Pink Coyote

Wild Food: Adventures in Foraging and Cooking with Earth Skills

Sourcing and eating wild food really opens your eyes, your mind and heart, in fact, your whole being, to a deep appreciation of and connection to the natural world around you! 

--Fergus the Forager

Wild Nettle Pie

I'm nuts about foraging. Our property is covered in nettles, mallow, dandelion, black sage, lavender, and clover, as well as seasonal flowers and fruit trees. I've enjoyed plucking and munching straight from the Earth- making teas, smoothies, and paving the way for more complicated dishes from this ungovernable lot of what are typically viewed as weeds.

I was gifted Guide to Wild Foods in 2003, when I had the opportunity to work for a CA native seed company, and I've clutched it ever since. It is a beautiful basic companion with good drawings and easy language for beginners. And doesn't Wild Table look tempting? It is becoming more simple to add fresh food to our diets as we learn how to identify, harvest and prepare what is sprouting up all around us: plant medicine cleverly disguised as visual flora.

Earth Skills, in my backyard at the foot of the Los Padres Nat'l Forest, gives my family a thrilling chance to learn more about how we can nibble off of the land. Located in our old neck of the woods, Frazier Park, CA, Jim Lowery and his charming wife, Mary, lead Visionquests and survival weekends in the spirit of Tom Brown, Jr. and Wilderness Awareness. I sprang at the chance to prepare local wild foods with them over the weekend.

Wild Rice with Mountaintop Currants

Lemon Pine Nut Muffins

My favorite part of our day together was grinding acorns into flour. I've always wanted to know how to address the issue of tannins, as some books make it sound like a complex process. It was as easy as cracking open the acorns on the grinding stone, tossing the funky ones aside and food processing them into a fine flour. We started with dried Valley Oak acorns, that the team had harvested locally last Fall.

My team ground up our acorns and then poured about a gallon of cold water over them to leach out the tannins, and then spread the wet meal out on a cookie sheet to dry in the sun.

Acorns can be purchased, but there are so many varieties, that most of us have one kind or another growing at the edges of town. The best time to harvest is usually in September. Our recipe for Orange Acorn Bread called for a blend of wheat flour and acorn flour, but when I make it next, I'm going to sub oat flour for wheat. I like it's earthy, gritty quality.

Cooking in a hall with a dozen people coordinating a dozen different dishes had a soup-kitchen vibe, and a Thanksgiving spirit. I was paired with two guys-a park ranger/naturalist from Ventura County and a fellow from San Jose who teaches urban youth how to interact with the wild. I learned so much just from our chats while we were up to our elbows in acorn mush. It was awesome.

In addition to the Wild Nettle Pie, another team made Nettle Soup. It was really easy to make and everyone loved it. Nettles are rich in vitamin C and Iron, and can be used wherever you would use spinich or dense greens.

Cream of Nettle Soup with Potatoes

(as shared by Jim and Mary Lowry of Earth Skills, with slight modifications)

1 lb. fresh nettles

1/2 lb potatoes

1 leek, white part only

3 1/4 tsp butter

1 3/4 c. water

1/3 c. cream

Melt butter over medium heat and sautee leeks until soft. Add potato and water and cook until tender. Blanche raw nettles until tender and stir into soup. Puree in blender, returning the mixture to pan. Add cream, season with salt and pepper.

I'm going to experiment with this recipe until it reaches nirvana. It's very close to it- however, I think it might be yearning for some crumbled turkey bacon...

Big Mama Gaia offers her bounty to us each season. Receiving from her inspires me to think about all of the ways I want to thank Her.

Playing On a Rainy Day

The SouLodge page is HERE. Hope to see you behind the flap!

Coyote Parenting

On many occasions I've considered my own intuition to be faulty. But for many years I've been testing a theory that is grounded in the notion that there is no such thing as a mistake, or no wrong path. 

I credit parenting, and my personal journey with Coyote for this, because Coyote is one who does what she does and lives through it. There is no such thing as a wrong turn. We may disapppoint or hurt ourselves or others on the path of life, however, what happens, happens. There is no denying it. And no amount of shaming or guilting ourselves about it will bring about justice or balance. It seems that the antidote for life's mishaps and wrong turns is simply to Trust: to trust that there is a reason, that there are valuable teachings on the dark roads. And that none of them have to do with medicating the feelings around the lessons. When open, insights always flow in eventually.

Charlie

Aren't guilt and shame just medicines that don't work very well? The ethic seems to come from very old and ingrained religious ideas about penance, profuse apology and punishment for being human. They seem to be more leg traps that can take years or even lifetimes to recover from. The human condition seems so desirous of being divine or divine-like, that there is no room for actually being human.

When raising children, this ethic can do so much harm. I don't understand punishing religion and thought. It seems counterproductive to encouraging life. I mean, can you see yourself pouring boiling water on your plants that don't flower on time or produce the sort of crop that you want? With children, punishment also just doesn't make sense. It results in a shrinking back from life.

For women, it has been said that esteem does not come factory installed. If this is true, then I can imagine why it is easier to loiter in a leg trap of shame or guilt, rather than fight one's way out in order to live. What I find again and again, is that women are willing to fight for life. Not just the breathing part, but the thriving my-life-is-a-gift aspect of living into full expression and freedom. Seems it's typically shame, guilt, old punishing values, and comparison to others' flourishing lives (unworthiness) that usurps the process of life. When my mom became sober over ten years ago, everyone in my family felt a huge heave toward life. It was intense and palpable, really uncomfortable. And took a very long time to grow into, even for those of us around her.

What can be born when we release control of past mistakes and decide to live with the present is Faith. When we believe that our goodness and truth will find their own way, we can relax into being. A great peeling away from old ways is occuring. I say grateful prayers every day for being able to be a part of it.

It is a great injustice

and a monumental

act of cruelty

for any religion

to make someone fear God.

-Hafiz

Fox + SouLodge 4.0 Giveaway

Fox has been calling me out for over a year with some urgency. She's run in front of my car, lured me down a hill outside a restaurant in Big Sur, and showed up in numerous dreams, paintings and writings. She helped me discover some of the work I would be doing with SouLodge.

Driving into town one day two weeks ago, she called to connect again. I stopped the car abruptly to wrap her warm body in a towel, and take her home for sacred burial. I received a large dose of medicine from her that day and am still working with it now. She is a mysterious creature, and a mighty totem, despite her petite physique. With the help of a friend and our two girls, we honored Fox and gave her back to the Earth with blessings. Part of walking my path means taking care to honor the medicine, as I was taught to.

My guys were gone camping, and so I opened the Earth myself this time, placing her bundle between Mama Sycamore and Grandmother Sage. Thank you to all who gave support and blessings the day she went to the other side.

Honoring the sacred lifecycle.

Fox has come in, along with Red-Tailed Hawk, Great Blue Heron, and Elk to accompany our Eagle eyesight into the East with Spring Lodge teachings. It is a very strong Medicine Wheel to walk this time around. After restoring in the North, it's time to warm up the soil and plant the seeds for the remainder of the creative year. The fourth Lodge running will be pretty fiery, with an emphasis on soaring high without burning out.

So let's give away some seats by the fire, shall we?  

THREE winners will be announced SATURDAY MARCH 10th.

*Enter with a comment, and be entered again for a tweet, a blog post, and again for a Facebook share. Be sure to let me know in your comment how many entries to put you down for.

**Those who register by March 15th will be invited to the Spring Equinox call to take place on Saturday, March 17th. I'll discuss the animals who'll be joining us, as well as how to do some clearing and planting ceremony for the Spring Equinox taking place on Tuesday, March 20th.

Registration closes on March 26th. Class begins on Monday, April 2nd.

Gratitude to YOU, the awakened women who walk the path, to the creatures that work as allies with us, to our ancestors, to the Four Directions, to Mama Earth and Father Sky, who teach us all we need to know.

******

For me Soulodge has been life enhancing and nothing short of miraculous.  As a person who strives to connect, remain open, and worship Mother Nature and all of her critters on a daily basis, I had no idea how much more was available.  How connecting with your own soul can make one a happier, stronger, more fulfilled individual.

 

I have done many classes and workshops before and they have been interesting and fun.  Soulodge, on the other hand, has rocked my world!  Giving me faith when my own was waning, making me laugh (at finding out how many carry rose quartz close to their bosom) and making me cry when I feel the human-ness of the struggles we all face.

 

Pixie Campbell is a pioneer for the soul.  She has started with her workshops a revolution for wise and wild women to gather, create, support, connect, conspire and heal themselves, each other and the world.  I am blown away by her courage, honesty and the beauty with which she portrays the balance of being 'strong as mountain and gentle as feather'.

 

I will never forget my time in Soulodge and my whole life will forever be enhanced by the lessons I have learned here.

 

I bow deeply and gratefully to Pixie Campbell ~ The 'Queen Bee' of Soul.

 

--A.Wingfield

 

 **WINNERS OF THREE SEATS IN LODGE ARE...**

Nicole, Terra and Petrea. I've replied to your posts below. Welcome into Lodge, sisters! Send me an email at soulodgeretreatsatgmaildotcom and you'll receive your welcome instructions in your inbox. Thank you all for playing! I hope to see you under the flap on April 2nd.

**Those who register by March 15th will be invited to the Spring Equinox call to take place on Saturday, March 17th. I'll discuss the animals who'll be joining us, as well as how to do some clearing and planting ceremony for the Spring Equinox taking place on Tuesday, March 20th.

Blessings, all. Aho!

The Juicy Details

Soujourning with women fills me up. Circling sacred is deep and personal to me, whether I'm the spaceholder or being held. Time in nature with incredible femmes lights my fire in all ways.

Such was the weekend at Teahouse and Point Reyes. If you've never taken a workshop at Teahouse, you must know how warm and inviting it is. The sun streams in the windows, falling across oversized mugs, piles of boxes of teas, little fists of stuffed grape leaves, open bars of spicy chocolate... The women who operate out of the space are well known in the arts community for prolific paintings and vintage-feel photos. They know their colorful, inspiring stuff.

Circle was held with fourteen of us, four journeys around the Medicine Wheel, prayer ties, a loungey lunch in the sunshine, and closing ceremony by Strawberry Creek. A few who came had not journeyed before, and all are exploring the various ways to see and think more symbolically and connected-to-nature about their lives.

 

As always, but not to homogenize how I feel about the power of women who gather, the caliber of dames was off the charts. And you know, my thoughts on this have nothing to do with what they do in the world, but with how deeply they are willing to go. Each time I sit in this distinct and never-ending shape, I am affirmed in my belief that every woman is a healer, every one a mother, a nurturer, a stewardess of the Earth in her own distinct way.

photo by Dominique Ridley

A magic moment during the third round occurred when each woman took a journey to obtain a message for the person lying next to her. A goddess with a goddess's name had received a blessing from Snake for her neighbor and we sat in disbelief when she was complete and the recipient stood up and unveiled a giant Snake tattoo that wrapped up her leg and up to her thigh. Magic happens, and it's very affirming and transformational. I think being seen by someone who doesn't know you and isn't attached, carries mystical medicine.

A magical meal was shared at Tacubaya, tortilla soup and chile relleno I won't soon forget.

More magic unfolded as we travelled out the next day to Point Reyes National Seashore, a no-longer-in-use turn of the century creamery with barns still standing at the edge of a Tule Elk preserve.

Elke May sounds a terrific lot like "alchemy"

I walked barefoot along the cool trail, where the Elk wander down, deeply breathing the air, drinking up the sun, and enjoying the company of some mighty fine women. Elk is a mother for me, sturdy and nourishing, comforting and serene. Communing with her energy ran my cup over.

Thank you SO much to the women who gathered and made beauty and medicine with me!

Weekend at Teahouse and Point Reyes Elk

This weekend unfolded beautifully beginning with a Saturday live Lodge journey circle at Teahouse Studio in Berkeley, CA with a very open-hearted group of women whom I would like to share with you here. Promise. I'll give a full report of the serious MAGIC this week.

Then it gave way to a hike out to Point Reyes Station, after winding up the curvaceous roads through a magical fern forest and past many clovery fields of cows.

photo by Elke May

I'm so grateful to my co-pilots, who kept me inspired, chatted, coffee'd and fed on our journey, and to SouLodge clansister Alara Castell, who created the below video for us to recount our magic moments in Elk country.

 

OMG She Stole My Life!

Something I give a lot of thought to, consciously and abstractly, is the phenomenon of women comparing themselves to others. Do men do this? Honestly? It seems like nothing blows a hole in a nicely rolling tire more than the feeling that someone else is doing it better than us. Or, ever get that false sense of confidence from thinking you're doing it a bit better than at least one other person, so that carries you a mile or two, until they ride up on your ass and pop a hole in that flimsy theory, too?

There are so many things to stop a woman. Too many.

I remember picking up Spilling Open by Sabrina Ward Harrison when I was in my late twenties, (headed back to art school) and upon devouring it, thinking, "This young and beautiful artist stole my life! Tart!"

I don't know that I really believed it, because though I have stumbled over my perceived inadequacy many times, seldom have I been stuck in a creative quagmire for long. In the end- not long after reading Sabrina's works, whom I'd erstwhile fashioned a graven image of- I discovered that, indeed, she did not steal my life, and that my very own life and expression of it was waiting for me just up around the bend- and that I could feel free to meet it whenever I was ready to face that my expressive arts weren't really going to look like the work of those I admired. The whole process was going to be a bit rougher, more informal, messier, tattered around the edges, fumbling, frustrating, sometimes even foolish.

I am blessed to create what I create, to birth what I birth, to hold a safe container for others' messy processes to wriggle out into the world. My extremely original writerly comadre Marybeth told me that it's the midwife's job to sit on her hands and sing songs in the other room, while all-the-while trusting that mama can do it, that baby can do it, and that all will come into being just as it is meant to. I'm so grateful to her for this metaphor.

Sometimes we have to do this for ourselves. Ego and Personality can sit, godparentlike, in the other room, singing sacred and holy favorite hymns, while true path is born from the unconscious into the conscious realm. Shamans laugh at this reality we live in, calling it the illusion, while the inner realms- journey and transparent contact with higher dimensions-THAT is reality. It is that very transcendent place which birth occurs from.

No one can touch what happens in our dreams, in our journeys, our active imaginations, and meditations. The sacred realm is ours alone. And though we are all connected beyond space and time there, unified, spirit-wise, what is very deep within us comes forth when we make the journey inward to meet it.

What I mean to say, really, is that we can strike an agreement here. We can agree that we are not afraid of each other. We can agree to trust that my baby will not look or act like your baby once born. We can agree to do the innerwork to the best of our abilities in order to honor our one precious life and the expressions that beg to be birthed. You can do this, and so can your sweet, creative lovechild.

I'll keep the fire burning and the songs singing in the other room while you labor.

 

************************

Desire to Inspire winners are Laura and Joanna. Email me with your addresses, lucky ones.

Giveaway to Winter Lodge

In my haste and delirium last week, I was not clear about WHEN the drawing for two passes to the upcoming Winter Session of SouLodge. Thank you, Jodi Crane, for bringing it to my attention! I indicated last week that I'd be giving the passes away on Friday, when what I meant to say was that I'd announce the giveaway on Friday, drawing to be done on Thursday of this week.

Sweep, sweep the den. Housekeeping details!

So yes, please do share the video at your blogs and comment to enter. I'd also love to know if there is anyone who would like to sponsor another woman's journey around the Medicine Wheel. Winter's Session focuses on Restoration, recharging and drawing energy up from the deep, warm Earth. I expect it to be...cozy, fluffy, winter nesty, warm, supportive, elemental, wise, centering.

 

There has been such a tremendous response to this video of ritual and letting go. My heart is bursting with joy at the thought of women on a path together-that so many of us are unified by how we gather and release, receive and give away-the cycle that bonds us in many different ways. I have loved hearing how your partners are sneaking their slips of paper into your bundles before they surrender and just make their own, how your children stood by fires this weekend, patiently awaiting the magic moment to let go of what was holding them back-to speak this to you is a huge gift in itself. I have loved seeing your altars, your feathers, your magic tools, your faces firelit.

 

Mother of All Releasing, Arizona from Latisha Guthrie on Vimeo. Thank you, Herbmama, for shining your light and sharing your gathering with us!

I'd love to share some of your images, if you would like to point me to them.

Photo courtesy of Mother Rising. Wendy, you give beautiful Solstice gatherings!

A warm and cozy Monday to you...

A Week for the Books

This is the week of all weeks. I'm pleasantly stunned by all that is being released around here and in the ripples that surround me.

This Friday, December 16th, is the day I'll be sharing the beautiful video made by twelve women and I to share with you as an offering for the Winter Solstice. The Mother of All Releasings Ceremony feels so big. There are so many women, tribes, and families who are stepping forward, lighting a fire and tossing in the un-needed, most of which is hinged on FEAR. This week I'll be baring my soul, making my request of the Universe, asking all women to open up and LET GO. If you are hosting a Solstice party or gathering this weekend, the video will put some swirl in your skirt and bring some sacred to your space in preparation.

I will also be giving away two passes to Winter SouLodge on Friday. You heard me right. Class begins January 16th. Tee hee.

This Thursday, I'll be attending the official launch party, with an enormous collection of my friends and community, to celebrate the release of Christine Mason Miller's book Desire to Inspire: Using Creative Passion to Transform the World. THE WORLD. Putting our creativity to work and living our vision has the power to CHANGE THE WORLD. Yes, it does. I'm so proud to have shared writings and a project in this book.

 

Christine and I have been friends for eleven or more years, when she was manufacturing a greeting card line (Swirly) and I was manufacturing sleepwear (Napcake). We collaborated on pajama designs then and I knew I would want to work with her for as long as she'd have me on her team. At the time, my mission was to create a beautiful permission to rest and Christine totally got it-we were taking big leaps of creative faith at the same time. Jennifer Louden, another super-shero from back in the day, has interviewed Christine at her blog, and reading it reminded me how far it's possible to come in such a short time. From artist to visionary doesn't take long when you line your head up with your heart.

Also on Thursday, the new Squam Art Workshops website is going live. Oh, yes. That is all I can say.

I've created a foundation course for SouLodge, which will be available as a PDF e-Lodge this weekend. Wheeeee and awrooooooo! I've been feeling called to do this since the Summer session ended, and because we covered so many wondrous basics, that I thought it would be really helpful to those just coming in, and answer many questions that come up around what's helpful to know while waiting for a session to begin, or to work the lessons in solitary before coming into the community fully present and accountable. For all of you who have asked for this, thank you. You push me to keep my muzzle to the grindstone, and birth what is ready to be received.

I'm also taking a really huge leap of faith. I will tell you about it when the time is right, but please hold a light for me as I release something I didn't think I was going to, and embrace something I thought I was going to let go of. I am clearing the way for something I once thought impossible. Crazy risky. But crazy good.

I have so much passion for this community, this sacred women's circle. I have a vision in my mind each time I come to this space: I see women with babies on their backs, bread being kneaded, water being carried, the sun drawn down, poetry sang to the rising moon, the fire in the center of it all, skirts swirling, women trusting, letting fly with the spiral dance...this vision comes to me every time I come to write here, and I feel flooded with gratitude every.single.time.

photo by Christine Mason Miller

 

Serendipitous Romance

I've been on spin cycle since leaving for Squam a month and a half ago. It's been a retreat sandwich with chickenpox in the middle. I'm relieved that all are complete and went as well as well could be (well, the retreats were FAR better than the pox) and now I can cozy down into Lodge and get with mah peeps for the season. I'm so excited for it to begin. While I was gone it *completely* sold out...

Serendipity lived up to it's name, full of AMAZING WOMEN, DIVINE SCENERY and INCREDIBLE FOOD, worthy-of-all-caps and standing in the kitchen at all hours.

Here's the photo recap:

Above the clouds. It always amazes me that we can do this.

The clarity of Nag's Head. Bonfires, dolphins, dips in Mama Atlantica, questions answered by the stars...

Goldmining. Classes were wonderful and I even got to paint a little bit.

Susie Pease, Writer. Artist. Busted.

Shelly Norris, Wild Woman and Goddess.

Jennifer Beltoff, Writer and Artist. Goddess of Patience and Winged Creatures.

Jen Gray, Weasel Sister of the Fire Clan, digging deep into the den.

Student work under the blue marlin.

Medicine Circle. Oval. My favorite class.

Home. Where my heart is.

 

 

The Mother Of All Releasings Ceremony + *giveaway winner*

The Moon is in her full splendor tonight as I write this. I am filled with so many feelings surrounding your releasing comments. We all have so much fear, not-enoughness, anxiety, doubt, control, anger, grief...the old baggage, as someone called it. This connection with each of you, over what we are holding onto...well, you know I consider it my life's work to Let Go. To release again and again whatever stands between me and peace. Me and love of one and all, my foolish self included. So this has touched me so deeply, and come at the perfect time.

Misty mentioned that she wanted to "shake it" and I remembered these words when I sampled (and pre-ordered) Florence's new record today, Ceremonials. A beautiful sign! It popped into my field of vision at iTunes just as these thoughts were percolating in the cauldron of my consciousness, meditating on just how heavy the loads are that we carry. We sometimes forget that in order to keep our baskets full of what nourishes us, we must move on from the old.

 

I drove around a little bit tonight, shaking it off, and thinking about what a powerful ritual it would be if we all gathered collectively, on the same day around the world, to Shake It Off. Let it go. And as Florence says, "I'm always dragging that horse around... tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground..."

 I danced in the driver's seat. I threw the devil off my back.

And that's when it hit me like a blast of light.

WE NEED A CEREMONY FOR LETTING GO.

I've created them many times, but never for a large group. And so there came a vision.

Here is how the full moon evening unfolded in my nest from there:

I sat in my studio and put together a Letting Go Kit, which I decided to mail out to each of my Autumn SouLodge sisters the week we begin class on October 31st. It will include the simple ingredients we will need to create a charged-up little container to hold all that we want to release.

The session will end on December 4th, and we will have once again circled around the Medicine Wheel and worked with the elements that have come up for us, looking at where our resistance is, flushing out what wants to come into the light and be expressed and embraced, come face to face with our guides and creature totems, working with them to overcome the obstacles that give us access to Source in a way that is meaningful to each of us. We will have discovered what no longer serves and how we want to proceed. We will declare it.

THEN, when Winter Solstice arrives on December 22nd, we can all take our little packages stuffed with fear, grief, not-enoughness, doubt, rage, disappointment...ALL OF IT to the fire. We will take it to the fire: be it at a roaring bonfire, a fireplace, a chiminea on a deck, or a firesafe bowl in our kitchen sinks, and we will burn those babies up. ALL ON THE SAME DAY, creating an agreement with our sisters around the world to Let It Go. To dance around the sacred fire of our awesomeness and watch our bundles go up in flames! Can you imagine?!

And all just in time for the New Year, which is by no accident, 2012, the year the Mayan calendar beckons us to move into the next dimension of consciousness. The one in which fear, doubt, self-loathing, and not-enoughness, are not needed. They have tried to serve us well as protective forces, however, their time is up. The darkest day of the year is the perfect time to create energy around this letting go. How can we go wrong if we collect all of our desires to release, and do it in sacred, feminine ceremony in the company of hundreds of other women on the cusp of the return of the Light?

Time and again, the image of dancing around a fire comes up for us in journeywork in the Lodge. It is time to make this real!

I was guided to call this The Mother Of All Releasings Ceremony.

I'll make a huge deal out of this on my blog, as well as in my public spaces, I'll provide you with buttons to share at your home sites if you wish, discover a way for those of you who cannot attend Lodge to participate, and share all of the details of how to take advantage of this potential for transformation and make it real. I'll share a video from around a fire to connect us all in this rite of passage on the day of Winter Solstice.

There will be flames. And there will be dancing! And there will be releasing.

This is an exercise in letting go and of binding the medicine. Of owning your power as an intuitive woman, which you do not have to try to be- it is your birthright.

Judgment, guilt, negativity, unkindness to our bodies, shame, stuckness -Mama Earth is always ready to take it from us, and together with the alchemy of fire, make something useful out of it- leaving us free to TRUST that we are so much more than what we needlessly carry around.

We get to take the first steps as a community, TOGETHER, to shake it off, in the Mother Of All Releasings Ceremony, on the upcoming Solstice.

 

***************************************

Thank you to Lauren of VisionWise, for sharing her work so generously with us here. She is offering a 15% discount at her shop using the Coupon Code: INTENTION.

Erica Wilson won the giveaway for the pouch, and she said, "Blessed be this season of release and balance! I wish to let go my belief that I do not deserve the beauty and blessings of my life. I deserve to be loved and can let it all in. I would like to cultivate the belief that I have valuable and beautiful and powerful things to share with the world. Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful. Blessed be our Journey."

I couldn't agree more. Blessed be our journey as women in love with our lives and living our visions.

SouLodge registration is open now and will close on October 24th.

Lessons In Need

One of the messages that came up for me many times as I prepared for and journeyed to Squam was one of traveling light.

I packed huge boxes of supplies and sacred tools which was far too many, I loaded up on layers of clothing, not knowing how that tricksy New England would feel on my California skin-and true to form it was hot at times and absolutely freezing at others. I didn't want to wear the same jeans under my hempy skirts with my ratty boots that I didn't care if paint fell on, but also wanted to have some spiffy items because ragamuffin is a look that kind of follows me around. Some things are hard to change. Overpacking is somewhat of a disease. My fantasy was that I would ship everything out beforehand, pray the boxes arrived and then just take my little carry-on and save the $50 in baggage check. In the end, I still ended up checking a roller bag.

Another artist and I had a dock chat about all of the stuff we humans carry on our backs from place to place, and it's always been a subject that feels important to keep digging into. I've gone from living in under 900 square feet with a partner, three dogs and two cats to trying to fill up 2200 square feet and never making it to the third floor most days. I've cleaned two and a half bathrooms for more years than I wish to count. And sometimes it feels like a blessing to have squatted on acreage with a trampoline and open space to roam. Other times it feels like too many precious hours are spent tending the grounds and organizing walk-in closets.

My lakeside mate told me of her experience post-Katrina, about seeing an entire town's personal belongings hanging from the trees and filling the streets after water levels floated homes up off of their foundations and left their drawers out in the branches. My heart hurt to think of what we hold onto that will be here long after we are gone, things that will not go back to the Earth anytime soon. So many of us value the fate of the planet, and yet we refuse to surrender what gives us the fleeting and illusory comfort of home. Letting go is my work in this lifetime, on all levels imaginable.

What are we really building?

As we search for a dwelling in Ojai, I'm looking at what another friend/fairy godmother calls *true need*. Do my children really need their own bedrooms and privacy, or would it bond them to share close quarters? Do I need to schlep every shovel, rake and hoe or can I use my hands, hire a gardener? Where do I want to create time and how can I do that by choosing the space that is enough, but not overly maintenence heavy? Do we need three boxes of Christmas decorations, or do I want to vacation away from home during the holidays where the season can be celebrated in communion with my children instead of consumption and waste? What sort of world view do I want them to experience?

I'm even looking at the acrylic paints I use. Those won't be breaking down soon. The wood panels I create on- can I stretch hemp fabric over some branches or scrap wood and make that work? 'Cause I'm really considering it. How will my art change to come into alignment with what is really important to me? I think of Mama Earth and the green woods I just left. How little I needed while I was there feels a little bit Walden and a lot doable.

All these questions and more, as I arrive back with a suitcase that still sits unpacked, empty plastic bottles to recycle, because it's too hard to find a fill-up joint for my kleen kanteen while on the road.

How will the Earth look one hundred years from now because of me and my family? What do we want to make sure we leave behind? What would we like to be assured that we won't leave behind?

Squam, travel, planning a move-they all tie into an opportunity to make the kind of changes I'm yearning for.

He doesn't require much.

Squam Snapshot

I'm home...ahhhhh. And determined to try my very dangdest to allow this one to be *gentle*.

There'll be PLENTY more to say about what was the most transformative SAW of all for me-as the week goes on, I'll spill over out of my cup some of what filled me up about this magical gathering. Plentiful art, heartful breakthroughs, new language, dancing on the frontiers of ideas...I'm full. Full up. Pardon my fragmented run-ons, as it all swirls.

If you attended Squam this Fall, and need to know how to access the SAW Animal Totem Workshop, email me! I'll get you all set up.

Here are a few gushy teasers I can't hold back, however, and must be paraded through town now. I'm going to shamelessly name drop, because Squam is so about a whole bunch of awesome people in one beautiful wood, and the interconnectedness of ALL of us.

Having happy birthday sung to me by over a hundred hot artists as I walked up to the Longhouse for group photo.

Speedboating out to Rattlesnake Island with Maya Hackett of urbanorganica, my comrade in shedding of old skins and massive *whoa mama* rebirth.

The staff are the very best and most helpful people in the world. I want to bring them all home with me because I fear I may never see some of them again.

Lying on the docks and jumping in the frigid lake with Flora Bowley. I had no idea I was going to fall so deeply in love with this woman. She altered my cellular makeup.

Learning so much about The Care and Keeping of Artists from my roommate extraordinaire, Jen Lee. I need to tattoo the entire content of the book up and down my arms.

Not cooking or cleaning. I never take that one for granted for a minute.

Laughing my ASS off with my second-time roommate, Maya Donenfeld. If I told you about our shenanigans, I'd have to kill you. She's wild under that burlap exterior, in the most honest and funny way. Plus, she's one of the most nurturing and caring women I've ever had the pleasure of being separated from at birth.

The fires. Something about the woodfires and the lake ice in the old iceboxes makes me feel like I'm at camp in the twenties. Everything my eye sees is picture-perfect and timeless.

Eating, dancing, conversing and simply being near Misty Mawn. It's like being in the company of an angel. She's an archetype all her own.

The Fox that ran through the wood right next to the building I taught in. It had a wee critter in it's mouth and was on a serious mission to dine. I wanted to grab my camera, but it was one of those moments that I would have missed had I tried to immortalize it. She was grey and beautiful and gave me much food* for thought for the remainder of the weekend. Partly because of this.

Generosity! I received so many unexpected surprises, some birthday related and some not.  I love the cycle of giving and receiving. It feels so good to send abundance around the circle, doesn't it?

I'm going to have to talk about my students later. Because they are a blessing that need their very own post. The women. The women!! I'm always blown completely away by what takes place in these workshops. Metamorphosis. Honoring. Rites of passage. Stepping out of fear and into power. I LIVE for this.

Elke said:  "I wanted to thank you again for the amazing experience of being in your presence, under your guidance and in your support.  You are such a grounded, wise, and inspiring woman.  And an excellent teacher to boot!!  You glide between inspiring us, to challenging us, to supporting us, to kicking us in the pants!  It was perfect".

So much to share. Such very big movement and gentle waves to ride it on. 

All Roads Lead To a Lodge

Indoors or outdoors, go and find a sanctuary just for YOU.

 

A Manifesto of Faith

Faith, 2011.

It's been a long time since I've writ a manifesto. I've been hearing a lot of fear in circulation, so here's my response. If I missed one, feel free to add it in the comments. Let's make sure to cover it all. Here goes:

 

I have faith that because I am a woman, I am a fertile, creative being.

I have faith that my wild ways are teaching me valuable lessons about loving deep, exploring the frontiers, and transcending judgment of myself and others.

I have faith that my acts of creation have a healing effect on the planet, and that I do not need to personally deliver aid to a third world country in order to spread mass seeds of goodness and beauty.

I have faith that I deserve the time to create in my unique way.

I have faith that my children will be okay when I do this.

I have faith that my partner will be okay (and not abandon me) when I do this.

I have faith that creating my works is not, nor will it ever be, a selfish act.

I have faith that when something shifts for me, and I change, my dear ones will still love and appreciate me.

I have faith in my ability to connect with Source and download inspiration from Sky, Fire, Waters, and Earth.

I have faith that I will overcome feeling guilty about taking time for myself.

I have faith that I'll get to a place where nothing will stop me from creating when I require it.

I have faith that I can clear the obstacles that stand between me and my exquisite creative life, and I am not afraid to ask for help with this.

I have faith that my creative acts can sustain me.

I have faith in my ability to find out what wants to be expressed from deep within me that is my very own.

I have faith that I'll be able to balance my spiritual creative life with my family life.

I have faith that my creative babies know how to birth themselves, that I am the carrier and the nurturer, but ultimately they have a life of their own to live, and I must give it to them.

I have faith that I will find my creative community and spiritual sisters.

I have faith that I am not Too Much, Too Big or Too Vocal.

I have faith that I am not Too Little, Too Small or Too Quiet.

I have faith that my voice and my messages are important and create vitality for others.

I have faith that the vibrant threads that are my future projects are on their way to me now.

I have faith that my work, art and life will be well supported.

In this I Trust.

 

 

Alignment

Yesterday I did some journalling to clear my head about some things-about where I want to go, about SouLodge, about all of the work that I seem to be immersed in...always. I love to work, and sometimes it's an obsession that becomes an obstacle to the higher purpose of my short life. As soon as I became clear about what it is I really want to do, you know, with my life (!) two plants, a stone and an animal came to me. I wrote them in block letters on my journal page and my mission became even more clear.

I always find it rather humorous to discover this need to realign myself. It's kind of like cleaning the dryer lint out of the tray: things/thoughts/ideas just get all clouded together and I find myself walking in circles, but not circulating meaningfully.

I bound the medicine of what it is I'm living up to in a bundle pouch, making something just for me-which is something I haven't done in years. All of this bundling for others, and none had really encompassed all that I wanted to affirm. I think this is why I'm enjoying teaching medicine-making in the Lodge so much. Only *we know* what we need the most, how to bring it all together, not leaving out important parts, when it comes to the overall vision. It's felt so right to teach women how to do this for themselves. Just a few tools and a bit of inspiration, and women are lighting up and recognizing exactly what they need! Community is so beautiful this way. Making the way back to our roots seems so easy when we realize that we're not alone...

For my personal medicine, I chose Yarrow because Matthew Wood called it "natures band-aid" and it's stuck with me ever since. I've experienced this sister as one who is like a balm on fears and ouchies and because reverence for the Earth is high on my list, I felt she needed to be in there. I'm feeling once again, overwhelmed by the amount of waste that goes out of just my home and so I'm renewing my commitment to reduce that dramatically. I've been buying used as much as possible for a long time and it's food packaging that really bums me out. So, YARROW. To keep me conscious about this beautiful place that nourishes us from birth and takes us back at the end of our lives so graciously.

I chose Coyote, which is no major surprise, but when I took inventory of my values, I saw how important this tricky one is. Bringing so much laughter and humor to my life lessons, I've become utterly dependent on the ultimate survivalist who travels fearlessly everywhere, adapting like no other. Coyote connects us all with her warm magic, her foibles, her humility. She parades her right to life in and around the hills, on the shores, and right on the city streets. I truly don't know where I'd be without this companion by my side.

Rose quartz is in there, because the deeper I get into the bones of myself I realize that love is the only thing that matters, and noticing every day that we are more ONE than we are not, this was an easy choice. Healing the world, one heart at a time.

Tobacco is there for gratitude and an offering to Spirit for making this life possible and awakened.

And Butterfly Bush literally called me from across the yard for Beauty and the sweet aroma of existence. Abundantly, she grows and feeds butterflies, skippers, bees, and hummingbirds, expanding her reaches over my neighbors fence and beautifying even his junk pile. She attracts the best- her beautiful equals in the quest for nectar- and I know my life has this blessing on it, too.

I added a couple of other things which I'm keeping secret because superstitious rumor has it that one is not supposed to reveal everything in one's magic satchel. It seems in keeping with the feminine to carry a bit of mystery with us at all times.

The beautiful bundle pouch was made by my sacred sister, Lauren, who creates medicine bags and all kinds of delicious goodies, while nursing her month old baby boy and unschooling her bright light of a daughter. Her store is a bit less abundant than usual, because I am taking many of her medicine items to Squam with me in two weeks to share them on vendor night. I had to have first pick and chose the above pictured pouch to put all of my items into. She inspires me to walk with more reverence, always.

Blessings to you as you find your way, dear sisters.

Holding On

Fox Dreams: Regenerating Our Sacred Tails

Soulfooting, 2010.

I had a dream last night that I want to share. It's one of those dreams that just blasts with rays of incoming light and Truth. Don't you love those dreams? When you wake up and have it all figured out? *wink*

~~~

Miles' birthday party was taking place in my home, and I'd been told by my partner that he'd invited a gentleman from work to come and bring along his family.

My house was flooded with unexpected people, but most notably, the affluent man, who brought many, MANY daughters. All were playing with their children on swingsets and with toys, filling up every corner of my house and garden. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that they all looked rather ill and had whiteheads on their faces. Their eyes were, in many cases, almost swollen shut. They were all sisters, and they all bore a very similar resemblance, they even seemed to all be about the same age.

Down the garden path, happily putting some distance between myself and my numerous odd guests, I saw a red Fox pop up near a bright green tree, standing out in my visual field on the dismal landscape.

She came near me and I saw that her tail had been removed. It was ragged, stubbed and brushy, having been removed in a haste, perhaps. More and more distressed foxes of all colors, some wearing dog collars, came around wanting to follow me out the gate to escape their captor, the gentleman with all of the daughters. I was very unsure of what I was seeing, and it took me some time to come up with a plan. I whispered to them that their tails WOULD grow back, but I would have to come secretly and let them free so that they could get a good lead on him, as he would be coming for them. They seemed so disparaged in their hopes, not unlike shelter dogs, but I provided something for them to cling to. I closed the gate knowing that I would be back after dark.

~~~

If you've ever had the pleasure of seeing a Fox or it's tail, you know that it is her shining glory. It is FAT, FLUFFY and by far, one of the most beautiful and cozy tails in the animal kingdom. She uses it to curl up into, and keep warm, to navigate with like a rudder, to strut her stuff. Her tail activates instinct, kundalini, sensuality, self-sanctuary, mystique, camouflage.

Under the light of the moon, it is time to slip our collars and regrow our tails. The inner dictator, passed down through all of the various outdated systems, is dying. His daughters cannot see, and the last organ in line to detox, the skin, has begun to show it's repressed anger and irritation. The promise of my dream is one of regeneration. These feminine tails are growing back into their lively, fluffy, cozy guidance.

The SouLodge Summer Session began today. It has been an amazing day of transparency, of sharing fear, a willingness to release obstacles blocking the instinctual path, and of great emotional intelligence. My hope is that it is a place where we can continue to grow back our heavenly tails.

If you are currently in the process of regenerating your own beautiful extremities, which connects you to the vitality that soulful undomestication provides, please tell me more. My dream is to see collars on the streetcorners and tails up proud, headed for the forest.

And so I say confidently: I am a Woman. Let me do what I do.

Yip! Yip!

SouLodge: Do You Know Where You'll Be On Monday?

My lovely readers! SouLodge is upon us! If you were not able to gather for this class, fret not. I will soon be announcing the next run, which will begin in October. If you are registered, Yahooo!! Please be sure that you have received TWO emails from me. If you have not, please email me. I may not have your most used email account and pertininent information, and that is very important to make certain that you know how to prepare and show up next week.

I am going up a mountain to do some clearing of my own in my sacred circle of women that I've been so blessed to sit under many moons with, to gain some attunements for what's to come. It seems fitting, considering that what I am offering is so closely related heartwise to what I've experienced in the woods with these women. The sitting, the creating, sharing and feasting will soon begin! And not long after, we'll begin our virtual version, as well.

So much love and gratitude to you, for how deeply you live, for how courageously you connect, for how wildly you howl.

Awroooo!

 

Summer's Offerings at SouLodge

Half way between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox sits a little celebratory holiday that the Celts call Lammas. It's been written that the earliest harvest of grain occurs today, and that bread made with todays grain will be a bit risky. It may not be as rich in color as Autumn's wheat, or as ripe in flavor, but that the benefit lies in the possibility of the early seeds. The festival is a reminder that everything has a beginning: ideas, shifts, new ways of receiving nourishment. All change comes from a place that beckons us a little deeper into the full, robust flavor of our lives. The energetic shift can be felt in the in-between seasons, as well as when they appear on the calendar to call us to movement. I even just love sensing the subtle changes in the way the sunlight comes through my windows.

The creatures are slimmer, lighter, and seeking water from different sources now, their babies of Spring finding their own relaxed footprints behind them as they sink into their wild ways, and the instinctual natures that will ensure their survival. Ants are coming up out of every crack and crevasse, showing my children and I how to work communally, and for wholeness, carrying seeds (and bits of dog kibble!) on their backs many times their weight.

Summer's hot breezes, cool dips into swimming holes, ripening fruit, and long, playful days, feel expansive to me. Juxtaposed to Winter-a time of cozying down and becoming perhaps a bit more quiet and inward-Summer is a season to connect, to build campfires together, to feast, to storytell, and to acquaint ourselves in community. It is a time of intimacy and openness of hearts, for guidance to flow in like the sun's rays- warming us up to our potential, readying us for the coming harvest, which will carry us through Fall's crisp drawing down, and Winter's bundled-up months.

Part of the experience in the SouLodge is to gather at the long table of the season and break bread together. The teachings and relevance of the seasons creates presence, and grounds us, binding the medicine of what wants to come in and be shared in the waning days of light.

I'm thrilled to be able to host this sacred space...and to do it online! I am full of hope that the fluid experience of communing together, creating ritual, crafting, journeying, practicing gratitude, and going deeper into ourselves, will secure the lessons that Summer brings for all of us. Please join me in the Lodge, if you feel called, and share this post with someone who you think might love what is being created. Registration closes Wednesday, and Lodge begins on Monday!

So much Lammas gratitude!

Unbound

 

Last night I did a healing on myself at bedtime. I had an old, old issue I needed to experience some more release with and I have a trick I use to perform soul retrieval on myself with (which those of you who are in the SouLodge will get to work with), because sometimes when I need to do some deep inner healing, I don't have time to schedule an appointment with a local practitioner and wait for it. It may require more assistance and deeper work with a trusted healer later, but to begin, I just needed to get the work moving.

As often is the result, I felt a big shift and the thing that was triggering me had a lot less energy behind it. What I think is miraculous is that we get to a point where we are capable of doing much work ourselves. I love to go outside of myself for feedback and help, bodywork, acupuncture, therapy, power conversations within my phone tribe...I've loved the tools I've been able to gather through all of the work I've found myself smack in the middle of, sometimes when I least expected it. Last night's retrieval left me feeling pretty open and clear.

First thing today, I got caught up in a conversation online about labels, judgement, politics, and fear, (and Dennis Hopper, who I never knew spent some time as  Republican, but as the story goes, was both radical and dynamic at the same time. I don't know why I was surprised, knowing wild him). On the heels of my last post, I figured it wasn't an accident that I'd landed here. The powers that be have a strange way of testing me faster than I can say, "One Love".

The messages coming through on many levels is that I'm not comfortable being in boxes, and neither were the women I was having the discussion with, though I got that we're probably polar opposites in the voting booth. Who knows? Maybe not. I didn't give a damn. I wasn't going to sit there under old previous umbrellas and see our differences. I consciously sought to see where we were the same. It wasn't hard to come from an honest place and feel comfortable without being accomodating. And they were doing it, too. It was enlightening and liberating on many levels. Not to go there-to differences. What purpose would it have served?

I've called myself all kinds of things in order to try to get to know myself better, to draw people toward me or distance them from me. This evolution that is taking place, for so many of us collectively, is that when we stand in our power as women, we don't need those ill-fitting garments anymore to protect us. We can trust that if we eat a piece of bacon we won't slide down a slippery slope and become dietarily irresponsible, or environmentally unconscious if we don't by a hybrid vehicle. The need to prove and appear put together- of value to onlookers - starts to wane as our hairs gray and fight for more precious real estate up there where all of the thinking goes on. Surrender to coming of middle age, hence accepting the staff of emotional maturity isn't as grim as it sounds. Think of Georgia O' Keefe, how even in her white-haired days, which is how most of us remember her, she was a wild, free Woman. And naked! She was beautifully unbound.

Many of us have our feet on varying stones of this meditative walk to getting clear, but one thing seems certain: It seems we are willing to become even more comfortable with who we are. There is no need to qualify our choices, offer disclaimers for the shape our homes are in, do it all right in the outer world, get the thumbs up for our casseroles.

There is bigger work to be done in the inner world, which in turn manifests more boldly in the outer. It's a long process, and each time the road rises up, I find I'm ready to meet it. When a piece of me feels like it's gone missing, I want to go back and rescue it and bring it back in, my way.

This old Earth moves and evolves so slowly, so patiently, rhythmically. My hope is that we can learn to be kind during our transitions, as she is. That we can create with intention and purpose, but without expectation to look like something that others might find agreeable. It's not about being ambivalent about what others think-rather it's putting what a woman thinks about *herself* first.

Ours is the heart we have to heal.

No ribbon, please.

 

Fractional People With One Connected Heart

I had a completely different post planned for today, but things change.

I used to hang with a peculiar woman when I lived high in the mountains who told such good and long-winded stories, all at a mile a minute. One day when we happened upon each other spontaneously, as folks do in small villages, we spent the afternoon doing a tour of the many park benches in the village while her kids ran wild and we rubbed our big, fat pregnant bellies. We were due a week apart, me with Miles, and she with her baby girl. We were seeing the same midwife and had lots to review.

We got onto the subject of our ethnicities, which are both a typical American mix of a little bit of everything. I told her that I was a percentage of Native American and she told me that she was part, too. She threw back her head and guffawed her full, open-mouthed, potent laugh, and made a very good point about being only a fraction of a person. About her people being counted as a three fifths of a person to gain electoral seats. About how we were all once considered a fraction rather than a whole. At some point in time, she wagered confidently, "even white folk".

We made particularly female conversation that day, about feeling whole, walking whole, shaking off the notions that our little pieces really mattered at all. While both of us felt proud and connected to our heritages, and the trials our specific family stories spoke to, we decided then and there, babies in bellies, that we would not walk the road as a fraction. That we would embrace all. We recognized the suffering of all peoples at different times in history and opened our hearts in the clean mountain air to the teachings that any person would bring. To break the generational legacies of suffering, by leaving our own comfortable, familial stereotypes behind in order to truly open ourselves to healing, and pass that down to our children. It was a mothers' pact to expand our collective heartspace. In a strange way, it felt like setting our ancestries free on the wild wind so we could really experience connection to one love.

I heard that she had her baby at home about a week after I gave birth to Miles at home. We've not run into each other since I moved down the hill, but these lessons we shared I'll treasure forever. I don't think I even absorbed the full effect of our conversation until the last year or so. Finally trusting the truth of how we want to live this gift of life seems not unlike tree roots finding their way to a water source so deep that they no longer need to be fed by a hose.

We are all native to some place. The ancestors behind us all came from some connected people, and seem to share uncanny aspects of ritual and ceremony. Doing this work touches that sacred place, where we who love the Earth remember that time. The time before differences, before so many colors, shapes and sizes began to pull us apart from each other's hearts. It's a lovely time to be alive and to see the sameness.

To see the same full moon from each village and city around the globe.

To feel the heartbeat of the Earth and know that it is the Mother Beat, the one we all share.

 

 

Open It

A doorway is a gift. We never know what we'll find on the other side of it. A threshold is a journey into the East, into a new beginning, the energy of Eagle. I'm finding these years that less and less does fear-of-what-might-come presents an issue. When fear subsides, trust flows in. When the river is undammed of obstacles, abundance flows in.

What is your deepest human intent? Does it require that you show up fearlessly? Open a door of sorts, come what may? What help do you need?

(Explore these questions and more in the SouLodge)

(More on taking risks, and walking through Doorways here)

(Thank you Susannah for Owl City's Introvert mythbuster)

(So no one can pull the but-I'm-an-introvert card)

(((supportive hug)))

(Don't forget to howl up this beautiful, pregnant Capricorn moon-the biggest moon of the year)

 

Naked In the Rain

It's a far cry from raining here in the desert-like belt of the Central Valley, but my spirit feels like it's dancing in the rain. The SouLodge is growing into a robust community of truly kindred individuals and we're weeks from beginning. Creating something that comes from a place so ready and fertile is the best feeling in the world.

I received some Rabbit medicine on the porch last night, (Bunny Killer just left me a fluff of cottontail) about thirty minutes before I read this blog post on Possibility. Stacy wrote about stepping into possibility rather than stepping out of one's comfort zone. Think of Rabbit and how much risk she takes- she is the ultimate vulnerable creature. Yet, she is so prolific: creativity is the key to her survival. She steps out into possibility, because hanging out in her protective warren would never allow her to create the way that she needs to in order to thrive.

When I read Stacy's post, I immediately thought of all that I've created, and of how easy it is to step into possibility, rather than out of a comfort zone, and I felt the truth of that vibrate in my bones.

Everything I need to know, I learn from the creatures and the Earth. And good friends, too.

Where's Alice? By Donna McKenzie

Get naked. Dance in the rain with fertile Rabbit and she will teach you magical things, indeed. Come sit in the Lodge and share the wisdom that comes from those wild, healing, ancient, transformational experiences.

Giveaway at Roots of She

It doesn't take much to excite me at Roots of She. Jenn Gibson gathers some powerful, wild wolf women in her space! I'm thrilled that she is hosting a giveaway of TWO of my card decks this week. Come over and play with us!

The Nature of YES

There has been such a tremendous response to the SouLodge course announcement, that I don't know what to do with myself. Except to be grateful and do a major happy dance! Also, I have a hard time calling it a course, because it's not a course at all. It's not academic. Not of the left-brain at all. There will not be much *thinking* involved. As I've watched your names pop up in the registration pool, sparkling like clear water in a protected turquoise bay, I realize that I know you. 

Transformation is already taking place. Just by nature of saying, "YES. I want that."

SouLodge Virtual Retreat is Live!

I'm so excited to announce the details of this online class! I'm over the moon to deepen my work with myself, with my community, and to midwife you through your explorations of the parts of yourself that want to come forward with courage and wildness.

is up HERE.

I want to invite you to step into the forest, into a safe lodge where you can experience a rite of passage, an honoring of the feminine process, a place where the Four-Leggeds and Winged Ones, the Plant People, and Stone People, are waiting to greet you and help you walk through to the next level of intuitive self-care.

Thank you to all who have encouraged me to do this, for asking for the teachings, and for opening your hearts to the deeper work. I am in pure gratitude for all of you.

 

Nourishing Quietude

It's been an interesting few days trying on this dual lifestyle. Needless to say, it wears a work-from-home mama out. There is much scheduling that must take place to reinvent how to best structure my time in order to be able to just...keep up. Ojai was spectacular, full of adventure and roaming a new town, of finding our way around, of ice cream on sprinkle cones and creating comfort as we drove and landed. The babes were troopers, even though I had my moments.

We woke up each morning to a soft marine layer that later gave way to sun and warmth. Something about that hazy air helps me to slow down a bit and breathe.

It seems as though my teaching gigs this year and time away from home results in being able to clear my head, to focus on just one or two things at once. I'm able to let my to-do list sit until I return home to this buzzing office. It could work, if I remember how to nourish myself so that I don't burn out. It's easy to go to sleep early in those quiet hills, which is something I find difficult to do here in the bigger house. It requires safe space, ritual, a comforting place to contain my thoughts on what's coming up for me, and creative expression.

Speaking of being nourished, within the below listed rooms where I open and hold space for you to come, rest and meet your creativity right where it's at, here is where you can find me for the rest of the year. Registration is still open at the following retreats:

Teahouse Art Studio, Berkeley, CA August 20 & 21

Artinfusio, Malibu, CA October 8 & 9

Serendipity Retreats, Outer Banks, NC October 19-23

I look forward to meeting with you and working with your sacred self as we go deep and pull up the gold...

Photo by Denise Andrade

 

Journey With Me

Thank you all so very much for your comments and enthusiasm about circling together virtually. I've given it much thought over the weekend and I think I have a plan. The few bits that were confounding me seem to have resolved themselves. So stay tuned for the launch of something very special, and please keep the feedback coming about what it is you need and want to experience. It goes without saying that video and audio will be a big part of what I have to offer, and I'm testing some other media to see what will work best to create ways to connect. I'm still doing a little bit of troubleshooting, but I'm very excited about doing what I do in a more expanded way and with many of you that I would like to witness more closely.

Something very special is shifting, and I find the evidence every place I turn, including the conversations I'm having with women in my face-to-face and phone tribes. There is a freedom and a soft-focusing occurring, a lifting and a deeper level of trust coming. There is a fortifying of ego strengths, a surrendering to the feminine process, and a great power radiating from that place. I can't wait to gather you and discuss with you how to connect more deeply with yourselves, how to retrieve the information you are seeking, how to build your inventory of tools, your wise furry/feathered/scaled inner council, and of course, how to trust your intuitive guidance.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve-it's my blessing to do this work with each and every one of you!

Awrooooooooo!

 

 

 

Council

Desktop helpers.

Summer finds me less at my computer, outside more. Less at the stove, more at the fruit stand. Less in my mind, more in my heart, my feet. This is the first week since coming home from Squam that I feel grounded. Teaching brings me such a high that I found myself floating and unable to let go of my experiences there and come seamlessly back to work here.

I asked myself before I came to writing a) what it is that I am processing, and b) who is helping me. If I know what I need, then I can ask for what I want, right?

It has been a very long time that I have felt like I do my inner work alone, probably ever since I took my first journey and aligned with my first totem animal, who would lead me into the Under World to sift among the messages my unconscious landscape had to show me. My first totem was Spider, black widow, to be exact. And she spun her silky thread around my wrist and took me through a portal that I recognized as a place I played at as a child, a grassy hill full of squirrel holes and treasures such as the first owl pellet I would pick apart and find tiny mouse bones and bits of fluff in.

The creatures have always been here for me, teaching me, guiding me, sharing their secrets of the natural world, blessing me with a quick glance at them as they cross the road in front of me, calling me inward to lead me to the places I needed to go to find peace. So, perhaps they've been helping me since long before that first journey in.

One thing that we are all connected by is that we live on Earth, here with her creatures-communing and sharing space in a way that we can all relate, regardless of where we come from, or what our spiritual beliefs are. Some animals ground us on the planet, while others take us up into the Upper World to seek messages from the heavens and energies outside of us. They have so much to show and teach us, simply by how they have adapted, survived and thrive here.

What I want to share of myself most is this process I have come to love, trust, and also hardwire within me. I have yet to suss out all of the details of an effective way to do this in my virtual community, but I'm working steadily on it. The effect of sitting in a circle in person is difficult to re-create online. I want to connect with my circle's processes, in the way that I have when I've worked on custom medicine bundles and artwork, to bring the healing and the words in a way that shares tools, points you toward your own unique tools and totems, to assign creative projects in which you use your intuition to guide you (as I do in my workshops), and give you the support you need to discover the insights you seek, to share rituals, ceremony, and ways to care for your tools.

I want to get an idea about the interest in this, as I go about discovering the best way to create the circle. Will you share with me if you'd like to do something such as this? To answer my first questions, this is what I'm processing, and it is your help I need to get to where I'm going.