blog

juniper stokes 3/20/23 juniper stokes 3/20/23

Lessons from Squirrels

Squirrels can show us how to adapt to city life…but also how to be more in tune with our wild natures.

juniper stokes 11/20/22 juniper stokes 11/20/22

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

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 wellbeing 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:

juniper stokes 11/17/22 juniper stokes 11/17/22

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?

juniper stokes 9/30/22 juniper stokes 9/30/22

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…

juniper stokes 6/18/22 juniper stokes 6/18/22

3 Creative Ways to Celebrate Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice, Litha, Midsummer, or whatever your word of choice, is celebrated in many wonderful ways throughout the world, including dancing around bonfires, seasonal feasts, visiting sacred wells and waters, and leaving offerings for the fae. I’ll be dipping my toes into all of the above this solstice, as well as a few new activities I encourage you to try…

juniper stokes 5/1/22 juniper stokes 5/1/22

5 Steps for Communicating with The Spirits of Nature

The spirits of nature are always around us. You’ve probably sensed their presence on occasion. A tingling in your spine. A breeze that you just knew had a message for you. A stone with a face so clear it could not be ignored. It is absolutely possible to drop into deeper communication with these nature spirits. All it takes is a heartfelt intention, patience, and practice. Here are five steps to get started.

juniper stokes 4/20/22 juniper stokes 4/20/22

8 Benefits of Partnering with the Spirits of Nature

Why working the elements, the fae, and other spirits of the land is the key to making magic and miracles happen.

juniper stokes 3/30/22 juniper stokes 3/30/22

The Protection of the Goddess: Evaluation of Past Life Vows

What happens when you’ve made a past life vow to a goddess? How our past life experiences with goddesses can both protect and empower us, as well as prevent our spiritual evolution.

juniper stokes 3/17/22 juniper stokes 3/17/22

Mythoanimism: An Emerging Spirituality

Every day, more people are awakening to our interconnectedness, the symbolic language of the universe and the divine, the spiritual gifts within each of us, and the importance of cultivating a strong relationship with the natural world. Now, with both religions and alternative spiritual communities dissolving, as we live in times of collective reckoning around power dynamics and the crises facing our mother earth, a few important spiritual trends are emerging…

juniper stokes 3/7/22 juniper stokes 3/7/22

What Happens When You Watch A Sunrise?

What are the benefits of watching the sunrise?

juniper stokes 12/8/21 juniper stokes 12/8/21

Healing Pumpkin Soup with Cozy Autumn Spices

An easy, healthy soup to warm your body and boost your immune system this season.

juniper stokes 11/13/21 juniper stokes 11/13/21

Wild Mushroom Pate

Wild and organic mixed mushrooms make the perfect vegan pate. Seasonal, celebratory, and easy!

juniper stokes 11/12/21 juniper stokes 11/12/21

The Best Wild Rice Salad

My all-time favorite wild rice salad, filled with seasonal ingredients that honor the Americas and will wow guests at your holiday tables.

juniper stokes 11/10/21 juniper stokes 11/10/21

Magical Bread Rolls with Pumpkin & Buckwheat

Vegan, gluten-free bread rolls - endlessly customizable and so good for you!

juniper stokes 11/7/21 juniper stokes 11/7/21

Why Healing Isn't Personal: Diet, Control, and Our Collective

Food, control, and health. Why do we focus on diet to the exclusion of so many other causes when it comes to chronic illness?

juniper stokes 11/3/21 juniper stokes 11/3/21

Rooted: A Seasonal Grounding Practice

Autumn is a season for roots and rooting. We must sink our energetic roots into the earth before winter’s freezes arrive. You’re invited to try the following practice any time you’d like to ground and root into the earth.

juniper stokes 8/2/21 juniper stokes 8/2/21

Wildcrafting with Fireweed

Every late July and through August, the mountain meadows are dotted with neon pink blossoms. It's fireweed season ❤️ Both medicinal and edible, fireweed is one of the first plants to come back after wildfires. I've heard that the young shoots can be eaten like asparagus, though I've never tried. I do decorate summer salads with the blossoms, though…

juniper stokes 7/22/21 juniper stokes 7/22/21

Bear Medicine

Meeting my first bear in the wild, understanding spirit animals, and knowing that we are not alone

juniper stokes 7/18/21 juniper stokes 7/18/21

Great Northern Bedstraw: A Beloved and Underrated Wild Plant

One of my favorite fragrances as I hike through the mountains is that of Great Northern Bedstraw. It smells of honey and fresh hay, and was often used as bedding because of of it's sweet scent.

juniper stokes 7/6/21 juniper stokes 7/6/21

Ethical Wildcrafting and Making Mountain Medicine

Every summer, I head to the mountains at about 10,000ft for my annual botanical medicine making retreat. I hike for hours each day, communing with the plants and making wild medicines. This medicine making trip is by far my favorite time of the year, in my favorite place in the world.