p r e s s
p l a y
C A L I F O R N I A ❤️
When we travel we fall in Love. Not only with the people we meet but with the land which holds us and guides our journey. On the day after Christmas I boarded a plane to California with no plans for what would happen once I arrived. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. The California Coast welcomed me with connections I could not have anticipated and a spontaneous itinerary that I couldn't have planned even if I'd tried. In less than a week I made my way from Santa Cruz to Mendocino and back again, finding myself in the arms and homes of so many dear friends along the way.
The crashing Ocean sang to me, a song of the Earth I'd never heard before, and my Selkie heart leapt toward her in recognition. The emerald groves of Redwoods remembered my name and greeted me with a familiarity as warm and real as any of my human relations. California knows me and her voice echoes still in my being. I look forward to returning to honor and deepen my intimacy with this Land in 2016. Stay tuned for more details and a full schedule of plant walks, medicine making classes, Full Moon ceremonies, and other very special new offerings. Big and beautiful, wild and healing things are on the horizon. Thank you for holding me so sweetly California.
A major highlight of the trip was the opportunity to spend some time with my Ninety-Five year old grandmother! She walks faster than I do, writes memoirs at a prodigious rate and is in truly excellent health. Her advice for a long and healthy life? Good genes and martinis.
In addition to the time spent with my human Elders, I savored the time spent held within the ancient Redwood forests. There were many moments along the journey that felt as though within a dream. Gathering fallen Usnea and Fir as I walked slow through the moist cold air surrounding the trees, stopping to marvel at mushrooms growing along the rain-softened path.
how good it was
to return to that
ancient embrace
The final morning of 2015 was spent in a dewy daybreak petal meditation, crouched before the calendula and borage and reflecting on the year's end in Rachel + Catherine's Winter Garden.
I can't imagine a better way to have welcomed the new year. My heart was full of love and deep peace and my belly was full of delicious wild mushrooms. Many thanks to Vicky and Hannah for your generous hospitality and to Ayana for your truly enchanting friendship and epic array of foraged fungi. Dancing my way into 2016 with y'all was just the Medicine I needed.
On the first morning of 2016 I awoke in the aptly named Sunrise Cabin atop a wild + high ridge over looking a tremendous valley.
On New Year's Day, I resolved to dissolve. The overcast and icy day made for a truly special warm water meditation -- a ritual that I hope will become a tradition for all New Years to come.
From Mendocino, I headed back down the coast toward Santa Cruz where I was united with more wise Woman friends and had a personal audience with the Ocean, herself.
I am captivated by the beauty of the Ocean; by the violence of waves crashing against rocks, waves crashing against rocks. The Ocean has something very important to say to say to us, though her churning message is spoken in a language that has no words, and has been forgotten by most.
Mornings in the garden with my deep + fierce friend Khalsa.
Each time I am met by this old friend she works her magic on my womb. Through her tender and tough touch, she reaches the places in my body that have endeavored to solidify into something other than soft and supple flesh. During her the treatment she gave me, on the floor of her Santa Cruz bungalow, I saw visions of desert temples, obscured by wind and sand, but more lovely than I can describe and oh so close at hand. It was a feeling of returning to the most sacred and unimaginably beautiful place within myself -- the Temple within. If you have the opportunity to receive Mayan Abdominal Massage or any kind of healing touch surrounding your womb, I hope you will make space for it and for the healing it can unfold.
T h e m e d i c i n e y o u n e e d w i l l
a l w a y s f i n d y o u , s o m e h o w .
In many ways, I never wanted this trip to end. I could have gathered Redwood and Fir and Yerba Santa and Marigolds forever; sat and stared at the Ocean for days. But as my journey drew to a close, I was happy to make one last stop. Early in the morning, Khalsa and I set out to wind through the misty shrouded Emerald Forest toward Bonny Doon, where we visited Kelci to sip Chamomile Tea and luxuriate in the Wonderland of her hillside Garden.
As it turned out, the end of this trip, didn't feel like an ending at all. It felt more like a beginning -- a deepening love affair with a new place and a ripening in the many friendships I was able to cultivate and tend to during my time there. I will be back soon, and I hope, I hope that you will take me as I am.
