Happy Leo season, Microcosm moonbeams, and zine month endures! In the interest of celebrating your brightest, boldest, sunniest self for this solar chapter, take a spin through these zodiac zine pairings we made to match your sign* with specially selected reading material from our amazing zine collection!
*Check sun/moon/rising—and show us what you got on Instagram!
Air Signs
Air signs are thoughtful communicators, which makes them great for planning to overthrow corruption or becoming leaders. Or learning magic (we see you, Aquarians. You’re more than just aliens and “out of this world” jokes.)
Fire signs are goddamn passionate. Stoking the fires of rebellion, jazzing up others, boldness— fire signs love an adventure. That’s why we paired them with zines involving action, creativity, and justice.
Water signs have a reputation for being the emotional ones, and that’s rad. (A LOT of Microcosm folks are Cancers!) Water signs are intuitive and compassionate, making them great supporters and artists.
Earth signs are solid and grounded, pragmatic and practical. We’ve matched them to zines ranging from the nesting-homey-stability vibe all the way to survival techniques. Because if we get lost in the woods, we want it to be with a Capricorn.
Microcosm began with zines, and they remain our bread and butter as a production ethos, as accessible information transmitters, and as incubators for creativity. We celebrate these pocket-sized testaments to DIY ingenuity year-round, but July is officially recognized as Zine Month, so we’re shining the spotlight on our wide-ranging zine collections to celebrate.
Below are excerpts from a few themed collections we put together to amplify the amazing work being done in itty bitty book form, with each theme containing a little something for everybody. Dig in, enjoy!
Make some contraptions, harvest your own herbs, make your own cleaning supplies, or organize some rad events with this collection of zines all about DIY!
Sometimes you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping someone with theirs. This collection is all about self-care, self-love, and self-preservation.
In this collection, we’ve gathered some of our most original, you-won’t-get-these-anywhere-else zines. Radical nuns, substitute teaching, grumpy baristas, and more below!
Whether you’re a seasoned stoner or newly cannabis-curious, we’re happy to help you celebrate this high holiday for all who appreciate the many gifts of Mary Jane.
Whatever way you grind, roll, vape, bake, or smoke it, cannabis is a multifaceted—and increasingly de-stigmatized—substance with a remarkable array of applications. To mark the weed-based holiday touted (and toasted) around the world, here’s a collection of titles that showcase this special plant and how to use it.
Weed is a powerful medicine, and growing your own is as empowering as it gets. Experienced Humboldt farmer Madrone Stewart shares her hard-won knowledge gained from years of growing cannabis, Zen meditation, and surviving as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She walks you through the big picture and details of growing six backyard plants, from selecting seeds to harvesting and processing. Humorous, sage, and with a big heart, each chapter is infused with what she’s learned about equalizing the weed industry, applying mindfulness to pest management, and the importance of owning each step of the process. If you’ve ever wanted to grow your own pot or make hash or kief at home, this book is your wise guide.
No longer relegated to back-alley dealings, the world of cannabis has evolved into a snazzy, appealing business. With striking imagery, high-art photography, and thoughful writing, this book highlights the creators, entrepreneurs, brands, consumers, and designs that have made cannabis what it is today. While the focus is on new trends in the cannabis as a revolutionized industry, High on Design also provides a holistic view of cannabis culture by examining crime, addiction, science, hemp in clothing, and marketing cannabis as a recreational or a medical product. All hail the new en vogue herb!
One of the most asked topic concerning CBD is how it can help improve your sex life. In this all-encompassing, no-hold-barred exploration, you will find a range of recipes, bedroom activities, and tricks for enhancing your sexual experience. With explanations on how cannabis can help increase pleasure and intimacy, you will learn the how-to on everything from dirty talk to erotic massage. For anyone interested in either solo or partnered sex exploration, you are sure to learn something to help cultivate a satisfying sex life.
There’s more to the high life than good kush. Get educated and inspired to live your best smoker life with this zine that includes: Weed 101!—a simple introduction to types of cannabis and what makes it work, from cannabinoids to terpenes to the “entourage effect”; Why I Smoke Weed—explorations of the question so many non-tokers ask with honesty and no judgement; Notes on Race and Stigma—including why the term “marijuana” should probably be avoided (hint: its racist origins!); Tips and Tricks—from how to make a pipe out of a strawberry to the easiest cannabutter recipe around, and a bit more.
As much an art book as a how-to guide, this gorgeously photographed book walks you through the hows, whys, whens, and wheres of growing your own pot in places where it’s legal to do so. It doesn’t have to be terribly complicated, and Johanna offers the basics you need, from choosing and starting seeds and clones through planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, curing, and trimming, and what to do with the finished product. The beautiful pictures throughout illustrate every stage of the process, as well as introducing you to a variety of cannabis growers and their gardens.
This meditative, art-filled adult coloring book is inspired by the beauty of women and gender fluid people who savor the qualities of the cannabis plant. They are empowered, intelligent, motivated humans who pay no mind to judgment, for they’re making their mark in this world no matter their color, shape, size, age, or gender. You’ll enjoy coloring these highly detailed and varied pages, with tattoos, patterned garb, shape-filled backgrounds, marijuana bouquets, and gorgeous faces. While you color, partake in the transcendental qualities of weed and contemplate what empowerment means to you.
In a world of systems that aim to keep us feeling helpless, sick, and disconnected from our bodies and emotions, it’s crucial to learn how to care for ourselves—and each other. From reproductive freedom to recruiting herbal allies, from supporting your own mental health to offering support to loved ones, life is full of opportunities to take back our agency and see ourselves as collaborators in healing.
To celebrate the release of new zine How to Get Your Period, here’s a collection of works that embrace a radical understanding of “self care” as an empowering ethic for healthier individuals and communities.
In 1971, as part of their work with their feminist reproductive collective, Lorraine Rothman and Carol Downer invented menstrual extraction (ME), a suction process to pass the entire period all at once, which has the side effect of ending any undetected early pregnancy. An underground network of providers has kept ME alive ever since, and now, in a post-Roe era, the demand is surging. Written by an anonymous medical professional, this book provides a short history of ME and detailed instructions and diagrams explaining how to safely and effectively perform a manual exam, use a speculum, assemble a Del-Em kit, and complete a menstrual extraction procedure. You’ll also learn when not to perform ME and find an overview of other safe and effective options for bringing about menstruation or ending a pregnancy in the first trimester. In addition to heralding the incredible discovery of these historical heroes and affirming the need for abortion rights, this book offers menstrual extraction as a method to understand and protect our own bodies, choices, and reproductive rights even as they are under attack.
Alive With Vigor! compiles stories of surviving—and thriving—from a wide spectrum of contributors. Deeply personal essays recount matters of preventative health care, the hard decisions we each have to make, Do It Yourself health care, and how to deal with extracting health care from government/corporate health care systems. Alive With Vigor! has a special focus on queer, youth, and transgender people, recognizing that everyone has different health care needs. Finally a how to book where you can put the advice directly to use in your life!
A guide for practiced herbalists and midwives to better serve their communities with herbal abortion options. Beautifully illustrated with botanical drawings from Gerard’s Herbal and other early texts. The time is now for us to learn from forgotten knowledge and keep ourselves and the people around us healthy and fully in charge of their own reproductive health and rights.
If you’re the sort of person who takes on every project and responsibility until suddenly it’s one thing too many and you get completely burnt out and drop everything and start the cycle again from scratch … this zine is for you. Includes hard-won pointers on how to train yourself to have more sustainable work habits (using tricks from dog training!), shore up your professional boundaries, and get more organized so you can have a better handle on all the things you are very likely to continue taking on. Stress and overwhelm are tough to live with every day, and the go-getters of the world could use to take better care of ourselves and have more fun.
A thorough and classic examination on tried and true herbal treatments for common gynecological problems, as well as great basic sexual health info for anyone with a uterus. It begins, “Patriarchy sucks. It’s robbed us of our autonomy and much of our history. We believe it’s integral for women to be aware an in control of our own bodies.” Diagrams and herbal remedies teach you how to diagnose and heal many basic problems from bladder infections to inducing your period to ease cramps to even dealing with pregnancy. Learn herbal remedies to ease every stage of the menstrual cycle. There’s references to further reading, descriptions of herbs, and even a section on aphrodisiacs. The sections include: Body Mapping (in brief), About Menstruation, Love in the Age of Aids, 35 years of fertility, STDs and Other Aliens, The Ovaries and the Uterus, Aphrodisiacs, How to Prepare and Use Herbs, Picking Your Own Herbs, Herbal Properties and Dosages, Interesting Reading, Useful Addresses. This book deserves to sit next to your copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves.
Support encourages everyone to take a step back, listen, think, and talk about sex, consent, violence, and abuse. If you or someone you know have ever been assaulted or victimized, how to be an ally can be confusing. These words and the connection they offer can help. With ideas and encouragement to help yourself and others cope with, prevent, and end sexual violence and abuse, this collection of personal experiences, advice, guest articles, and comic excerpts wants to help.
For decades, the U.S. has been obsessed with “self-esteem” or rather with our lack of it. But self-esteem isn’t actually that great, and getting all puffed up about yourself isn’t exactly a recipe for the good life. How about self-compassion instead? Bestseller Dr. Faith explains the difference between the two and offers some helpful exercises in developing more compassion for yourself. It’s actually very different, she explains, than letting yourself off the hook for your bullshit. It’s more helpful to accept that you’re human so that you can learn and grow rather than push aside your problems or wallow in your mistakes. Also, kindness to yourself helps you be more kind to other people as well. Everyone wins!
Fireweed, as the full title implies, is all about introducing your kids to plants. It’s about teaching young children the joy of gathering edibles, and making them into candies, teas, jellies, or even medicines. There’s tips for going on plant walks, and suggestions for good introductory plants like ginger, mint, and marshmallow. There are recipes for prickly pear crisp, catnip tea, and simple fermented herbal infusions. The authors conduct a couple interviews with parents about their experiences sharing plants with their children. This zine is really inspiring.
In activist circles and elsewhere, it has become commonplace to speak of self-care, taking for granted that the meaning of this expression is self-evident. But “self” and “care” are not static or monolithic; nor is “health.” How has this discourse been colonized by capitalist values? How could we expand our notion of care to encompass a transformative practice?
Following “For All We Care,” analyzing the contradictory currents within the category of care, Crimethinc presents “Self as Other,” combining that text with three more essays in which individuals recount their personal struggles with the concept and practice of care.
Shop the list for even more of our radical self-care titles, or check outsomepacks. Keep taking care of each other!
A few weeks into my internship at Microcosm saw me standing at the checkout with an armful of books and zines, all by the same author. I had been assigned to proofread Faith G. Harper’s newest book, Unfuck Your Intimacy, the week before, and had come out of the project with a level of respect and new understanding that, I’ll be honest, I was not at all expecting. What can I say? I was a skeptic of the whole self-help genre. I tend to picture dusty hardbacks with cover photos of smiling middle aged people dressed in the latest 90s fashions; books for people with vastly different experiences than my own.
Dr. Harper’s work nothing like that. In a good way.
Self-Compassion is part of a series of “five minute therapy” zines and, while it took me more than five minutes to read, the 34 pages is a manageable chunk of information to process.
The zine, at its core, is about being kind to yourself. Sounds simple, right? But what about when you fail that big test, or don’t get that project done on time at work? What about when you’re writing a book review for your publishing internship, and you keep rewriting the same sentence over and over? (I don’t know anything about that last one.) It might get a little harder to find kindness for yourself in those moments. That’s where this zine comes barging in, kicking down your front door with its no-bullshit honesty and then sitting you down on the couch so you can work that shit out.
Right off the bat this zine tears into the concept of good self-esteem as the end-all goal. In Dr. Faith’s own words, “Self-esteem has become the buzzword. And where we focus so much time, energy, and resources. And we fail at it. And then perceive ourselves as failures. Because it’s an unwinnable game.” Does that sound harsh? Maybe. But as someone who gets frustrated if I’m not amazing at everything the first time I try it, the statement rings true. And it’s a refreshing truth in a sea of messages telling us to define our self-worth by our accomplishments.
The zine goes on to define self-compassion, and then breaks that concept down into a model. This is usually where I start to tune out in self-help books (there’s jargon and a graphic with arrows pointing at nothing), but Dr. Harper’s relatable writing actually managed to keep me engaged. Reading this zine feels like you’re sitting in Dr. Harper’s office, talking with her. It’s an accessible writing style, and makes a complicated topic a little less overwhelming.
Perhaps more importantly, Dr. Harper is not afraid to ask difficult questions, and I often found myself flipping through the zine to reread sections pertaining to questions asked later on. Questions like “How does your self-criticism impact your relationship with others?” show up in black activity boxes throughout the zine, and they are not pulling any punches. Yikes, right? There are some big questions for a 34 page zine, but damn if they didn’t get me thinking.
And that is my only real complaint with this title: it’s 34 pages. I’d like more content. I want a book, like Unfuck Your Intimacyor Unfuck Your Brain. I suppose that’s a good complaint to have–and one that might be expected with a typically short medium like a zine. There are references for further reading at the end, but I think I would miss Dr. Harper’s way of writing. Maybe that’s just my self-help bias shining through.
Self-Compassion is a no-nonsense zine, from an author who truly seems to want you to be the best you can be. This is highlighted on page 25, where Dr. Harper writes, “The driving force of striving for self-esteem is fear… Self-compassion, instead of being driven by fear, can be thought of as driven by love.”
This is a zine for anyone afraid of making mistakes.
We could all use a little more self-compassion.
This review was written by winter intern, Noah Deans-Gravlee. Follow them on Twitter @noahyouknowand check out Dr. Faith Harper’s other work here.
Too many times in all our lives we let the bad things in our lives outweigh the good, and fall into the toxic habits of being extra judgmental or fearing change, holding grudges or lashing out at others, avoiding responsibility or blaming others for your problems or your own failures. These unhealthy ways of thinking muck everything up in our lives in all sorts of ways that hurt you and the people around you.
Below are some recommendations from Dr. Faith’s 5-Minute Therapy zine series for common unhealthy habits and ways of thinking that we can often find ourselves stuck in.
We know building healthy habits can feel exhausting when you’re weighted down with so many bad ones, but we swear, it’s worth it, and talking (or reading) about these things does help.
Respect and Compliment others instead of bypassing their needs or perspective:
Deadline extension: The deadline has been extended to June 15th, 2018 so that folks who find out about this call for submissions via our Kickstarter project will have time to write something.
Taking the Lane #15 is called True Trans Bike Rebel and guest edited by Lydia Rogue. They are looking for nonfiction writing about the experience of bicycling while being transgender or gender nonconforming. Submissions can be essays or reporting about bicycling, or other topics or stories in which bicycles play a part (or other human-powered transportation—skateboards, rollerskates, walking, you name it).
Submissions can be any length; word count between 500 and 2500 words is ideal for this format. Single-color illustrations and photos are also sought. Please submit your work as an attachment or link in an email to lydia at taking the lane dot com. Feel free to send any questions or ideas to them at that address as well. The deadline is June 15, 2018.
All contributors will be paid a share of the net profits from the Kickstarter project used to fund the zine.
This week, in the midst of national grieving, I happened to be editing a new zine by Dr. Faith… about grief. When I sent back the edits, I asked if she had any thoughts to share for folks coping with the tragedy in Orlando. She sent along the thoughts on Intimacy in Times of Fear she’d posted on her own blog, and suggested we blog an excerpt from her zine: The Griever’s Bill of Rights. Here it is:
“June Cerza Kolf created a Bill of Rights for the Bereaved, published in her book How Can I Help?. Her bill of rights, with my slight alterations and suggestions are as follows:
Grievers Bill of Rights 1) Do not make me do anything I do not wish to do.
Unless you are in literal danger, you have the right to not have someone’s will forced upon you. Even if it is for your own good. Even if they are dead right and have all the best intentions. At least not in those first days and weeks when you are absolutely shattered. Keep breathing in and out. It can wait. 2) Let me cry.
Fuck, yes. Cry. Be angry. Be numb. Be hysterical as all fuck. Whatever you are feeling is what you are feeling. Don’t hurt yourself, don’t hurt others. But get whatever you need to get out OUT. 3) Allow me to talk about the loss.
Kolf’s original said “the deceased.” But I’m opening this up to any grief experience. You get to talk about it. If you don’t have people who can be with you in that process, find a good counselor or join a support group. Find closure. Don’t hold in your story. Telling our story helps us find meaning and helps us heal. 4) Do not force me to make quick decisions.
If decisions need to be made quickly, pick someone you trust to be your point person. Everything that isn’t pressing can fucking wait. You don’t have to make decisions when you are reeling. In fact, making BIG decisions right after a huge loss often leads to regret and damaging fall-out in the end. 5) Let me act strange sometimes.
You may be fine for long periods of time and then something may trigger you. You may not even know what. But you may weird out. You’re allowed. You’re allowed to act strange. You are allowed to not even know why. With time you will start to recognize these triggers and be prepared for their eventuality. 6) Let me see that you are grieving, too.
It can be very healing to share your grief, whether with someone who is hurting along with you or for your pain. Human connection is vital. 7) When I am angry, do not discount it.
Anger is a secondary emotion. It’s coming from a place of pain and makes sense. You’re allowed anger as part of your experience. It’s a healthy part of the process and can be extraordinarily healing if you attend to it. 8) Do not speak to me in platitudes.
This goes back to what to say/what not to say. Platitudes are far worse than silence. They are a tiny Snoopy band-aid on an enormous wound. They don’t help, they don’t heal. 9) Listen to me, please!
You have the right to be heard. Not just listened to enough to respond to, but deeply heard in your experience. If you aren’t getting that from the people around you, ask for it. Or find it in a more formal support experience (therapy, self-help group, etc.) 10) Forgive me my trespasses, my rudeness, and my thoughtlessness. Ok. Don’t intentionally be a dick because you can get away with it. But you do have leeway in this regard. You are not responsible for the care and feelings of others. You need to try to not actively be awful, but you get space to be spaced. Keep breathing. Apologize if you do or say something un-fabulous. But don’t beat yourself up for being in the muck if that’s where you are.”
***
In case you haven’t discovered her work yet, Dr. Faith G. Harper is one of our most prolific authors whose book hasn’t even come out yet. Her forthcoming book Unfuck Your Brain will be available in fall 2017; meanwhile, her constantly growing collection of zines combine science, compassion, and a lot of wonderfully hilarious swearing to tackle topics from Anger and Anxiety to healthy Relationshipping. The Grief zine comes out as soon as it’s back from the photocopier.