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Another day, another intense exposure to violence caused by the imperialist, capitalist project: the climate crisis, ongoing oppression and dispossession, and an epidemic of disconnection and orchestrated divine. It’s easy enough to understand why, or some, “love” might seem like an old fashioned word, a luxury, and a sentimental form of emotionally bypassing the actual work that needs doing.
But what if love is the very foundation of that work? What if without it, the bottom gives out? What if love is not merely a feeling but an essential force; one that has propelled human survival, art, and collective progress throughout history?
This is the lens through which I invite you to view love today: not as a feel-good emotion (since when), but as a revolutionary act of courage and resilience. Like MLK’s “strong, demanding love”.
Love as a historical force
History is soaked in examples of love’s transformative power. Consider the civil rights movement galvanised in churches. Consider MLK’s agape—a universal, unconditional love that seeks safety and dignity of all. For King, love could never be passive or complacent. It was an active commitment to justice, rooted in compassion and brazen determination.
The resilience of communities in the face of adversity is this love in action. Think of the solidarity of the Free Palestine movement, driven by a love for freedom and equality. Think of the Black Panther’s People’s Free Food program. Think of the mutual care from the Lesbian community, that sustained gay men during the AIDS crisis. Think of the countless Indigenous and grassroots movements today fighting for climate action and land rights, built on a profound connection to, and love for, the earth and its future generations, both human and more-than-human.
These examples remind us that love is not merely a personal sentiment or private phenomena. It is also the driving engine behind any act of defiance against systems of harm, a binding force that compels us to care for not just our spouses or family, but for one another as a whole species—including those we’ve never met—and to believe in the possibility of returning to what we temporarily lost.
Part of love’s innate endurance and indestructibility is its diversity. It is not limited to romance, nor even to the bonds we share with friends or immediate community. Beautiful as all that is. Love manifests in countless ways:
🪲 The awe we feel in nature, standing beside an ancient tree or the ocean.
🪲 The quiet self-compassion of forgiving ourselves for past mistakes.
🪲 The courage to dream of a kinder, more equitable world and moving toward it.
In broadening our understanding of love, we find that it is all-encompassing: a practice, a philosophy, a remembrance of what was always there, and a means of connection to something much greater than ourselves.
Love as the path forward
In his Symposium, Plato writes of love as the force that inspires us to seek the divine—the ideal of beauty, truth, and goodness. Love, in this sense, is both a yearning and a self-evident bridge to our own inner knowing. It connects us to what is eternal—at once immanent and transcendent—and reminds us of what it means to be fully human; constructed of love through and through.
We need this kind of love now more than ever. In a time of fragmentation, it is love that holds the potential to weave us back together. Not the grand, sweeping gestures we so often associate with love, but the small, deliberate acts: Offering kindness to a stranger. Listening deeply to a friend in pain.
Extending compassion to ourselves, even in our bullshit.
Journalling prompts
Today, I invite you to take a moment of stillness, feel into your heart, and via journaling ask yourself:
🌹 What does love mean to me right now?
🌹 How do I show my love currently?
🌹 How can I embody love more in my daily actions?
🌹What would it look like to lead with love, even as the world burns?
Let these reflections guide you as you navigate the complexities of ~the times~.
Why I wrote Love Oracle
When I created my new book, Love Oracle: Divine Guidance for Relationships, I wanted to honour love’s complexity. This isn’t a bibliomancy oracle just for those seeking romance or sex. It’s for anyone exploring what it means to connect—with themselves, with others, and with the larger story of humanity and the cosmos, through love.
It’s designed to guide you through love’s many dimensions, by answering your thoughtful questions you bring to it, like:
♡ How to cultivate self-love in a world that often asks us to prioritise productivity over well-being.
♡ How to foster deeper relationships through vulnerability and presence.
♡ How to use love as a compass for navigating life’s challenges with grace and integrity.
The wisdom within Love Oracle isn’t about easy answers or clichés. It’s about asking better questions and finding the courage to sit with those questions and the Goddess of Love’s (or your concept of a higher wisdom’s) response to them, until clarity emerges.
Final thought
Love is not passive. It is not naïve. It is a powerful, painful, joyful, radical choice—a declaration that we refuse to succumb to fear, atomisation, or apathy. It reminds us that we are interconnected, that our well-being is tied to the well-being of others, and that even in the darkest moments, there is always and inevitably a way forward.
With love as our guide, we will not only survive but thrive.
Xo Jerico
P.S. Love Oracle is more than a book; it’s a created to be regular companion for exploring love in all its forms. Whether you’re seeking clarity, healing, or inspiration, let Love Oracle offer you the answers you seek. Love Oracle is OUT NOW in the UK and is coming the US and AUS in the next two weeks (and available for preorder now) Big thanks to the early birds! Preorders help authors by giving early indication of a book's potential popularity to retailers and publishers, encouraging them to stock more copies.
❤️❤️❤️❤️🌿🌿🌿🌿💯💯💯💯😊😊😊😊⛑️⛑️⛑️⛑️🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽⭕️❌️⭕️❌️🌻🌻🌻❌️⭕️
Yes 💜 I was just writing similar things to this, and am wowed by that. Just shows how connected we all are, how we are all awakening to more expansive love as a movement.