On Reciprocal Foraging: Rewilding Consciousness & Shifting Culture

“Reciprocal Foraging” is a term I learned from Daniela Naomi Molnar*– a natural pigment maker, artist, ecologist, and poet – who in turn has been inspired by the work of Tilke Elkins, another amazing pigment worker, artist, thinker, and activist.

Reciprocity and relationship are the foundation of all my spirit and Earth medicine practices – and I love how this phrase brings everything into direct relationship with wildcrafting.

The ancestral arts of wildcrafting and foraging have the potential to attune us to cosmic and natural cycles, reverence and gratitude, and the ever-comingling presence of beauty, grief, and transformation. But this attunement only takes place through reciprocal foraging.

This practice is more layered and challenging than we might expect. It involves a literally revolutionary shift in consciousness. As Daniela writes:

Most of us have absorbed a conscious or subconscious stance of domination, objectification, and extraction towards the earth. Reciprocal foraging begins by: accepting that you’ve inherited this cultural stance, working to forgive yourself for harboring this violence as part of yourself, then working to doggedly undo it from the inside out.

This is a lifetime’s work. It won’t happen immediately or easily, but it’s good work, and it’s culture-shifting work – you’re changing not just yourself but the world.

You’re changing not just yourself but the world.

The art and practice of foraging is an opportunity to radically shift your relationship with the Earth and your consciousness as a result. And this is no small thing. For every human who commits to fierce work of cultivating a mythoanimist relationship with the wild world – one that sees the Earth as alive with the mythic intelligence – the consensus culture shifts in response.

The relationship we have with the Earth and the many beings who inhabit her, in all realms, is a reflection of an energetic ecology: We are part of myriad interconnected energetics.

What we forage matters. We impact layers of ecologies – physical and spiritual. What others forage matters. We are impacted not only by what is taken on a physical level, but how it’s taken within the energetic ecologies we exist in.

Every act of foraging or wildcrafting is an energetic exchange, and ideally this exchange is given and received with equality in both directions.

The following are practices that enhance this exchange, adapted from both my own work and that of Daniella…

How to practice Reciprocal Foraging

• Cultivate a mythoanimist consciousness: See the Earth as alive, with agency, abilities, and preferences. Recognize the stories you’ve inherited about ecology and Earth. Work to undo the harmful ones and begin to write new ones with reverence.

• Practice an animist vocabulary: Or, what Robin Wall Kimmerer calls a “grammar of animacy”. Give beings pronouns. Trees, stones, rivers, bears.

• Offer respect: As with any healthy, loving relationship. Sense into boundaries around giving and receiving. Daniela writes that we can “acknowledge the earth’s sentience and wisdom” as a pathway towards authentic respect.

• Engage with curiosity: Use your senses to experience direct revelation and relationship. Explore the history of the land, the beings you forage. Get curious about the people who have come before and their relationships with place. The animals. The ecology.

• Create an ethical commitment to place and self: Follow basic ethical guidelines around sustainability – and go even further. Once you know the layers of life that are present, your personal integrity becomes more fine-tuned. Know what this means for you.

• Look beyond the physical: Remember the energetic ecologies of place. Who are spiritual caretakers of that land? How do they feel about your presence? What do they view as true reciprocity?

• Be grateful and joyful: Gratitude for the ability to engage with the Earth in this way is the most important piece of reciprocal foraging. Gratitude takes us beyond survival, beyond extraction mentality. We recognize that all of life is a gift, and this is the heart of both spiritual practice and ethical foraging.

• Express your gratitude creatively: Feeling gratitude is beautiful – but transforming this feeling into an actual gift of thanks is what fosters culture-changing exchange. Write a poem. Leave an appropriate offering. Sing to the land. Engage in ritual.

• Put your ethics in action: Take action on behalf of the Earth by donating to or volunteering with organizations doing good work. Periodically review your own lifestyle and honestly and lovingly, making shifts as needed.

• Share: Spread the love. Share your creations and your learning with others. What are you contributing to the ecologies you exist within?

• Honor your teachers: Your knowledge and skills and ethics also arose within ecosystems far greater than you. Who are your teachers, mentors, and influences – within both human and other-than-human realms? The art of acknowledging is an antidote to the toxic competition of capitalism.

The karma of humanity at this time is to rewild our consciousness. To recognize that we are part of layers of ecologies. And while our collective impacts our existence each day, we too can impact the collective. But only when the foundation of true consciousness change is present.

*As I write this, I’m currently at a retreat taught by Daniela. I feel beyond grateful for the opportunity to spend over two weeks in the Oregon Outback at an art and ecology residency program hosted by the Playa at Summer Lake. Natural pigments, deep time, the poetics of Earth and art…This short piece arose out of the perfect conjunction between my time here and the theme my Rewilding the Spirit students are exploring this week – reciprocity, if you can believe it ;) If you ever have the opportunity to study with Daniela, do it.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Listening to the Land: A Path to Healing, Guidance, and Soul-Level Wholeness

Discover how deepening your relationship with nature can transform your life, heal ancestral patterns, and open pathways to profound spiritual connection.

My Journey to the Wild

I've been a nature lover since childhood—the kind who would run away from home just to be among the trees. As I traveled through different landscapes in my adult years, I began to notice something profound: each place held a different energy, almost a different karma to be lived depending on where I landed.

Some places became what I call "soul places"—locations where true, deep miracles and healing happened for me. The Oregon coast has been one such sanctuary. But it's the Rocky Mountains, especially in Colorado, that have been my most important spiritual teachers.

The relationship developed gradually. I visited in every season, spent countless hours alone in retreat, and over years and miles, I learned where certain plants grew and when, noticed shifts in ecosystems, observed mountain goats in their element. I studied these nature beings I encountered—learning about the land's history, the uses of plants for food and medicine, and the animals who made their homes there.

Eventually, this relationship transcended the personal. Walking through those mountains became like moving through a pharmacy or grocery store. New insights would appear precisely when I needed them most. Animal sightings delighted me constantly. And the insights came as a constant conversation with Spirit.

I walked those trails through heartbreak, confusion, and grief. I held ceremonies when I felt lost on my path. I celebrated in gratitude simply for being there. So much unfolded through this relationship with the land that by the time I left, the mountains had become my grandparents, the trees my siblings, and the flowers my kin.

Over that decade, I was taught a process that I can now lead others through to have this same kind of relationship—a process of rewilding the spirit.

The Gifts of Deep Earth Connection

Healing

Time and again, this deep relationship with Earth has been the source of tremendous healing in my life. The land takes what isn't mine to carry—my pain—and transmutes it. In return, it offers gifts, blessings, and energetic attunements to wellness and new opportunities.

Note: I know some well-known teachers say, "The Earth isn't a dumpster for all our junk"—suggesting we shouldn't be unconscious and expect Earth to heal us. But I prefer a different metaphor: that of mother and child.

Imagine having a teenager—they leave dishes out, pile up laundry, get into a fender bender creating huge bills, and their hormones are causing emotional chaos. It drives you crazy, but you love them. You know it's a phase; they're learning. And of course, you want to do what you can to keep them well.

If that teenager becomes more conscious—helping out, being kind, taking responsibility—you can do your job as a parent even better, and you genuinely feel gratitude. Earth is similar in her relationship with us.

Guidance

Through connecting with the land, we receive insights and wisdom from a much broader perspective. We come into partnership with something far larger than ourselves—the web of life itself.

Manifesting

The land not only helps us heal and offers guidance, but it also opens opportunities for creation. As we receive healing and offer healing in return, we attune to the land, deepen into reciprocity, and something magical happens.

The energetic imprints that cause stagnation and obstacles in our lives begin to clear, allowing energy to flow more freely. The spirits of the land and nature bring a bigger view and different kind of influence to our manifestation work.

I experienced this firsthand when tending my garden in Denver. The plants and soil taught me about patience, timing, and the subtle art of nurturing life—lessons that extended far beyond gardening into every creative project I undertook.

This manifesting partnership brings:

• Protection

• Synchronistic meetings

• Gifts of food, medicine, and beauty

• Guidance through insights and omens

• Partnership in the changes we wish to see

• Projects that flow more smoothly

Soul-Level Wholeness

The safer you feel on Earth, the more you feel you belong to the land, the more of your soul essence can come home to your body and this life. There's a direct correlation between our connection to place and our capacity to be fully present and alive.

Changing Your Karma

Think of karma as energy patterns—the divots and grooves you're born into through ancestry and past lives. These patterns create the easiest pathway for energy to move, but they can also keep us trapped in limiting cycles.

This can all be changed in partnership with the spirits of nature. They teach our light to interact with their light in new ways—this is true magic, quantum shifting. It's like digging a new channel for light and water to flow through, creating new grooves more powerfully with nature's remediation.

Trying to change thought patterns through willpower alone is hard. Even meditation can take a long time to shift deep patterns. But the masters who have been doing this work on this planet forever—stones, plants, elements—know how to facilitate transformation efficiently.

When we create right relationship with these beings, they teach us how to change our field of light—our karma and patterns—remarkably effectively.

Obstacles to Connection

This probably sounds wonderful—so what stops us from going deeper? There are several barriers to earth connection that many of us face:

1. Modern Lifestyles

We've become disconnected from reality. Our relationships with phones and AI take us further from nature. The pace of life feels unnatural, and many lack regular access to wild places.

That said, cities have spirits that can feel amazing too—there's important spiritual work being done in urban environments. The land beneath the concrete still speaks.

2. Lack of Ecoconsciousness

We've become obsessed with thought, symbols, and mind. We're enculturated to be individually focused rather than relationally conscious. We must work deliberately to connect our thoughts with something larger than ourselves.

The effects of this disconnection are clear: we become burdened by responsibilities and forget we're part of something bigger. We lose sight of co-creation and the two-way influence between ourselves and the natural world.

3. Missing Communication Skills

Many of us simply don't know how to work with the master healers and teachers that live in nature and spirit realms. We lack:

• Communication skills and etiquette

• Knowledge of how to build relationship and trust

• Understanding of reciprocity

4. Isolation from Community

What we do as individuals matters, but our impact becomes exponential in community. Community keeps us going when we feel isolated or lose touch with our practices. New insights arise, and we receive confirmation and encouragement.

This community aspect is both ancestral—very few humans ever lived alone historically—and Aquarian, written into the cosmic blueprint of this time.

Rewilding the Spirit: The Journey Home

In my 12-week course, "Rewilding the Spirit," we practice a nourishing, resonant way of attuning to nature and finding solace amidst the challenges of modern life.

We'll rewild our minds and drop into deeper ecoconsciousness through:

• Strengthening intuition

• Learning earth healing skills

• Practicing ancestral skills and embodiment

• Developing a sense of belonging to the land through actual rewilding skills that build confidence

• Getting to know the place where you are

• Meeting and learning from the master healers and teachers of the natural world

• Connecting with the spiritual beings of nature—fae, gnomes, elemental beings

• Working with the elements—foundational to all shamanic and magical practices

• Learning the language of nature

And all this happens in supportive community.

This is the most important practice and play there is. No amount of meditation, spiritual study, herbalism classes, reiki, or even shamanism will be as impactful as you want it to be unless you are grounded and in relationship with the wild world and your wild self.

The whole purpose of this work is soul-level healing. The entire course is designed to facilitate profound transformation through reconnection with the natural world.

Join the Journey

If you're ready to transform your relationship with the natural world and, in the process, with yourself, I invite you to join us. The course begins May 21, 2025.

Remember, the land is always speaking. The question is: are we listening?

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

Foraging for wild plants is one of my absolute favorite ways to connect with nature, deepen your relationship with plant spirits, and access healing right from the land. It’s central to so much of the rewilding work I share.

But before you head out with your gathering basket, it’s essential to learn how to identify plants safely and harvest them ethically. This guide will help you get started on your journey into plant identification and wildcrafting with mindfulness and respect.

Wildcrafting Requires Knowledge and Care

Wildcrafting — the practice of gathering plants from their natural habitats — can be incredibly rewarding, but it carries responsibilities. Misidentification can be dangerous, and overharvesting can harm delicate ecosystems. As stewards of the earth, we must approach wildcrafting with care, patience, and reverence.

Perhaps the number one thing I like to keep in mind: The land needs plants more than you do.

This is a little controversial on the surface — after all, we literally do need plants in order to survive!

But here’s what I mean: Right now, with our modern lives the way they are, we actually don’t need to go out get wild plants in order to survive. We can buy food and medicine in grocery stores, grow potted plants, and tend sustainable gardens. 

For this reason, I feel that anything you harvest from a wild area — be it a forest, desert, coast, or other ecosystem — is a gift and a luxury. 

And you are worthy of gifts and luxuries!

And — forest foods are not luxuries to the wildlife that depend on them for survival. They are not luxuries to the ecosystems that need them for balance.  

Those fragrant wild rose blossoms? As lovely as they are in teas and other elixirs, they are also important food sources for pollinators, who draw birds to the area. And those summer blooms don’t just disappear when the cold comes — they become red, juicy rosehips, another vital winter food source for so many of our animal friends. 

I believe that the spirits of nature delight when humans delight in the beauty and abundance of the wilds. A relationship goes two ways, and we are meant to receive joyfully from the Earth. We just must do so with reverence and awareness of our role in every ecosystem.

With that said, let’s dive into safe and ethical wildcrafting :) 

Learning to Identify Plants Safely

Proper plant identification is the most important skill you can develop as a beginner. Here’s how to ensure you’re gathering the right plant and not a toxic lookalike:

My number one tip for plant identification? Use multiple guides.

Invest in a few reputable field guides specific to your region. Photographs, botanical drawings, and descriptions will help you recognize key plant characteristics. I like to use a combination of online and printed resources:

• Favorite books: the Peterson’s guides and any book from Timber Press’s Medicinal Plants series

• Seek app by iNaturalist: While you should never use an app alone for identification, it can at least help narrow down your options. Note the plant families identified, then compare with a deeper look at the botany, region, and lookalikes to confirm your identification.

• Online sites: Yes, you need to be careful in the wild west of online info — but there are sooo many great plant identification sites and YouTube channels, many with even more in-depth pictures than printed guides. Look for reputable sites like those from botanical gardens, university extension offices, and longtime herbal teachers (without a bunch of ads on their sites).

My next big tip? Keep revisiting the same plants throughout the seasons. 

Walk slowly in silence. Take pictures. Make notes. Get to know the same plants again and again throughout the year. Here are a few tips to help you know your plant neighbors:

• Observe All Plant Features – Examine leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and roots. Many plants look similar at a glance but have distinct characteristics upon closer inspection. Use a botany book to help you identify subtle differences.

• Pay Attention to Habitat – Certain plants only grow in specific conditions. If a plant is out of place, double-check its identity.

• Smell and Touch (with Caution) – Some plants have unique scents or textures that help with identification — smell is how our ancestors navigated so much of the plant world. But this one has a few important cautions:

• Several plants are known to cause allergic reactions or rashes just by touching them. Research the potentially poison plants in your area, so you know what to avoid. 

• Even plants that are not poisonous can cause dermatological reactions and sun sensitivity in different folks, so know your own sensitivity levels and start very small with touch.

• And never taste a plant unless you are absolutely certain of its identity!

Finally, the best advice? Learn from local experts.

Join a foraging group or take a class with an experienced herbalist to gain hands-on knowledge. You can often find free or very affordable plant walks to join.

This is how I got my start oh so many years ago (with the amazing Brigit Mars). There’s nothing like getting to know plants in person with a person ;) 

Ok — one more piece of advice: Start slow.

There are magical, healing plants everywhere! So many green friends to meet :) When I hiking along a forest trail, I literally feel like I’m walking through a pharmacy or grocery store. 

But it took me a looong time to get here. 

I started by revisiting the same trails again and again throughout the year. Each time, I might remember and learn about one or two more plants I noticed. Then I might forget, and remember those two plants again with the next visit, and then add a third to my repertoire. 

Going slow lets the plant wisdom seep deep into you, so you embody your knowledge fully. This is the foundation of true spiritual plant wisdom. It’s not a huge list of plants or a big library of identification books (though those are lovely to have). It’s a slow, authentically cultivated relationship with plants that you know inside and out. 

Ethical and Sustainable Wildcrafting

Once you’ve properly identified a plant, the next step is to harvest with care, reverence, and strong ethical foundations. My number one perameter for ethical harvesting is above — the health of the forest comes first. 

These additional guidelines will help you ensure that wild populations remain healthy for generations to come:

Harvest with Permission – Permission from both the plants and people involved. 

• If gathering on private land, ask for permission. In public spaces, check regulations before foraging. Get permits as necessary, and respect restrictions in wilderness areas — these are in place for a reason.

• And remember that permission from the spirits of nature, the land guardians, and the plant itself are primary. This is something I cover in much more depth in Rewilding the Spirit. 

Follow the ‘One in Twenty’ Rule – A general rule of foraging is to only harvest if at least twenty plants are present in the area, and never take more than 5-10% of a stand. While this is a good guideline in general, you really need to trust your intuition and look at the unique circumstances around you. 

For example, if you’re in a field of dandelions or another invasive species — harvesting to your heart’s content might actually help the ecosystem, even if you take way more than 10%. 

But if that area is frequented by many wildcrafters, leaving some for others is important. 

Or, maybe you find a patch of wild roses that is super abundant…but it’s the only patch for miles around. In this case, perhaps nibbling on just a petal or two is most appropriate. 

The more you can venture out with more experienced folks, the more these ethical guidelines will become natural to you.

Leave No Trace – Avoid trampling surrounding plants and habitats. Refill holes where roots were dug. When you look back at where you gathered, it should look as if you were never there and nothing was taken.

Harvest Mindfully and Kindly – Before taking any plants, learn how to obtain them without damaging or causing harm. With berries, this might be as simple as picking them, while stems and leaves should be clipped at the appropriate areas with sharp, clean clippers. Bark should not be harvested without expert training. Harvesting roots can kill the plant and requires special care.

Give Back – Reciprocity is at the heart of ethical wildcrafting. Leaving offerings, singing to the land, returning plant material to be composted where it was gathered, scattering appropriate seeds, and becoming a steward of the Earth in all of life are keys.

Pay Attention to Environmental Contamination

Before harvesting, consider the quality of the land where the plant is growing. Many areas are contaminated with pollutants that can be absorbed by plants, making them unsafe for use.

• Avoid roadside foraging – Plants growing near busy roads can accumulate heavy metals and other pollutants from vehicle emissions.

• Be cautious near industrial sites – Old factories, railways, and mining areas may have lingering chemical contamination in the soil.

• Watch for pesticide use – Parks, golf courses, and agricultural fields are often treated with pesticides and herbicides that can make plants toxic.

• Know your water sources – Plants growing near polluted rivers, storm drains, or runoff areas may be unsafe due to waterborne contaminants.

• Test the soil if unsure – If you plan to harvest regularly from a location, consider testing the soil for heavy metals or toxins.

• Dog pee is a thing – Plants by signs and corners along trails or in parks can be prime spots for pee piles.

Building a Relationship with Plants

Foraging isn’t just about gathering—it’s about forming a relationship with the plants and the land. Spend time observing plants in different seasons, sit with them in meditation, and listen to their wisdom. Many traditional herbalists and plant spirit practitioners believe that plants offer guidance to those who approach with respect and an open heart.

I believe these relationships are best built in community — both with each other and with the greater world of nature spirits. This is exactly what we’ll be doing in Rewilding the Spirit this summer. This program only opens once a year and it is deep.

Wildcrafting is a beautiful way to connect with nature and experience plant healing firsthand. By practicing careful identification, ethical harvesting, and safe preparation, you can develop a deeper, more reciprocal relationship with the plant world. May your plant adventures be filled with wisdom, wonder, and gratitude!

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

the animals among us

wild allies for wild times, my komodo encounter, and our upcoming community workshop on April 5

Times are legitimately wild. And I love wild! If you’ve been here awhile, you know this ;) 

But let’s be clear — there are a few different types of wild, and I like some a lot better than others.

Fun aside — a woman recently unsubscribed with a note telling me that she thought my love of the wild was dangerous and misguided…ah the joys of self-employment! What do you think? I’m partial to the idea that everything you read is a Rorschack test for your own psyche ;) 

I actually don’t love the wild times we’re in. I would much prefer a world filled with love, peace, and happiness. But this division? The power grabs, lies, violence, and environmental destruction facing us? This wild is rough.

Here’s the wild I do love: the untamed nature of your divine soul. When I say wild, I’m speaking to that part of you that has never been domesticated. That still believes in magic. That knows you are worthy and wonderful beyond belief. 

This internal wild is what’s needed to meet the external chaotic wild that seeks to divide and destroy. This wild knows how to love freely, feel fully, and live with the joy of possibility. 

How do we access this wild within? 

We turn to the wild world around us — the wild spirit of undomesticated nature. 

And here’s one of my absolute favorite ways to connect with this wild essence: animals.

The hawk sighted on your morning commute. The whale that appeared in your dreams. Your beloved animal allies, with you all the time. 

The spiritual nature of animals teaches us how to reclaim our own wild spirits.

When you learn to read the wisdom in your animal encounters — whether in your own backyard or the spirit world — you tap into a way of being that aligns with your soul. You discover new hidden talents. You experiment with more authentic and healthy ways of living. You listen to whispers of what’s to come and how to respond. 

What birds awaken you in the morning? Who lives in the forests around you? Which wild ones fill your dreams? What favorite creatures have been lifelong loves? 

Take time to learn about the wild beasts that call to you, and trust the wisdom that arises. 

Who are the spirit animals in your life? Do you know who your most trusted animal allies are? 

A Story
A “Dragon”
A Heartbreak
A Love

Once I was visiting a zoo in Singapore. I don’t like zoos or visit them now, but at the time I was traveling and that particular experience came highly recommended.

At one point, a komodo dragon was being teased by some kids. “Gross!” “So ugly!” They shouted. 

This behavior breaks my heart on so many levels. 

Because I know the animals understand more than we think. 

And, what has happened to these kids’ hearts to make them behave like this towards a living creature? That so many young ones are being raised without reverence for the great diversity of the natural world is a tragedy, and one we see the consequences of all around us. 

As I stood there, gazing a beautiful being trapped in a cage being taunted by children, by broken heart reached out towards the giant lizard. 

I love you. My heart whispered. You are so beautiful, and I’m honored to be in your presence. Your sacrifice, living this life in this way, matters. I’m grateful for you and this life you are living. 

The komodo dragon turned its head as I spoke these words silently through my heart, making deep and long eye contact with me. 

Thank you. I felt. 

Calling the wild ones to your own heart.

For those on any sort of spiritual path, there have likely been at least a few key animal encounters in your history.

Ones that shifted how you thought, felt, or experienced the wisdom of the animal world. Ones that guided your path forward in some key way. Ones that let you know you aren’t alone, and you are loved.

I’ve been speaking with animals since I was born (I assume, lol — my earliest memories are from age three, but I was definitely communing with animals by then). And I’ve had a lot of really wild animal experiences….

• A seal swam right up to my face, looked me in the eyes, and dove away.

• A baby crocodile, only 6 feet away from where I stood, seemed to wink at me. 

• A magpie landed on my partner’s shoulder before hopping onto mine.

• A great horned owl flew from tree to tree in broad daylight with me on a hike.

• A mountain goat, usually my friend, tried to run me off the side of a cliff when I told it I was leaving Colorado (probably should’ve paid more attention to that one…).

• A cave of glow worms told me that they were just as creepy as they were magical.

• Two eagles circled over my yard when I felt I had nothing left to live for. 

I’ve heard just as many stories from my clients and friends. When you are sensitive, and when you love the natural world, animals appear. 

Interpreting the presence of these animals, however, is another story. 

It’s a practice that takes discernment, trust, skill, and heart.

Thank goodness understanding the presence of animals, even communicating with animals, is something that anyone can learn to do. 

On April 5th, I’m sharing a LIVE 2-hour workshop that will teach you how to interpret animal omens, begin communicating with animals, identify and meet your own animal allies, and more. 

This will be a super interactive workshop, filled with guided practices, sharing, and time for Q&A. 

Plus, you get a bunch of goodies when you register ;) 

We’ll meet Saturday, April 5th at 9:30am PT — and yes, there will be a replay for those who can’t come live :)

Oh, and in case you’re wondering…this workshop is only $45! Seriously a bargain for a 2-hour live class, 60-page manual, recorded practices, lifetime access, and more.

Learn the art of animal magic 🐾

Why this workshop? Well…

I’ve been giving power animal readings to clients and teaching live workshops all about spirit animals for years now, and I’ve been asked a lot of questions on this topic:

How many power animals can I have? 
I saw a raccoon cross the road last night. Do you think it means anything?
What’s the difference between a spirit animal and a power animal?
Can I have a dinosaur as my power animal? 
I dreamed about a walrus—what does that mean?
A shaman said I have a bear as a power animal, now what?  

As I noticed the same questions coming up again and again, I decided to put my wealth of wisdom and experience all into one place ― an easy to understand workshop that will help absolutely anyone learn how to work with spirit animals.

When you sign up for the live class, you’ll immediately get 3 gifts included with your purchase:

• The Spirit Animal Guidebook―The core teachings of this workshop come in a 60-page, beautifully designed PDF guidebook. (Hint: read this first so you can ask questions at the live class!)

• A Guided Power Animal Journey―Discover one of your power animals with a 20 minute guided shamanic journey.

• A Drumming Track―Enjoy a 10 minute drumming track to use for your own journeys, so you can explore without narration.

Plus, you’ll have lifetime access to everything, including the recording of the live workshop!

I know it’s a bit of a risk offering this workshop right in the middle of eclipse - rx everything season…but I also think this workshop is the perfect medicine for the wild times upon us.

Let’s gather in community, with each other and the spirit world, and connect with the love and wild power that will carry us through the chaos.

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Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Wild as a wolf with a box of chocolates

Nicolas Poussin | The Triumph of Pan

Yes, it was Valentine's Day yesterday, and I hope you felt the love. My favorite way to celebrate? Chocolate and roses.

Because guess what? Valentine’s Day might superficially be all about overspending on sugary bonbons and ruby red roses in the name of commodified relationship envy…

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But it’s also a day that brings awareness to the heart. And chocolates and roses are both heart medicines.

A spoonful of cacao, a pinch each of rose powder and cinnamon, and a bit of warm cashew milk. Heart-healing heaven.

But I’m not actually here to go all in on Valentine’s themes… 

Because long before heart-shaped chocolates and roses, there was Lupercalia—a Roman festival of wild abandon, fertility, and purification that honored the primal forces of nature. 

Celebrated on February 15th, Lupercalia was one of the oldest festivals in Rome. It was dedicated to Lupercus, a pastoral god sometimes associated with Faunus (the Roman equivalent of Pan), and always to the legendary she-wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome.

The rites took place in the Lupercal, a cave on the Palatine Hill believed to be the very place where the she-wolf suckled the twins.

The ceremony was wild.

Priests of Lupercus, known as Luperci, sacrificed goats and a dog before cutting strips of the animals’ hides to make whips. Clad in little more than these bloodied skins, they ran through the streets of Rome, striking women along the way — an act believed to bring fertility and ease childbirth. 

As Christianity spread, Lupercalia faced increasing opposition from the Church…

(And boy did they ban that shit. The horned gods, which Lupercus was associated with via Faunus/Pan, were the primal fertility gods of so many pagan cultures. The lords of life on mother Earth. And their horns literally became the horns of the devil.)

…Anyway, Lupercalia was eventually banned — and though I’m a fan of wildness, I’m actually okay with not killing goats so their skins can be used to whip women. 🤷‍♀️

But the devotion to primal energies and cycles of nature buried within these rites? Humans — at least some humans on some level — know that we need the ecstatic chaos of wildness.

Throughout the Middle Ages, remnants of Lupercalia’s wild revelry survived in fertility rites and frenzied celebrations, with villagers and forest folks donning wolf and goat masks in carnivalesque processions. 

Like the Romans before them, villagers saw wolves as creatures of both wilderness and community — fierce hunters who also lived in loyal family groups. The wolf who nursed Rome's founders wasn't just a symbol of wildness, but of protection, guidance, and wisdom.

In these February festivals, the wolf-priests of Lupercalia and wild villagers of Europe weren't just playing at being wild — they were remembering a time when we lived closer to our animal kin. When we understood their languages, followed their signs, and learned from their ways of being.

Perhaps it's time we welcomed a bit more of this wildness back into our lives.

Not by running through streets in goatskins and forsaking the beauty of the cultural threads that keep us safe and sovereign, but by reconnecting with the animal wisdom that still lives in our bones. By remembering that we too are creatures of instinct and intuition, community, and fierce independence.

This is part of what draws me to working with spirit animals, and why I'm excited to share these ancient connections in our upcoming workshop. Because sometimes the best way to find our path forward is to remember where we came from — to let the wolf, or whatever animal speaks to your soul ,show you the way back to your own wild wisdom.

The Spirit Animal Workshop

On Sunday, March 23rd, at 9:30am PT, I’ll be sharing a LIVE 2-hour spirit animal workshop.

You’ll learn all about spirit animals, meet your own animal allies, and begin to cultivate meaningful relationships with all the animal spirits in your life. 

This will be recorded if you can’t come live :) 

Already purchased The Spirit Animal Workshop? Then you can come for free! Keep your eye out for a separate email with more info. 

Celebrating the Spirit of Lupercalia Today

While I’m not encouraging anyone to slaughter animals or run naked through the streets (please, just don’t), this is a good time of year to reconnect with the wildness within.

The heart-centered energy of our modern-day Valentine’s isn’t just about romantic love — it’s about passion. 

What inner desires, those messages from your soul, drive you to take action in the world despite all the messages that tell you not to listen?

This Lupercalia, try the following to touch into your wild passions:

• Spend time in nature — especially if it’s cold and challenging! Really following your passions in life will definitely be uncomfortable, so practice with the wilderness just outside your door.

• Meditate on the spirit of Wolf — Where is it time to become a wolf-like leader in your life? Where is it time to care for community? And what is your heart hunting?

• Engage in self-purification rituals — whether through a cleansing bath, fire ceremony, breathwork, or plant brushing.

• Do what you love — allowing yourself to be guided by passion, love, creativity, and vitality.

Lupercalia reminds us that beneath the veneer of civilization, we are still creatures of instinct, longing for connection with the primal forces of life.

You might also like:

• 5 Steps for Communicating with The Spirits of Nature

• Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• 8 Benefits of Partnering with the Spirits of Nature

• Who is your Spirit Animal? A 4-Step Guide for Understanding Our Animal Allies

Recent Posts

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The Astrology of 2025

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive Guide to Nature Spirits

Who are the spirits of nature?

You've probably heard of elves and fairies, sensed spirits in trees, heard rumors of bigfoot, seen faces in stones, or even glimpsed sparks of light in the corner of your eye while walking through the woods.

The truth is, the spirits of nature are all around us—and they are a very diverse group of beings!

This article will introduce you to the basic categories of nature spirits. Let's dive in!

The Big Picture: Animism, Alternate Dimensions, Spirit Friends, and Lost Souls

I find it helpful to look at three main categories of nature spirits — plus a related group you'll encounter as you dive deeper into working with the spirits of nature.

But first…a bit of a disclaimer… Placing spiritual wisdom into strict categorical systems is a bit silly — spirit doesn't play by any rules, and you can probably at times feel truths that your mind has trouble articulating.

However, I love taking convoluted spiritual knowledge and organizing it into systems that help our human brains comprehend the incomprehensible. ;) This is part of my medicine in this lifetime. So, enjoy the attempted organization of the unorganizable!

Physical Nature Spirits

The first category are the nature beings we can see with our regular eyes: flowers, trees, animals, stones, bodies of water, mountains, the sun and planets — anything in nature and the cosmos that exists right alongside us in our 3D reality.

Through an animist perspective, we view all of these nature beings as enlivened by spirit, just as we are.

Magical Nature Spirits

The second category are those nature beings who also exist right alongside us, but in a slightly different frequency — in this way, they often seem quite magical. These beings include the fae, elves, devas, ancestors, various land spirits, and more. We'll dive deeper into this category below!

Though we don't usually see these beings on a regular basis (though it can happen), we can learn to connect with them using our intuitive senses.

Spiritual Nature Spirits

The third category is a bit different — these are high vibrational spirit beings who have an affinity for the earth and the natural world. This category includes our power animals, some ancestors and fae, and some deities.

These beings are often referred to as "spirit guides" — benevolent beings who serve as our teachers, protectors, and healers in the spirit worlds.

Not all spirit guides are nature spirits, and not all nature spirits in this category are spirit guides, so this category can get a little messy (such is the way of spirit!).

What's important to remember is that the first two categories — beings we can see and those in a different frequency — both reside on earth, just like we do.

This third category is for purely spiritual beings who exist beyond time and space — even life — as we know it.

So, while a living hawk has a spirit and would fall into the first category, a spirit hawk that serves as your power animal, for example, is a purely spiritual being that falls into this third category.

If you want to really understand the different types of spirit animals we might work with, I’ve created a fantastic resource for you here.

Lost Souls

We need to address one more type of being you might encounter as you explore connecting with nature spirits: lost souls.

Sometimes, after a physical body comes to its death point, the spirit inside stays on Earth instead of moving into the light and its next stage of spiritual evolution. This is true for humans and nature spirits—anyone who lives on our earth can experience this phenomenon.

Beings who remain on Earth after their death can become what we call lost souls—it's as if they're stuck. And yes, you could call them ghosts.

It's important to practice discernment when connecting with nature spirits, so you know whether you're connecting with a fellow living being or a lost soul. Lost souls aren't necessarily dangerous, but they can be misleading or draining—especially if you don't know who you're dealing with.

If you’re drawn to helping these spirits, training the art of psychopomp would be a good path for you.

A Deeper Look at Nature Spirits

As mentioned above, all beings in nature are inspirited. You can learn to connect with the spirit of a tree, a rock, a river, a river, a flower, and the Earth herself. I also think of celestial beings as inspirited nature beings, as we can connect with our sun, moon, stars, planets and other beings of the cosmos. 

Since we can all see and know who these physical spirits are, let’s explore the magical and spiritual beings who co-exist with us as the spirits of nature…

Spirits of the Land and Place

While "nature spirits" and "spirits of the land" are often used interchangeably, there's a subtle distinction. Nature spirits can be any of the beings we've discussed, whether they're tied to a particular location or not. Spirits of the land are specifically place-based nature spirits.

In addition to the many spirits of the land that reside in each place, every place has its own spirit, too. This might be the spirit of a city, your home or property, a neighborhood, a park, a mountain, wilderness area…

The more you work with nature spirits, the more you’ll be able to feel into what area is contained within each spirit of place. (And yes, they can overlap!)

The Fairy Realm

Perhaps one of the most beloved and well-known types of nature spirits are the fairies. Some people use the term “fairy” to refer to almost any magical being in nature—including elves, sylphs, gnomes, and more. Others have more intentional uses of the world, with different cultures making their own distinctions about who counts as a fairy. 

The truth is, there are so many different kinds of fairies, and so many different names for them throughout the world, that this could be an entire book! (And is, many times over.)

As you read more about the fairy worlds, you’ll find that many cultures refer to “dark” and “light” versions—in other words, some are benevolent and some are malevolent. 

For now, let’s look a few common types of fairies that you might hear about:

The Fae: This is an umbrella term primarily used for English and Germanic fairies, though it can encompass many magical beings. They're often divided into two courts:

• The Seelie Court (Trooping Fairies): Generally more benevolent, including the Tuatha de Danann and various noble fae

• The Unseelie Court (Wild Fairies): Often considered more dangerous or mischievous

Other common fairy types include:

• Brownies and Pixies: Usually household helpers

• Dryads: Tree spirits

• Elemental Beings: such as sylphs for air, salamanders for fire, gnomes for earth, and undines for water

• Will O'Wisps: Mysterious lights that appear in nature

• Kelpies: Water spirits

• Flower Fairies: The overlighting spirits of flowers

• Changlings: A supernatural being that is left in place of a human child

There are of course so many more! And while this list primarily comes from European folklore, every culture has it’s own language for and communities of fairy beings! If you want a more comprehensive list, I recommend looking into the work of Judika Iles :)

Magical and Mythical Beings

Beyond the fae, so many of the beings we often say are “mythical” are actually nature spirits, existing in parallel realms — often able to cross into the physical for the rare appearance.

Tales of merfolk, satyrs, unicorns, yeti, dragons, selki…are these beings truly only in myth, or do they perhaps exist as spirits of the land?

Here in the Northwest United States, sightings and stories of bigfoot are common — and not just among modern day hikers. The native tribes of the coastal West have legends of bigfoot as a protector and guardian of the forest, appearing to those who are worthy.

What mythological nature spirits reside in your location?

Earth Deities and Guardian Spirits

At the highest level of nature spirits are the great earth deities and guardian spirits found across cultures:

• Gaia/Mother Earth/Pacha Mama: The spirit of Earth herself

• Artemis, Dionysus, Geb, Danu, Nerthus, and more: Deities associated with wild nature

• Various indigenous guardian spirits who protect specific landscapes

These beings often work through other nature spirits to maintain balance and harmony in the natural world, and they are powerful allies to contact directly with your own earth tending.

How to work with the Magical Spirits of Nature

When engaging with nature spirits, especially the fae, it's important to remember a few key principles:

1. Respect and Reciprocity: Unlike purely divine spirits, such as angels or benevolent ancestors, many magical nature spirits operate on a system of exchange. They can see perfectly well if you are a friend or foe…and they will respond accordingly!

2. Boundaries: Be careful about accepting gifts from nature spirits, especially in dreams or journeys. Such exchanges can create energetic bonds that might become challenging to manage. There’s a reason so many myths and fairy tales caution against imbibing the drink of the fae!

3. Cultural Context: While these beings appear in traditions worldwide, their specific characteristics and how to interact with them can vary significantly by culture. What's considered appropriate interaction in one tradition might not be in another.

4. Elements and Alignment: Many nature spirits tend to align with specific elements and prefer to work within their domain. For example, a tree spirit might have "one foot in our world and one in another," making it a bridge between realms.

Download a free 45-page ritual guide filled with elemental practices here:

The realm of nature spirits is vast and complex, filled with beings that range from the physical to the purely spiritual. As you explore these relationships, remember to approach with respect, discernment, and an open heart. While we can create categories and systems to understand these beings better, the reality is often more fluid and mysterious than our human minds can fully grasp.

The key to working with nature spirits isn't just about understanding who they are—it's about developing relationships based on mutual respect and understanding. Whether you're connecting with the spirit of a tree in your backyard or exploring the mysterious realm of the fae, each interaction is an opportunity to deepen your connection with the living world around us.

You might also like:

• 5 Steps for Communicating with The Spirits of Nature

• Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• 8 Benefits of Partnering with the Spirits of Nature

• Who is your Spirit Animal? A 4-Step Guide for Understanding Our Animal Allies

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

Those of us who deeply love our Earth often carry a complex array of emotions in our hearts. We feel the grief of witnessing environmental destruction, the rage at preventable crises, and even guilt for being part of a species that has inflicted so much trauma on our planet. As natural empaths, many of us don't know how to separate the Earth's pain from our own (nor would we fully want to).

But what if these strong emotions could become catalysts for transformation?

All energy is usable energy. The question then becomes:

How do we transmute our grief into hope? How do we alchemize our rage into healing?

The transformational Power of Spiritual Rewilding

One of the most profound paths forward is through spiritual rewilding — the art and practice of returning to our true spiritual state.

When we rewild our spirits, we peel back layers of conditioning that prevent us from imagining and creating more magnificent lives. We awaken to our endless divinity and remember our true power.

The natural world serves as our perfect mirror in this process. Just as ecological rewilding restores ecosystems to their natural, wild states, spiritual rewilding helps us restore our connection to our essential nature. 

When we encounter truly wild places, we feel a different kind of energy — the energy of life living itself fully. Even death feels alive in these spaces.

Meeting the Soul of the Earth

One of the most healing practices we can engage in is connecting directly with the soul of the Earth herself. Not just the surface level where we encounter the echoes of trauma, but the deeper, eternal, compassionate spirit that holds a far more expansive vision than our human minds are accustomed to.

When we approach the Earth from an animist perspective — recognizing the inherent consciousness in all beings – we open ourselves to profound healing and guidance. The Earth is a great spiritual being who can see through our human layers to our true spirit. When we connect essence to essence, soul to soul, we remember who we really are.

Practice:

If you have a shamanic journey or meditation practice, set the intention to meet the spirit of the Earth. Learn about your relationship, and receive her reflections of your true nature.

Three Pathways to Deeper Connection

1. Co-regulation with Nature: Just as we co-regulate with other humans, we can attune our nervous systems to the steady, grounding presence of the Earth. This practice helps us tend to those challenging feelings of guilt, shame, frustration, and anger that arise in response to environmental trauma.

2. Sacred Reciprocity: True healing happens when we both give and receive with grateful hearts. The Earth doesn't want us to carry guilt — she wants us to engage in meaningful partnership. When we approach our relationship with the Earth from this perspective, we create space for miracles.

3. Being Witnessed by the Earth: In our daily lives, we often get trapped in patterns that make us feel smaller and less powerful than we truly are. When we allow ourselves to be witnessed by the Earth's loving gaze, we receive a reflection of our true potential.

A Call to Remember

Our ecological crises require a cosmological solution. 

The Earth knew you were coming — you're here at this time for a reason. She wants you to live the life you came here to live, to offer your unique gifts in service to the greater web of life.

You don't have to carry the weight of environmental trauma alone. The Earth and the spirits of nature are ready to partner with us in the work of healing and transformation. When we remember this truth, we tap into an infinite wellspring of hope and resilience.

The path forward isn't about forcing ourselves to stay positive in the face of real challenges. Instead, it's about expanding our perspective to include both the reality of what is and the possibility of what could be. It's about remembering that we are not separate from nature — we are nature, remembering itself back to wholeness.

A Ritual Guide for Earth Healing

You can make a difference, find healing, and become an even more effective Earth ally. And I want you to have the tools that I’ve personally found most impactful and transformative in this work. 

This is why I’m sharing my entire 45-page Wild Alchemy Ritual Guide for free. 

Inside, you’ll find 5 elemental rituals, reflection questions, recipes, and more to help you claim your role as a spiritual keeper of the Earth. 

Get yours here:

What wild dreams might emerge when you allow yourself to partner with the soul of the Earth? What healing might unfold when you give yourself permission to be witnessed by her loving gaze?

The Earth is waiting to show you.

You might also like:

Cosmic Evolution (A Prophecy)

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Shamanic Techniques for Healing

How to Work with the Spirits of the Land: 3 Powerful Practices

Recent Posts

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The Astrology of 2025

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Just Say No to Bro Goals

Just say no to bro goals.

Unless that works for you. But I'm taking a more feminine approach this year.

The cult of self help has a particular flavor in the podcast realms…

A lot of the habit-tracking and goal-setting info that makes it's way around the bro-podcast circuits just doesn't work for me.

I like the idea of 5am wake ups, cold showers every day, and pushing through discomfort to see change...

But ultimately, so much of the advice out there separates me further from body and intuition.

I'm cyclical. My energy levels are not the same throughout the month, or the seasons. I need the freedom to create space for my authentic needs without having my mind crowded over with "shoulds".

A lot of women suffer from the idea that we can hack our way to health and force ourselves into productivity…

Which brings me to an observation during a recent meeting of my weekly astrology class.

It’s an advanced class with just a small group of pretty badass women. We were practicing reading each others' charts, and a theme emerged…

We had all burned out. Hard. Enough so that half of us had quit our full time jobs for the sake of our health.

As above, so below.

I think a lot of us were drawn to astrology as part of our recovery.

There’s something incredibly comforting about seeing our human experiences reflected in the cosmos.

I have the fixed star Sirius conjunct my moon. Sothis to the Egyptians, many refer to Sirius as our spiritual sun—a portal to divine wisdom. Makes sense for me as my entire life has been a deep dive into mystical realms.

But Sirius is also known as “the Icarus star”. It blesses us with great inspiration and success…yet this success is almost always followed with a painful crash and burn.

Fortunately, rather than deciding my fate, this cosmic knowledge reminds me that I need to be extra intentional with my self care and energy levels.

AND it helps to not pretend that I will magically create consistent equilibrium in my life. My authentic blueprint inherently has cycles of success and burnout.

The question becomes, how can I work with these cycles instead of pretending they don’t exist?

For me, this means knowing that I will need periods of deep rest between creative projects. If I’m launching a new perfume or writing a hefty Substack series for example, I’ll need to put a few days of self care and rest into my calendar.

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How Mama Moon Saved Me

To heal from the extreme burnout I experienced (by extreme I mean total adrenal fatigue, no cortisol spike at all, inability to digest food, horrible skin, and crying all the time and unable to get out of bed), I knew I needed to start taking more exquisite care of myself than I ever had before.

This meant resisting the pull of mainstream messages about endless productivity and growth and sinking into a slower, earthier way of being.

But here's the challenge: Committing to exquisite self care is one thing—actually doing the self care is another.

Because being totally depleted makes it really, really hard to take care of yourself in even the most basic ways.

As much as bro-hacking doesn’t work for me, I do need some accountability to keep myself healthy. I will absolutely slip into later and later bedtimes, skip vitamins, and put off meditating until "tomorrow" if left completely to my own devices.

I needed help. So I turned to the moon.

In Hellenistic astrology, the Moon is considered to be the closest ally of our human experience. Her cycles directly affect our physical bodies and energy levels.

This is why consciously tuning into the Moon’s cycles can have a profound impact on our well-being.

So I made myself my own cyclical, nature-based habit tracking calendars.

These trackers are based on our monthly calendar system because that's the time my mind lives in. But they incorporate moon cycles because that's the time my body lives in.

Rather than rigid to-do lists that reinforce a mind-over-matter mentality, these lunar calendars help me track and plan according to my authentic cycles.

I’ve used these sheets to become more aware of my own energy levels and natural tendencies with the cycles of the moon, and I was better able to cultivate more sustainable habits on my journey back to health as a result.

I still plan and track goals like taking cold showers in the morning, getting sunlight on my skin within the first 10 minutes of waking, morning movement, pranayama, yoga, vitamins, etc.

But I also plan on skipping cold showers during the first days of my cycle. I put in the best days for certain foods or supplements. I mark the weeks when I'll likely have the most energy to go on long hikes, as well as the weeks when I know I'll need more rest and a hot bath.

I used these sheets all last year and love them.

So I packaged them up into a lovely little set that I can share! This set includes:

🌝 two types of tracking sheets — one for intentions/planning and one for tracking/measuring
🌝 a 20-page moon-syncing guidebook
🌝 a moon cycle wall calendar for fun

You can get yours here.

Using these sheets helped me:

🌚 cultivate more sustainable and nourishing habits, from drinking more water to recommitting to my pranayama practice
🌑 plan ahead for different types of self-care activities (saltwater baths at the new moon, socializing at the waxing moon, long solo hikes near the full moon)
🌒 align my schedule with my natural energy levels—sometimes I just won't be as naturally productive and that's ok
🌓 use different herbal tea blends and eat different foods as my body's needs change throughout each month
🌔 become so in touch with my body that I can more easily spot the first signs that I'm heading towards illness or imbalance, which helps course correct before its too late
🌕 get way happier!!!

And…here are pictures!

Here’s the link to get your moon magic:

2024 Moon Magic Guide

May your new year be filled with a balance of productivity and rest that perfectly meets your uniqueness. Many blessings!

You might also like:

• The Heliacal Rise of Sirius, the Five Sacred Epagomenal Days, and the Egyptian New Year

• On angels, psychic saviors, fallen gurus, and sovereignty (And the magic of being human)

• How to Be Spiritually Sovereign: Making Magic with the Virgin Goddesses

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• It’s Not Depression. It’s Exhaustion. ☥ Why Creative Women Are Burning Out and the Soul-Level Need for Deep Rest

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6 Ways to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox

Joyous blessings for the beautiful Autumn Equinox!

Today marks one of my favorite turns on the wheel of the year — not in the least because of my triple Libra energy ;)

I’m guessing that many of you can relate to our collective craving of autumnal air, cozy traditions, and the beckoning cocoon of the darker half of the year.

And of course, the harvest. Throughout the world, the Autumn Equinox is a time for harvest celebrations — various versions of festivities and music, communal feasts, rituals of gratitude, and offerings to the deities of the land are performed throughout the world as our night dances equally with the day.

The equinox is also a liminal time — neither summer nor fall, it’s a day in between. A gift of stillness in the fleeting balance of light and dark. 

And liminal spaces are made for magic. 

The natural world and the “otherwolds” extend an invitation to deepen our connection with Earth and spirit. Today, we may make magic together. 

How will you mark this turn of the seasons?

Here are 6 magical and seasonal ideas for celebrating the Autumn Equinox:

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6 Magical and Seasonal Ways to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox

1. Create an autumn altar. 

Altars are portals that invite specific energy into our spaces. Your autumn altar can welcome the energy and abundance of the season into your home. Traditional additions include squash and grain, especially if they’re from your own garden or a local farmer’s market, as well as wine, fall leaves, and other cornucopia-like decor.

2. Reflect on the themes of the season. 

This day of equal light and dark is a beautiful time to reflect on balance in your own life and to practice gratitude for your harvests. Grab a warm beverage, light a candle, find a quiet spot, and journal on the following questions:

• How can I cultivate a greater sense of internal peace and balance in my life?

• What would I like to let go of as I move into a new turn of the wheel?

• What lessons and joys am I harvesting? 

• What am I most grateful for from this past season? 

• What are my intentions for the season to come? 

3. Bake!

Celebrate the grains and fruits with a sweet plum bread, embrace the cultural obsession with pumpkin spice, and perhaps make an apple pie…or four ;)

4. Gather roots. 

Once the wheel turns to fall, it’s the perfect time to harvest roots (and if possible, aim for the new moon when they have a bit more potency). Whether carrots and beets from a garden or dandelion and chicory from a field, the grounding energy of the roots is exactly what we need right now.

5. Make a harvest feast. 

Gather seasonal produce from your gardens and local markets and make a meal you love. This doesn’t need to be anything over the top (unless you want to go all out, which I often do…). 

Simple roasted vegetables or a cozy soup and rustic bread are more than enough. See if you can go slow here—what happens if you allow yourself just to be with the harvest, rather than push yourself to get a dinner made? Play music, relax, chop, and sing. Get into your body and smell and taste and feel your way to a beautiful meal.

6. Get grounded. 

Take a moment to sink your energetic roots into the earth today. Allow our mother to welcome you into her abundant care before the ground freezes and hardens for the winter. See a full grounding ritual here.

How will you be spending your equinox? Let me know in the comments — I love to hear from you!

You might also like:

• Rooted: A Seasonal Grounding Practice

• An Imbolc Ritual

• Healing Pumpkin Soup with Cozy Autumn Spices

• Magical Bread Rolls with Pumpkin & Buckwheat

• Celebrating Samhain: Modern Rituals and Festivities for Connection and Protection

• Autumn in the Mountains - A Poem

• 3 Creative Ways to Celebrate Summer Solstice

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How to Use Flower Essences: A Complete Guide

Using flower essences is simple and allows you to harness the healing properties of flowers to support your own well-being. In this article, you’ll learn how to use flower essences for personal transformation and healing — including how to choose the right flower essence for you, different ways to take your flower essences, and how to know if they’re actually working!

Psst: If you want to know more about what flower essences are and how they work, take a look at this complete guide to flower essences!

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use flower essences for transformation and healing:

1. Choose the Right Flower Essence

Select a flower essence that aligns with your specific emotional or mental needs. For example, if you are experiencing general anxiety, you might consider using a flower essence like aspen. For healing past relationships or a broken heart, twinberry honeysuckle could help.

You can select flower essences by researching your intentions and reading descriptions, through kinesthetic testing, intuitively, or with a personal consultation. 

Looking for more in-depth guidance on choosing your essences? This free guide will walk you through a fun process!

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2. Set Your Intention

Before using your flower essences, take a moment to set your intention or the purpose for using it. Be clear about what emotional, mental, or spiritual aspects you want to address or what positive qualities you wish to cultivate within yourself. This intention will infuse your experience with more healing and prepare you to receive the benefits of your essences.

3. Take the Flower Essence

The most common way to take flower essences is orally — directly under the tongue or in water:

• Direct Ingestion: Place a few drops (usually 2-4) of the flower essence under your tongue. Hold the drops in your mouth for about 30 seconds before swallowing. This allows the essence to be absorbed through the mucous membranes and enter your system.

• In Water: Add a few drops of the flower essence to a glass of water and sip it slowly. This method is especially useful if you find the taste of the essence too strong for direct ingestion.

Either way, you’ll want to take your dose of essences 2 to 4 times a day for at least two weeks. After two weeks, most people notice at least subtle changes. You should continue taking your essences either until the dosage bottle is gone, or until you naturally feel complete — you’ll notice that you just aren’t drawn to keep taking them. 

While taking essences internally and consistently is the most common way to heal and transform with them there are many wonderful and creative ways to use flower essences! You can apply them topically, use them in rituals, share them with pets…the list goes on :) 

For a complete list of creative uses for flower essences, make sure to grab your free guide, Flowering Soul.

4. Observe and Reflect

As you use your flower essences, pay attention to any shifts or changes in your emotions, thought patterns, or overall well-being. Keep a journal if possible, noting any insights or observations. Sometimes the effects of flower essences may be subtle and gradual, while other times, you might notice immediate changes. You can read more about signs to look for here.

5. Combine Flower Essences (Optional)

You can create personalized blends by combining different flower essences to address multiple aspects of your emotional or mental well-being. If you choose to mix essences, do so in a separate bottle and label it with the intention or emotions you are targeting. An experienced practitioner can also help you create a custom blend for your particular needs.

6. Be Patient and Gentle with Yourself

Flower essences work in harmony with your natural healing process, but they are not a quick fix. Be patient and compassionate with yourself as you embark on this journey of self-discovery and healing. 

Sometimes, what has been buried or hidden within our psyches emerges when we use flower essences — and this isn’t always easy to confront or integrate. Find support for your journey, whether through a trusted friend, therapist, spiritual healer, or someone else with the skills to hold you during your transformation.

Remember that while flower essences can be a valuable tool for emotional support, they are not a substitute for professional medical or psychological help when needed. If you are dealing with significant emotional challenges or mental health issues, consider seeking guidance from a qualified healthcare practitioner or therapist.

Using flower essences can be a beautiful and transformative experience, allowing you to connect with the healing power of nature and nurture your emotional and spiritual growth.

If you’d like to go deeper with your exploration, you’ll want to get my free guide to flower essences here:

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Ready to start using essences yourself? I offer a selection of handmade essences in the Alchemessence Apothecary. I created each one myself, in sacred partnership with the plants. A few to get started with are:

You might also like:

• Flower Essence FAQs

• Flower Essences 101: How to Partner with Plants for Whole-Self Healing

• Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

• The Magic and Medicine of the Rose

• Great Northern Bedstraw: A Beloved and Underrated Wild Plant

• The Magic and Medicine of Elephant's Head Flower

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All About Flower Essences: How to Partner with Plants for Whole-Self Healing

Flower power is back! Flower essences are liquid infusions of blossoms and light that shift the vibrational state of anyone who uses them. And they’re becoming more popular all the time — because they are one of the most gentle, accessible, and still potently transformational healing remedies available. The plants are here to support us, and in this article you’ll learn exactly what flower essences are, how they work, and how you can start using them for your own healing journey.

As the child of nature-loving hippies, I’ve been using flower essences for just about my entire life. I love them.

For the past decade, I’ve also been making my own flower essences in sacred ceremony out in the wilds — I spend miles and hours wandering through mountains, forests, and fields, allowing the spirits of nature to guide me to the perfect plants. 

The result is an ever growing collection of powerful elixirs made from a wide variety of botanical allies — some of which are quite rare and true gifts from the earth. 

Flower essences have been part of my life for so long that I sometimes forget that not everyone lives and breathes spiritual botany the way I do. And, from the outside looking in, they almost seem like a snake oil type of medicine…how does infusing a blossom in spring water actually make a difference for your own health and wellness?

Read on to discover the magical, vibrational, and natural power of the flowers!

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What Are Flower Essences?

Flower essences are natural remedies made from the energetic imprint of flowers. They are created by infusing the blossoms of specific plants in water, and then preserving with alcohol, to capture their unique vibrational signature.

By working on an energetic level, flower essences affect the subtle energy systems of the body to promote emotional, spiritual, and, as a result, physical healing. 

Unlike essential oils or herbal extracts, flower essences don't contain physical substances — and therefore have no scent — but instead carry the vibrational imprint of a flower’s unique healing qualities. 

The term “flower essence” is often used as an umbrella term for vibrational essences of all types, as well, including:

• Trees and mushrooms — even if not technically flowers, these make wonderful essences

• Environmental essences — these capture the energy of a place, such as a body of water or sacred site

• Gemstone essences — these essences carry the vibrational imprints of crystals and stones

The History And Origins Of Flower Essences

The history of flower essences can be traced back to ancient civilizations, when healers and spiritual practitioners recognized the healing potential of vibrational remedies. The modern-day foundation of flower essences, however, is attributed to the pioneering work of Dr. Edward Bach.

Dr. Bach was a British physician and homeopath. In the 1920s, he developed a set of 38 individual flower essences — known as the Bach Flower Remedies — each corresponding to a specific emotional state. His belief was that imbalances in our emotional and mental states led to physical illnesses, and by addressing these emotional imbalances, true healing could occur. 

Dr. Bach created the first flower essences based on his intuitive realization that the healing properties of flowers could be transferred to water, which captured the energetic imprint of the plant — something Dr. Masaru Emoto later demonstrated with his famous water experiments. 

A strong proponent of accessibility in healing, these essences allowed Bach to share healing remedies that could be easily administered and understood by people without specialized medical knowledge. To this day, Dr. Bach’s work with homeopathy and flower essences continues to influence alternative and holistic healing methodologies.

How Are Flower Essences Made?

Creating flower essences involves a gentle and sacred process that honors the essence of the flowers.

The most common method is the sun-infusion technique, where freshly picked flowers are floated on the surface of spring water and left to be infused by the sun's energy, which helps transfer the vibrational healing qualities of the flowers to the water. (I use a moonlight infusion for mushroom essences, though, as the moon and mushrooms have a unique relationship.)

Essences from hardier plants, such as trees, are often made with a boiling method instead of the sun infusion, as Bach felt that simmering tougher plant material in water for 20 minutes more effectively brought out the vibrational imprints. 

Either way, the resulting infusions are then preserved with alcohol to create the “mother” essence. Brandy is traditionally used, though many people today use vodka. (I have a 100% Demeter Certified organic grape alcohol I like to use.) For those avoiding alcohol, apple cider vinegar is a good alternative.

From the mother essence, you will dilute just a few drops into each stock or dosage bottle. (I share more about this in the free guide!) Each vibrationally attuned drop imprints the water if your dosage bottle, allowing you to receive full benefits of the elixir in amazingly sustainable ways.

Why Flower Essences Work

The philosophy behind flower essences is based on the belief that emotional and spiritual imbalances can manifest as physical ailments. By addressing the root cause of these imbalances on an energetic level, flower essences facilitate healing and personal growth. 

They can assist in alleviating stress, anxiety, fear, grief, and other emotional states, promoting a greater sense of harmony and connection with oneself and the environment.

As a subtle healing remedy, flower essences probably won’t give you an immediate, noticable difference with a one-time use. However, used consistently over time, they do make a difference. 

You’ll likely wake up one day and realize that your thoughts have become more positive, and you didn’t notice it happening. Or your back pain just isn’t bothering you as much, and you’re not sure why. Or you have an inspired idea, seemingly out of nowhere. These are the essences at work!

Here are a few signs your flower essences are working:

• Your dreams — look for shifting patterns in recurrent dreams, insights, and healing

• Your habits and daily patterns — notice subtle shifts that arise naturally and will make a bigger difference over time

• Your thoughts — again, notice subtle shifts in old thinking patterns, as well as new insights and inspiration

• Your intuition — you’ll begin to come into clearer connection with your inner knowing and meditation may feel easier

• Synchronicities — seemingly ransom blessings are actually the result of your own shifting energy

• Relationship changes — as you change, your relationships with those around will change too

• Physical wellness — you’ll start to just feel better, whether that means having more energy, peace, or joy

How to Use Flower Essences

Flower essences are best used consistently over time. The most common way to use them is to drink a few drops in water four times a day — but you can get creative :) 

For a complete guide on using flower essences, take a look at this article!

Why to Use Flower Essences

Flower essences can support a wide range of intentions. Here are a few common ones:

• Alleviating anxiety — aspen is one of my favorites for this

• Healthy boundaries, energetically and emotionally — try a combination of yarrow and rose

• Embodying your worth — I absolutely love queen’s crown as an ally

• Enhancing psychic abilities, intuition, shamanic journeying, and lucid dreaming — mugwort and amanita are favorites

• Shadow work — the poison plant essences are potent allies, and you can get a full set of them here

• Support for times of change — bistort helps us with internal scaffolding, and fireweed helps us re-emerge after having the ground pulled from under us

• Sleep and relaxation — elephant’s head is my absolute favorite for this

• Tending the mother wound — mariposa lily is a beautiful essence

• Deepening your relationship with the Earth — you have to read my article on gnome flower essence!

• Plus healthy relationships, healing depression, motivation for life changes, physical changes, and so much more.

Safety Considerations And Potential Side Effects

One of the wonderful things about flower essences is that they are so safe and easy to use, with no known side effects or interactions. They usually can be used with animals, children, and the elderly without any problems.

That said, the emotional transformation that may arise with use of flower essences may be intense — you’ll want to have proper support, such as a trusted therapist or holistic healer, for any emotional or mental issues that arise.

Remember: While flower essences can be a valuable tool, they are not a substitute for professional medical or psychological help when needed. If you are dealing with significant emotional challenges, mental health issues, or physical ailments, consider seeking guidance from a qualified healthcare practitioner or therapist.

Flower essences offer a profound and accessible path to holistic healing and personal growth, bridging the gap between nature's wisdom and our own well-being. If you’d like to go deeper with your exploration, grab my free guide to flower essences here:

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Ready to start incorporating flower essences into your own healing journey? Explore the wild, sacred essences I’ve created in partnership with the plants in the Alchemessence Apothecary.

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Wild Sunflower

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Gnome Flower

You might also like:

• Flower Essence FAQs

• How to Use Flower Essences: A Complete Guide

• Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

• The Magic and Medicine of the Rose

• Great Northern Bedstraw: A Beloved and Underrated Wild Plant

• The Magic and Medicine of Elephant's Head Flower

Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

On a beautiful, sunny July morning in the mountains of Oregon, I made a discovery that would expand my understanding of reality. 

I had quit my full time job of six years just the month before. Tortured by a pompous prick of a manager and tired of suffering physically as well as emotionally, I finally leapt off the ledge of so-called security and into the void of the unknown. 

I gave myself the summer to heal (which turned into a year). As much as my mind told me that I would lose everything if I didn’t start making money again right away, my body was forcing me to slow down. 

And so, on a random Tuesday, free from the responsibilities I was used to, I took myself on a solo hike through a most beautiful forest, hoping that the spirits of nature could help heal my weary soul.

The hike began in the usual way — a crowded parking lot gave way to quiet trails as I traveled deeper into the woods. 

I allowed the trees to bathe me in healing terpenes, brushing my hands on lush ferns as I passed. I waded into icy river shores, praying for the healing waters to cleanse away my pain. I greeted every plant and stone and animal and bird, as is my way in the world. 

And then, I looked down and saw a being I’ve never seen before — a gnome plant. 

The Rare and Wonderful Gnome Plant

This beautiful and strange plant is extremely rare, and any encounter with her is a true gift. I believe she remains hidden by choice, revealing her beauty only to those who have demonstrated their heartfelt appreciation and love for the earth. 

So rare is the gnome plant, hemitomes congestum, that very little is even known about her.

"The Gnome Plant is so secretive and illusive one is as likely to encounter a forest gnome as see one of these deep forest dwellers." — Reny Parker in Wildflowers of California's North Coast Range (originally cited by Jeanne Jackson)

She is the only member in her entire plant family, hemitomes, and she exists only on the West Coast of the United States, from California to British Columbia.

Little is known about the life cycle of this mysterious plant, but we do know that it doesn’t contain chlorophyll, likely feeds on parasitic fungi, and is probably pollinated by a moth of some sort.

When I encountered this marvelous and mysterious plant, her petals were closed, giving her a distinctly succulent look. Delighted and awed, I snapped a few pictures, offered gratitude, and continued on my way.

I had thought that this was the end of my gnome plant encounter. It turns out it was only the beginning. 

The Invitation Deepens

A few nights later, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night. Sleep eluded me, so I decided to use the time to journey and take a shamanic trip into the otherworlds. 

As someone who has been practicing shamanic arts for over two decades, I have usual protocols for my journeywork — set an intention, go through a portal, meet my guides, explore… 

For some reason though, this time I abandoned my usual process and simply set the intention to travel wherever spirit took me. 

As soon as my request was sent, a mole appeared. 

Now, I have dozens of spirit animals I work with, but I had never met mole spirit before! All felt divine and safe, so went with the flow and followed the mole deep into the earth.

Deeper and deeper. Darker and darker. We were traveling somewhere entirely new for me. 

Finally, the pressure of the earth around me shifted, and I dropped into a vast underground cavern. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that the walls around me were sparkling—precious minerals and crystals of all sorts glimmered from some source of unseen light.

Then I saw her. The Queen of the Underworld. The Queen of the Gnomes.

Meeting the Gnome Queen

Now, I should clarify that this is the language she gave me to describe herself. I’m well aware that many deities bear the title of Queen of the Underworld. And, while the term “gnome” is often used for adorable garden figures with pointed hats—that is not the kind of gnome I encountered.

The queen sat upon a crystalline throne, her pale skin luminescent and shimmering with an ethereal splendor.

Honored to be in her presence, I was told that encountering the gnome plant had been an invitation to her realm, an invitation to work with the magic and medicine of the earth kingdom in a new way. The plant was a portal. 

I was shown that this particular realm of gnomes (I believe there are actually many kinds of beings who bear this name) operated much like a bee hive: The queen was the only female, hidden from most in our world, protected and served by the male gnomes.

A World within Our World

The realm of the gnomes exists deep within our earth in a slightly different reality than we’re familiar with — perhaps another dimension, perhaps a different frequency. 

Though most are unaware of its existence, this realm is of vital importance to our own world. 

The gnomes tend the harmonic balance of the earth’s minerals. They build, move, and attune Gaia’s crystalline structure — and heal her from the extraction that happens in our dimension. The queen is a channel for the life force of the mineral-beings within the earth, infusing them with power and source energy.

The queen told me that those who are called to work with this realm have the ability to channel and harmonize earth grids for Gaia. And, by working directly with the gnomes, they just might receive Gaia’s abundance in surprising ways. 

I was being invited to apprentice with the gnome realm.

The queen then shared that I could return to the forest to make a flower essence of the gnome plant — a gift to support my apprenticeship energetically.

Creating a Most Rare Essence

Though encountering even one gnome plant seemed like a miracle the first time, I decided to respond to the queen’s generous invitation and see if I could find this plant once more. 

Unsure of whether the gnome plant would still be blooming or whether I could even find it again, I decided to make a date out of my next attempt. I invited my partner, Mike, on an after work hike and dinner picnic to the mountains. 

After nearly an hour and a half of driving, we arrived at the trailhead and set out. About five minutes into our hike, Mike said, “Whoa—is this one?”

It was. The queen, true to her promise, had recognized an earth ally in Mike, too (which doesn’t surprise me at all…there’s a reason I’m with this man!).

This time, the gnome flower had opened up into beautiful little blossoms — the divine timing of our encounters perfectly orchestrated. I gratefully and reverently gathered just a few blossoms, placed them in a glass jar, and we continued. Soon, we encountered a second gnome flower…and then a third! 

Such a gift to have met so many of these magical and strange beings. Such confirmation for deepening our relationship.

I brought the blossoms home and infused them into local spring water to create a flower essence under the moonlight—a moon infusion seemed appropriate for the queen of the gnomes, somehow. 

When I asked if I could share this flower essence and my discoveries with others — the gnome plant, the world of the gnomes, the portal to abundance they offered — I was told to wait. Integration was needed first.  

And so, for nearly a year now, I’ve been sitting with this essence, meeting with the queen of the gnomes, waiting for further instruction.

Psst — Want to learn more about flower essences? I’ve created a free starter guide that you will love :)

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A Sacred Circle of 13

Now, I’ve finally been granted permission to share this precious essence. But only with 13 people. I trust that the exact people who are meant to work with the queen will feel called to purchase their essences at the perfect time. 

It seems possible that I’ll be able to release more later, but for now, I’m following instructions. There may even be a special circle offered, live and online, once all the 13 spots have been claimed. We’ll see. 

Are you one of the queen’s apprentices? Find your magical gnome flower essence here:

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You might also like:

• Flower Essence FAQs

• How to Use Flower Essences: A Complete Guide

• Gnome Plant & Meeting the Queen of the Underworld

• The Magic and Medicine of the Rose

• Great Northern Bedstraw: A Beloved and Underrated Wild Plant

• The Magic and Medicine of Elephant's Head Flower

Coregulating with the Natural World

Like any trauma — and like so much of our modern lives in general — ecological trauma often leaves us depleted and exhausted. The ongoing existential threats, the feelings of powerlessness, and the potent pairing of anger and grief we experience can coalesce into overwhelm and physical, emotional, and spiritual dysregulation. 

Our work is to alchemize this pain and grief into usable energy. Our birthrights include being in sacred relationship with the natural world. Our true potential to be effective stewards of the Earth is without limit.

Here, we’ll take a shamanic approach to recovering from ecological trauma. This approach is rooted in two fundamental principles:

First, as much as we might resist connecting with what we perceive to be the pain of the Earth, deepening our connection with the natural world is our path to healing.

The Earth has provided humans with multi-layered healing for millennia, and we must allow ourselves to receive and reconnect with the gifts of our Earth.

Second, as much as we might perceive humanity as bearing the burden for the fate of the world, we are not alone in our efforts.

When we embrace a cosmological shift to animist perspectives, we recognize that the Earth and all her inhabitants are inspirited — and as such, they have agency to affect the fate of the planet, just as humans do. Listening to and partnering with these nature beings is essential if we hope to enact any change within ourselves and our world.

As we partner with our bodies, with the Earth, and with spirit, we can begin to co-create a wildly wonderful world.

Coregulation with the Natural World

The importance of being in a well-regulated body cannot be overstated. 

It’s really hard to be a fully functional, compassionate, and mature adult when your nervous system is dysregulated. Mindset and willpower can only go so far when your adrenals and vagus nerve are depleted or your general endocrine system is out of sync with your body’s needs.

I’ve noticed that when I’m depleted or experiencing activation in my sympathetic nervous system (the “Fs”: fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and I might add “fatigue”), I become more reactive and judgemental. Yet when I’m well-regulated, I’m naturally more generous and forgiving. I have more energy to take positive actions, and my thinking is clearer, allowing me to direct my resources — time, money, and energy — where they’re needed most. 

There are many daily strategies we can implement to tend to our nervous systems — I list several of my personal practices here and here. 

One of the most beautiful ways to tend our nervous systems in response to ecological trauma is coregulation with the natural world.

In simple terms, coregulation is the idea that when a person is spinning out and unable to regulate their own nervous system, another person who is calm and well-regulated can help them — almost “lending” their nervous system’s health to the person in need: Think of a child who gets taken over by a sobbing fit, and their parent simply hugs them until they calm down enough to process whatever has just happened. 

Humans, being social beasts, are perfectly primed to both give and receive this type of communal support with each other.

But what about coregulating with the natural world? 

The shamanic and animist cultures we all come from included the Earth and spirits of nature in our circle of relations. Coregulating with the Earth is our natural way of being in the world. 

When I walk through the Rocky Mountains, a place I’ve tended relationship with for over a decade, the mountains literally feel like my grandparents. The trees are wise elders. The animals my brothers and sisters. This isn’t metaphor, either. Nature beings — especially those I know well — are my kin, pure and simple.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked my favorite trails with a broken heart, ready to crawl into a hole and hide for the rest of my life. And over the course of miles and mountains, I emerge with the presence and purpose to keep going.

Coregulating with the natural world is effective because nature is naturally well-regulated.

While we certainly witness imbalances and traumas in our ecosystems, most of the nature spirits we encounter in our daily lives are resourced and regulated. They remember their divinity and often hold a broader perspective than our egoic human minds. 

And, usually, they delight when humans turn to them for support. The spirits of nature are tuned in to collective memories of times when humans actively partnered with the Earth. They know that sharing their love with us is part of their destiny.

I’m sure most of you can remember spending time in a natural place that just felt good. Even if you couldn’t pinpoint why specifically, you felt yourself becoming present and relaxed. Unintentionally, you were coregulating with the natural world. 

Intentionally coregulating with the natural world is even more powerful. While this practice can be done with a variety of nature beings and places, trees are some of our most accessible allies for this conscious coregulation.

Practice: Coregulating with Trees

Begin by approaching a tree you naturally feel drawn to. Hold your intention for coregulation in your heart. 

(One of the core practices I teach when connecting with any spirit being, including nature spirits, is to ask permission before you engage with its field of energy. Yet knowing whether your getting a yes or no answer can be tricky without practice. By setting your intention for healing and then allowing yourself to be drawn to a tree that seems to be calling you, or that just feels good, you can safely assume permission has been given.)

Take a few moments to observe the tree. Witness its beauty, notice the details you would normally gloss over. 

How do you feel in the presence of this tree? Notice your energy as you approach. How is it shifting the longer you sit with this tree? 

Even if you notice that the tree is diseased or damaged, see if you can pierce that layer of existence to align with the true, divine essence of the tree.

Take some time to tune into the roots, the trunk, the expansion of the branches. What sensations arise in your body?

Feel into the solid, grounded energy of the tree. Depending on the kind of tree and time of year, you might sense energy that feels rooted and flexible, grounded and expansive, nourished and nourishing, resilient and joyful.

Check in with your own nervous system again. Feel the energy of the tree within your being. 

You can deepen this practice even more by adding circular breathing with the tree. Visualize yourself inhaling both the oxygen and energy of the tree, and as you exhale, it receives your carbon dioxide and energy. 

You can also spend time in direct contact with the tree: Either sit with your back along the trunk or go head and give it a big, long hug. Both can enhance the energetic experience of the tree. There’s a reason tree hugging is thing!

When you feel complete, offer thanks to the tree (more on this when we discuss reciprocity in Part 3 of this series). Acknowledge what you have received and move forward with gratitude in your heart. 

If available to you, try repeating this practice with the same tree several times. You’ll notice that not only do new sensations arise, but new insights and wisdom will spark within your consciousness, as well.

Coregulating with Place

This is a practice you can do with rivers, mountains, flowers, stones, and the earth herself. The more variety you experiment with, the more you’ll realize that nourishment from the natural world has many different flavors. 

Another place that I have a deep, long standing relationship with is the Oregon Coast. If you’ve never visited the Oregon Coast, know that it is wild. Largely undeveloped and protected with state park designations, these rocky beaches have retained an untamable, at times exhilarating, energy. 

Massive rocky outcrops emerge from huge coastal waves. Cliffs filled with nesting birds of prey overlook tide pools full of sea anemones and starfish. Giant kelp and jellyfish wash along the shores. The water is numbingly cold even at the height of summer, and ravaging wind gusts are almost guaranteed. 

This is not exactly a relaxing scene in many ways, yet the wild coasts of Oregon feel aligned. As rough as the waves and weather may be, the spirit of this place is strong. And I’ve never ended a trip to the coast without feeling more enlivened and empowered because of our time together.

Coregulating with the wild spirit of the coast is a very different experience from sitting with a tree in a park. The calm, nurturing, grounding energy of the tree contrasts with the wild strength of the sea — yet both energies are perfectly aligned with their own divinity. Both are resourced and regulated. And this is what heals us. 

Your invitation here is to explore the gifts of coregulating with place.

Where do you feel enlivened? Where do you feel a sense of calm presence? Allow yourself to receive the healing energy of aligning with the Earth’s authentic being.

Coregulating with Animals

You might have noticed that until now, I haven’t included animals in the list of nature spirits to practice coregulating with. Put simply, animals are different. They have nervous systems, just like we do, and they may or may not feel resourced and regulated themselves. Coregulating with animals can be an absolutely beautiful experience, and it can benefit both parties, but it needs to be approached a bit differently. 

When it comes to animals in the wild, coregulation is a rare gift. In my experience, wild animals usually don’t sit in presence and regulate with humans. While it can happen, and some humans are especially gifted at this practice, animals in the wild most often appear as messengers.

(If you’d like to learn how to understand messages from animals, I have a really special short course on the topic here.)

Our pets, however, can be wonderful allies for coregulating — and if you have a pet you love, you already know exactly what I mean. 

While human-pet relationships can be as varied as any familial dynamics, most often our pets are happy to coregulate with us. Humans have karmic bonds with many species that make dropping into coregulation natural and healing for both us and our animal kin. 

The frequency cat’s purr has positive physiological effects on our nervous systems. The unconditional love in a dog’s gaze heals the heart at the deepest levels. I even had a lizard who, though I didn’t have the language for it at the time, would coregulate with me… 

I swear — that lizard and I had karma. A lizard wouldn’t have been on my personal pet list, as I always thought lizards were best left in the wild. But this one, a bearded dragon named Diego, was about to be returned to a petshop because his owner was moving across the country, so I volunteered to take him in.

At first, he was so foreign to me — a little dinosaur walking around my kitchen floor. Yet it didn’t take long for me to learn his language, see his intelligence, and tune into his amazing presence. 

I was in grad school at the time — not exactly a stress-free era of life — and I would often take Diego out of his enclosure to run around my bedroom while I studied. I distinctly remember that whenever I would pause and take a meditation break, he would run over and hop in my lap to join me. Eventually, this magical little being would initiate the meditation breaks!

I loved that lizard, and would hold him while watching TV, feed him green beans from the garden, take him on little walks in the backyard…I know without a doubt that he was coregulating with my perfectionist student self, and I needed him.

If you open your mind and heart to the many possibilities of connecting with the natural, wild world — support can be found in the most surprising places.

Cultivating Self-Regulation 

One of the basic tenets of psychological teachings on coregulation is that it’s not a replacement for self-regulation. We must develop the skills to soothe and tend our nervous systems on a regular basis, to cultivate resilience for challenging times, and to become beacons of stability and healing for others. 

In a way, coregulating with the natural world is a beautiful step toward being able to effectively self-regulate. In the presence of nature spirits, we aren’t alone, yet we can be alone in the human sense. We can tune into our own resources, guided by the natural world.

You may also like:

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• Humans are losing their ****, and how body and Earth can help

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• Who is your Spirit Animal? A 4-Step Guide for Understanding Our Animal Allies

• 8 Benefits of Partnering with the Spirits of Nature

Humans are losing their ****, and how body and Earth can help (aka, tend your nervous system)

It's not crazy to feel like the world is a bit crazy right now.

Ever since the pandemic arrived in 2020, life has felt a bit volatile — right? 

I find peace through my connections with nature, spirit, and the cosmos…but I’m always tracking our collective energies through various media outlets. 

Intuitively, I’ve felt that we should expect more collective upheaval until 2025 or 2026 (something many astrologers have confirmed). This isn’t saying that major goodness and growth won’t happen along the way. Rather, it’s more of an acknowledgement that yes, things feel a bit crazy and no, you’re not crazy for noticing. 

The completely bizarre shootings of young people making mistakes last week really hit me. Being naturally sensitive, I’ve of course felt the pressure-cooker like energy of our collective. I’ve watched as people have become so filled with fear — what is likely deep, existential, multi-layered fear — that they are losing their humanity. 

We’ve traded our reverence of life for the gods of money.

Now, personal survival and individualism to the extreme seem to come first no matter the cost. No civilization has ever thrived with rampant individualism at the core of its values (the elites in that civilization yes, for a time, but without collective care I don’t think you can really say an entire civilization is thriving). 

I’m not surprised that people have lost their shit.

The pandemic, no matter how you were personally affected, shook the foundations that so many had taken for granted.

The way the media pours fuel on the fire of the most aggressive voices in our modern cultural movements — from every side and in all directions — has further shaken the foundations and assumptions that once provided stability in people’s lives. And has further made us fearful of each other.

(Though, for what it’s worth, shootings like this aren’t actually new. The media just decided to cover them all in one week. Once again, we must always check the agendas of any media outlets and the energetic influences they are susceptible to.)

I’m not saying the need to question our assumptions is a bad thing — it’s an essential part of our soul growth. But I do know that it’s not easy, and without the proper skills and support, and a lot of compassion, this process can feed into collective fears (furthering the divides that keep us disempowered from enacting real collective change). 

And then there’s the exponential growth of artificial intelligence and the effects this has on our psyches. Just a few months back, AI programs like ChatGPT basically seemed like advanced search engines. Now, even a layperson like me is seeing hints of true AGI. When a computer learns how it works and discovers how to improve itself, how long until we really do reach the singularity? 

This monumental change to life as we know it further fuels humanity’s existential fears. And it’s not just about robots taking our jobs anymore — though that’s certainly a concern. And it’s not just about feeling as if you can’t keep up with these changes, or are losing your way of life — though those are at play too. 

These fears arise because on some level, whether consciously or not, humans are wondering what role reality will actually play in their lives — and what the definition of “reality” will even be. (More thoughts on this here.)

Which brings us to what is real, right now: our Earth. No one is immune to the Earth changes before us.

We must tend our bodies and regulate our nervous systems to meet for the challenges before us.

When I feel into my own experience with shaken foundations and future insecurity, I notice that my personal response changes drastically based on the physical health of my body, especially when it comes to the state of my nervous system.

If I’m already feeling drained and stressed, and I know that my HPA axis is out of whack, I tend to go into protection mode: I feel so depleted and under-resourced already, that I’m put on notice to guard everything I have left — whether this is my time and energy or my physical property. New information or a new person becomes a threat until proven otherwise. 

If I’m well-resourced and nourished, my personal response is radically different — and more in line with my true nature: I immediately turn to love. As cheesy as it might sound, our hearts are capable of endless compassion. From this place, when I see others acting out of fear, an inner determination to be a beacon of light, grounded and hopeful, in the midst of chaos fuels my motivations. 

I can’t emphasize enough how intricately connected these responses are to my physical state of being.

My own journey through (and still in) extreme adrenal fatigue, catalyzed by a series of traumatic events and ongoing grief, has taught me a lot about this. 

Even though my emotions might be going haywire and my soul feels wounded, if I’ve slept enough, fed myself nourishing foods, sipped on nervine teas, done my daily meditation practice, and kept up with regular abhyanga, my response to any disrupting information is more compassionate.

Unfortunately, it requires a lot of effort to stay healthy and sane these days (especially since most of us are already in recovery mode from the past two years). When your nervous system has been taxed by years of compounding stress — personal, collective, and of course environmental and physical — simply “maintaining” isn’t enough. 

How to Tend Your Nervous System When Burnout and Trauma Are Becoming Too Much

Needless to say, everyone is different, and finding the magical combo of support that works for your system and your lifestyle takes time and real effort. That said, I can share what has been most impactful for me, in case it inspires any support in your own life.

(It should be said that I hit a state of what felt like near catatonic exhaustion, with real adrenal fatigue and ongoing grief that will not subside to this day. The dedication I’ve needed to put into recovery is hopefully more than most of you will need to do. If this sounds extreme, simply take inspiration for what feels true and doable for you.) 

• Vitamins — So basic, yet so important. If nothing else, remembering to take my daily vitamins and a probiotic keeps me afloat.

• Meditation — When I was entering auto-immune territory, I knew I needed more significant changes. I committed to 40 - 60 minutes of meditation daily, mostly practicing the golden elixir meditation from Taoism, and this has probably helped more than anything.

• Pranayama — Along with meditation, I practice yogic breathing for another 20-30 minutes a day. 

• Syncing with natural cycles — I try to expose my eyes to the light at sunrise, high noon, sunset, and the night sky every day. This means I’m up before sunrise and in bed by 9:30.

• Plant Allies — These have been huge:

  • I traded out my morning coffee for a homemade adaptogenic brew filled with bitters, mushrooms, and liver-loving herbs. 

  • I sip a big batch of nourishing herbal infusions to replenish my minerals and soothe my nervous system throughout each day — nettle, oatstraw, raspberry leaf, lemon balm, marshmallow, horsetail, tulsi, gotu kola, and skullcap are some of my favorites to include in the mix.

• Spend time in nature — The natural world reminds us of our own natural essence. Physiological and psychological healing arises when spend contemplative time in the wilderness.

• Smell good things — It’s so easy to add a bit of aroma to your day, yet it makes a massive difference for the psyche. 

The commitments I’ve made to restoring my HPA axis and nourishing my nervous system have been significant, timewise and financially. But in essence, they’re really pretty simple. Take your vitamins. Breathe. Look to the skies. Meditate. Partner with plants. 

There’s more of course — movement, cold showers, dietary changes, saying no wayyy more often, limiting media exposure, time with loved ones, and partnering with the spirit world, to name a few. I have a whole article on stepping into rest if you’ve forgotten how, and another one with many more healing protocols. 

You might also like:

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• It’s Not Depression. It’s Exhaustion. ☥ Why Creative Women Are Burning Out and the Soul-Level Need for Deep Rest

• Pause & Play: How to Have A Mini Revolution

• Navigating the Gifts of Our Magnificent Clusterf*ck

• How to Boost Your Immune System with Essential Oils

• Simple Tricks to Add More Health-Boosting Herbs into Your Daily Routine

• Energetic, Spiritual, and Botanical Care for Wild and Uncertain Times

Severed from Scent

At the end of last year, I woke up on Christmas morning and my sense of smell was gone. 

This is awful for anyone…but for a perfumer? Absolutely devastating. 

It’s been a slow recovery (that bout of covid was especially rough). Though my smell had mostly come back by mid February, I could tell that I wasn’t picking up on the subtle nuances I used to. 

The loss of smell has been such a strange piece of this pandemic era…

A strong sense of smell has always been a mark of a healer — the ability to sniff out both the diseases and the cures. 

It’s also closely associated with our intuition. We can smell when something — or someone — is off. 

This probably has something to do with the unique ability of aroma to bypass our conscious minds, eliciting unbidden feelings and memories before our thinking brains can process what’s happening… or get in the way.

Our sense of smell also brings us into our bodies. While transcendence may certainly be part of our soul paths, we also come into bodies here on Earth to experience being fully human. Our five senses are the gateways to embodiment. And embodiment is a gateway to both pleasure and presence.

And, fragrance is a gateway to the gods. 

In Egyptian mythology, the fragrance of the sacred lotus birthed the universe. Statues of deities in ancient cultures were anointed with fragrant oils to wake up the gods they housed. The deceased were anointed with aromatic plant material to help carry their souls along their journeys. The aroma of flowers is said to announce the presence of the gods or angels. Temples around the world are filled with fragrant smoke. 

Healing, inner knowing, pleasure, presence, and spiritual connection…all rooted in our ability to trust our own noses. 

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that our connection with smell as been under attack for some time. 

Even before the pandemic, humanity had been slowly led away from our sense of smell and the myriad gifts it offers, effectively cutting us off from a profound gateway to healing, intuition, memory, pleasure, and spiritual connections.

One long-standing culprit is the fragrance and flavoring industry.

I’ve long been skeptical of a fragrance and flavoring industry that trains humans to prefer the smell of artificial ingredients in their cosmetics. While the synthetic compounds added to our foods and body products have physically detrimental properties, my concern also lies in effects this has on our psyches and souls.

The fallout of the rampant scent-washing in our culture are twofold:

First, artificial fragrances have distanced humans from the natural world.

The idea that ingredients from a factory are somehow cleaner or potent than those from a forest pervades our collective consciousness. 

That the fragrance of an air freshener, filled with known cancer-causing compounds, smells “fresh” is a sign of this insanity. That a “peach blossom” lotion smells like no peach nor blossom ever found in nature is a sign of how far removed from the natural world we’ve become. 

These fragrances train our noses — and our knowing — to deny what we know is true and believe the lies sold to us.

The fragrances found in whole plant materials contain myriad compounds perfectly designed to harmonize with each other. We humans evolved in relationship with these plants, and our bodies readily receive their gifts. Our sense of smell brings these complexities into our psyches, where we intuitively receive our plant allies’ wisdom.   

As humans learn to prefer synthetic flavors and aromas, they are cut off from their relationship with their own ability to sniff out what’s true. To sniff out their own cures for what ails them. They are subtly disconnected from their innate powerful, intuition-supporting sense of smell.

The second outcome is found in those humans who loudly proclaim that they can tolerate no fragrances of any kind.

I get it. These people’s bodies told them that synthetics were harming them, and they listened. The problem comes when this makes people afraid of all smells — even the ones with profound healing benefits. 

Of course, toxic overload from synthetics can lead to the body’s inability to process naturals. And, many smells marketed as “natural” actually contain plenty of synthetics, so I can understand the fear. Yet, this fear cuts off important pathways for healing and delight. 

Our sense of smell is a gift from the gods, part of the wonder of being embodied in the human forms. Not only does it help us survive, it helps us enjoy life and find pleasure in our physical experience. And pleasure is part of why we’re here. 

My heart breaks when I hear that someone cannot tolerate any fragrance (if you’ve ever worked in an office building, you’ve met many of these folks). As a natural perfumer and clinically certified aromatherapist, I know that simply smelling precious oils from plants (let alone the benefits of topical applications) can help us focus, give us energy, regulate our hormones and nervous systems, alleviate depression and anxiety, soothe us in times of grief, ignite aphrodisiac qualities, relieve insomnia, and so much more. 

Anyone who’s ever worn a perfume, or had a signature fragrance of any kind, knows the feelings that arise with that first spritz. You somehow feel more like yourself — the best version of yourself. You might feel more beautiful, sexy, powerful, calm, fulfilled, peaceful, hopeful, abundant, or creative depending on the perfume of the day. 

Those over-the-top perfume commercials? They may be ridiculous, but they’re also a pretty good representation of what perfume does for the psyche. While synthetic perfumes legitimately give many people headaches and worse, perfumes made with true naturals bestow even more transformational energy and pleasure to those who wear them.

If you love beauty, pleasure, and Venusian delights as much I do, you might enjoy taking a peek at my perfumer’s artist statement.

The next severance from our sense of smell comes from our online lives.

The pandemic no doubt accelerated this phenomena, yet the seeds have been in place for decades. Our online communities and interactions, social networks and getting lost in the “scroll hole” (This is my partner Mike’s and my term for not just doomscrolling but getting lost in an endless mind-numbing feed of information. I’m surprised it hasn’t taken off yet, to be honest…). And then came the Metaverse and increasing capabilities of virtual reality. 

Any life lived online is removed from our embodied experience. Yes, we use our eyes and take in the visuals, we connect with audio and can converse or enjoy a melody, and we can even engage in some sensory experiences with haptics and the rare VR bodysuit. 

To my knowledge, however, smell — and its sister sense taste — are not yet available in the online realms. Smell keeps us in our bodies, in the present, and connected to what is true and real for us in the moment.

By the time the pandemic arrived, humanity had been well prepped for relinquishing our sense of smell. 

To be clear, I’m not saying that losing our sense of smell as part of the pandemic was some orchestrated event. Rather, I can’t help but wonder if this particular effect is a reflection, showing us what we’ve already lost in no uncertain terms. 

If we look at our collective pandemic experience, we can see the separation of us from each other, from our own healing capabilities, and from our intuitive knowing of what is and isn’t true. Yet these questions extend far beyond the pandemic too. 

Where have you doubted your own knowing? Your ability to heal yourself? Where have you lost touch with pleasure, embodiment, and the ability to be present in each moment? Where have you forgotten what’s actually true, or allowed yourself to be led by lies? Where has the reverent ritual of bringing spirit into daily life been set aside in favor of more “urgent” matters?

Smell is a gift from the gods and fragrance is the perfume of spirit. May we can heal our broken relationship with olfaction, realign with the true nature of reality, and reawaken reverence and wonder in our hearts.

Returning to the Perfumery

It’s now been a bit over four months since I lost my sense of smell, and it’s just about returned. Though it’s hard to tell if my nose is really as strong as it was before, I at least feel confident to work in the perfumery again. And this fills my heart with joy. 

I have several new perfumes I’d designed last year, before the loss of smell, in my studio. I didn’t want to share them until I could be sure they were up to my standards, and now that I can work again, I’m finally putting the finishing touches on them. 

A few that will be coming soon…

Odin

The all father of Northern lands, Odin is the newest addition to the masculine Gods series. His perfume is as strong and complex as he is. Imagine walking into a mysterious hall, almost an elevated and member-only speakeasy filled with aromas of tobacco, cognac, and cacao. A hint of spice, a touch of musk. Decadent and dark. 

Yuzu Yoru

One of my conceptual pieces, is inspired by my years living, eating, and inhaling the fragrances of Tokyo. A citrus forward fragrance, fresh yuzu and Asian kumquats meet with robust citrón and cedrat, gently harmonized with rare strawberry gum (a type of eucalyptus, not the artificial chews!), Japanese hinoki, and precious osmanthus blossoms. A rare delight for summer days and Toyko nights.

There’s also a magical Chinese Goddess, a watery Greek elemental, and more to come :) 

While you wait, be sure to explore the new Scents of Summer Discovery Set, filled with the perfect botanical allies for celebrating this season.

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You might also like:

• About Alchemessence Elevated Perfumes

• 8 Tips for Buying High Quality Essential Oils

• A Complete Guide to Magical & Ritual Anointing Oils

• Here’s What You Need to Know about Buying Natural Perfumes and Essential Oils (aka how to avoid the frauds!)

• How I Make Natural Perfumes: Art, Aroma, and Alchemy in a Bottle

Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

I recently came across an article in the Economist, of all places, entitled, “Shamanism is Britain’s fastest-growing religion”.

The article itself is not impressive (Shamanism is a religion? Um, no.), but it does share an interesting hypothesis: 

People are increasingly returning to nature-based spirituality because of the existential threats facing our earth. 

How interesting. Shamanism and other nature-based spiritual practices arose at a time when humans lived in partnership with the Earth. Now, after centuries of separating ourselves from the natural world, humans are waking up to the fact that the more we distance ourselves from the Earth, the more we distance ourselves from life itself. 

Those of us who deeply love our Earth often feel a complex, ongoing, and even subconscious traumatic response to the immense pain humans have inflicted upon the planet and her inhabitants. 

We feel grief — at the harm done to the Earth, the animals, the plants, waters, mountains, and more at the will of humans. 

We feel rage — at all the ways our current environmental crises could have been prevented, at how many obstacles we still face to get even the most basic protections in place.

We feel guilt — for being part of the human species, for having to live in ways that cause more harm simply by existing within our society. 

We feel pain — as empaths whose energy bodies do not separate the Earth’s pain from our own. 

We feel numb — because continuing to stay open and aware can be too much for our hearts to bear.

These are strong emotions. And as difficult as it is to feel this much grief, rage, guilt, and pain, there is power in these feelings. 

Emotions are charged with energy — and all energy is usable energy. 

The question then becomes, how will you alchemize your grief into hope? Your rage into healing? 

Living with the Effects of Ongoing Ecological Trauma

Before we jump into transmuting our pain, we must acknowledge what is true now: Humans are collectively traumatized. The existential ecological threats facing our species reside in all of our consciousnesses. 

The word “trauma” has become astonishingly pervasive in our current cultural narratives, with many voices contributing nuanced definitions of what was once a more specific psychological term. Here are a few key components that I consider when referring to something as traumatic:  

1. In general, trauma occurs in response to unusually distressing, life-threatening, and adverse events. These might be single occurrences, such as an accident, or ongoing experiences, such as abuse and neglect.

2. Trauma doesn’t just arise from directly experiencing a traumatic event — witnessing, failing to prevent, and perpetuating adverse events may also lead to trauma. 

3. Trauma is more than an emotional response. It lives in our minds, bodies, and souls — and thus healing trauma must incorporate holistic approaches.

I find the perspective of trauma as a moral injury especially valuable when it comes to conversations on ecological trauma. When we experience, witness, allow, or perpetuate an act that transgresses our fundamental beliefs about how the world should operate, there can be a break in our psyches. Shame, guilt, fear, and loss of trust in the goodness of life fill the cracks. 

What Is Ecological Trauma? 

When it comes to environmental trauma, all of the above coalesce to create a complex and seemingly inescapable form of collective trauma. Let’s look more specifically at what this means in four ecological contexts…

1. Experiencing and Witnessing the Adverse Effects of Human-Caused Climate Change

When people first hear the term “ecological trauma”, their minds often wander to the effects of human-caused climate change — natural disasters that have been accelerated by human impact, food and water insecurity, the harmful effects of environmental toxins and pollution (an area none of us are truly immune to), and the violent conflict that may result from all of this. 

With our ever more connected world, even if we haven’t personally lived through a natural disaster or experienced food insecurity, we’re constantly reminded that ecological traumas are happening (we witness them through mass media) and that they will likely impact our lives at some point (the existential threat). 

I simply don’t know how anyone could witness the growing numbers of wildfires and “1000-year” floods every year, hear predictions that our coast lines will be underwater and farmland will cease production because of drought, learn about microplastics in our waters and glyphosates in our foods…and not experience fears around safety and survival. This is trauma, and it has become a consistent part of modern life. 

One of the most dangerous impacts of this line of ecological trauma is the sense of powerlessness it imbues us with.

There is nothing more dangerous than giving up. If you’re feeling powerless or fearful about these far-reaching effects of climate change — ask yourself, where are the roots of this fear? How is the mass media machine feeding my sense of powerlessness? 

This type of ongoing trauma can become debilitating — it can cause us to numb out, give up, and shut down. And it can be tended. 

Tending your nervous system in response to the existential threats we face strengthens your resilience to keep embracing what’s true while holding a vision of what is still possible. The elements of the natural world are available to support us:

Turn to the air, and breathe four counts in and four counts out. 

Turn to the earth, and allow plant allies to soothe you with restorative teas. 

Turn to the water, and soak in salts that draw toxins from your body. 

Turn to the fire, and feel passion fortify your heart. 

2. Our Innate Empathic Connection 

In recent years, I have witnessed a wave of “empath awareness” content sweep through popular culture. While I’m happy to see this phenomenon named and normalized, I feel that most teachings on this topic, which tend to focus on recovery and protection, are missing an important point: 

Empathy is our natural state of being. 

We are meant to embrace the nonverbal, energetic knowing that alerts us to the state of the world around us. Our natural way of being is to intuitively understand the true feelings and motivations of others. Of course we want the skills and awareness to differentiate between other and self, to be able to turn off connection so as not to be overwhelmed — but we must remember that being an empath is a healthy part of our human wholeness.

People who deeply love the earth tend to be in touch with their innate empathic gifts. Being around too many other people for too long can overwhelm our nervous systems, and the natural world provides soul-soothing relief. 

Unfortunately, this also means that as sensitive folks, we can feel the earth’s pain as if it were our own. Witnessing harm done to the earth and her inhabitants can feel like physical pain in the system of an empath. Hiking through a forest that has been clear cut, wandering along an ocean shore filled with plastics and fishing line, visiting locations where human atrocities have taken place — ecological empaths will feel deep grief wash through our beings and we may not even know why. 

The temptation here is to shut down. But repression is not a local anesthesia (thank you to Jose Soutelinho for that inspiration). When we numb ourselves to grief, rage, and pain, we end up numbing ourselves to joy, hope, and love, too. 

We must learn to acknowledge and feel our pain. We must expand our capacity to hold challenging truths in our awareness. And we must remember that the world is more than trauma. She is not broken, and neither are we.

The pain we perceive is only a small layer in the immense divine presence of the earth and the spirits of nature. Rather than shutting down, empaths can learn to extend their awareness beyond the surface and into the true nature of the wild world. And we can tune into non-human timelines, where we see that the earth is never barren and the potential for restoration is always there. Here, you’ll discover compassion, beauty, and divine order far beyond what our human minds might initially perceive. 

3. Caught in a Double Bind of Ecological Abuse

Whether we experience, witness, or perpetuate it — abuse is traumatic. And our earth is under an onslaught of abuse that few of us have the power to prevent. 

We know that precious resources are extracted from our earth with greed rather than reverence. We know that our waste, sewage, and toxic byproducts are dumped into her soils and waters. This trauma of witnessing and failing to prevent these acts  is an inescapable part of our daily lives.

What can be especially traumatic at the soul level, however, is that we are also required to participate in this abuse. 

Most people are dependent upon modern society for survival, yet modern society — and all the infrastructure, consumption, trade, and resources it requires — is the earth’s abuser. 

Do we leave our abuser to fend for ourselves in the wilderness, knowing that our own departure does nothing to stop the machine, or do we stay and do our best to effect change, knowing that our very existence will have harmful consequences for the planet?

This is a soul-crushing bind to find ourselves in. And it requires soul-level tending. 

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: “Our ecological crises require cosmological solutions.”

We must remember that the earth is alive, inspirited, and has consciousness — and we can partner with the earth and the myriad spirits of nature to bring about healing. We are children of the earth, and the soul of the earth holds us in endless compassion. 

By connecting with the earth’s loving soul on a regular basis, we’re more able to release environmental guilt and fill our hearts with hope. We recognize that even if our personal efforts to live more regenerative lifestyles seem like drops in an ocean, the spirits of nature witness our heartfelt intentions and it does make a difference. The ripple effects might be unseen and subtle, but they are there. 

4. Abandonment: Returning to Our Original Mother

For millennia, the earth was seen as alive and as an essential part of our more-than-human family. She was our great mother (and our fertile father in some ancient traditions), who ensured the survival and well-being of all her children. We were born of the earth, nourished by the earth, sheltered by the earth, and loved by the earth. And we remained in reverent relationship with her throughout our lives. 

Much of modern life removes us from our ancestral partnership with the earth. Severed from this original relationship, we experience the traumatic effects of parental abandonment in the core of our psyches. 

This core abandonment can leave us feeling unloved and under-resourced, as if we must fight for survival and bear the weight of our burdens alone. Helplessness, unworthiness, and ongoing anxiety are natural outcomes of disconnection with our earth mother. 

Inherent in this dynamic is also the sense that it is up to humans alone to “solve” our climate crises — we caused it, and we alone can fix it. 

While we must take responsibility here, this perspective traps us within the limitations of the human mind. Once again: Our ecological crises require cosmological solutions. We must recognize the natural world as inspirited, with agency in the course of its own future. 

We must restore our relationship to the animated earth, listening to the deep wisdom of our mother with reverence, humility, and gratitude.

As deep as this wounding of ecological trauma is, it is perhaps the most available for healing — for our primordial mother has not abandoned us. She is with us every moment of every day, waiting for us to return home to her loving embrace. 

Transmuting Our Grief and Trauma Recovery

The ongoing nature of these ecological traumas makes it challenging for us to stay present and well-regulated. It becomes much easier to numb ourselves to the pain of the world, turn away from suffering, and give up hope for healing. 

By bringing key practices from trauma recovery into ecological contexts — in other words, by healing in partnership with the natural world — we experience transformational healing. 

You might also like:

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• It’s Not Depression. It’s Exhaustion. ☥ Why Creative Women Are Burning Out and the Soul-Level Need for Deep Rest

• Wild and Uncertain Times: Energetic, Spiritual, and Botanical Care

• Navigating the Gifts of Our Magnificent Clusterf*ck

• Who is your Spirit Animal? A 4-Step Guide for Understanding Our Animal Allies

• Earth Friends & Reciprocity (You Belong Here)

Lessons from Squirrels

When I lived in Denver, I considered three special squirrels to be my “outdoor pets”. These were city squirrels that lived in our urban backyard. 

Brown, sleek and wily, I watched as they darted around our yard as if it were their own. And, of course, it was. 

The squirrels in Denver made a nest in our roof—with cotton pilfered from our patio chair cushions. They ate our tomatoes, stole our corn, and took big bites out of every single squash we grew. 

Once, a squirrel hopped in the lettuce bed as I was weeding, looked me straight in the eye, wrapped its little arms around a giant leaf, took a single bite out the middle, and I swear it smiled as it stood there, waiting for my reaction.

They were so naughty and so cute. I loved them completely.

Over the years, I was able to build a relationship with these squirrels (despite needing to kick them out of their nest in the roof…). I could identify each one, and we came to a truce with the garden. It took two years, but they finally focused on eating 2-3 squash total and leaving the rest untouched. 

I suppose I got used to squirrels that had adapted to the city, as I had. They would often leave slices of half eaten bread in our yard. They stole all sorts of cottons and fabrics for their nests. I rarely saw them gather anything that hadn’t been made or grown by a human.

The squirrels here are different. 

Big and gray, with tails that rival those of a winter fox, these are not the ones I knew in the city. The squirrels I live with in Central Oregon are a bit more wild.

They keep their distance when I’m outside—hopefully trust will build over time—but I often watch them through our windows. 

If city squirrels had a bit of tough, no-nonsense, street-smart vibe, these wild squirrels are brave yet cautious. I once saw one skillfully somersault just out of reach from a hunting hawk. 

After years of living with city squirrels, I feel somewhat awed when I see a squirrel storing a pine cone for food, or gathering bunches of grass to prepare its winter nest.

This makes me ridiculously happy. Perhaps because it just seems so healthy. 

No more cotton or white bread. Just the natural foods and materials that squirrels in the wild enjoy.

The Spirit Animal Workshop

A self-paced class to discover how to work with the spirit animals in your own life.

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Like the squirrels, we humans adapt to our environments. 

We use what’s around us to survive—for better or worse. 

Yet, there’s deep inner sense of alignment I feel when I see a squirrel carrying a pine cone versus a tortilla (yes, it’s happened). And I wonder if getting a bit more back to our own wild roots would feel more in alignment for us humans, too. 

Living with the seasons, sourcing local and wild foods, knowing your land. Every bit of rewilding we do on earth, rewilds our spirit as well.

As a spirit animal, squirrel is often said to carry the gift of preparation—gathering and storing sustenance throughout the summer and fall for the long winter ahead. 

Perhaps in this way, the squirrels all around ask us to look at what it is we’re storing. Yes, preparation is good medicine. Filling our pantries can fill our souls. (And I think most of us are a bit more hyper aware of the need for preparation after the pandemic.) 

Yet, let’s ask ourselves—what are we gathering? Is it food, materials, and even ideas that nourish us? Or have we been programmed to fill up on that which does not truly align with our souls? 

We are currently in a potent time for releasing the old to make way for the new, with our seasonal winter fast approaching. How are you preparing for the season ahead? 

If inspired, hold a small ritual or meditate on what is truly needed in your preparations this Samhain. What old programming can you let go of, and what resources will truly support you in the season ahead? Allow spirit and your own intuition to speak these answers to you.

What are squirrels like where you live? Let me know in the comments :)

You might also like:

• Who is your Spirit Animal? A 4-Step Guide for Understanding Our Animal Allies

• Are You Scared of an Animal? Here's What Spirit Has to Say...

• Bear Medicine

• Shamanism: Ancient Practices for Modern Life

3 Simple Ways to Rewild Your Thanksgiving Table + A Wild Winter Recipe

Thanksgiving mythology tells us that this holiday marks a time when native peoples helped pilgrims survive by sharing the bounty of a new land with them.

Obviously, the actual history of the holiday is a lot more complicated and painful than this simple recounting—something I reflect on here—yet the ritual of pausing to honor and show gratitude for the abundant gifts of the earth is one I continue to love in the midst of a complex history. 

One of my favorite ways to truly celebrate the abundance of the earth, as well as the ancestral spirits of the land, is to incorporate local, wild foods into our menu. 

Eating wild foods attunes our energy field and our DNA to the land we live on, and when done with reverence and gratitude, shows the spirits of the land that we don’t take our abundance for gratitude. It’s a way to nurture our relationship with place, open our hearts to mothering from our earth mother herself, and tend our well-being in physical and energetic realms. 

Want to add a few wild bites to your Thanksgiving feasts this year? Here are a few simple wild foods available just about anywhere in the States…

Wild Greens

If you’ve been following along here and have some wild greens infused vinegar on hand (usually made in the spring), use it to replace any other acids in your recipes. It’s great for brightening up butternut squash soup and mixing into wild salad dressings. 

Depending on where you live, you might still be able to gather some wild hearty greens in your area…even your backyard! Mallow, dandelion, chickweed, and nettle can often be gathered in small quantities even after the first snow. Sprinkle a few greens on side salads or even stir them into stuffing—the mild flavor goes with everything. 

Rosehips

Rosehips are best collected after a few frosts, which heightens their sweetness. If you gathered hips earlier in the autumn, great! If not, even wilty looking rosehips can be gathered and cooked into tart cranberry sauces or brewed as nutrient-rich teas. (Just be sure to remove the hairs and seeds first!)

Evergreens

Evergreens are an abundant winter wild food available almost everywhere. Rich in vitamin C and other phytonutrients, evergreen needles can be infused into butters and finishing salts for a fresh, herbaceous flavor, or brewed into healing teas.

Most evergreens are edible, so you don’t need to worry too much about identification here. The two exceptions (that I know of at least) are yew trees and ponderosa pines. There’s mixed messaging on the edibility of both, but general consensus is to steer clear to be safe. Firs, spruces, and most other pines are just fine!

Yews are easily identified by their distinctive orange-red berries—see below. But, the berries aren’t always in season, so if yews are in your area make a positive identification first!

The signature berry of the yew tree—one of the few non-edible evergreens.

Ponderosas can be a bit trickier. If you know you have ponderosas in your area, watch out for tall strong trees with large pinecones and extra long needles. Any time you use any wild food, please quadruple check your identification. And then triple check again.  

A Fragrant & Festive Wild Tea

This tea is based around two wild ingredients—evergreen needles and rosehips. From there, you can get creative with all sorts of fragrant herbs and spices. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups water

• A handful, roughly chopped evergreen needles

• One extra large handful of fresh rosehips, or a smaller handful dried (either leave whole or remove seeds and tiny hairs if chopping)

• 3-4 slices of fresh organic oranges 

• One cinnamon stick

• 2-3 stars of anise

• Lemon and honey to taste

Directions

Place water and herbs in a pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in honey and lemon, and serve in festive mugs. Enjoy!

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As always, whenever you’re working with wild foods, it’s wise to follow basic ethical and safety practices. In short, triple check your IDs and prioritize the health of the ecosystem above your own gathering needs.

You might also like:

• A Thanksgiving Menu for You: Veg + Gluten-Free

• Simple Tricks to Add More Health-Boosting Herbs into Your Daily Routine

• The Ancestral Convergence: Food & Ritual for Healing this Thanksgiving

• Healing Pumpkin Soup with Cozy Autumn Spices

• Wild Mushroom Pate

• The Best Wild Rice Salad

• Celebrating Samhain: Modern Rituals and Festivities for Connection and Protection

• Ethical Wildcrafting and Making Mountain Medicine

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The Ancestral Convergence: Food & Ritual for Healing this Thanksgiving

I recently saw yet another post about eating ancestral foods and working with ancestral plants on Instagram…

Eat the foods your ancestors ate. Return to the foods that enlivened your DNA throughout generations. Turn to the native plants of your ancestral lands.

This was the message.

On the one hand, I love it. This is something I teach in my Rewilding the Spirit course, having students do a bit of research and prepare a meal that their bloodline ancestors might have enjoyed.

Yet I also teach my students how to connect with their land ancestors—the local ancestors that are keepers of the land they live on now, in this lifetime. Ancestors with whom it’s equally important to partner. Here, we prepare and enjoy local, wild foods to attune our current DNA to the current land we live on.

Reading this post on ancestral foods so close to Thanksgiving here in the States got me thinking—what would an ancestral Thanksgiving meal actually look like?

Would we turn to our recent American ancestors—those who cemented stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie into our collective consciousness? 

Or perhaps we celebrate local abundance and honor the spirits of the land here, with wild rice and three sisters (squash, beans, and corn) themed cuisine? (An approach my family usually takes...)

Or maybe, as the post suggests, we travel further back to the native lands of our blood relatives. 

I have to laugh as I think about what option three would look like…my Dutch, Irish, Swiss, French, and Welsh meeting Mike’s Italian and German heritage would create quite the menu!

And what if we tried to really incorporate all our ancestral influences? Pumpkin pie, wild rice, pickled herring, spaghetti and (vegan) meatballs…

As ridiculous as this image might seem, I actually love how clearly it demonstrates an important truth: 

We are the convergence of many ancestral lines. 

Ask yourself: What would a truly representative ancestral Thanksgiving dinner look like in your home? 

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A Thanksgiving Menu with Ancestral Cuisine

This year, Mike and I are having a quiet dinner…but still going all out on our menu, as I’m somewhat addicted to cooking. 

Our menu tends to mix some traditional foods with some local ones, and I always try to add a bit of wild, foraged plants in the mix. As we’re both vegetarian and I’m gluten free, everything becomes an updated fancy-pants version of ancestral cuisine.

We’ll have a few dishes I make every year—butternut and wild rice salad, boozy spiced cranberry sauce, pumpkin bread rolls, and green beans. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy always make the menu as well. (You can find a few of my favorite recipes here!)

We often have a stuffed pumpkin for our main, but I’m changing it up this year with a sagey mushroom, chestnut, and walnut loaf. Fingers crossed it turns out!

Gratitude, Trauma, and a Complicated Time of Year

Thanksgiving has traditionally been a time to focus on gratitude. Yet, I think many of us are sensitive to the fact that this holiday brings up many challenges, as well…

For those who have lost loved ones—and so many have, especially in the past couple of years—Hallmark images of happy family holidays can feel like knives in the heart. 

For those who experienced early childhood trauma, any holiday focused on family can heighten a complex array of difficult emotions, decisions, conversations, and more. 

And, while Thanksgiving is still a time to reflect on all we’re grateful for, it’s also becoming more and more a time to reflect on the ancestral traumas that gave birth to this holiday. The very real scars on the peoples and lands who tended this earth before the arrival of settlers cannot be ignored. 

These challenges are real and painful, and they can make it easy to slip into guilt and despair. They can even activate fear around even publicly celebrating this holiday.

Yet gratitude is one of the highest vibration states we can enter into. Gratitude shifts our energy and opens our heart. It fortifies our spiritual strength in trying times. It tells the earth and our loved ones that we appreciate all the gifts in our lives. It communicates our own true worth to our innermost selves. 

What if we treated our Thanksgiving menus as opportunities for healing? What if we ritualized our feasts as vessels of ancestral reconciliation? 

Rituals for Thanksgiving Healing

Rituals work because of the powerful confluence of intention and energy they create. Though seemingly magical, they are one of the most powerful ways I know of to create real, observable change in our lives. 

Any major holiday is already charged with extra usable energy—generations of repeated intentions and actions have already ritualized these days. 

This means that when we set the intention for our Thanksgiving dinners to become healing ceremonies, we really can impact our personal and collective energy in powerful ways. 

Though the details of your personal rituals will look different depending on your intentions, a few pieces will be the same:

• Set your intention for healing before you begin preparing your meal. Then hold this intention throughout the cooking process. See your love, gratitude, and desire for healing flow from your heart, into your hands, and into the food. 

• If possible, state your intentions out loud at your dinner table. Invite the others present to offer their intentions for healing, as well. 

• Affirm that as you consume the food laid before you, your body becomes an alchemical vessel of transformational healing. Just as your digestive system physically transmutes food into energy, the energy of intentions you’ve poured into the food alchemizes into healing. 

Any and all healing intentions are welcome here. Trust your guidance. Here are a few suggestions depending on what might be alive for you in this moment:

• For family gatherings that might trigger personal trauma or seemingly inevitable conflict, try infusing the food with the emotions you wish to cultivate more of—perhaps self-worth, protection, or family harmony.

• For those who wish to honor loved ones across the veil, you may like to prepare their favorite dishes. Imagine the part of them that lives on in you getting to enjoy the meal through your physical vessel. Allow space for their physical absence to be named, and perhaps their spiritual presence to be welcomed.

• If your heart is pulled toward all the people without healthy, hot meals at this time of year (or any, really), a beautiful practice here is to harness the energy of your own gratitude. Have everyone around your table feel a deep sense of gratitude for all the abundance you enjoy. Then imagine this abundance spreading to all beings. Visualize, with all the energy and focus you can harness, a world in which all people are fed. This practice might seem small, but it's a little bit of collective magic that really does spread blessings upon the ethers. 

• To contribute to our collective reconciliation around the traumas inflicted on native populations and the land here, learn about the traditional foods of the ancestors where you live. See if you can incorporate and celebrate these foods into a menu with your own traditional dishes. Set the intention that as your body harmonizes these foods, so harmony and reconciliation build in our collective. Focus on shifting guilt and judgment to love and visions of a better future for all who walk this land.

Please know, these practices aren’t meant to replace the very real-world actions needed to reconcile and heal a horrific legacy of colonization. Nor do they replace the self-healing and resourcing necessary to navigate complicated family legacies. (And for goodness sake, if hunger pulls on your heart be sure to donate to local food banks!)

My intention here is to help transform the underlying energy of our collective traumas so that we can create greater leaps in healing in the physical plane. Just as we tend our own well-being in mind, body, and spirit, we can tend our collective well-being through multiple modes and layers of healing.

An Invitation

This Thanksgiving, take some time to reflect on the many lineages that make up your ancestry. Feel into where healing is needed. Feel into where celebration is called for. And enjoy the sacred dimensions of the wild convergence that is you.

You might also like:

• Who Are the Ancestors? (Discover the three types of ancestral spirits that influence you)

• 3 Simple Ways to Rewild Your Thanksgiving Table + A Wild Winter Recipe

• A Thanksgiving Menu for You: Veg + Gluten-Free

• Magical Bread Rolls with Pumpkin & Buckwheat

• Pumpkin White Bean Dip

• Celebrating Samhain: Modern Rituals and Festivities for Connection and Protection

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It’s Not Depression. It’s Exhaustion. ☥ Why Creative Women Are Burning Out and the Soul-Level Need for Deep Rest

What does it mean when you don't want to do anything? When nothing sounds fun, you've lost touch with previous passions, and the things that used to bring you joy no longer have the same effect?

Modern psychology would tell us that these are clear signs of depression. And sometimes, that is what's happening.

But this isn’t always the case. I've found that there's often something a bit more insidious under the surface when creators lose the desire to create…

Many of the women I know are infinite creators. Their inner wells of inspiration seem to have no end to their depths.

These women remodel houses. Build healing practices. Tend potent relationships. Raise little ones. Nurture new life in the land. Paint magnificent works of art. Grow businesses of all types. Launch podcasts. Write books. Envision social ventures. Make a difference in their communities.

(And yes, I definitely count myself in this crowd.)

Their work is so beautiful and needed in our world.

But there is a shadow side to the drive to create. To manifest visions in physical form. To always be growing.

Patriarchal Systems Are Designed to Harm Creative Women

The influence of the linear, growth-driven, and let's face it—patriarchally influenced—culture we all live within sneaks into every part of our unconsciousness.

It slips in through social media and tells you that everyone else is doing more and doing it better.

It's a podcast guest, reminding you that you should always be biohacking your body, healing your trauma, and manifesting your dream life.

It makes sure you know that if you aren't always climbing the ladder of career—including if you work for yourself—you’ll end up desolate and broke.

It subtly lets you know that if, as a woman, you’re not focused on creating or raising new life (having children) on top of all this, you’re not really living up to your full potential.

The amazingly creative, power-house women in my life know that nature and life are cyclical, that endless growth is unsustainable, and that we need space to tend our wellness...

And yet resting or *not doing anything* is soooo uncomfortable for all of them (er, us...I've faced my own struggles here for sure).

But if we don't take the time to celebrate and integrate in the creative cycles of life, we will inevitably crash and burn.

I was talking with a good girlfriend recently, and I could see this starting to emerge in her.

"Some days I'm fine, and I get a ton done and feel in the flow," she said, "But more and more, I just don't want to do anything."

I know this feeling well.

As an infinite creator myself, I finally burned out so hard that I became non-functional. I could tell I was on the verge of chronic illness unless something changed. 

At this time, the idea of doing anything was too hard. And it freaked me out: If I didn't want to do anything, what was I going to do?? What is life without creation? How would I make money? Contribute to the world? Do all the things that "matter"?

When I was in the throws of panic on this topic, my wise little sister came to the rescue with key advice from Martha Beck, who shared (I’m paraphrasing here):

If you don't want to do anything, if you've lost touch with your passion, if nothing matters or motivates or delights you...

You Need Rest.

Just Rest.

Rest.

Can you feel your body relaxing as you read this? 

It's actually ok not to feel purpose-driven, connected with your "why" and following your "hell-yes's" for awhile.

It's okay to step into the alchemical cauldron of rest.

When I relayed this to my girlfriend, she started to cry. Not tears of sadness, but tears that signify a Truth with capital T coming home.

We Must Allow Space for Our Grief

In the months leading up to our deep exhaustion, both my friend and I had been through life-changing transitions. And both of us had experienced significant losses with deep grief.

Just about everyone I know has gone through something similar in the past two years.

It seems that, as a culture, we've forgotten that we need time and space to process and integrate the major changes and losses we've experienced. When this lack of tending meets the creator's endless quest, burnout and exhaustion are inevitable.

Check in with your body and heart. What happens when you ask yourself if you just need rest?

If you feel your nervous system relax and your eyes well up with tears, you need rest.

If you feel a constriction and sense of panic, you also need rest.

Do you remember how? Do you even know how to rest anymore?

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How to Rest — Even When It Feels Impossible

In my experience, it can take days or more likely months for us to actually remember how to rest, with quite a few ups and downs along the way.

Be gentle with yourself during the process. Know that it will be uncomfortable at times, and that it will absolutely become more natural as you practice.

To whatever degrees are possible for you (and I'm well aware that rest seems like an unobtainable luxury to so many women), here are just a few ideas that helped me when I was so exhausted I was becoming non-functional:

• Let go of your to-do list. The more you ignore it, the more you might realize that life won't actually fall apart if you don't get everything done each day.

• Stare out a window for over an hour. No devices, reading, listening, writing, or even trying to meditate. Just space out and stare. It's wild how healthy this actually is.

• Take time off with no plans for how to fill your days. Stay home — or leave if that's easier. Either way, try to spend your days responding to what you need in each moment. This is easier said than done...just know, you will likely binge Netflix or read a ridiculously cheesy novel. And you will end up with dirty floors and a sink full of dishes. It's okay (at least for now).

• Smell good things. Aroma seeps past our conscious minds deep into the brain where it can soothe our tender souls from the inside out.

• Drink water. Lots of water.

• Know that all of the above are easier said than done. Resistance is inevitable. Life is full of demands on your time and energy. Be kind to yourself and do what you can.

As you start to heal, you might find that you have the energy to engage in a few, simple self-care practices. These can feel like too much if you've really hit a deep level of exhaustion or grief, so there's no rushing into them. But when you feel ready, try incorporating a few of these practices into your days:

• Meditate. And don't make it too serious or intense. Find some nice guided imagery, or set a timer for 10 minutes. Or lay on the floor and do a body scan. This should feel good—not like a chore.

• Move your body. Personally, I love yoga for this. I go at my own pace, feel my body, and know my energy is beginning to move more too. If yoga works for you, great. If not, the important thing is that the movement helps you enjoy being in your body. Dance. Walk. Do jumping jacks. Whatever feels good.

• Incorporate herbal allies. Teas or tinctures that soothe your nervous system can help the healing process.

• Treat your senses. Eat nourishing, delicious food. Keep up the aromas. Take a bath and massage oil into your muscles. Decorate your body with jewelry, clothes you love, fake tattoos even...especially if you've lost touch with feeling good in your skin (which often accompanies burnout).

• Get out into nature. Even a backyard or park will do. Or a walk around a tree-lined neighborhood. The spirits of nature are beautiful allies on our healing journeys.

While I found my own journey to deeper rest uncomfortable and challenging at times, I also found it extremely liberating. I began to see the boxes I'd put myself in—yes, the ones I'd unintentionally constructed myself — with greater clarity.

My cocoon of rest has morphed — I've gone from teetering on the edge of autoimmune conditions to restoring health and learning how to enjoy life again bit by bit. And I'm still very much in the cocoon.

I don't know who I will be when I emerge. And everyday I remind myself to surrender to the process.

Because rest isn't just restorative. It's transformational. It's a cauldron we must enter to undergo an alchemical transformation into a new way of being.

Who will we become if we allow the cocoon of rest to alchemize our transformation?

I don't know. But I do know, with my whole heart, that those who surrender to the process will become even more impactful light beings ushering in a new era on our planet. (Yup—made a leap there...more on the new era I'm sensing to come!)

Does this resonate? Let me know in the comments 🙂

You might also like:

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Humans are losing their ****, and how body and Earth can help

• How to Be Spiritually Sovereign: Making Magic with the Virgin Goddesses

• The Venusian Mysteries: Awakening the Sacred Feminine

• The Protection of the Goddess: Evaluation of Past Life Vows

• Spiritual Sovereignty: Can You Heal Yourself?

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