Gemstones in the Sun Statements
Our statements gather the knowledge, values, and practices that guide how we show up for one another. From defining the language that grounds our work, to charting the path toward systemic change. This space holds the commitments we stand on and the future we’re shaping together.
Follow the links below and step into the ideas that shape how we grow together.
POC Recovery from White Cultural Addiction
At Gemstones in the Sun (GITS), we believe healing begins the moment truth is spoken without shame, fear, or apology. We offer this statement in that spirit — with reverence for our ancestors, care for our communities, and commitment to generations yet to come.Our Work: A Pathway of Remembering and Restoration
GITS describes its recovery process as a spiritual pathway for People of Color (POC) in the United States — a journey back to our inner knowing after centuries of pressure to conform to cultural expectations that were never ours, never grounded in our wisdom, and never aligned with our joy. We want to be unequivocal:Our work does not pathologize POC.
The harm we address is created by systems of oppression — not by any deficiency within our communities.
What We Mean by “Cultural Addiction”
When we use the term cultural addiction, we speak metaphorically. We are naming the inherited survival patterns that develop when POC must continually navigate, absorb, or surrender to White-dominant norms simply to stay safe, gain access, or be “allowed” to participate in society. These patterns are learned responses to harm — not signs of brokenness. GITS recovery meetings do not address substance use. They support healing from internalized oppression: the spiritual, emotional, and cultural wounds created by a nation that has repeatedly demanded that POC silence ourselves, shrink ourselves, or sever ourselves from our ancestral truths.The Impact of White-Dominant Norms
White-dominant norms have long functioned as an unspoken standard in the United States. When POC are pressured to reshape, mute, or abandon our own cultural wisdom to fit these standards, the result is real and cumulative harm. It affects the body, the spirit, our sense of worth, our relationships, our families, and our long-term health. This harm is physical, emotional, economic, and spiritual. It is measurable. It is generational. And it is ongoing. Yet POC are not empty vessels. We carry ancestral brilliance, memory, creativity, intuition, and power that long predate this nation. No system of whiteness has ever fully extinguished that light.How Oppression Becomes Internalized
When expressing our truth leads to punishment, endangerment, or exclusion, many POC — consciously or unconsciously — learn to bury parts of ourselves to survive. Over generations, these survival habits can become internalized and passed forward. Naming this is not an act of harm.It is an act of liberation. Internalized oppression is the effect — never the cause — of racism.
Releasing the Burden of White Fear
More POC are turning to spiritual processes like those offered by GITS because we are ready to live from our own truth instead of absorbing the fears, fragilities, or expectations of others. Releasing the responsibility for managing White fear is part of the healing. White individuals must tend to their own growth and discomfort. POC are no longer required to carry that burden — emotionally, spiritually, or socially.The Sacred Choices of Recovery
This journey invites several spiritual and cultural choices:- To release the roles imposed by a racialized society — roles that never honored our humanity.
- To refuse patterns that harm the self or the community, including the expectation that POC must soothe or manage White fears.
- To step away from being either the “fixer” or the “scapegoat” for this nation’s unhealed racial wounds.
The Possibility of Healing
GITS believes that profound healing is still possible in the United States. Racism was woven into the earliest structures of this nation — yet healing can be woven in as well. Through truth-telling, ancestral remembrance, community connection, collective courage, and love made visible in practice, new paths are already forming.Reclaiming Our Own Ways of Knowing
Ultimately, POC are reclaiming the right to be guided not by imposed cultural Whiteness, but by the wisdom carried in our bones. Without apology, we are choosing relationships, communities, and ways of living that honor our wholeness. We are reshaping the terms of engagement in American society by trusting our deeper knowing and refusing to center the fears of those who benefit from the existing order.The Heart of GITS
Gemstones in the Sun exists to support this healing, remembering, and celebration of authentic relationships — with self, with community, with the ancestors, and with the world we are called to transform. ©️2021 Gemstones In the Sun 501(c)(3) Non-Profit | All Rights Reserved.Living Glossary of Terms & Phrases
Introduction This Living Glossary supports readers who want to understand the language and spiritual frameworks that guide GITS’s recovery work. These definitions are not political positions or academic categories — they are invitations into deeper clarity about healing, community, and the ancestral wisdom that shapes our work.White Supremacy
White supremacy is the system of beliefs and structures that place whiteness at the center of power, authority, and value — often invisibly — and measure all other people against that false standard. White supremacy shapes institutions, norms, and narratives in ways that harm POC directly while distancing white people from their own humanity. Naming this system is part of healing.Systemic Racism
Systemic racism refers to the ways racism is embedded in structures, institutions, policies, and cultural assumptions, producing consistent inequalities for people of color. This form of racism is woven into schools, courts, banks, workplaces, and neighborhoods. It is a system built long before any of us arrived, and it can be dismantled through clarity, courage, and collective transformation.Colonialism
Colonialism is the domination of one people by another through force, cultural suppression, and exploitation. It disrupted Indigenous and ancestral ways of life across the world. Healing requires remembering who we were before those disruptions and honoring the wisdom that endured.White Cultural Norms
White cultural norms are the unspoken rules and expectations rooted in white superiority that are treated as the default or “correct” way to behave or succeed. These norms pressure POC to abandon our own cultural and ancestral rhythms. Recognizing these norms is part of returning to ourselves.White Abusive Behaviors / Dynamics
These are patterns of control, denial, urgency, perfectionism, and entitlement reinforced by white supremacy culture. Not all white people enact these behaviors, but the behaviors arise from a system that privileges whiteness. Freedom begins with recognizing these patterns and refusing to internalize them.Intersectionality
Intersectionality describes how systems of oppression — including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and ableism — overlap and shape lived experience. It helps us see that liberation must address multiple, interconnected forms of harm.Individualism
Individualism is the belief that people should solve problems alone, ignoring the truth of our interdependence. GITS affirms that healing happens in community, not in isolation.Scarcity / Lack
Scarcity is the belief that there is “not enough” — not enough safety, worth, time, resources, or possibility. Oppression feeds on scarcity. Healing reminds us that abundance grows through connection and shared care.Abundance / Prosperity
Abundance is a spiritual and communal sense of enoughness rooted in dignity and relationship, not in systems or accumulation. It grows when communities share strength, wisdom, and responsibility.Solidarity Cooperatives
Solidarity cooperatives are community-based ways of sharing resources, responsibility, and decision-making that arise from mutual care and shared purpose. These practices mirror ancestral traditions of interdependence. They are not political stances — they are expressions of healed community.Cooperative Economics
Cooperative economics describes communal ways of working, sharing, and supporting one another that reflect our interconnectedness. It is a spiritual practice, not an ideological one. It emerges when people reclaim wholeness and remember that wellbeing is collective.Circular / Regenerative Practices
Circular, regenerative practices honor the earth by reusing, repairing, and restoring resources rather than exhausting or discarding them. These practices reflect ancestral wisdom and spiritual responsibility. When individuals heal internally, they naturally protect their communities and the earth. Systems may shift as a byproduct — but the healing is the focus.Internalized Oppression
Internalized oppression happens when POC absorb the lies, limits, or silencing imposed by a white-dominant society. This is not a flaw. It is a survival response. Healing invites us to reclaim our voice, our worth, and the wisdom carried in our bones.How GITS Facilitates Systemic Change
At Gemstones in the Sun (GITS), we believe that healing and systemic change are inseparable. We offer this statement as a simple map of how our work supports People of Color (POC) in doing both the inner work of recovery and the outer work of cooperation — in ways that honor our ancestors, our communities, and generations yet to come.Inner Recovery • Outer Cooperation
GITS understands transformation as two movements that continually inform one another:
1. Inner Recovery — Creating substance-free, spirit-anchored spaces where POC can gather, remember who they are, and reconnect with ancestral wisdom in one another’s presence.
2. Outer Cooperation — Supporting cooperative, values-driven ways of organizing creativity, labor, and resources so that communities can practice living their truths together.
Through these movements, our work touches three core areas:
- Beliefs – the stories we hold about who we are and what we deserve,
- Values – what we honor, protect, and prioritize,
- Resources – how we share, exchange, and uplift one another in community.
Together, these shifts reorient people and systems toward healing and transformation.
Our Recovery Stance
GITS is a recovery-centered, substance-free organization.
We honor that some cultures and communities access Spirit through ancestral plant medicines. At the same time, GITS does not use or promote any mind-altering substances in our programs. Our commitment is to healing pathways that do not risk exchanging one dependency for another. This stance is offered with deep respect and without judgment.
Freedom Circles: The Inner Work
Freedom Circles offer POC a supportive place to gather and self-direct their healing. Rather than telling people what to believe, these circles create conditions where participants can choose to:
- reconnect with ancestral and cultural wisdom,
- reorient values from survival-only to community- and spirit-grounded,
- make resource choices that uplift themselves and their communities.
GITS does not guide people toward a single truth; we make room for people to guide themselves, in the company of others who are also remembering and restoring their wholeness.
Solidarity Cooperatives: The Outer Work
Solidarity Cooperatives allow communities to put aligned beliefs and values into practice. They are ways of working together that emphasize cooperation, mutual support, and shared abundance in everyday life.
When inner recovery and outer cooperation move together, POC communities are better able to release patterns that no longer serve us and build relationships, structures, and practices that reflect dignity, reciprocity, and collective wellbeing.
Inner work restores. Outer work reorganizes. Together, they make transformation possible.
Being a GITS Ally
At Gemstones in the Sun (GITS), we understand allyship as a practice of shared humanity. Allies walk alongside People of Color (POC) in ways that honor our histories, our recovery, and our collective healing. True allyship is not heroic or performative; it is relational, accountable, and grounded in solidarity.What It Means to Be a GITS Ally
Being a GITS ally means listening deeply, bearing witness, and honoring the lived experiences of POC without assuming authority over them. Allies help interpret GITS’s mission for those less familiar with POC traditions, values, and histories, while also doing their own work to understand how they have been shaped by their cultures. GITS allies commit to:- Amplifying POC voices rather than speaking over them,
- Challenging stereotypes and biases they have inherited or absorbed,
- Acknowledging privilege and its impact with humility,
- Embracing personal growth in their own cultural and spiritual contexts,
- Supporting GITS-led initiatives with heart, skills, creativity, and resources,
- Practicing equity, not saviorism, and honoring healthy boundaries.
How Allies Participate in the GITS Community
Allies walk with — not ahead of — POC. They serve by learning, supporting, and co-creating rather than directing. They enter GITS spaces ready to listen, ready to grow, and ready to act with integrity. Within the GITS community, allies:- witness and affirm POC recovery,
- show up for shared healing and learning,
- support cooperative and community-led initiatives,
- help build bridges across communities and differences,
- participate in the long, patient work of unlearning harmful cultural norms.