The MAHA-Sized Elephant in the Room

Part seven: A letter from Sarah – Healing our collective wounds through truth and love

We’re stepping outside our usual Threads of Remembrance format to talk about something that’s been weighing on many of us—RFK, the choice some of you made to vote for Trump because of him, and the question many of you have been asking – are you still welcome here? 

Of course you are.  And I want us to talk about it, heart to heart.

Because truth, when ignored, does not vanish. It moves underground, taking root in the body, in the heart, in the spaces between us. It becomes the thing that keeps us guarded, disconnected, unable to meet each other fully. But we were never meant to turn away from our truth. We were meant to turn toward it, *together*, with open hearts and unwavering love.

I know this series may have stirred something in you—perhaps resistance, discomfort, or a quiet ache you haven’t wanted to name. Maybe you feel misunderstood, judged, or even betrayed. 

I want you to know: I am not here to cast blame. I am here to hold up a mirror of compassion, to create a moment to be in this topic that so many of us have been afraid to breach.

And today I’d like to share my journey, and how I’ve been seeing my understanding of patriarchal conditioning play out specifically around RFK. 

This is my perspective, my lensing, my truth. As always, you get to have yours. The beauty of this community lies in our ability to hold multiple truths with reverence.

I’m naming this because I want every person in this community to be fully present in this moment—brave enough to sit with what’s unfolding and ready to do their part in the healing that our world so desperately needs.

And I hold that it is less about who was right or wrong, and more about whether we will have the courage to see clearly now, when it matters most.

I say this not as an outsider, but as one who has walked the long road of looking at my own conditioning. As one who has been cast out for speaking my truth, yet never abandoned love.

I say this because I love you, and separation is the greatest illusion of all.

And because the time for clarity is here.

A Personal Story

When Covid arrived, my world changed. I became more attuned to the divine, more deeply woven into the fabric of the Earth’s wisdom, and more fiercely protective of my family’s sovereignty.

Jonathan and I made the choice to pull our children from school and root them in an education that honored their spirits. We researched deeply—Jonathan is an MD, so we really dug in—and we chose not to get the covid vaccine.

And we were judged for it.

We lost friendships, professional opportunities, and the sense of belonging we had once taken for granted.

But in that fire, I made a choice: I was not going to let my sense of isolation, being judged, misunderstood or even betrayed, have me align with Trump, a man I vehemently disagree with on every level, just because I felt wounded by establishment democrats. 

Because this is how the Patriarchy seduces us—not through logic, not through love, but through the whisper of old wounds.

Through the promise of power where we have felt powerless.

Through the illusion of safety where we have felt cast out.

The Patriarchy’s Oldest Trick

I understand how easy it was to feel seen by RFK. I was watching him, too. Like many of you, I wanted someone to rise who could carry the banner of sovereignty and healing.

And then, RFK endorsed Trump.

In that moment, I felt it move through my body—a familiar fog, a distortion, a spell being cast. The dissonance in values. The deception wrapped in the language of protection.

Because, from my perspective, this is how the Patriarchy has always worked. It does not need to force us into submission. It only needs to confuse us long enough that we willingly walk into its embrace.

We have seen this before. Women throughout history have been told, Align with us, and you will be safe. Submit, and you will be spared.

But safety, when promised by those who build their power on control, is always a lie.

And the price of that lie is always our freedom.

What Is Happening Now

Regardless of RFK’s reasons, I believe: any hope of him influencing an administration built on domination is not a worthwhile trade for what we have put at risk. 

And now, we are here.

LGBTQIA+ rights are being stripped at an unprecedented pace.

Immigrants and marginalized communities are being dehumanized.

The Earth is being desecrated, her sacred body treated as disposable.

And I believe that we will see an even further degradation of women’s rights in the near future based on what is happening currently at the state level. 

And I must ask you, with all the love in my heart:

Have you let your support for RFK’s vision keep you from fully witnessing the destruction that is happening now? 

The Invitation

Just because I voted for Harris does not mean I do not believe in medical freedom or food sovereignty. I do. I stand with you in those fights.

But sovereignty must be for all.

If you voted for Trump because of RFK, I ask you now—can you extend that same fight for freedom to every woman, trans person, and immigrant who has now lost theirs?

The Choice Before Us

Let me be clear: Love does not mean avoiding hard truths. Love demands we speak them.

This moment requires more than spiritual jargon about “unity”. It requires courage to face what is happening and to be with it. The Patriarchy has always thrived on our politeness, on our conditioning to compromise our deepest values in the name of harmony.

I believe we can hold each other accountable while still holding each other in love. I believe we can disagree on politics while still standing firmly for shared principles: bodily autonomy, human dignity, and protection of the sacred.

But I also believe that silence in the face of harm is complicity. And the harm is real and growing.

So I ask you this: What values are non-negotiable for you? What lines, once crossed, will summon your voice and action regardless of who draws them?

This is not about partisan politics. This is about whether we will choose courage over comfort, truth over tribalism, and collective liberation over personal gain.

My commitment to you is this: I will continue to create a space where we can wrestle with these questions together. Where we can be uncomfortable together. Where we can grow together. 

But I am not going to pretend that all choices carry equal weight or consequence.

A Ritual for Collective Reckoning and Renewal

I invite you to join me in a ritual that honors both our divergent paths and our shared responsibility:

Sacred Witnessing: A Ritual for Truth and Healing

1. Create a small altar with four elements: earth (soil or stone), water (in a small bowl), fire (a candle), and air (incense or feather).

2. Place in the center something that represents what you most deeply care about protecting—perhaps a photo of your children, a leaf from your garden, or a symbol of freedom.

3. Sit before your altar and speak aloud three truths:

   – A truth about where you feel your sovereignty has been threatened

   – A truth about where you see others’ sovereignty being threatened

   – A truth about what you’re willing to risk to protect what is sacred

4. Write these truths on a piece of paper, along with one concrete action you will take in the coming week that aligns with all three truths.

5. Seal your commitment by touching your paper to each element, saying:

   “By earth, I ground this truth.

    By water, I flow with compassion.

    By fire, I ignite my courage.

    By air, I release what no longer serves the whole.”

6. Keep this paper somewhere visible as a daily reminder of your commitment.

This is how we heal—not by looking away from what hurts, but by looking directly at it. Together. With clear eyes and open hearts.

You belong here. Your questions belong here. Your journey belongs here. And I believe that together, we can find the courage to face what is, so that we can create what could be.

With love and fire,

Sarah

***

A note from Kelly

Thread of Historical Context: The Pattern of Patriarchal Bargains

Throughout American history, we’ve witnessed a recurring pattern where white women have traded collective liberation for proximity to power and protection within the patriarchal system—a system perpetuated by both major political parties.

Let me be clear: I also believe The Democratic establishment has repeatedly failed marginalized communities and has often been complicit in many of the same harms. Corporate Democrats have championed policies that enrich pharmaceutical companies, industrial agriculture, and the military-industrial complex at the expense of people’s wellbeing. I am under no illusion that either party’s leadership truly honors our sovereignty.

And yet, this historical pattern of white women’s choices deserves honest examination:

Perhaps one of the earliest and most devastating examples were the witch hunts, where women turned against other women, often accusing neighbors and midwives of witchcraft. The accusers gained temporary status, protection, and a position back within the patriarchal circle—while thousands of women, particularly those with knowledge of herbal medicine or who lived independently, were tortured and killed. The witch hunts weren’t just about religion; they were about eliminating women’s autonomy and traditional knowledge while ensuring other women participated in that elimination.

In the suffrage movement, leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony explicitly abandoned Black women in their quest for the vote, with Stanton using racist rhetoric asking, “What will we and our daughters suffer if these degraded black men are allowed to have the rights that would make them even worse than our Saxon fathers?” (From a letter to the editor of the New York Standard, December 26, 1865)

During the feminist movements of the 1960s and 70s, mainstream white feminism centered workplace equality and individual advancement while often ignoring the needs of women of color, poor women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This gave rise to corporate feminism—the idea that individual women achieving power within existing structures represents progress, even as those structures continue to oppress the majority.

We saw it again with the “security moms” after 9/11, when fears about safety led many white women to support policies that devastated Muslim and immigrant communities.

Today, I believe many were drawn to RFK for legitimate, principled reasons—concerns about corporate capture of our food systems, medical freedom, and environmental protection. These concerns are valid. I share them deeply.

What’s deeply concerning is that these valid issues led to a different choice than in previous elections. Even when we had similar grievances with Democrats during Trump’s first term, many of us understood the threat of authoritarianism and didn’t make this trade. Yet this time, the same concerns were leveraged to usher in an administration actively dismantling democratic norms, targeting vulnerable communities, and concentrating power. This isn’t just about policy disagreements – it’s about the willingness to accept authoritarianism when our particular concerns are acknowledged.

What I’m presencing here is an inquiry around what happens when these legitimate concerns are co-opted to gain support for administrations that actively harm vulnerable communities. This is the patriarchal bargain at work—it finds our deepest fears and most authentic concerns, then channels them toward its own preservation.

The bargain has always offered white women the same deal: Accept a position of relative privilege within the hierarchy in exchange for your complicity in maintaining it. Receive protection by aligning with power, even as that power continues to limit your full sovereignty.

I include myself in this scrutiny. I have made these bargains too, in different contexts. None of us is immune from these patterns.

But history also shows us another truth: These bargains ultimately fail. The protection offered is conditional, temporary, and comes at the cost of our deeper connections and authentic power.

Real sovereignty cannot exist in isolation. It requires all of us to be free.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

***

How to Join Us in Ceremony

If you are ready to land deeply in your power and fully meet the assignments before us, I hope you will join us for REMEMBER, at Old South Church in Boston is happening April 28. A gathering of 800 women, reclaiming what was lost. Join us.

ICYMI:

Introduction: An Invitation to Remember

Part one: When God became a man — the first erasure

Part two: The witch hunts — the weaponization of fear

Part three: Mary Magdalene — the Feminine Christ they erased

Part four: Colonialism – how patriarchy was enforced globally

Mid-point Check-In: how to hold yourself through this process

Part five: The Enclosure of the Commons – the economic control of women and the end of public lands

Part six: The War of Knowledge – controlling what we learn