Temple of Two Waters
TEMPLE OF TWO WATERS
Discover your path to success
TEMPLE of two WATERS
Temple of Two Waters activates sites of freedom and sanctuary for queer and trans BIPOC to dream, rest, create, heal, and be together, with the explicit commitment of creating accessible spaces centered in reaching the most resource denied - disabled QTBIPOC, rural QTBIPOC, immigrants and refugees, and TGNC folks. Temple of Two Waters exists at the intersections of land justice and reparations, queer and trans liberation, disability justice, spiritual and healing justice, cultural justice, and racial justice.
OUR WORK
Temple of Two Waters offers an antidote to the forces that seek to silence us, erase us, or push us into exile. This work is led by an intergenerational circle of majority disabled Black and Indigenous stewards with roots in the lands our sites are located in, from our 20s to 40s. Together, we carry the sacred commitment of building a future our ancestors and descendants would recognize as freedom.
We are living in a moment defined by anti-trans and anti-queer bigotry, increasing anti-ablesist policies, emboldened white supremacy, and the rise of fascism. At the same time, climate change and economic inequality are displacing entire communities, deepening precarity for those who were already most vulnerable. In such a moment, spaces like T2W are not a luxury. They are a necessity. They are acts of resistance. In bringing forth this project and this vision, we offer an antidote to the theft of our time, creativity, and life force by racial capitalism, ableism, the cisheteropatriarchy, and fascism.
Temple of Two Waters centers disabled QTBIPOC in our work and programs and is guided by the following goals:
To move land resources to QTBIPOC, through creating a permanent land trust and creating both rural and urban sites that support the wellness and creativity of QTBIPOC and our broader communities. Through this we contribute to a regenerative economy rooted in collectivism that will benefit disabled QTBIPOC into perpetuity.
To engage in land stewardship via seed preservation and cultivation, prioritizing native plant relatives and plant relatives from lands experiencing genocide, grow community gardens, and ensure that QTBIPOC have the knowledge, resources, and opportunities to care for and cultivate land, while aligning with regional conservation efforts that protect people and the planet.
To provide no cost creative and rest residencies for QTBIPOC, a community who has endured the impacts of systemic inequalities around rest and time, accessing residencies in the creative sectors, and who face housing instability at disproportionately higher rates than their white, straight, and cis counterparts.
To serve as a disaster refuge and recovery hub for all during times of climate and other disaster, but especially disabled QTBIPOC who can face hardship after a disaster
To support the healing and wellness of QTBIPOC through creating spaces where we can access appropriate healing services and spiritual care.
AREAS OF FOCUS
LAND, PLANTS, & SEEDS
We believe in the return of land to those who have been dispossessed and severed from it and know that people heal when they are with the land. We recognize the importance of passing down stewardship and cultivation traditions to disabled QTBIPOC - a community whose connection and access to land has been severed and restricted. We know that in these times of economic uncertainty and increasing food instability it is important to grow food for the people, share our resources with all of our neighbors, and prepare for scarce times ahead. Our stewardship council affirms our collective responsibility as descendants of Falastin, Sudan, and other lands that have experienced genocide to preserve the seeds of our plant relatives that are at risk of extinction as a result of the manmade disaster of empire. We will also establish a Lukumí seed library to preserve the plant knowledge of this spiritual tradition which is at risk of being forgotten.
ART, STORY, & IMAGINATION
Stories are what save us. Stories are how we remember, where we can locate hope, and how we find the way. And in the deep South, we know the power of a story to unite, change hearts and minds, and find common ground. We recognize the importance of creative play, and that racial capitalism truncates our ability to create and imagine. Our imagination - our ability to dream new futures and worlds - is limited when we don’t have time to rest, don’t have access to nature, and don’t have time for our spiritual practices. When we don’t dream or create or play we are unwell and can’t come up with new strategies and solutions. The world needs the stories and imaginations of QTBIPOC - especially disabled QTBIPOC. Additionally, the search for utopia - home, connection, belonging, and more - manifests in the art we make and the art spaces we create. Our creative work and aesthetics contain maps to future worlds while rooted in the worlds we have journeyed from. In this way, QTBIPOC artists are time travelers and prophets, and the in between space, the ever shifting liminal space between worlds, is our creative ground. We affirm that when disabled QTBIPOC have the space to create and rest, the entire world benefits.
HEALING & SPIRITUALITY
Our intuition and spiritual gifts are cut off when we don't have access to land or water. Furthermore, to find one’s way spiritually as a queer or trans person can be trying, and to heal from the intersecting systems of oppressions that QTBIPOC endure is a journey. T2W is a multi-faith, non denominational space for QTBIPOC to access different healing modalities, share healing practices and knowledge, and learn about different Black and Indigenous spiritual traditions that have ensured freedom and survival for their devotees, including Lukumí, the Black spiritualist/ mediumship traditions of the US South and diaspora, and Indigenous spiritualities, including Gulf Coast Indigenous and Taino/Caribe spiritualities, as well as expanded states of consciousness. Additionally, in our role as a climate disaster recovery hub, T2W will organize healing justice practitioners to provide services to our community, neighbors, and all who need it following a disaster.
