t always have to look like more sleep. When we listen to the body’s needs and triggers, we can better understand what true restfulness looks like.

It’s easy to be busy in our modern world, which puts so much value on productivity. Many of us believe somewhere deep inside that we are human doings, not human beings. That if we rest, take a break, or don’t work for a while, we lose our right to exist.

And yet rest is important medicine. Our bodies are capable of healing so many ailments and injuries without much more intervention than rest. Additionally, stress is implicated in something like 90 percent of acute and chronic illnesses.

The way we carry ourselves in the world is powerful and can reflect deeper spiritual truths about the way we live our lives. What’s the spiritual meaning of your posture?

What do you notice about your posture right now as you are reading this? Are your shoulders hunched forward or tensed up to your ears? Are your legs crossed? What is your lower back doing?

Everyone’s posture is a little bit different, and of course if you have pain or other concerns, it’s a good idea to ask your doctor about it. But posture can also tell you a lot about what you’re feeling in your deepest inner self. What’s the spiritual meaning of your posture?

The Tower tarot card is one of the least-loved cards in the deck, but it offers powerful wisdom about big life changes. What’s the spiritual meaning of the Tower tarot card?

The Tower tarot card can be a little scary—maybe even scarier than the notorious Death card. It usually shows some version of a burning tower, with people jumping out of it to get away from the flames. It symbolizes something like the Tower of Babel, a story from the Bible about a time when humans were building a tower high enough to reach into the sky. God didn’t like this, so he scrambled the human’s languages and dispersed them across the earth, making it impossible for them to communicate well enough to continue building the tower.

The Tantric goddess Dhumavati is a dark aspect of the Great Goddess and offers great teachings about rejection, disappointment, and despair. Explore what we can learn from her story.

Before psychology, there was spirituality. People turned to god and goddess archetypes to help them get through the most difficult parts of their lives long before there were therapists. Goddesses are feminine archetypes that have existed in almost every culture throughout the world, and they can provide inspiration that can help us with our everyday heartaches.

Panic attacks can be scary and require care, but they can also teach us a lot about ourselves. Explore the spiritual meaning of panic attacks.

A panic attack is a sudden, extreme, and concentrated experience of anxiety. All the physical symptoms of fear can appear at once: racing heartbeat, cold sweat, hyperventilating, constriction in the chest, and so on. Panic attacks are not life-threatening, but they can feel that way—specifically, they can feel like a heart attack.

Ringing ears? It may be connected to your intuition. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of problems with the ears.

The ears—most of us don’t think much about them unless something goes wrong. Our ears are easy to take for granted. Unlike our eyes, which we can close to block out sight, for those of us with full hearing, our ears are always “on,” constantly receiving information. As always, talk to your doctor if you have concerns about muffled hearing, have difficulty hearing, or hear ringing in the ears. But what might be the spiritual meaning of ear problems?

At winter's halfway point, take time to honor the past year's losses and harness the cleansing power of fire. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of Februalia.

In ancient Rome, before our modern calendar became what it is today, the year began in March, the month named for the war god Mars. Ten months of the year were counted up until December, which held the winter solstice, and what we now call January and February were unnamed, a dead zone in the year.

January is one of the hardest times of year to establish new habits. Instead, use these compassionate intentions to support your body through the hard winter.

While the practice of New Year's resolutions was once a commitment to spirituality and community, it has evolved to frequently focus on things like diet and exercise. While setting intentions can be wonderful and the New Year can definitely feel like a fresh start, it’s actually a terrible time to be making big changes, especially when it comes to adding exercise and reducing calories.

Overwhelming emotions are common but often feel insurmountable. Try these five techniques to ground yourself and unwind.

Big feelings are a part of life—and not just for toddlers, either. It’s normal and natural as a human being to have big reactions to the inevitable difficulties of life.

Unfortunately, our culture is not so good at handling our big emotions, and many of us have gotten the message that we should suppress and repress those feelings so we can continue to function. This is a bad idea, partly because those stuck emotions end up coming out in other ways, often as physical symptoms. When we’re constantly trying not to feel what we feel, we create a consistent stress response in our bodies, and that can make us really sick.

We are living in an era when pagan religions and personal spirituality are having something of a revival. Organized religion is still very powerful, but many people have been turning away from an official hierarchical religious structure and exploring spirituality on their own terms.

For some of us, this means cultivating certain powers we didn’t know we had—listening to our bodies, intuiting other people’s emotions, hearing the voice of gods (or goddesses) through meditation or plant journeys, and sometimes even having access to our spirit guides or ancestors who have passed over to the other side. These experiences are powerful and fascinating—and a little confusing.

While wasp stings can certainly be random and unfortunate, they can also teach us about ourselves and our perspective on life. What is the spiritual meaning of a wasp sting?

Stung by a wasp?

Whatever your reaction, a wasp sting sometimes feels like it’s trying to tell you something. What is the spiritual meaning of a wasp sting?