In late July, astrologer Steven Forrest appeared with Ricky Williams on the Lila Astrology podcast for a conversation about shadow work. During that conversation, Forrest used the N-word while discussing race and his own history, along with other comments that quickly became controversial. The response spread through the astrology community, ultimately contributing to Forrest’s removal from the upcoming United Astrology Conference (UAC) and other institutional consequences.
I’ve spent much of August thinking about what happened before saying anything publicly. I watched the entire podcast, read Forrest’s responses and a range of reactions from people who see the controversy very differently.
I don’t think Forrest needed to use the word. I think it was unnecessary, hurtful and a mistake. But that’s not really the question that kept me thinking.
What interests me is what happens when a cultural subject becomes so charged that our ability to remain curious about one another begins to disappear.
In this episode, I connect the Forrest controversy with my own experience of having an article removed from Medium during the cultural battles surrounding COVID and ivermectin in 2021; the strange dynamics of taboo and forbidden language; George Carlin, Lenny Bruce and even Voldemort; generational differences; shadow work itself; and the question of whether accountability can become disproportionate punishment.
I keep returning to an image of culture as a river. When the river gets high, disagreement can become identity, context can look like excuse, explanation like defense, and conversation itself like harm.
So I’m ultimately interested in two questions:
Why should we have to wait for the river to go down before we can talk about what’s underneath the water?
And perhaps more importantly:
How do we remain human to one another while the river is still high?
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