New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
In my book Burn & Brew Rituals: Incense Blends and Cozy Drinks for Balance, Healing, and Inner Peace, I share a practice built on a simple premise: the body listens to the world through the senses long before the mind understands it. A curl of smoke. A warm cup in the hands. A repeated moment that asks nothing of you. These ordinary gestures become orientation points—small places the spirit returns to when life grows larger than language. When I created this daily grounding practice, I did not know I was also developing a survival strategy. There are days when the atmosphere feels different. Nothing visible has happened in your immediate surroundings, yet people move ...
Okay, I don't really have five favorite deities. Seriously how could you possibly just pick five? Not to mention that my favorites change with the seasons, my moods, and my needs. There are, however a few deities that I tend to come back to more often than most, or with whom I feel a stronger connection, so let's talk about them. It's worth noting that different people have different perceptions of various deities, and connect with them in ways that may not look the same. For instance, Apollo might appeal to musicians for his associations with music, and with those in the medical field or dealing with illnesses for his healing skills. Most deities have many sides, and it is definitely ...
There is a particular kind of guilt that settles in when you realize you haven't touched your tarot deck for a while. Sometimes it's a few weeks. Sometimes it's long enough that dust gathers on the box. You meant to come back. You meant to stay consistent. You meant to honor this practice that once punctuated your days with meaning and intention. But life got busy, or the work became stagnant, or you just plain lost interest. And your cards became something you kept meaning to return to, a box you intended to check. Most readers treat this inconsistency as a personal flaw. A lack of discipline, a waning intuition, a sign that tarot isn't working for them anymore. But the truth is that ...
When you think of darkness, or the dark within us, what comes to mind? Does it bring up uncomfortable memories, difficult emotions, or the idea of being taken over by something outside of yourself? In my experience as a therapist and coach, darkness isn't something to fear or fix, although we may believe that it is. Darkness, or shadow, is often more about what we've put there than about who we are at our core. Pulling from Carl Jung's conception of the shadow, this inner darkness is not just our anger, jealousy, or shame that cause us to act in ways that may lead to disconnection, but also our disowned talents and hidden desires that have been cast aside. Darkness can be just as much ...
