Yarrow, Beloved
My dear human kin,
Greetings at the edge of the autumnal equinox arriving this year on Saturday, September 23rd. The second harvest. The last days of long light and the rising of the dark, a day of dynamic balance between light and night. During this season we welcome the in and the out breath, the double spiral, as the wheel moves us away from the masculine light, bright half of the year, and towards the dark, rich feminine.
Who was the first plant/tree/flower/bush/fruit you met who really changed your life?
Please take a moment, if you can, to remember this being, this creature, this kin.
I do mean a plant who really changed your life. After meeting them, seeing them, smelling them, hearing them, feeling them, you were never the same again.
Transformed.
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On Contemplations of The Sacred and The Secret
It has been a quiet walk for me in revealing myself to the world. The words I type so often are born from my dance with spirit, muse, sky and star and it has taken me some time to find the courage to share more of my work and contemplations.
In the spirit of courage and an offering of my work to the world, I’ll be sharing my words and sometimes my voice on Substack moving forward. I’ve discovered many wonderful writers, modern philosophers, storytellers, and thinkers on the platform and I feel called to share my work over there so this page, for now, will no longer be my only vessel for sharing.
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On The Hare & The Egg
Representing intuition, transformation, and the hidden teachings, the hare is a sacred and mythical creature in Celtic folklore.
Shapeshifting witches were thought to become the Hare and it is associated with magical secret women, with lunar goddesses and of course the moon.
These sacred, mystical creatures are venerated at the Vernal Equinox and if you’re in luck you may see one at dusk or dawn, coming out from their hidden places to share in the budding grasses and warming light…
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On The Sacred Dark - The Winter Solstice
This Winter Solstice, Animisma - All Things In-Spirited returns.
Your invitation, dear listener, dear kin, is one of slowness. One of safety. This first episode is a walking dream. Find a warm place, a comfortable spot, a place where you feel held. Light a candle if you have one, and close your eyes, entering the edge of a quiet dark forest. When you flutter your mind’s eye open, you will be guided along a path, walking as lightly, gently, and intentionally as the deer. Grace and shadow, cold and calmness. Rivulets of light streaming along a forest floor. A sacred grove of Solstice trees. Blessings. Kindness. Darkness.
Solstice.
Please join me on December 21, 2021.
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On Silence
Sacred silence.
In that space of slow air and small sound, sitting with eyes closed,
the world is sensed.
Tree turns, grass reaches, cloud lifts, breeze brushes.
Thoughts shift and slip, pulse and retreat.
Moss moves.
Blood pumps.
As the wind roars fiercely over peak, stillness remains.
Slow speech emerges, epochal mountain breath.
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On Ritual Bathing
Some baths are filled with precious herbs and flowers,
healing salts and treasured oils,
anointing the delicate nakedness of human skin.
Offerings of the Earth lovingly made into a tub, or pool of rocks,
or a bucket, drenched outside, watching crushed petals tumble down
adorning bare feet.
Sometimes, a cauldron dreaming,
cooks and tumbles flesh with twigs and bark,
watched over by a wizen hag.
A sacred offering given to a potion,
to bring some good into this world or
Another.
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On Nature & Sovereign Authority
One blessing of this human walk is that we can reclaim our own sovereignty with each dawn that rises. It is our divine birthright to live in harmony with ourselves and the world around us. This pursuit of sovereignty lays no claim over any other being; this is not about the pursuit of control and condemnation of humans or the Earth. This pursuit lays claim to all that is yours; every piece of your heart and mind, every word you speak, every action you undertake. To live a life replete with sovereignty is to live as a whole human in full accordance with the splendor of one’s soul. This reclamation of self results in inner peace and prosperity that begets outer respect, contemplation, patience, and honor…
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My Midnight Garden
All these years later my heart still expands when the leaves start to unfurl in the Spring and shoots gently push the mulch aside to drink in the sun and rain. While sitting with my plant kin early one morning last week, I heard a song rise from my garden and I’d love to share it with you here.
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On Purview & Permission
And so you, dear human cousin.
Born to this world confused, controlled, and condemned.
What is yours, in truth and care; what is yours to undertake?
The crocodile and the armadillo know their place and walk and swim and eat with honor.
They don’t take from the panther. They don’t take from the eel.
The salmon swims upriver beating its body until it finds the pools that will hold its children.
It offers itself to the bear, to the pine.
It offers itself and its memory as a mighty ancestor to its unknown kin.
With honor.
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On Sharing Shadow
I experienced quite a cruelty a few months ago. Brought down upon me by a person I had trusted, a person I had sought counsel from; a person I had loved. My ancestors who I trust beyond measure, warned me. Called to me…
I offer this in the spirit of sharing darkness. Not the darkness born from the deep Earth, the vast wilds of the cosmos, or the longest night of the year; the darkness born from the wounds that fester within a human heart.
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On Eagle Spirit
This is a challenging time in a year of marked change. The United States is undertaking an awakening and given this, I have been praying to Eagle spirit and asking that its divine blessings are bestowed upon the hearts of the humans who call these lands of beauty home….I pray that Eagle - great wisdom keeper - finds its way into each home and I ask that it offers us its spirit feathers of friendship and love to remind us of where we come from and who we are.
We are kin.
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On The Thin Places - Betwixt & Between
Between the here, between the now
Between the North, between the South
Between the West, between the East
Between the time, between the place
From the shell
The song of the sea
Neither quiet nor calm
Searching for love again
Mo ghrá (My love)
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On Litha & The Summer Solstice
May all be showered in the blessings of the Solstice.
May divine rays of light illuminate your heart and the hearts of humankind.
May the strength of the sun strengthen our collective resolve towards true evolution.
May the spirit of the butterfly guide you on its wing revealing that it is within the constriction of the chrysalis that transformation takes place.
May the power of the phoenix stoke the flames of courage in your heart to acknowledge, claim, and heal the wounds of your ancestors.
May the light of the divine shine upon the lineages of all - past, present, and future.
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On Luscious Wildness & Salty Freedom: A Sea Witch’s Ode to Beltane
I’ve been contemplating the more wild and untamed aspects of our collective human spirit lately. I’ve been journeying towards fierce wildness and fickle recklessness. In exploring the dark, craggy, salty depths of the oceans of the collective heart, I’ve been deepening and expanding my inner contemplations of true freedom, and what has revealed itself to me, pearl by pearl, is how honor and deep and abiding respect for all life, provides us with an effortless compass for living…
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Animisma - All Things In-Spirited
Animisma - All Things In-Spirited is a dream come to life.
In 2017 I asked my guidance how could I best be of service to humanity? What was my offering going to be towards healing, awareness, connectedness, and community? What were my path and my purpose? In response, they showed me three things.
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On Plants: Mystery, Majesty & Magic
This summer has been a magical one. I have had the honor of participating in a program called Partnering with the Plant People, an offering brought forward by the wise and beautiful Rachel Weitz. I’d like to take a moment, to reflect on a summer of wonder where ancestral knowledge has been awakened inside of me, where I have found wisdom, love, and awareness, and have felt the deep sight of community.
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On The Blessed Bee (A Celebration of Spring)
Long has been my fascination, appreciation, and loving partnership with one of humanity’s oldest and most important allies - the blessed and beautiful bee. These industrious, sacred creatures communicate via dance, pollinate trees, flowers, and crops, and produce a golden elixir that has been used for thousands of years as food, medicine, and for ritual connection. The plight of the bee in modern times is devastating and heartbreaking, and heralds a critical call to action by humanity: in losing the bees, we lose ourselves. Their health is our health, so their demise is our demise.
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On The Star Nations
When the air is clear, and the moon is dark, the great expanse of the universe reveals itself to us as a sparkling infinity of emptiness and light. When you look up towards the sky at night, what do you see? How does the sky make you feel? When I see the blanket of stars on a clear night, I find myself more easily connected to my soul’s celestial ancestors and a part of my spirit feels both expansive and home.
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On Wise & Well Ancestors
When I think of the thousands of people who came before me, I am humbled. Though I will bear no children of my own in this lifetime, my heart hope is that through my work, my words, and my heart, I can pass along at least some of the small seeds of the secrets of existence that have been passed on to me. From bloodline, from milkline, from soulline, from spiritline, I walk in concert with a cast of thousands. As do you.
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On The Winter Solstice
For eons, celebrations of the returning light have taken place on the Hibernal or Winter Solstice. It is a time for home, hearth, celebration, and an appreciation of life, represented by the evergreen trees whose emerald needles cradle the snow, and whose faint voices breathe into the darkest and coldest of nights, reminding us that though the earth takes pause, life remains everlasting.
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