Candis - The Alchemist

Yeah. I'm dripping in gold. 

You might be too!

candis@defianceexchange.org

Pronouns: Any

Location: Puyallup Tribal land - Tacoma, WA

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Cultural Engagement Indicator (CEI) Score: ____/____

Alchemist, Defiance Exchange Co-founder, Relational Practitioner, Systems Artist, Mediator, Facilitator, Personal Coach (Money Mindsets, Cognition & Resolve,) Storyteller,

 & Playful Dream Weaver

Positional Strengths & Identity

 Queer (+Nonbinary), disabled, Irish/Welsh/Dutch-American (white), Tsalagi, neurodivergent, polyamorous, married, middle income (very poor until age 30), current age: mid-30's, college educated with Master's degree, family in American south and PNW, spiritual/pagan, US citizen, American dynamics of power, money, and relationships.  

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Demographic Weaknesses & Less Experience

Immigration needs, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Cult Mindsets, Cyrillic/Eastern European cultures, African nation dynamics, Latin American dynamics, Parenthood

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 Learn more about the CEI

*higher CEI scores indicate higher degrees of

cultural knowledge, experience, &

advocacy among broad demographics

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Alchemy

What if alchemy isn't about changing

a base metal into gold?

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What if it's actually about the act of realizing that

it's been gold this whole time?

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Which one sounds more wholly satisfying to you? Scribbling notes, trying everything available to you, scrambling so hard only to have it blow up in your face and leave you with less than you started with?

OR

Honoring yourself as the gold? Your entirety. Your story. Your suffering, your growth, your triumphs all equal in value.

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I was born into a  victimized role. I wasn't valuable to those who raised me - I was a burden, or at best a tool for them to leverage their position in society by being seen as "good" to others. Fuck that noise. I knew there had to be more to life than being someone's else's tool, scapegoat, burden, or even their.... FIXER. (Ugh, that one hurts.) I learned/remembered that I'm not responsible for anyone but me. 

My self-victimization was supported by systems and communities all obsessed with hierarchy and being seen as "good or better people" more than just being themselves... and knowing we're all perfect. 

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I don't give a FUCK about being

seen as a good or bad person. 

To survive, I "frankensteined" mentors, chosen family, and community. From that practice, I became rich in good people and I developed some cool superpowers - my favorite being my ability to recognize other peoples' superpowers and patterns. I understand systems intuitively, energetically, and intellectually. I can communicate with just about anyone with confidence and joy. Collaboration enlivens me & I can heal myself introvertedly & communally. 

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To thrive, I practice radical honesty with myself and others, accepting my perfection and divinity,  my discernment, and dancing with my desire and the chaos of life.

In short, I'm the perfect person to remind you of your agency and collaborate to build a joy-based economy based on trust and inherent value. Your inherent value.

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I am shiny AF y'all. 

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And I want you to Shine With Me

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Personal & Relational Experience​

• Financial Poverty & Comfort

• Autism Spectrum (secondary experience)

• Right Relationship & 4 skill of relating to difference

• Feeling unwanted, undervalued, suicidal thoughts, 

• Brain Injury survivorship and strategies

• Navigating US disability systems

• 13 years of US Educator Experience 

• Systems Artistry

• Activism: queerness, anti-racism, financially undervalued, socially undervalued, homelessness, migrant workers, defunding police, feeding and homing people. 

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Emotional Skills

• Witnessing the way you want to be witnessed

• Sovereign Alignments

• Relating to Difference without Judgment

• Trauma Informed Spaces/Practices

• Somatic Emotional Reprogramming

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Physical Skills

• Somatic Presence & Choice-Making

• Somatic Trauma Release

• Primal Reflex Integration 

• Neurophysical Timing & Integration

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Cognitive Skills

• Attention/Focus Training

• Memory Improvement

• Improving Processing Speed

• Vestibular System Alignment

• Neurophysical Connection/Timing

• Compensatory Strategies for Neurodivergence

• Neuroplasticity & Re-routing of synaptic connection

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Spiritual Skills

• Energy movement work (like reiki)

• Individuation

• Ancestral healing

• Mediation strategies

• Soul retrieval

• Journey/quest 

• Divine relationship(s) exploration

• Pruning reactive ego

• Building/accepting spiritual ego (that which is aligned with most benevolent outcome and unique only to you)

• World mythology/religion knowledge

• Irish/pagan specific knowledge/practice background

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Financial Skills​

• Aligning Spirit and Money 

• Humane Business Consulting

• Owner/Operator/Co-founder of 2 businesses​

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Degrees & Certifications

• CEI Score ______ (Cultural Engagement Indicator Score)

• Community Support - i.e. people support and trust me

• B.A. English and French

• M.A.E. Secondary English

• Reiki Master Certified 

• I no longer uphold or participate in formalized academia paths as they preserve unnecessary and harmful hierarchies & extractive practices