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I love the ritual of reflecting on the year that has passed and contemplating the renewal and rebirth that a new year brings. There’s something so refreshing and hopeful about turning the page to a new year filled with possibilities. I hope my list of the top 10 highlights of 2021 inspires you to take a look back at the high's and low's of your year as you transition into 2022. My mantra this year is "More kindness: to myself...to others...and to the planet!" As I do every year on January 1st, I threw the I Ching coins and received Hexagram #5. Read more about my top 10 highlights for 2021 and discover what the ancient Chinese Oracle Book of Changes told me about the year 2022. Read more... ...
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Winter is coming -- the time when everything will once again lie dormant in the silent earth. Winter is a sacred time of rest and reflection before the slow build toward brighter days. We can follow Mother Nature's cue and nurture ourselves with compassion, rest, and reflection. As we consciously link our awareness to nature's cycles, and feel ourselves in kinship with the Earth and all of Her beings, we deepen our understanding of the importance of the cycle of rest and growth. Read more.. ...
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Along with everything that is deeply troubling these days, I feel especially grateful this month; grateful to be alive and able to explore and enjoy what remains wild and beautiful; grateful for dear friends and family; grateful to have opportunities to make art and write a book... read more ...
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Have you felt lately like you are living a profound paradox, where two opposing ideas are true at the same time? My Libra nature always inspires me to view both sides of things - the agony and the ecstasy, as they say. That's what inspired the above artwork titled, Being Held in Deep Grief and Unbearable Beauty. The painting illustrates the heartbreak of living with an uncertain future of not knowing whether we are headed into the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning, and the exquisite experience of falling in love again and again with what the Earth brings us, especially in the autumn season. Read more ...
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It seems I have become the golden joinery fix it lady -- the creatrix of Kintsugi. Bowls and platters have found their way to me for loving repair, each with a story to tell. Everything in the mending and painting process has become a metaphor, and each vessel has offered me a valuable life lesson. Here are some of their stories. Read more... ...
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I have a confession to make. When I was in my twenties, I felt threatened by smart, creative, and attractive women. I think subconsciously I saw them as competition, a threat to my own intelligence and creativity. Thankfully, trough the decades I've learned that what I see in others is a mirror of my own potential. I owe this change in perspective to the many marvelous mentors I've had in my life -- women who have shown me how to live in connection with others in supportive and loving relationships. Read more... ...
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Offering HeART and SoulCollage(r) Classes to inspire your creative spirit. Spring flowers, Summer Solstice, and 3-day Breaking and Mending and Retreat. Read on ...
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In January the astrologers warned us that 2020 would be a wild ride. If you are skeptical about astrological predictions, here is one summary from astrologist Gray Crawford that might turn you into a believer: “2020 is the beginning of not only a new decade, but a new astrological era. As with any birthing process, the year will involve enduring labor pains in order to introduce a new life. The year 2020 is a threshold to cross, a pause between the way it has been and the way it will be, necessitating a confrontation with all the difficult challenges in need of a remedy within civilization. There is nothing easy about the transits of 2020, yet they also contain a potent force within the dissolution and volatility they will incite." Read more. ...
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With everything that's going on right now finding small miracles in my life seems more precious than ever. Here is a story of one of those miracles -- one that pulled me out of brokenheartedness and reminded me that there are still many wonders out there in the world just waiting for us to find them. I hope my story will inspire you to watch for the miracles that might be waiting in your life, too. :) The Messengers The scalloped edges of rich green oak trees lined the rolling hills of Basket Slough Wildlife Refuge. Behind the oaks, billowing white clouds mimicked the curved arboreal flow of the trees. Stretched out in front of the oaks was a gold and brown field of dried Queen Anne's Lace. I stopped on the path, took a deep breath, and let my eyes receive the landscape: honey gold, nutmeg brown, olive green, and dove white, all opening under a mantle of blue. It was a joy I'd taken for granted - clear views and breathing clean, fresh air. Wildfires had raged in Oregon over the past week and burned many of my favorite mountain hiking trails in the Santiam wilderness, and the ...
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