When I was about five years old, I received a very special gift from my mother’s father, my grandfather: a small turquoise and silver ring. I can’t remember the occasion for the gift, or any specific circumstances around receiving it,
Cherokee
Alchemy & the Divine Masculine
As I walked through the dense forest on this crisp, cold winter afternoon, I came upon his tiny cottage. Unlike our houses ~ even our remote, rural houses ~ his cottage was not built along the edge of a road
From My Grandmother
Child, look back into your history, into your roots, and you will see a time when life was simple. Less comfortable, yes, but as we weren’t attached to being comfortable as you are today, it wasn’t so much of a
Message from the Elders: Make More Offerings
In October 2016, I had the beautiful opportunity to journey to the high Andean community of the Q’ero people with my dear friend Louisa, our Q’ero elders Don Augustin and Dona Benita, and their son Santos. Having made many journeys
To My Cherokee Great Grandmother
Beloved Great Grandmother, I come to you today with an offering, and it’s the only offering I can give you with my fullness and truth: my broken heart. I know that you will receive it with tenderness and care, and
Conscious Revolution
Step back in time with me for a moment. Imagine that we are poised at the edge of the first signs of mass conversion to an agrarian society, while most have lived as hunter-gatherers pretty much forever. While the hunter-gatherer
Weeping for the World
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” ~ Chief Seattle Today I wept for
Reciprocity and the Divide
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all
Beyond the Door
Come with me into an image, come with your courage and heart, and with your tears and your outrage. Look with me into the north central US, to the bitter cold of winter. In a circle stands a group of
How will we respond?
When faced with ignorance, hatred, and injustice in the world, it’s easy to want to fight back and become angry. When we choose to answer that call, however, we feed the energies that we are fighting in the first place.