HINDSIGHT IS 20/20

We worked with Malachite last night at Spellbound Sky and one of the extraordinary things about that stone is the way is helps you see the synchronicities and serendipitous things that have happened (or are happening) in your life.

And now I am all hopped up with memories and wonder at how I got to where I am.

When I was little I was lucky to have a mom and dad that read to me a lot.  I loved fables, myths, fairy tales.  Once I learned to read a beloved aunt gave me a wonderful and obscure collection of books from when she was young, and I would read so much I would get in trouble for it.  I would lay in my closet at night and read with a flashlight until I fell asleep and the dreams took over the storyline.

After growing in Los Angeles, I had the supreme good fortune to go Northern California for my college years, where I was introduced to mysticism and intersectional feminism and the magic of big nature. I had long, meandering talks with old hippies, worked in coffee shops where we dispensed Bragg infused soups and my boss would drop blue green algae under my tongue as we explained over and over again why we didn't serve soda.  I discovered the writing of Rob Brezsny and found lots of strange metaphysical books in thrift stores.

This is where many of the memories were made that fuel the meditations I create now.  I slept at the mouth of great caves, I stood in the raging surf of harsh, wild and rocky coastlines, I wandered endlessly with my friends through ancient forests, I explored the tops of mountains overrun with waterfalls and wildflowers, I made pilgrimages to the highly sacred Mt. Shasta and spent countless hours in rivers born of snowmelt.  

I also learned how to start something on my own.  To invite a group to come together in my backyard under the full moon, to share in the glory and wisdom of the natural rhythms of life.  I realized I had something to offer (a skill to nuture) that the world (at that time) didn't have a name for, but I knew was still really valuable.

So that's the first chapter of this true story, I'll share the second chapter soon - it's even more filled with crazy serendipity and "coincidences".