#indigenous plurality

[crossroads-system]

Shout out to Indigenous systems/plurals.

Shout out to those who's spirituality and culture influences your systemhood/plurality.

Shout out to Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer systems/plurals.

Y'all are valued.

Y'all are loved.

Y'all are sacred.

[crossroads-system]

We wish there was more of a presence for Two-Spirit, Indigenous Systems/Plurals on this site but we fully understand why there isn't.

We're extremely fortunate that we've found a small community of Indigenous systems/plurals on discord.

For any Indigenous, Two-Spirit plurals/systems out there:

Your experiences are important.

Your culture is important.

Your voices deserve to be heard.

We cherish you.

[crossroads-system]

Feeling extremely privileged recently to have been given several opportunities to advocate not only for the Two-Spirit community but for the plurality community as well. We deeply thank Spirit for bringing us these opportunities and giving us a tangible outlet to utilize our gifts in service of our communities. 🥹 We are very much at a loss for words for how much recent events have meant to us.

To other Two-Spirit, Indigenous systems/plurals out there:

You are seen.

You are valued.

You are sacred.

You are loved.

[crossroads-system]

An update about us:

Earlier this year we got married to our lovely, amazing, spectacular wife [also a system] amongst my people. Our vows were specifically done using plural terms and our elder even made light hearted jokes about our systems. It was everything we could have asked for and more.

We are so thankful for our people. We are so thankful for our system and our wife's system. We are so thankful for our other partners and metamors.

We are truly, wholey, fully ourselves and we could not be happier.

[crossroads-system]

I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but what's Two Spirit? /genq

Not rude at all 😁 Two-Spirit is a pan-Indigenous term for Indigenous individuals who are gender diverse (can also cover sexual diversity, and intersex) Who within Indigenous circles uses the term Two-Spirit and why may vary for a plethora of reasons.

Many tribes have terms more specific to their culture that may also be used but Two-Spirit is often used as a quick reference term inclusive of tribe or culturally specific terms. (Hope that made sense 😅)

With my people it encompasses my gender and sexual diversity along with my plurality and being intersex. 😁

Editing to add:

If anyone is interested in learning more about Two-Spirit we highly recommend checking out Reclaiming Two-Spirits Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers

[crossroads-system]

A reminder for Indigenous System:

Y'all are loved.

Y'all are valued.

Y'all are sacred.

Y'all are not required to adhere to a colonial understanding of plurality.

Y'all are not obligated to 'make sense' to non Indigenous peoples.

Y'all are your ancestors' descendants.

We are so happy y'all exist.

[crossroads-system]

Random thoughts about our system:

It's interesting when we look back at the beginning of our system discovery; from when we first got dxed with DID to now; and how far we've come working through dissociative barriers, amnesia and poor communication.

We were thinking about the steps we took that made the biggest differences and a few come to mind but one shift in particular stands out.

The shift from viewing our plurality as a result of our DID and trauma to viewing the differing trauma responses within our already plural system as the manifestations of DID made a world of difference for us.

[Kind of a long post. Our personal experience under the cut]

Attributing our system and those in it as resulting from the severe abuse we were put through just never rang true to us. We would be plural whether or not we endured what we did. Singlethood is an extremely foreign and dysphoric concept to us and 'final fusion' (obviously not the only healing option for DID but one that was pushed hard in many CDD spaces we started off in) never felt like a healthy or viable option for us personally.

So we personally changed how we conceptualized our DID. We started viewing the collective negative symptoms that we experienced from DID; the dissociation, derealization, amnesia, lack of internal communication, barriers, etc; as the differing manifestations of PTSD throughout our system. Because there were definitely differing manifestations of PTSD within out system. Sometimes conflicting manifestations of PTSD which was really destabilizing.

This shift helped us tremendously. We shifted away from identifying roles within our system and describing individuals as what job we thought they did to 'maintain a sense of functioning' and moved to a therapy model that addressed each individual in our system and their unique expressions of PTSD. Working on developing personalized coping skills for each individual that needed them. And tbh even just acknowledging each of us as autonomous individuals who was deserving of respect and agency made a huge difference on the functionality of our system.

Now several years down the line, each of us has a unique relationship with our therapist. We each go to sessions with different focuses and are treated with respect as ourselves and not as 'parts to make the whole functional'. We've each made amazing strides in dealing with our own individual traumas and trauma responses which has in fact benefited the overall functionality of our system.

We have worked together to break down dissociative barriers. We've developed reliable communication throughout large parts of the system that used to be completely isolated. We've been able to help those in the system stuck in trauma loops. We've been able to meet and celebrate those who don't share our trauma. And now there is a general sense of ease and community through our system.

Focusing on tackling the negative symptoms of trauma and PTSD and not treating individuals as if they were unwanted side effects of traumatization was a huge breakthrough for us.

[I won't get into how the acknowledgment of our plurality and the acknowledgment that we would be plural no matter what was also extremely significant culturally. That's a different step that may get its own post later.]

Obligatory disclaimer that this is just our personal experience with the differences between our DID and our plurality. This was an extremely personal journey that has spanned our whole life along with nearly a decade of DID focused therapy.

The distinction between our plurality and our DID is extremely significant to us but that isn't true for everyone. Your experience is your own. Your healing journey will be your own. Your relationship with plurality is your own.

For systems/plurals of all kinds out there:

Y'all are seen.

Y'all are loved.

Y'all are valid.

The world is a better place for having y'all in it.

We are so proud of y'all.

[crossroads-system]

Would be really cool if we, a diagnosed system, could interact with fucking anything DID related without the immense amount of aggression targeted at other forms of plurality.

Would be really cool if we, a system who's culture recognizes plurality in multiple forms, could interact with fucking anything plurality related without being treated like an enemy to the DID/OSDD/CDD community.

Would be really cool if we, a system with origins in culture, a DID diagnosis, and dissociative symptoms caused by severe trauma, could interact with or talk about our experiences as a mixed origin system without people CONSTANTLY trying to a. Invalidate our cultural understanding of plurality or b. Invalidating our struggle with dissociative symptoms and their effect on our system.

Would be really cool if we could just fucking exit as ourselves and talk about our unique intersection of cultural and disordered plurality without being forced to pick a fucking side in origin discourse.