I once heard a friend loosely quote William Burroughs: “If, after spending an hour with someone, you feel like you’ve lost a pint of blood, they are a succubus. Run.” Make no mistake—this president-elect is that. Like all narcissists, he feeds off attention—good or bad, it makes no difference. Whether you see him as a narcissist, a sociopath, evil, possessed, or just a profoundly awful human being, one thing is undeniable: he cultivates either fervent adoration or a toxic mix of fear, hate, and anxiety.

I’m not saying there isn’t valid reason to fear, hate, or feel anxious about the direction our country, our people, or our planet is heading in. There is. But what does it serve me—or the larger community—to let those emotions take me over? It serves nothing. For what lies ahead us, I will need a sober mind. I need my wise woman in full force.

This president, what he represents, and the following he inspires is nothing new. We’ve seen this story play out before—Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Taraki. History is littered with examples of people who surrendered to darkness. Many of us are shocked it’s now happening here—our darker-skinned brothers and sisters less so as they’ve lived in a different America than those of us with fairer skin, one in which human atrocities have been the norm. As the Bible reminds us, “there is nothing new under the sun.” The battle between good and evil, shadow and light, humanity and inhumanity has raged since the dawn of civilization and it’s certainly been present since the beginning of the colonization of the Americas.

So the question becomes: how do we live our calling to be sources of hope and light in the world, even now? The answers will continue to reveal themselves, but one thing I know with absolute certainty: we cannot do it with hate in our hearts.

As I advised the first time around—and it bears repeating—do not let his hatred become your hatred. Do not let his divisiveness and othering become your own. As an elder, now approaching my sixties, my fight looks different these days. It is a fight of the spirit. It’s a kind of fierce determination that declares, “I refuse to let this darkness steal my happiness. I refuse to let it rob me of peace. I will not allow it to stifle my capacity to love. And there is no way in hell that I will let it freeze me in fear.”

Those who follow me know that I work with plant medicines—both for my clients and in my own spiritual path. Last weekend, during a journey with a friend, a phrase was given to me repeatedly, “Pleasure is revolutionary.” In a world where darkness seeks to strip away autonomy, personal power, happiness, and joy—in a world where those in power want us paralyzed by terror—the most radical act I can commit to is living fully into my pleasure. To love deeply. To dance to the music that moves through my body. To savor the soft, sweet pulp of mango on my lips. To chant to the divine until my entire being is so filled with devotion that there is no room for fear.

In the face of darkness, I will light up. Despite the shadows, I will claim my joy. This is my revolution: to live into pleasure as an antidote to the forces that seek to subjugate my dignity. I invite you to join me in this simple, revolutionary act. Whatever fills you so completely that it leaves no space for darkness—do that. Live into it with all your heart.

If you’d like to join me and would like a reminder of this commitment, I’ll happily send you a sticker I created. Just email my assistant for an address where you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope (at least 4 inches square) to receive your free waterproof sticker.

In pleasure, in solidarity, in revolution, in service,

Sabrina Santa Clara

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