29 Days of Kindness

At the start of 2024, I looked to inner guidance to formulate intentions for the year and received the words, kindness and grace: kindness as I interact with each person (including myself) and grace in each circumstance or in the face of challenges. For the past two weeks, the question “What does kindness look like?”…

Read more

Prophesy

A prophesy is a story. Most people are familiar with prophesy as a prediction of future events. But prophesy is also described as “religious instruction”. Nobody really knows where prophesy comes from, as these stories bend scientific rules pertaining to the nature of space and time. Some prophetic transmissions are received verbally. Others come through…

Read more

The Calling: Part 2

This post will make more sense if you read The Calling: Part 1 first.  The year before my soul quest journey, our family was visiting the colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala, before spending a month living on Lake Atitlan. Little did I know, one seemly innocuous event would create a subtle shift that would change…

Read more

The Calling: Part 1

In early 2018, my friend Dee had given me the book Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin. The concept of embarking on a wild, crazy, rendezvous of the soul sounded like a fun way to embrace the journey to elder-hood. Dee and I decided to sign up for a retreat together. We chose the Rites of Passage…

Read more

Fear to Freedom

Last year, I spent over 100 nights sleeping in a hammock. My hammock became a place of comfort, refuge and sanctuary. And by sanctuary, I truly mean “church”. It was the place where I spent many hours in prayer, meditation and contemplation. Most importantly, it became a place where I transmuted fear into freedom, over…

Read more

Signs and Wonders

Early Thanksgiving week, I was working on a painting project with one of my nearest and dearest friends. I tend to get introspective around the holidays. And much to his chagrin, I launched into esoteric spiritual reflection… aloud. Spirituality is one of my favorite topics and one of his least favorite topics. Since we were…

Read more

Emotional Alchemy

Emotion is powerful. It’s transformative. But all-too-often, it feels beyond our control. We observe something wanted or unwanted. We have a positive or negative interaction. The experience or interaction elicits an emotional response. Like leaves in the wind, we move along life’s path in a seemingly random emotional pattern, subject to unseen forces beyond our…

Read more

Sacred Wounds

Last year, my daughters and I did the Asungate trek in Peru, which took us to 17,000 ft. (5,200 meters). Laying in my tent at 15,000 feet, under a full moon, I felt more at home than I would have felt in my own bed.  Motion is my art form. Movement is the thing that…

Read more

Are You Called to Ceremony?

Ceremony has had its roots in every culture, throughout all of human history. Whether honoring birth, death, marriage, rites of passage, or the changing of the seasons, ceremony marks the passage of time and provides context to our lives. In indigenous cultures, many of these traditions include the ceremonial use of plant-based medicines. The United…

Read more

Hidden Agreements

Just over two years ago, my husband and I went through a divorce… and I have yet to go on a date. I told myself many stories as to why that was the case. First, I simply wasn’t interested in dating. Then, a highly itinerant lifestyle prevented me from developing close relationships. When I finally…

Read more

Escape Bound

Today, I received the final chapter comments from a developmental editor for my book, Escape Bound. In his final commentary, this editor, who has a PhD in literature and has spent 18 years working as a professional writer for a research institute, made the following observations:  His critique helped to crystalize a thought, which had…

Read more

Smile Therapy

Two days after my ayahuasca experience, I was struggling to regain my footing. I hadn’t eaten since the end of the ceremony because I didn’t want to “get off the ship”. In my mind, if I ate, the ceremony would be over. Most people who’ve attended a powerful retreat can relate to this feeling of…

Read more

My Ayahuasca Ceremony – 4 Days Prior

Yesterday’s blog post gave me introspection overload. In an effort to prevent reader’s cramp (is that even a thing?) this post will contain a story of high adventure and pictures of gorgeous waterfalls. But first, here is the transcript from this morning’s 20 minute guided meditation: Relax. There is no pressure to get it right…

Read more