Opulent Anti-Capitalism: Our Resourcing Philosophy

You may have noticed that Lama Rod is asking for donations more directly and more frequently in recent years. While these invitations offer some detail and framing around why contributions are needed, you might also wonder how money integrates into the ethics Lama Rod expresses, particularly his commitment to abolishing all systems of harm and violence. How can one ask for more money and practice anti-capitalism?

To be anti-anything is to invite a clear understanding of what we are opposing. The dictionary definition of capitalism – “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market” – rarely elicits clarity or understanding. Like capitalism, these words prioritize things and do not reflect the embodied and lived experiences of most people. 

The team that works consistently with Lama Rod understands capitalism as a transactional economic system that prioritizes profit in a way that exploits natural resources (human, earthly, spiritual, etc). We experience capitalism as expecting higher production for higher gain at the expense of the beings that produce. We do not believe capitalism supports liberation. We understand opposition to any system as a living practice and therefore:

• Our exchanges are not transactional. Whether a swirling solar system or an interdependent tree, we perceive this lineage as an ever moving collection of beings, human and nonhuman, that teach and learn each other. There is constant offering and receiving, resourcing and reinvesting. We trust in sacred reciprocity which allows ripples of exchange to radiate expansive nourishment. 
• We do not prioritize profit. The budgetary strategy that our Conjurer.Organizer.Oracle. engages seeks to meet the needs of the werk within this lineage and the beings who sustain it, especially the humans who devote themselves to that werk. Meeting those needs includes preserving some resources for drier seasons, but we are not guided by an unbound desire for more.
• We do our best not to exploit natural resources, human and nonhuman. We offer monetary and nonmonetary compensation to our collaborators in alignment with the resources we have, and respect when those resources do not align with their needs. Within the spaces we hold, we make offerings to the land and the beings who allow us that space. We also recognize that one of our growing edges is to invite more diligence about the earthly impact of the online tools and travel vendors we use.
• We are not interested in constantly producing more. We allow ourselves space to reflect and reconsider offerings – the frequency of courses, the length of sessions, the teachings and practices being centered – so that each offering is spiritually guided by an attunement to what supports our collective processing of the present apocalypse and the grief, rage, and hopelessness that this time calls forth. 

These are the intentional ways we practice anti-capitalism while recognizing that the foundational values that guide the ethic of our werk – joy, care, and empathy – are inherent disruptions to the principles of capitalist economics. Empathy cannot thrive in realms of exploitation. We do not calculate our care for transactional exchange. Our joy is nourished by the ways this devotion transforms us. These three values, of course, come from The New Saints, which is an essential guide for this lineage and offers us one more vital understanding in our philosophy of resources: opulence…

“Opulence is autumn, when the harvest is ready to be gathered and trees blossom in fiery oranges, yellows, and reds. Autumn reminds me that the land and plant life have labored to care for all of us and that this display is the final pageant before the rest that comes with winter. The autumn is always asking me to drink in this abundance, to feel restored and nourished.”

Through a practice of opulence, we honor the land with gratitude as we welcome the resources she shares with us. We engage in sacred rituals to offer spiritual energy in exchange for the nourishment we receive. As we gather the harvest, we do our best to make use of every element — from skins to fruits. Creativity and play, like art from branches and stems (have you ever practiced despacho with us?), are just as valuable as meeting material needs for food or constructing tools. And we preserve some of our bounty for seasons when the land needs rest and the skies are dry. These are the ancestral wisdoms that guide our relationship with abundance. 

We believe that we can be abundantly resourced without the harmful economics of capitalism. This truth shows up not only in Lama Rod’s teachings, but also in the core philosophies of collaborating partners like síofra, who writes about intrinsic worth and a sustainable generosity economy, and Nia, who writes about thriving. These are just two examples of how our team (particularly the Black Queer bodies) understands resourcing as a necessity of our devotion to this work of Lama Rod’s lineage, which is a facet of our sacred werk towards liberation.

“Opulence is perhaps the hardest of the [four sweet] liberations because it challenges us to deal with abundance…Some of us vehemently reject richness because we feel it jeopardizes our solidarity with those who struggle to get basic resources. Connecting to richness means that I am tuning in to the resources that are mine to consume.”

Our ancestral wisdom teaches us that being opulently resourced without capitalist exploitation is not only possible, it is a practice of liberation. We are not interested in puritanical performances of lack fed by histories of reactivity to the hoarding of monarchy. We are not practicing a spirituality that denies the body and therefore minimizes need and desire. To exist in our complexity is to recognize the grounding of spiritual practice in embodied experience. Therefore we must resource our bodies so that they will move us through the liberatory werk that we have chosen. 

Many spiritual traditions carry a practice of offering to the wisdom keepers. As a team, we often discuss the projections and assumptions we experience around familiar language such as tithes and dana. The current apocalypse presents us with spiritual teachers who treat tithes as transactional and amplifies institutions who expect dana to be a teacher’s sole sustenance. Both are a violence to the teacher and to their communities. In the lineage of Lama Rod, we want to honor the sacred labor of wisdom gathering and the sacred commitment of making an offering. 

We also choose to be honest about the realms in which we exist as we seek to transform them. This means that we acknowledge money as a necessary currency of exchange. In fact, money has become the primary recognized “universal” currency, not universal as in of-the-universe (which would be much more interesting) but universal as in accepted around the world in exchange for essential resources – shelter, food, healthcare, spaces of play, nourishment in nature, and more. 

As money is offered and received, we believe it gathers, transforms, and releases energy. This energy then follows the path of monetary exchanges. The true value of monetary exchange can be understood through the complexity of an accepted numeric rate (e.g. $1) intertwined with the intangible energetics that move with money. We know money is not the only exchange available to us and we work with this currency as one of many energetic exchanges in our practice of resourcing ourselves in opulence. 

What we Have and What we Need

Currently, the Dharmahood INC budget encompasses around $450,000 and still requires some personal investment from Lama Rod each year. Our greatest offering (68%) goes to resourcing Lama Rod and the generous collaborators who hold space for him to teach freely, facilitate connection and collective learning, and generously caretake our community. Beyond these people, we pay for technologies that bring ease to our work and support greater visibility for Lama Rod, and venues and supplies for in-person experiences (primarily in Atlanta and the UK). 

While registration fees cover a significant portion of those expenses along with the funds from Lama Rod’s speaking and teaching engagements, there is still a gap that is nourished by donations and Lama Rod’s investment. 2025 was the first year that we received a foundation grant to further resource our werk. This means not only that every donation is essential sustenance, but also that any decrease in registration fees has a direct impact on the nourishment of the werk. 

All money that is given is a tributary to the river of sacred offerings that allow Lama Rod to continue teaching and our team to continue their devotional collaboration. The generosity of those who have access to greater resources allows us the flexibility needed to support donation-based programs and discounted registration fees for those who need them. We do our best to never turn anyone away based on limited resources, even if that means we redirect them to a more financially flexible offering. 

We are grateful to have our essential needs met while calling in resources for our dreams. These dreams are primarily in support of our team – higher pay, in-person visioning retreats, health and retirement benefits that don’t solely rely on dominant systems. In 2025 and 2026, we were able to offer raises in compensation to most of our team and increase access to our current medical, dental, and vision benefits. We envision further growing this investment in our team because we recognize that the collaboration of these beings embodies and activates Lama Rod’s mission in practice: to teach folx how to heal and free themselves. 

Abundance is Indigenous and Earthly Wisdom

Before the system of capitalism, there were numerous economic practices within and between our communities. Just as the market was alive well before “marketing”, exchange and negotiation have been more common than “capital” and “price” for generations. As we remember the indigenous peoples we come from, we call upon our lineages of hustle and haggle — not as manipulation but in the practice of collaboratively finding our way to translate value across culture, lands, and times. As we practice the liberated futures we dream of, we have an opportunity to integrate systems of exchange that truly honor and serve our present needs. 

Expressing the amount of resources that truly sustain us invites sacred negotiation with the people and communities who seek and welcome Lama Rod’s teachings. This negotiation has the potential to transform us all just as the energy we give-and-receive, receive-and-give can nourish for seasons to come. Asking for abundance is not the same as reaching for profit, even if both practices use money in their exchange. Have you ever seen vines and moss growing on the sides of buildings? Nature is adaptable and makes use of her present circumstances; leaves do not feel shame for opening towards the sunlight. 

By keeping the ethics of the New Saint at the heart of our collaborations, we engage in an emergent practice of being well resourced and anti-capitalist. By asking for what we need, we welcome you into the expansive energetic exchange that contributes to opulence. As we invite you to give generously, we also invite you to welcome your own abundance. Are there other spaces and connections that are calling you to be more honest about the resources that sustain them? May you have what you need on the path of liberation.