This past week, I hosted a small dinner gathering at my home with some newer friends.

What if a miracle could meet you here?

It was one of those perfect Northern nights, where dusk blanketed the horizon in an indigo-pink symphony.

I want to take a moment to extend a honey-warm welcome into the first newsletter of 2022! I have an old-fashioned soul in the sense that when I sit down to write to you here, I imagine my keyboard as ink, and my hands become a feather-tipped quill while the screen becomes papyrus. I envision cozying up next to a glowing hearth and invite words that embody integrity and sincerity to pour forth like prayers in their own timing.

Today I'm called to share about the difference between nourishing a heartfelt dream versus exerting your personal will on life, a state sometimes referred to as ego creation.

I don’t want fast and furious.

I like sllloooowww and steady step by step breath by breath emergent embers. Growing glowing coals that wordlessly emanate the healing hands of time.

Music is magical. It’s one of many ways we can allow space for embodied feeling without having to think too much about it. Hearing a meaningful song elicits emotion – it’s also one of many ways our angels, the messengers of our hearts, deliver messages.

Today I’m inspired to share a bit of a longer story with you, a story I’ve shared in short parts before, but never quite in this way. Perhaps grab a cozy cup of tea or a warm delicious drink. Let’s gather by the hearth of our hearts and lean in…

Four years ago in the midst of a personal dark night of the soul, I wrote a poem. It goes like this…

“The invitation is to be in consent with yourself,” said the retreat facilitator, all of us tucked into a cozy circle. “If you need to leave, the door is open. If your body is calling for rest, there’s full permission and encouragement to excuse yourself and lie down for as long as you need.”

Perhaps in the midst of these trying times, exhaustion has set in and you’re reading this thinking, I’m too tired to consider what questions I’m leaning into. I don’t have the energy. If that’s you, I hear you and honor your capacity. Perhaps your question might sound something like: how can I tend to and care for myself right here and now… what do I really need?

I want to start today’s letter by acknowledging the immensely heartbreaking and transformational times we’re in. Life is moving very quickly and intensely, from the pandemic to the seemingly countless murders of innocent black people.

Is there an opportunity for spontaneous service? Perhaps leaving an encouraging note on a stranger’s car. Sending a letter to a friend. Donating to your favorite charity. Planting a tree. Reaching out to someone who inspires you with a love letter. How can you show up and interact with the world around you, even if that world is limited to your home right now?

There is a place on Earth where humans exist in harmony with nature. Where heartfelt exchange is the currency. Where organic food doesn’t need to be labeled because it was obviously grown biodynamically with love in the garden just outside the door, so who needs a label?

There are a lot of questions we, the world at large, are currently facing. Collective questions on where things will go from here, how things will change, how things won’t change, all the things. While we don’t know what’s going to happen a week from now, a month from now, a year from now…

Have you noticed any judgments around a place, person, group of people, or way of being lately? How can you approach this from your soul’s perspective this week? Even the courage to take one small step into the room with it will start the process of growing past what you think you know.

Embodiment is the alchemy of spirit and matter. Your humanity and divinity aren’t two separate entities – one “good” and the other “bad.” Your body and spirit are an indivisible whole. Together, they’re an instrument for angels, and your voice is a harmonic note that adds to the symphony of life.

I lovingly encourage you to talk to your animals, plants, the land that surrounds you, and of course - humans! When you enter challenging conversations with sincerity and openness, what comes forward may completely shift your perspective. In some circles, a shift in perspective is the definition of a miracle.

This year, I celebrated Beltane with a strong intention to connect with the Beloved. I did this through an impromptu Angelic Breath Healing journey the night of Beltane (May 1st) and then spent the next two days honoring this auspicious portal in community at the herbalism school I attend.

When it comes to communicating with the Divine, there’s no right or wrong way. Your spiritual practice is sacred, and I’m not here to tell you how to do it. I am here, however, to lovingly encourage you to communicate, to ask, to explore your relationship to the wisdom within in a way that resonates with you.