I’m so grateful to be back at the Forest Portal and although we sought out nature where ever we were during our time away, it sure feels good to return to the land and elementals I know so well here. Things have definitely changed though and the Equinox brought renewal in the air with a new path opening ahead for us. For now I’m just walking one step at a time through the open door and taking the hand of invitation with the wonder and curiosity of a child. I’m ready to journey into the unknown with full trust in the guidance that whispers through my heart.

It’s been a sweet gift to watch my forest friends return to visit and witness still some little bursts of magick taking place in the garden since being back. While some things slumbered early, Autumn seemed to welcome that transition with a supportive hand so that things in fact appear as if they evolved in a natural cycle here.

Even my big gray squirrel friend made an appearance just a couple of days ago. His energy is very different than Hope’s, although heralds his own version of possibility. The photos don’t do justice to his size, but he’s quite large and his expressions, mannerisms, and body movements are very humanlike.

In fact I don’t feel him to be a squirrel, but rather a shapeshifting wizard and whenever he appears I know that there’s something behind the scenes at work and to expect the unexpected. On this day he was nibbling away – processing with each bite, things he would pluck from the foundation of the tree stump where my planter sits atop. This particular stump has been collapsing on one side of the top and so there’s a message here you can likely put together yourself.

He’s not sinister, but is detached and calculated, always on a mission putting some kind of alchemy in motion and alerting me to do the same. He will come knock on the sliding door, or peer in, run along the fence, bench, or pots, but makes himself known deliberately.

And that gorgeous bushy tail of his is like a swirling cape that flows behind him, but also doubles as a snake charmer that casts a spell with every hypnotic undulation.

I even had this little visitor – a Mabon Moth – anchoring her magick of regeneration and transformation on the morning of Autumn Equinox. Her ability to blend into the leaves and trees around her speaks of hidden knowledge and adaptability. She navigates by lunar light and so she highlights shadow work and inner wisdom, with determined focus on seeing the silver lining through any murky experience.

I’ve been enjoying tiny pops of color still blooming though. In fact, I am looking at one single periwinkle delphinium, crimson mini rose, and white foxglove, through my office door, that each just opened since we’ve returned. And these beauties continued to flourish even while I was away.

And some of my herbs are enjoying a comeback on the Garden Tower, ever since their Faery mom has been hydrating and nurturing them.

You can also see some of the veggie friends still giving a good last initiative to see what they can do before Winter’s sleep and seed for the year to come.

I have a few Wee B Little mini pumpkins trying, but this one is the strongest so far and has actually grown since I took this photo upon return home.

Faery fingers, toes, and wings crossed for him to grow as big as he needs, as only he knows what is in his energy signature to be.

As mentioned in my return post, the side yard of little wildflowers and clover has been a delight to see and especially the six lamb’s ear plants I have there at the base of the maple tree that all continued well even while I was away.

I had three more lamb’s ear on my Garden Tower that I couldn’t bear to lose simply because of my absence because they’re my favorite, so I dug them up and brought them to my parent’s house when we evacuated so my dad could nurture them. They more than tripled in size while I was away and these are two of them I now have potted on the deck.

I gave one to my dad because he loves lamb’s ear too and had lost his beautiful plant just like I had. I used to have a huge one that I grew from one tiny clipping I brought across the water from Catalina when we lived in Southern California that didn’t like it when I had to leave her behind. I’m so happy to have these again to begin a new life cycle with.

We haven’t done pine needle cleanup yet because there’s been so much wind on and off since we returned, but plan to do that likely this weekend if it remains calm.

I like the look of things with an Autumn covering of golden needles all about, spreading like a spider’s web weaving the cycles seamlessly.

I even love this giant magick mushroom I discovered while watering the garden.

It was hidden under a blanket of dirt that was sitting like a big mound in the middle of the wildflower plants it pushed to the edges. I cleaned it off with my hands and the water to discover this single beauty.

It’s huge – two and a half times the size of my hand in this photo that from this perspective doesn’t reflect the size contrast that well.

Mushrooms are power symbols to me and as a faery they are part of the landscape I enjoy. They carry shamanic wisdom of the unseen abundant powers and spirit realm of the Underworld, enlightenment, transformation, rebirth and the recycling of all that has died, longevity, good luck, and more. Nature spirits love them and can be seen sitting atop these mysterious creations, so of course I celebrate them.

And speaking of celebration, I did spend the Equinox baking and gardening, just as Hope inspired. It was a way to honor the change of seasons and take a nice big breath after finally settling fully back and accomplishing some important things we needed to get done. In fact, I’ve purposely been letting go of doing anything new the last few days so I have time to sink into relaxing and enjoying the changes literally and symbolically anchoring.

I’ve been craving one particular thing to bake and I chose the Equinox to do that. My favorite year-round cookie from childhood was always my dad’s shortbread cookies.

So that’s what I baked – my own vegan version, but of course with a little faery infusion. I used some of the dried lavender and mint from my garden that I harvested before we evacuated and jarred upon return, then added mini vegan chocolate chips and dark chocolate slivers.

This was a first and I am so happy with them. It was a way to infuse childhood memories into the now in effort to nurture that inner child sweetness I feel is so important to strengthen.

It’s also added to the enjoyment of cozy warmth the season invites – perfect for these colder nights and mornings that have been into the 30’s.

Astrid has also been luxuriating in her royal realm, breathing in her space, frolicking about, enjoying daily indulgences, and simply surrendering. She’s definitely a Mabon Rabbit Queen, having her birthday so near to Equinox. I love seeing her enjoying her newer castle towers that were gifts to her for her Summer Solstice anniversary and a pre-birthday gift. She’s enjoying being surrounded by the environments she loves, inside and outside.

And, indeed, the landscape in the great outdoors around us has also been beautiful and crisp with the first onset of color shifts set on a backdrop of clear blue sky and that famous Tahoe blue reappearing in all her glory.

The wind constantly shifts, but we’ve had a good run of 5-6 days of great air allowing us to soak in our usual nature exercise before another bout of bad air is about to come through again.

What it’s all spoken to me of is the inevitable renewal that always cycles through over and over and of our ability to continually recreate ourselves and our lives free of any idea we felt so strongly connected to at any given time.

We can’t possibly imagine how anything else could make us feel the way we do now or better, and yet the Universe always shows us that there are unlimited versions of fulfillment when we open ourselves to the boundless abundance that is available and let our attachments roll off of our backs like cleansing rain.

Things will always rise again from the ashes even when stripped of everything. In fact, sometimes being stripped of everything is the very thing needed to rise up.

Some words that have jumped out at me have been receptivity, indolence, liberation, gumption, and arise.

Your first thought might be – but doesn’t indolence have a negative twinge to it by definition?

Of course my response will be, let’s drop preconceived ideas and definitions for a moment and embrace this in a new way.

When indolence came to me it wasn’t about ineffective laziness, sloth, or avoidance of exertion, but rather the very important effectiveness of surrendering into luxurious indolence that deeply, slowly, and sweetly inhales every moment of the circle of life. That permission to pause with deliberate accentuation and tune out life stressors, fully relax, let go, and sink your feet into the blanket of musky Autumn dirt. The invitation to be okay with not doing anything and knowing that doing so is actually quite needed, effective, and in fact does a lot more sometimes than trying to force yourself to do a list of “should’s.” That full pause and release allows space for the sparks to ignite.

The rest of the word themes I think speak for themselves…receptivity with all your senses to everything within and without so you’re taking in the fuller picture that can assist you far greater than thinking it out alone can do and therefore aligning…liberation from old thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and ways you’ve held onto tightly so that your horse can run unbridled in the field of possibility (incidentally I saw a big herd of gorgeous wild mustangs on Thursday when driving to my hair cut where I let go of an 1 1/2 inches of old growth)…gumption to go for what you want, create the changes you want to experience, and do what others would deem impossible…and arise to the stir within, awaken, and prepare for that divinely aligned action that initiates renewal.

The plants in my garden, nature around the area here, and even my own renewed inner child passion, freedom to be, and drive have provided me the map to navigate the new landscape I find myself in, as indeed everything is different upon returning home.

They speak to that receptivity that aligns with the seasons and life cycles, the periods of luxuriating indolence of surrender to the energy streams of natural flow, the liberation that comes through surrender and release of any preconceived attachments, the gumption to have spirited initiative, courage, determination, and resourceful responses when opportunity presents itself or when it’s necessary to the bigger picture to lead for the greater good, and to inherently know the seed of renewal is your destiny to rise again and again, no matter if it appears that everything has been stripped away.

We’ve arrived at yet another seasonal marker and journey through the Wheel of the Year – Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. This celebration is also known as Mabon – the mid-harvest festival celebrating the second harvest marking a time of completion with projects, clearing out the old on all levels, and preparing for Winter’s rest and incubating.

This is not just a time of harvesting crops, but for harvesting all that you’ve cultivated, nurtured, and grown in life to be grateful for – the blessings seen and unseen. It’s a time to honor the innate abundance that is your birthright to experience and share. It’s an honoring and celebrating of Earth’s gifts and her need to rest after such fruitful giving.

The Equinox provides a portal for transition, reflection, gratitude, and the grounds for recreating a fresh cycle. It’s a time of release in order to make room for the new growth and reality to anchor and show up. This is an opportune opening to gently surrender and let go of the old (just as leaves drop from the trees effortlessly and without judgment), and reflect on the things to be grateful for even when we think there isn’t anything.

It’s also a period of finding that balance between light and dark – the access point for greater unification – as we experience equilibrium between day and night hours, which nudges us to share more compassion with the shadowy aspects within and without and to look at where our relationship to things in our life may be out of balance.

Indeed it’s a powerful doorway for transformation and life affirming potentials if we align with that cosmic flow and set intentions for our journey as more fully embodied spirit in flesh. However you feel called to create sacred ritual, you’ll be supported by the energies streaming in right now.

As you know, I’ve been guided to share my own version of visual spells, inspired musings, and portal alchemy since Winter Solstice of 2020. And today I find myself through a full cycle, as I share Mabon Magick, as is channeled through the vessel that is me and the codings that flow through me.

You can view the previous seasons’ stories of Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, and Summer Solstice at the following links:

A Winter Solstice Visual Spell to Activate the Light Within

On Wings of Ostara ~ Flying Through the Spring Equinox Gateway of Renewal

Litha Doorways of Initiation ~ Titania’s Midsummer Eve Visual Spell

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed opening myself to the energies wanting to come through for these and noticed the shift of those energies taking root over the cycles. I’ve been led to peel back the veils to my own authenticity through them, but to also transparently merge Otherworld and Earth together into unified embodiment that is very tangible even in its simplicity.

This as a way to demonstrate the magick that we are in human form simply by being who we really are. The enchantment, energies, and potency will always reveal themselves and be felt through that simple embrace. So you may notice how this evolution has channeled in these shares, bringing us to here.

In every share it’s been about embodying the essence of things in human form, and as I mentioned in Summer Solstice’s spell:

“We also observe the transition from mythical being to human form embodiment, while we celebrate the liberation of the same potential within each of us and of conscious awareness in totality. May these images create windows into your own spirit liberation and remind you of the fullness of your royal and sacred being right here and now.”

It felt especially aligned and beautiful that we were able to return to our home just in time for the Pisces Harvest Full Moon and Autumn Equinox. It is meant to be that this deepening into being would make most sense captured on our Forest Portal land, as the energy of this area is in process of rising from the ashes.

The raw layers of what I’m transmuting through the process, all that I am letting go of and cleansing away, all the immense gratitude I’m feeling, the transitions unfolding, and the promise of renewal that is inspiring the journey, feel encapsulated in this Equinox doorway.

The invitation to something vastly new and hugely unknown carries some bitter sweet nostalgia in the background, yet I find it overshadowed by these whispering rich, fertile fields of creative potential and deepening harmonic resonance awaiting that have me curiously enticed to keep moving through the open door.

I love that while I am writing this, my sweet and innocent rabbit friend, Hope, ran through my garden just outside my office door. Her white cottontail caught my eye and I smiled so big. She reminded me to bake some sweetness in the faery kitchen and spend time in the garden as part of my Equinox celebration – ways to deepen into the nature of me.

May you create your own sense of greater balance and embrace of the contrasting energies abound and may this Autumn Equinox portal help you to find that resiliency within you to weather the storms, experience more graceful surrender of all that no longer serves you, and lean into the beauty that is and always will be you as the truth of your essence.

Here is a Mabon Prayer for Abundance from Wigington, Patti. “Mabon Prayers.” Learn Religions, Aug. 27, 2020, learnreligions.com/mabon-prayers-4072781 followed by a Mabon poem by Lisa Thiel:

Prayer for Abundance

We have so much before us
and for this we are thankful.
We have so many blessings,
and for this we are thankful.
There are others not so fortunate,
and by this we are humbled.
We shall make an offering in their name
to the gods who watch over us,
that those in need are someday
as blessed as we are this day.

CIRCLE OF THE SEASONS: MABON – Lisa Thiel

“O now is the time of the Harvest,
As we draw near to the years end
Now is the time of Mabon
Autumn is the time to descend.

Old Woman waits patiently for us
At the threshold of the labyrinth within
She offers her hand that we may understand
The treasures that await at journey’s end.

O Great Mother has given of Her body,
We give thanks for Her fruit and Her grain
We then clear the fields so that next harvest’s yields
Will be full and abundant again.

Old Woman leads us through the darkness
Our most ancient and trusted of friends
She carries the light of spiritual insight
And leads us to our wisdom once again.

And as we journey through the darkness
And as we continue to descend
We learn to let go of what obscures our soul
And re-discover our true being in the end.”

And I’d like to end with this musing from myself, as a form of coded incantation to navigate the days and months ahead:

Oh the winds they blow at times fierce and then like a faint memory softly caressing our auric fields.

They flip directions without notice, creating the need to hold centered vigilance from a fluid state of resilient grace.

As we give rise to conflict, so too do the elements rise with us.

They know not of good or bad, but simply the impulse to be.

They also speak to us of ancient cycles that know far beyond what our progressive minds have extended past our humanity to reach for.

They whisper stories of lost innocence.

The kind that would relish in fragrant inhale of faery-laden gifts at toes’ edge.

And not be ashamed to blow wish kisses of hope from the heart.

And even when the onset of many moons close in, still remembers these simple things and leans into their wisdom to navigate the transitions ahead.

Yet never, ever forgets to pause with grateful breath so deep that the conflict is all but forgotten.

There is value in the pause….value in reflection.

From that space it becomes easier to return to center and receive insight of greater clarity about what’s truly of value to infuse your sacred energy into.

You realize how much power you truly hold in your hands to birth a new and different reality from the current stories closing in on you.

And you’ll feel like you’re seeing for the first time, as the light of truth both shines through and upon you.

It may feel like an endless climb, this journey of undoing, but unless we’re willing to do some climbing we will never meet the voice of innocent knowing that has been calling to us all along and understands us best.

And while it’s key to remember how you got here, it’s also key to keep moving forward one step at a time because that’s the only way to change things.

Transformation involves the ups and downs and traversing many staircases of life in all directions.

However, there are no higher or better levels, as everything is a sacred nest of interconnected spirals, one inside the other, within the access point of our open hearts.

What we hold tightly to provides the map legend on what we’re being invited to move through in order to move on.

It’s always hard to see with thoughts alone, yet inviting wonder in will help you decipher where only spirit knows will be your greatest fulfillment.

Things will continue knocking on our doors, like seasons inevitably change.

Their aim is to pierce the numbing veils to awaken our receptivity to allowing the inherent nature of who we are to rise from the ashes, reclaim, and return to the organic and alchemical innocence of being.

I wanted to extend another message of deep gratitude from all of our hearts to all of you who have shared your love and support during recent weeks with the fire. I know it’s moved mountains in helping the situation and everyone affected by it, but on top of that it’s been a huge gift to our family to feel your love.

I just wanted to give you an update on the integration back home and especially before we may have a 24+ hour power outage. More on that later.

As mentioned in my last post, we headed home after Astrid’s birthday and while it was a very long journey by car (about 9 hours), once again our fur babies did amazing and were rewarded with the best homecoming. I remember seeing the sun setting over the mountain, as we drove up, and how very soft and undramatic it was. There was just a nondescript equilibrium in the air.

We arrived home Thursday evening and since then have been immersed in resettling back into our home and handling quite a few things. It’s a lot when you’ve been away with two car loads and haven’t been in your home much over the last 6 weeks.

Astrid and the kitties, Boojum and Sweet Pea, were immediately excited – all running to their favorite spots without missing a beat. Everyone continues to feel relaxed, remains healthy, and is enjoying their return home.

It makes me especially comforted and grateful to know that Astrid is so resilient since being a bunny is no easy task! She continues to awe me with her strength and in my book she’s officially become the travel rabbit extraordinaire.

The air quality wasn’t good when we got here, nor the next full day, but it gave us time to catch up on things at home. I did get out into the garden Friday, nonetheless, as I wanted to give everything a good soaking, fill the fountain for the forest animals, and say my hello’s. I knew that everything would be either gone altogether or on its way out, but was surprised to see a few things still flourishing alongside others that were saying an early goodbye for the season.

My side yard I seeded with wildflowers was one of the areas that made me smile, seeing a lot of new flowers blooming throughout the clover. I noticed all the pine needles, half-eaten pine cones, branches and leaves already all over the ground and cooler temperatures setting in. And while my Garden Tower was also vastly put to sleep early for the season, my mint was still having a comeback and I discovered one Habanero Pepper had grown while I was away and one tomato was in process. I used the pepper in a homemade chili I made yesterday.

I loved the serenity I felt on this first evening in my garden, enjoying my solar light friends twinkling in joy to have me back. They also set the tone for the Autumnal energy I felt strongly in the air.

After an initial flurry of reorganizing our lives back in order, we finally also got a chance to get out yesterday and embrace the good air that surprised us upon waking. We did one of our favorites – a 5 mile hike down to the lake and back from the house.

The day greeted us with high winds, which was part of the warning forecast we heard about when we arrived back home. You can see the white caps all over the lake.

This change in weather has fire fighters on high alert, as well as the power companies. And although we have 71% containment of the fire, as I mentioned before, I’m not letting up on supportive energy work because things can change any moment, for better or worse.

Of course I envision and work toward a better scenario always, but we never know what that “better” scenario actually looks like when done with highest collective good as the intention. This is why I mentioned getting in an update blog before power may go out, as our power company sent a warning they may shut power beginning last night through tonight to help avoid issues. This is due to the high winds coming through with the low-pressure system moving in that have potential of threatening fire containment and power lines.

So, this is why I prepped this blog before the power outage potential, as I wasn’t sure when it may hit or how long for sure it would be in effect.

Anything can change, so that’s what I’m focused on – being the change.

The upside is, we may get a little bit of precipitation – rain and perhaps even snow at high altitudes. Hoping for that and feeling the cleansing water rush over the land continuously. I also would be happy for an early Winter, as our forests really need that. We’ve lost enough trees and wildlife to make your heart break a thousand times over. And with 782 residences also lost, just in this one fire alone, precipitation in abundance would definitely be welcomed.

But back to our hike…it was soothing to be back, doing what we love, and to be able to experience the land again in person. Although everything is different, and these high winds of change indicate that very literal shift in the air, there’s still a sense of connection that strengthens the field of energy being worked with by our presence here.

We even had a peregrine falcon fly right above us through the trees on our return home through the forest. That felt like a good sign, coming from this messenger.

Dave was also able to get in his first mountain bike ride, after our hike, on one of the only open trails near our house – since State Parks are open although a lot of the National Forest is not. While he did that I made our chili and while it was simmering I had time to jar all of the dried herbs I had harvested early, right before we evacuated.

You might recall that my normal Autumn routine of doing this was kicked in several months ahead of schedule in order not to lose all of the growth that had taken place. I carried these bags of goodies with us while we were away and they were ready for jarring now that we were home. I ended up with 5 jars of lavender – my fav! – and 2 large jars of herbal mixes. I use these for baking and cooking…sometimes as teas.

This, along with all the fallen traces of last season’s growth everywhere outside, felt symbolic of that “falling” away, letting go, the circle of life, harvest, gratitude, and transitions all around. A little pre-Equinox energies to immerse in upon returning home, which felt exactly reflective of our state of being currently.

And tomorrow evening, on September 20th, we’ll move through the Full Harvest Moon in Pisces portal – also feeling especially poignant and aligned with my current state of being, not just echoing my Native Sun Sign, and the state of being collectively. I’m harnessing all that watery energy both literally to envelop the lands, but also symbolically in terms of diving to ever-greater depths of emotions since it’s the unconscious that is running the show in everything we’re seeing play out on Earth. Heightened intuition will be illuminated as well, so listen to what’s coming through and if you’re feeling extra sensitive, please take all the time you need to nurture yourself.

I do sense some magickal breakthroughs upcoming for the collective – especially for those of you who have managed to stay your course amidst the topsy-turvy world scene. I know I, personally, have huge changes upcoming, but allowing it to play out behind-the-scenes feels aligned.

Alongside a project I’m completing and our personally full schedule this week of some key appointments Dave and I have, we’re looking forward to celebrating the Autumn Equinox (for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere/Spring Equinox for the Southern Hemisphere folks), with the collective coming up on Wednesday, September 22nd.

I happen to have a hair trim scheduled for the 23rd just after the Equinox portal, which feels perfect for this transitional phase of the season. My hair grew extra fast over the last 6 weeks – perhaps with all the energy I’ve been moving through – so it will feel great to get things in shape again.

Although the week ahead is busy, in good ways, I will be back in motion of blogging. Look out for some shares beyond these updates and also a new offering upcoming.

Again, thank you for being here at this time with all of us. Your presence, courage, and love are seen and most appreciated.

Today is a special day that marks Astrid’s 7th Earth year in rabbit body. It also happens to be the 4 year anniversary of our signing on the Forest Portal – our heart home in Lake Tahoe. I love that both of these significant markers in our life fall on the same day and feels like no coincidence that a place we love and forever is in our hearts no matter where we are, is shared with the magickal soul we love and who will eternally be with us no matter where our souls journey.

The Forest Portal is where Astrid truly came into herself and felt ready, safe, and nurtured to let her light shine fully. She’s had such a huge part in creating our enchanted garden sanctuary and working with the land, animals and faeries that inhabit it and our forest there. And of course, she’s had a huge thumper in helping to create Wonderland.

Our home and family wouldn’t be what it is without her and she also wouldn’t be where she is on her journey without it and us. The energy and love that has been cultivated in this heart home has been the alchemy to all of our souls.

It’s interesting to celebrate all of this in light of the recent fire, but I feel it makes it even more important to do so and also adds to the celebration in knowing that our home, garden, and forest are safe to go back to. It feels like it’s own rebirthing energy (rising from the ashes), just as Astrid celebrates the potent energy of 7 years with her own rebirthing cycle.

We’ve taken our time with returning, feeling the importance of giving Astrid and ourselves the rest and nurturing we needed without rushing, while things continued to evolve back home. So, we celebrate Astrid and our home from our haven refuge, and plan to return shortly after.

We even got ourselves a half dozen giant vegan donuts to celebrate this week – raspberry pistachio, strawberry chocolate, vanilla sprinkles, maple walnut, toasted coconut, and S’mores) Dave is a magnet for finding these. 🙂

And Astrid, of course, is receiving some extra yummy bunny birthday gifts from mom! I took her entire supply of everything with us (the car was full with mostly her things) since we didn’t know how long we might be away, or what might unfold, so she has tons of goodies she’ll be spoiled with today.

And her biggest gift is that she’ll be going home.

I can tell that Astrid knows it’s time to return home and also is ready to return home, as the last couple of days she’s been moving things, as if to prepare for packing up, and has been moving about, as if to say “okay, I’m ready to get this party rolling when you are” while also literally moving energy.

This is her I’m-relaxed-but-ready-to-go-when-you-are position 🙂

Look at her one sprawled out, fully relaxed leg behind her and one leg tucked under like a football player ready to charge forth and make the play.

Love those little silver-tipped furry, curled toes!

The photo reflects her half in and half out mode – happy where she is, but happy to get to go home. Whereas before, (when we arrived to this second refuge) she was fully in and only thought of her present space of comfort and joy. Previous to that (in our first hotel refuge) she was transitioning and although was doing great health-wise, she felt out of sorts being misplaced from her home.

We’ve all gone through a cycle of inner shifts over the last two and a half weeks. It’s been a big growth spurt for us all on a whole new level and nothing will be the same moving forward.

We’re ready to look ahead without need to turn back.

As I write this, the fire is at 70% containment and there’s a weather report by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that is showing a slight chance of showers on Sunday and Monday that could result in snow between 8000 – 10,300 feet of elevation.

If that actually happens, it would be a huge gift and cause for more celebration.

But for now we celebrate love, togetherness, safety, health, friends, family, a home to return to, renewal, blessings abound, and of course one magick rabbit – my bestest friend, cocreator, powerful and wise guide, Astrid.

Hoppy Birthday!

We landed safely in our second refuge last Monday, as we continued in our evacuee status from the fire back home. We were offered a full home by a good friend of ours and it’s proven to be the perfect haven for everyone to move past recalibrating mode, into a deepening return to ourselves through rest, nurturing, and even some fun.

The fur babies are fully back to themselves, enjoying the bright open space, cozy spots to explore, and family time doing many of the things we used to do together, back home.

Astrid has especially come full circle, back to running up and down stairs, zipping all over, binkying, and laying in full, luxurious, royal comfort once again. She’s even enjoyed yoga and stretching evenings with dad and family time with her warren – that’s us!

I love seeing the many sides of Astrid the Rabbit Queen that include being a work of art, a yoga bunny instructor, a Buddha bunny, a snuggle bunny, and so much more!

And mom and dad feel more relaxed seeing the babies all happy and getting a chance to deepen into our own routines more comfortably.

We’ve been laying low and more removed from the outside world this week, focusing on integrating everything and maintaining well being as a team.

Early morning, long, and aggressive hikes for half of our days have been part of that routine, but

then we’ve balanced that with relaxing poolside time and long hours soaking in those healthy negative ions of the ocean and shoreline that we’ve missed in abundance from our mountain and forest home.

I loved the surroundings we found ourselves in with so many watchful and protective eyes always around us, seeing to it that we were cared for around every corner.

We feel incredibly grateful for all the divine alignments and gifts that have supported us through Earth angels in our lives and through angels guiding us from beyond Earth.

We feel incredibly blessed to have been swaddled in protection, tenderness, and love every step of the way.

This last week has been less stressful for all of us and a way to do some really potent full circle work and transmutation that will benefit the days and months to come. Knowing the fur babies were also swaddled in all the feel good stuff they thrive on, helped us all to be a much more focused team, able to draw upon our strengths and weave them together.

Beach time has been one of our favorite ways to focus on intentions (that continue to manifest instantly), sending out supportive energy, envisioning our future path, and preparing for the months ahead in order to manifest what’s in motion.

Meanwhile, the fire fighters back home have continued their incredible work and the communities in our area have remained safe while containment has edged up each day – currently at 67% and holding, even through the thunder storm red flag warnings that came in Thursday and Friday. This brought in lightning and up to 50 mile an hour wind threats, but the containment lines they created, held. Although many small lightning-started fires ignited in the area, they were able to quickly contain them and so all of this has given them better confidence with repopulating areas.

Air quality has been a mix of some first-time good air and then back to unhealthy, although no more extreme hazardous days. We’re keeping an eye on this (looking good so far) and how containment continues to hold over the next couple of days. On Saturday afternoon we received message that the warning orders for our area had been lifted. We were waiting for this, as I didn’t feel good about going back while this was still in place since it meant at any moment it could turn to a mandatory evacuation order again and with animals that wasn’t an option for us. It’s likely we’ll return home at some point this week, but we’re giving the fur babies and ourselves some good balancing and anchoring time before making the trek home.

In the meantime, our dear friend in the SLT Meyers community – the area that was threated the most with fires just behind the houses, also had received downgraded warning orders and just returned to his house Sunday – yesterday – to walk his property and assess things. His home was deeply in my prayers, Reiki, and energy work because I knew from video and photos that the trees just behind the house where we used to hike with him, was in flames. We’re so grateful all the homes were saved, although it’s been heart breaking to see photos he shared with us of just 20 yards up from his house where there was remnants of a ground fire and about 50% of trees badly damaged, and then above the trail, remnants of crown fires to the trees.

It puts a twist on things when you are direct-line working with a challenge, rather than just hearing about them. This whole situation gave me another opportunity to use the processes I’ve learned, in order to manage all the different levels of effects in the best possible way I knew how for a high level threat. I never felt powerless, as the tools helped give me a way to add my support in with everyone else’s. And although it could have been easy to give in to fear many times, I instead would turn any of that energy around very quickly into a determination and holding power of anchored strength, the best I could.

In this way, I could better serve the challenge and add to the forces working toward creating a different storyline than unconscious and unharnessed fear would rather write instead. In recognizing that it isn’t my energy signature to be controlled by fear, but instead to lead from innocence and harness that fear as a catalyst for strength, I have been able to maintain myself energetically in likely one of the most effective demonstrations I’ve recently been through of being placed under pressure.

This was one of the gifts I saw from the experience – a chance to put things to practice. There’s been a lot of this with recent global challenges we face at large, and the more practice we’re able to immerse in, the more resilient we are seeing ourselves to be and the more effective we’re seeing all that we’ve learned, actually is.

And it’s helped us to also lean into those times of surrender and lean on others for support when needed, as we aren’t islands unto ourselves and there are times to share the balance of giving AND receiving. This is part of the new storyline we are writing – one of togetherness and unity. We’re are also being asked to implement conscious awareness, like never before, around ANY and EVERY choice we make and which story we are deciding to be a character in.

One of the other things I was able to put to practical practice was how to balance awareness of external information with staying in my own peace and not compromising my energy boundaries to fear – something I find hugely important to keep practicing especially in these times. I had a touch-in both in the morning and in the evening where I’d gather the key information on the fire status and an understanding of what was at hand to work with each day and then I’d do my focused energy work while out in nature or right before bed. This worked well for me, helping to maintain my sense of refuge, maintain my resiliency strength, and helping to be part of my relentless commitment to the whole in a healthy way that has allowed me to consistently continue.

As I said before, it’s still not time to step back from the focused energy and work at hand – and that goes for any reality we are seeing, but wish to change.

So, in the meantime, we continue our gratitude practice, continue fueling focused energy intentions, and I continue to open to the guidance and nudges I sense coming through.

While I have been able to take care of routine, monthly work during these past couple of weeks, I haven’t been able to work on a final commissioned design project yet because I’ve been needing to focus time elsewhere, on the day-to-day, and making sure to keep my well full with all of the energy going out. I’ve only been able to get the necessary things done right now and that’s okay, as with any creative project, inspiration is not something I want to force or try to squeeze out of me just to complete it. It’s important to me to give my all to things and right now that’s been caring for our family and the collective challenges at hand, while using creative energy to implement the steps to come.

Everything is a day-to-day and moment-to-moment process.

In the interim, though, I continue to receive a lot of messages, clarity, and guidance and as always I’m led to share some of those things here with my friends and family in case they speak to you too.

So, now that I’ve shared a little update on things for all of our friends and family who have been so supportive and collectively helping with your prayers and energy to support communities across the land, this brings me to the next layer of the theme title of this post – Resiliency, Refuge and Relentless Commitment.

Some of this is covered naturally as an undercurrent theme in my update, but more specifically I’ve seen these messages pop up around me and as collective streams too.

I have to share that the day we evacuated – you might recall that it was 11:11 am when I pulled out from our driveway – I noticed this incredible, large spider web at the front of our house. It was hanging from the overhang to the walkway deck that leads to the door, just left of the garage. It was glistening in the sunshine and I thought to myself how amazing it was to see this, as we were leaving our beloved home.

I had chosen to leave very specific, important, and potent items at home to anchor in a bubble of protection and nurturing for the land and animals there and to have a portal access point to move energy work through, from afar. This was not just for our home and Forest Portal, but for the Tahoe basin, to be a grid to help hold and move through what ever was in the highest good of the collective energy field there.

The web felt to me to be part of Nature’s way of reflecting her own anchor in partnership with me, adding her tapestry of alchemy to the mix – spider being the Sacred Mother Weaver of Creation.

Webs are symbolic of the interconnection and weaving of all things, our spiritual path, infinite creative possibilities, manifestation, and the ability to rebuild. Much of this has been part of our experience, including that interconnection that has extended to such a unified field of love and support collectively pouring in. This web gave me an immediate sense that no matter what (meaning having no attachments to details), all would be well and result in the highest of ways, if we continued to flow and stay the course of that alignment.

Webs reflect spider’s resiliency to build and rebuild, even if their web is destroyed. The spider web at our entry way felt like this created a portal haven connecting the love we anchored in this home to be found where ever we were led since home is where the heart is…this being a true reflection of refuge we’d be led to and create through the access point of our joined hearts. And the relentless commitment a spider has to weaving her web was the guiding light for our journey, messaging us to continue to stay focused, listen, and act in alignment with what was showing up. Our own relentless commitment to envisioning the highest good without attachment, sending protection and support, and not giving up too soon has been a way to join with spider in weaving the full tapestry that creative impetus inspires, moment-to-moment.

But so many other messages in this vein would pop up in various ways…another being through the abundance of reptile and amphibian spirit animal messengers I’ve been encountering since mid-July when the first fire and some false-alarm threats had come our way.

You’ll recall the rubber boa who showed up in my garden just days before a different fire in the area started. I also had many different types of lizards and a little frog show up on our two week journey along the Pacific Coast.

Before evacuating there was the tiny baby lizard in my garden, the Mountain Skink during our first week away, these two beautiful lizards, pictured below, that I’ve never seen before with lovely soft, golden skin, and just recently, on the same day, I found a large, dead toad and the baby rattlesnake, also pictured below, crossed our path. The rattlesnake looks larger than it was, as she was only a little over a foot long.

I loved her so much and actually showed her my Egyptian asp tattoo I have wrapped around my wrist – from afar, of course – because it was just about her size. Side note: Egyptian energies have continued prevalent for me as well, but that’s a whole different story.

Reptiles and amphibians speak to survival and adaptability (energy of surviving and healing anything), doing things in your own way, Earthly success, sensitivity to the physical world around you, the need for quiet time, loner or independent people, and the importance of nurturing the inner for well being. Since amphibians and reptiles are amongst the oldest living forms of life on Earth, they reflect the ancient ways (remembering and integrating these) and someone with an ancient soul (remembering who you are).

Reptiles carry that renewal and regeneration energy (there’s that resiliency), while also being sun worshippers that respond well to warmth, dry, clear air, and the hot sun (seeing a connection here to fire energy, but also to my own sun love and how I feel so good laying under him as a form of refuge, soaking up his vital rays).

Amphibians carry that cleansing and abundance energy.

And each of them – reptiles and amphibians – underscoring transformation at hand, ability to sense vibrations for navigating the journey in alignment, and anchoring in that ancient frequency through remembrance of your song.

All of this speaking to me of a relentless commitment to authenticity, staying the course, and always acting within harmonious flow with what shows up.

While I was laying on the beach recently, I noticed my Chacos that I wear nearly all the time outdoors, unless doing more rocky and aggressive hikes, have lizards on the back. No coincidence there.

The repetitive appearance of these animal spirit guides of course spoke to me directly and things I’m currently journeying through, however, they also spoke to me about the collective’s current experience being navigated.

I feel we are much more resilient than we think or give ourselves credit for – just like the enduring and adaptable cactus I’ve found around me recently, too, that speak to our survival and protection even amidst challenges, but in a way that creates thriving.

The human body is miraculous and the heart is an alchemist. Even though we keep getting thrown a bunch of curve balls and continue having the rug pulled out from under us with everything going on in the world, time and time again, we’ve proven we have the ingenuity to recreate and rise again.

However, in the midst of it all we need to remind ourselves about the importance of refuge – both to create this within ourselves, but also to create spaces for this in our lives in either literal ways of a safe haven, a supportive community, or recharging outlet of some sort. It’s true, this could be a home, but it could also be what ever makes you feel at home, energized, and fills your well. We need to take time for ourselves, not be afraid to ask for help – as any form of family can be refuge from harsh experiences, and be willing to seek out or build this if one doesn’t exist. Opening our hearts to, or helping to create this for others, are gifts we can also provide in the form of refuge.

And maintaining that relentless commitment becomes vital to anything we want to manifest and see in our lives and out there in the world. Remembering not to give up too soon, as sometimes when things seem the hardest, is when we need to stay the course the most. Changes can be right around the corner, but we’ll never know if we don’t stay consistent, persistent, dedicated, and focused. It’s easy to get off track with everything that comes at us, so having markers in place as reminders, staying aware to the messages coming at you, and souls in human or animal bodies (or even just guides in general) who care about you to give you that encouragement, can all be super beneficial. Also, even when things feel like they’ve arrived, the way to ensure they are a mainstay is to consistently embody that energy and not let down your awareness and connection to intentional living. Remember my mention of hawk in my last post and the message they carry of “clarity and vision…the ability to hone in on something (the micro) within the wide (macro) expanse and to be able to go directly to the goal with absolute bullseye focus.” If you really want something, you’ll come to see how truly important it really is by how much you walk the talk of that intention, hope, or dream.

We’re in some fertile and vital times as humanity and this speaks to me of each of us deciding how important what we talk about truly is to us. And if it is, I know we have the resiliency to see it through and the support matching our level of commitment. I also know how important creating times, spaces, places, or groups of refuge for ourselves is key for our well being and capacity to rebuild a new reality.

Like castles in the sand, life is impermanent and its beauty is meant to be cherished moment to moment without attachment to any fixed idea or length we think it should be or last.

There’s something to be said for those experiences of building and creating when you’re engaged in the fleeting moment to experience the rush of imagination and possibility at its height.

And even when the ebbs and flows of life wash over us, there’s this feeling of wonder that lingers in the sands that carry renewal in their memory.

Hope is never lost.

We can rebuild and dream again and again…potential is unlimited.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to hold us and everyone going through the challenges of these fires and the global shifts at large, in your hearts and prayers.

As we head out to our next location while still evacuated from our home, I note the alignment of this move taking place on the Virgo New Moon that for us here on the Pacific Coast will be in the evening at 5:52 pm. With an Earthy New Moon like this, a share around what I’ve experienced in terms of accelerated manifestation felt like a way to kick off the new week and cycle, especially under Virgo’s grounding energy, which can help intentions to come into form. We also have that continued high energy acceleration on top of this that you heard about in Lee’s update, so yes, things have the ability to move rapidly into alignment and for “magick” to appear and feel natural and organic. Healing, transcendence, and productive change are focal points as well, and this can especially be around generational wounding carried over from your Earth and soul family.

In any event, I hope this New Moon brings some openings for creative possibilities you may not have thought of and for a sense of renewal to some degree of your personal empowerment to affect change in some way and area in your life and at large.

I felt called to share this fun little story today, as a doorway demonstrating the possibilities we are increasingly walking into. I hear of so many stories you share with me personally as well, and combined, the sum total of our experiences points to some incredible potentials for the collective when we choose to walk in the clarity of our own vibrations. I feel it is our nature to be masters of manifestation and we’re just beginning to remember and embody this.

This blog share is but one experience of many I keep having, but being fresh on my mind from Saturday, I’m putting it out there to ruminate on, or perhaps at the least, enjoy as a light-hearted break from the challenges you might be feeling or facing.

Let me just back up briefly to the day before – Friday. Dave found us something fun to do – visit this famous area called The Mystery Spot. Most people believe it’s a giant magic show – a gravity hill tilt-induced visual illusion that the public gets to experience. But others speculate all kinds of stories. It’s up to the individual what they believe and that’s part of the fun of it. One might never know. Online you’ll find descriptions about it like this:

“The Mystery Spot was discovered in 1939 by a group of surveyors and opened to the public in 1940. The Mystery Spot has amazed and perplexed hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world, and many return time and time again to experience these puzzling variations of gravity, perspective, and height.

Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in our earth as guidance systems for their spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact the spacecraft itself buried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric biocosmic radiation known anywhere in the world, and radiesthesia. Whatever the cause is, it remains a mystery.“

I don’t claim to know the answer, and perhaps I’m just another sucker for a good illusion, but what I do know is that something is going on there or at least it affected or triggered something in me that isn’t my norm to experience and didn’t seem to be just a simple explanation because I don’t get affected by things like that.

Here’s a photo of the house on strange angles in this one spot 150 feet in diameter that you get to walk through and feel and experience things happen.

To give context to my experience, I never get an upset stomach from anything. I love turbulence on a plane, I can read and look at things while in a car moving, I love rides and roller coasters, but especially all super fast, crazy spinning kinds of rides that twirl you round and round and every which way until you have no idea of up or down or any equilibrium. I enjoy those spinning drop floor rooms and teacups and the like. I love spinning in place and then dropping to the floor to feel everything move.

But when I walked into this “Mystery Spot” I felt slightly nauseous and head distorted, I could see the atmosphere in front of me move in slight waves, and my legs even began to shake a bit. Again, stuff like that doesn’t happen to me unless there’s something energetic going on…kind of like if you walked into a vortex or high energy grid area. I carried the feeling with me for a while. But perhaps the illusion itself was enough to trigger an energetic reaction for me. In either event, something was activated and whether it has anything to do with the next day’s accelerated manifesting, I’ll never know and it doesn’t really matter, as the manifesting happened, nonetheless, and that supports my feeling that we are incredible manifestors awakening to the reality of what that really means, looks, and feels like.

So on the following day, Saturday, we decided on a hike in the Redwoods – a spot we explored at nearly the same time of year in 2020. As usual, I was focusing intentions while we hiked through internal singing affirmations, creating prayer incantations, visualizing, and releasing and reclaiming parts, as my body moved the energy along the way. Things felt especially fluid and clear, as I journeyed along and even shared with Dave some of the ways I was working on things to provide him examples.

I was focused on a few things, including the fires back home and continuing my work with them.

I had this thought that I may find a hawk feather and how that would be such a gift right now, and mentioned to Dave that this could be a great place for one to show up. My eye then caught sight of a smaller hawk feather – again upside down in the fallen pre-Autumn leaves – and I was in awe that I was able to spot it, while also so grateful because hawk is such a hugely important messenger, sentinel and guide for me always during pivotal experiences and life points. I showed Dave the feather with excitement, saying how amazing it was I not only saw it, but just had mentioned a feeling of wanting to find one. The manifestation fun had begun!

I had mentioned feeling feathers for this hike and the ones I thought could come through, but others did, instead, along the way – demonstrating how we can manifest many forms of intentions, which indicates our ability to manifest in general and that we don’t always have to take the first thing that comes to us. It’s just showing us our potential and the unlimited forms of choice possible.

Right after that I found a beautiful Steller’s Jay feather and then three more iridescent blue feathers – likely raven. I said to Dave, “Wow, I’m in a flow. Something feels extra potent right now, as I haven’t found this many in a while.”

He said he’d like to see a banana slug, and I actually wanted to as well, ever since he first told me about them and since I never had. Dave had mentioned banana slugs since, and on, our last journey along the coast and how this is the area and kind of environment they are known to live profusely in. He said he’d only seen one once, though. So, after my finding all of these feathers he said, “Okay, now manifest a banana slug.”

I said, “Okay, I would like to see a banana slug and I would also like to see the wild turkeys we saw last time in this forest at the other end, so I might find one of their feathers.” I felt like a turkey feather would be a great gift as well right now with their symbolism. I believed this fully. I didn’t keep repeating anything or focusing on it. I just stated it and believed.

We walked on for another 20 minutes or so and reached the Redwood trees. One in particular caught our eye and we stopped to take it in. I noted there was a marker in front of the tree numbered “11” – master #11 of course. 😉

There was a bench by it we sat down on to have a snack and drink. I noticed a couple of things hidden in the dirt and leaves on the trail, but with people walking through I hadn’t felt called to go look at them.

A couple of minutes later a man came up with a walking cane that I noticed was a volunteer. He also happened to look like, and have the energy of, a gnome. The man said hello, asked where we were from (he was aware of the Tahoe fires), and Dave asked him about the tree, noting some old fire damage on it. The man said they weren’t sure of its age, but it could likely be 2000 years old and had survived some fire in its past. Interesting, in terms of our experience with the fires currently in our communities back home.

The man then was occupied with something at an old growth stump in front of us and Dave turned to me saying, “You always attract gnome-like men.” I giggled adding, “and druid, hobbit, and elf-like men too!” Dave smiled.

I noticed the man was adding water to the stump and he then told us that there was a banana slug in it.

My eyes bulged and turned to Dave to giggle some more. “Oh my gosh, see! My gnome friend found us our banana slug!”

I went over and found a very large yellow banana slug moving along the sides of the trunk near the water. Dave joined and I could see his wheels turning in his head as to the synchronicities unfolding.

The man said he goes there to give the stump water so the slug will stay around since they like being in that element.

We just happened to sit down across from it at this 2000 year old tree at marker #11.

I said to Dave, “Well there’s the banana slug you wanted me to manifest for us. Now I’m just missing the turkey feather, but I’m not sure how that will happen since the wild turkeys are way on the other side and we’re not going there.” We had decided this was our turnaround point since we had intentions of doing about 6 miles that day and wanted time for lunch and the beach.

People continued to pass along the trail and talk with the sweet man about the trees. When the people passed, I finally decided it was time to go see what the things were I could see hidden in the dirt and leaves on the trail from when we first sat down.

I bent over to the first one and picked it up, dusting it off and my heart started racing. I then picked up the second one, and a third smaller one, and as I fully stood up I called back to Dave and said, “What were the things I said I wanted to manifest? A banana slug and a turkey feather. Well, our gnome friend found us the slug and here’s the feathers even though we never got a chance to see the wild turkeys way on the other side.”

I had the hugest smile on my face and eyes likely were sparkling and wide as ever when I returned back to Dave on the bench to show him.

Dave now was also looking wide-eyed and marveling himself. His face said, “I can’t believe this, but it just happened.”

I said, “See….we couldn’t get to the turkeys, but they left this here for me.”

I had been talking about manifesting before this and I continued now. I shared how this forest especially felt potent and fertile right now and that I sensed we were in some kind of alignment vortex enhanced by a portal here we’d opened through clarity of intention and belief – a parallel reality blended into other realities happening simultaneously.

He said, “okay, let’s manifest such and such…” – something else in our lives that was important. I told him a few key examples of how I do that to add to any ways he was doing, as we hiked back the way we came, engaged in our own versions of inner manifestation intention for these things and more.

And not more than 5 or so minutes into our hike back, again partially hidden in the dusty trail I saw something else.

I said out loud, “OH MY GOSH! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!” Many people were walking by and yet no one was drawn to this.

There on the ground was a huge feather – a hawk wing feather. It’s about 13 inches long.

“I’ve never found a long primary hawk wing feather like this before,” I told Dave. This is huge!” I usually find secondary or smaller feathers from them. I felt this was confirmation that the things we were intending WOULD in fact happen.

Dave always says I have a hawk eye to be able to find all the treasures that I do and see things the ways that I do. Finding this feather seemed to accentuate clarity and vision…the ability to hone in on something (the micro) within the wide (macro) expanse and to be able to go directly to the goal with absolute bullseye focus. Hawks, of course, are messengers of so much more, but this was like an exclamation point to accelerated and direct manifestation having been enhanced to a new level.

These are the 9 feathers I ended up finding all together to put into context the size of the wing feather.

Wings also symbolize freedom, liberation, and the ability to soar to new heights. This New Moon seems to carry that potential and perspective – of hope for something more.

The day’s experiences felt natural – just me being me, doing what I do…believing and weaving imagination into being.

Near the end of our hike a little creature crossed the trail into the brush on the side. Another first – a Mountain Skink. We’d never seen one, but Dave knew what it was and found me this photo online to confirm what it was we had seen.

Lizards are symbolic of regeneration and seeing a unique species we’d never seen before spoke to me of a new level of rebirthing in process. A new level of embodiment merging spirit and flesh feels upon us. And it’s opening potentials for instant fluidity of magickal being, as the nature of who we really are.

Or something like that. 😉

After our hike I received updates on the fire back home with containment increasing rapidly (currently at 44%), huge hurdles of success in holding so many crucial points of the fire, repopulation in the first areas that were hit, and many evacuation orders being downgraded to warnings or lifted altogether.

We aren’t returning home until containment is fully held on the area of where our community is and the air has cleared. So, I continue to ride the energy streams from where I am, like the hawk soaring both with an eye on the wider picture and another on the laser focuses needing attention within that.

Of course, it’s far from over and as the fire fighters say, they’re being “cautiously optimistic,” but this all points to great news and success of all efforts physically and otherwise coming in from everyone who has so generously given their time and energy to supporting in their own way. So thank you to all!

That said, another fire ignited not far from this one, but they jumped on it right away and it’s 30% contained, only at 40 acres, and hasn’t grown.

So, it’s not time to give up on anything we want to see change with.

These are the times to relentlessly live life as a walking meditation and stay consciously vigilant and heartfully open with belief in the power of intention and the strength you embody as a walking miracle of spirit in flesh. Find ways to make the journey fun and fluid…sing or dance your way through, for example. This is how we’ll enjoy it and want to stay the course..it’s also how to activate your power – through purity and innocence.

We are each a powerful energy source indeed, but together we are an incredible force of even greater, endless possibilities.

You might recall the beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly I helped transition in my hands while hiking not long ago. Well, another sweet soul found me again on a hike in the Redwoods just this past Thursday.

This time it was a California Sister Butterfly (pictured above and below), also known as Adelpha californica or “sisters” because of their white markings that resemble a nun’s habit. I found that reference particularly interesting since nuns live a life of prayer, contemplation, and solemn vows and my days lately have been filled with prayer songs and melodious incantations of intention. This day, finding her, being no different, as I was stringing together another layer of harmonies and creating woven declarations to move energy and transform it. A bridge being created heart to heart with so many other “sisters” and brothers across the land who have so generously been supporting the collective challenges being faced everywhere.

I also found another mini wasp nest (also pictured above and below) – I found SO many of these on hikes in Lake Tahoe recently that I’ve added to my nest mobile at home. I’ve never actually found any, any other place before but there. So, finding this one felt like another portal connection to work with the Tahoe basin energies toward fire support. I also happen to have with me one smaller raw quartz crystal I found near Star Lake back home – a place where firefighters are creating containment lines to hold any potential fire growth, and this also is acting as a portal of connection to there for Astrid and me, since it accompanied her within the travel carrier she journeyed inside.

But back to the nest significance – although wasps can be connected to all elements – because they can nest in the earth (earth element), can nest hanging in trees and also fly (air element), create hives of pulp and saliva (water element) and hover near water to keep hydrated, to me they are especially fire element connected. This is not only because of their ability to sting and that their sting burns, but because they are independent, reflect the energy of personal power and control, have warrior energy that will attack, and are connected with Spring’s fertile new beginnings and opportunities bursting forth.

So, I immediately was in awe of these two gifts that came to reside in my hands for the entire 6 mile hike we did, as I found them near the start – butterfly first and nest after.

I noted that again, this butterfly had the faintest almost not detectable bit of breath in her – even less than the Swallowtail. I found her upside down on the trail, which again was almost impossible that I saw her since the trail was laced with leaves matching the underside color of her wings. I stopped to pick her up and found her to be in perfect condition, minus one antenna gone (the Swallowtail from before had slightly damaged wings). She wasn’t moving, but after carrying her for a bit I noted again that her legs were holding to me and there was the faintest movement only I noticed. I knew I was to cradle her again with Reiki support for her transition, but that we’d both be gifting each other in these last moments.

Even her colors spoke to me…that earthy brown to embody and anchor, the orange tips of flames and optimistic warmth – both also the colors of Autumn transformation – and the white strokes of purity, innocence, possibility, newness, and spirit.

When I then found the wasp nest and had continued my creative visualization mixed with prayer songs, incantations of wholeness embodied as I wanted to see and experience it, and active processing of fire energies, I put two and two together of their combined purpose. Spirit and flesh merged through transmutational flames of creation to rise anew.

Yes, I was working with supporting the highest possible outcome with the fires back home, but I was also working with reclaiming my own fire parts – and this involved active declarations, vulnerable and raw acknowledgment, and release of fiery anger toward anything I could recall from the start of my life until now. In this way, providing them the access point to move through more fully. Once again, like before with my head injury, working with layers of reclaiming and releasing, but with a different twist and focus.

Energy and emotions aren’t wrong or bad if they’re allowed to flow and be honored. It’s when we block or judge them, or react from conditioning rather than respond with conscious awareness, that they evolve into something different and potentially harmful. Anger can be a precipice for action and change, rather than an instigator for violence, control, or manipulation.

By acknowledging and claiming these things, I then felt the release naturally unfold simply by allowing myself to be okay with stepping into a temporary place of owning it. I became powerful rather than being powered over by them and in that power I could also let them go and move into the next phase of creation.

Alchemy was naturally unfolding in my hands, as well as in my heart, body, mind, and soul.

The wasp nest came to represent my woven fire parts circling round into a connected spiral that had purpose and ability to build something beautiful, nurturing, and new when channeled consciously. The butterfly became the transformational vessel to transmute it and to understand the fluidity of change. Fire, itself, is also transformational and wasps also use their own form of alchemy to change wood to pulp to paper, to make their hives. So they also signify our ability to change and create our own alchemy. A double whammy dose of kapow! And coupled with the inner process I engaged, induced a huge out loud “wow!” from me.

I was in awe again at the perfection of these gifts mirroring the process that I was undertaking and the process I felt guided to work with to support things externally from within myself.

New energy life cycles and potentials I could feel being woven through this alchemy, as I journeyed through the lush Redwood forests.

And every little bit of magick I discovered in my surroundings spoke to the magickal possibilities I held in my hands and heart. We have so much more power to create and affect things than we think we do.

After the hike we stopped to pick something up at the grocery store and next to it was this store:

I marveled at the reflection to my Wonderland post and message just before we evacuated. Another portal sign connecting me to my magickal space back home, the one I carry in heart always, but also messaging me to continue to play in this field of experience, as the ingredients of open-hearted imagination merged with curiosity and playfulness will be the helpful recipe for greater flow of any challenged pieces within the puzzle of life.

And through these recent challenges I’ve discovered another layer of depth and empowerment that’s been so fluid and fun to me – the way I feel things can be if we choose that experience. And it’s simply been another reiteration to surrendering into who I am at heart.

My songs are my power.

My voice is my strength.

My vulnerability is my bridge.

And my faith is my guide to navigate me through.

There are many ways to work with energies and this is just one story – my experience of playing in the field of transformation alchemy.

Because so many sweet souls have reached out to us to check on how we are, if we’re located in the areas being talked about in the news, how they can help us and the situation at large, and whether we’re safe, I felt guided to post a share of our story to update all of our friends and family here about our status amidst the Caldor Fire that is just over 200 thousand acres and with 20% containment. I also want to share how we’ve been navigating things and how I’ve been focusing my energy. And I wanted to extend hugest heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has so sweetly touched in, sent love and protective prayers, and offered your homes to us even from afar. I can’t express how much it’s all meant to us. So THANK YOU dearly and deeply. Know that you all mean so much to us.

I was happy that the last post I left off with was about how Wonderland always resides in our hearts, as this is what carries me through times like these.

To rewind slightly, we were away for two weeks taking a break from the smoke from two other large fires that had been burning since mid July – the Dixie and Tamarack Fires – on the Northern California to Oregon Coast just recently. That trip provided the anchoring in of peaceful energies and clear minds needed for what we were to return home to. The trip also gave us confirmation of life path decisions in a big way. Near the end of our trip, the Caldor Fire ignited on August 14th. We returned home on the 20th and the worst hazardous air began, keeping us inside with air filters running, house sealed up, and Dave managing a daily system of creating fresh oxygen in the house when CO2 levels would rise from being closed in. I would still get out to my garden when I could, sometimes with mask and other times not, if I got out early when the air was still moderate. It was a way to stay connected to the land here, provide solace, and nurture all my plant and animal friends.

For years we’ve only had one car, but months ago Dave had ordered a new one for us for the first time and it arrived to our house in the midst of the smoke filled evening of last Tuesday – one day earlier than they said. Little did we know how its timing would prove perfect and how once again divine alignment was at work. Before any of the rest of this had unfolded, we decided we would keep two cars in case of emergencies and for times when one or the other is away. The hybrid car we wanted (half electric/half gas) only came in the color red – another first for us both, as we’d never had a red car. I remarked on the interesting symbolism of the red color arriving on an eerie smoke filled night with a fire burning in the background. I also personally noted the red symbolism reflecting my working with reclaiming my own fire element parts, to assist with the raging fires in the external world.

We kept our peaceful center as the days went on, while also remaining aware of how things were progressing with the fire without feeding it with fear. Although at the time it seemed unlikely it would reach us, I would say when asked, “…but I’m not Nature” – indicating only she and the Universe knew what plan was in store. The best we could do was to be prepared, but to hold peace in our hearts and send supportive energy.

And the winds did change providing a give and take – some days blowing with gusto and other days giving the firefighters a break to anchor in more containment lines.

We, unfortunately, had to leave on Saturday for a funeral service that Dave was giving the eulogy for. That was tough in the midst of so much shifting with the fires, but our trusted and ever-giving angel pet sitter and her husband both came to stay with the animals overnight in case of mandatory evacuations, so that we could get to the service that was a four hour drive away. I prayed all would be well until we returned and was grateful that things held.

But Dave and I sensed that we would need to leave and my pendulum confirmed it. Having fur babies that get highly stressed helped us to make that decision, as we didn’t want them to have to be under pressure at the last minute. So we switched our two night service trip to one night, did some air quality research, and managed to lock in a hotel for all of us on the coast, right before the weekend began. Not an easy task with three animals that are not dogs, as most “pet friendly” places in fact mean “dog friendly” and don’t extend to all animals. But the Universe guided us divinely, as we kept the faith. We then drove home Sunday, packed up everything and left Monday ahead of the traffic jams.

At that point we had not received any warning or order, but outlying areas of warnings and orders were coming in and closing in fast.

We loaded both cars with everything, including some things I would drop at my parent’s house on the way out, and Astrid came with me while the cats, Boojum and Sweet Pea, went with dad. Again, the two cars became a blessing we had not planned.

I left first, since I would go a different route to my parent’s house, and Dave waited about 45 minutes to follow. He stopped along the way at a friend’s house to drop them our air filters because they were staying a bit longer and then planned to go down in the valley where the air quality was still not healthy. We planned to meet in the Sacramento area for lunch.

I noted that after I pulled onto the driveway from the garage to put in navigation to the restaurant we would meet at, that the clock said 11:11 am – no joke! And I was off.

I didn’t hit any evacuation traffic, but did note the police guiding the first wave of people at the bottom of the highway from our home, and noted short waves of cars packed and leaving, and people stopped on the side of the road talking together with their loaded cars.

Dave went a different way, as mentioned, but also was ahead of the curve. He only hit a 20 minute stop at the north end of the lake, but it was because of road work and the first wave of evacuees getting through that.

We later saw and heard that the roads were jammed, as evacuation orders continued. We were grateful we had trusted our instincts to leave when we did since it was already stressful enough to travel with animals the distance we were going. We also saw, later that day, that our area received an evacuation warning, which means you should prepare and be ready for the next phase – the actual order, which is then mandatory for immediate evacuation.

I have to share about my travels with Astrid, to put into context the rest. When ever I have to take her to the vet an hour away, I sing to her the entire trip from start to finish. There is no music on, other than my voice. I create songs about her, us, and anything important at the time. It just flows and it also rhymes at times, creating it’s own melody or rhythm.

Well, this trip was no different, but actually even more potent.

As mentioned, the journey began at 11:11 am and went until 9 pm. I’ll share more on why the length was more than expected, but for that entire time – minus the stops at my parent’s house, gas station, for lunch, and an emergency – I sang, chanted, wove magickal incantations – basically singing prayers nonstop for a good 8 hours of that.

At first I was singing to and with Astrid only (later to and with Boojum and Sweet Pea as well), but the prayer songs were not just for her, but for all of the challenges across the globe, our communities affected by the fires, and the collective at large, which we beamed out as a team together to assist with. I can’t believe how fluid it all was. It just came out and is what I know kept us safe, me and Dave fully conscious and strong, our fur babies healthy, and helped create a bridge with everyone praying.

Although our animals are used to traveling, it’s not that they love it. However, they were all incredible on this trip. Not a peep from the cats and in fact they were still and rested nearly the whole way. Of course with rabbits, travel is extra sensitive and this is why we had chosen an area not further than about 5 hours away – the length I knew she was capable of from our past journey. We did get a few breaks with stops that gave her some down time to regroup and she was able to nibble on some hay throughout, as well as have a little water.

Yet, as a rabbit parent, those of you who are know what I’m sharing, you are always on high alert because of their needs to eat, drink, and move their system constantly and their extra sensitive dispositions, nervous and digestive systems.

I was grateful for my prayer songs, as they kept me focused and not dwelling in worry that would not be supportive for her. These incantations affirmed and reframed everything positive and in the now, as whole and complete, and embodied. I know they worked because my energy was so through the roof, I later was unable to sleep when we actually placed our heads finally on a pillow and because the animals all were calm, meditative, and remained healthy.

But we did have an incident along the way. Luckily it took place when Dave and I were back together again on the road, after our stop for lunch. Not long after we were journeying on the last half leg of the drive, my car – the new one that I was driving – gave me a tire warning message. Dave had an app set up on his phone to monitor the car’s system and saw that my back left tire was losing air fast. We happened to only be two exits from a gas station and got off in just a few minutes from onset of me messaging him about it.

The back tire was in fact a flat and the culprit was a large piece of metal that had wedged itself into the tire. It was losing air that you could hear hiss on its way out.

I couldn’t help but flash to the vision of my head gash I got just a while back, that you may recall was a way to let out pressure and steam and create an opening for relief from all the collective things unfolding. Had the car, which mirrors our vehicle in life we journey in, now also done the same and avoided something worse by safely recalibrating itself and perhaps recalibrating our timeline to avoid something ahead on the road/road of life as well? I did see a motorcycle on the curvy road later marked off with flares that had been there a bit and caused a back up for a few minutes. But who knows what else and of course with all the energetic work I’d been doing, it may have been a collective release as well like my head was.

Dave changed out the tire to our spare while I called around to tire places. It was 5pm at this point and some closed already and others open until 6 pm. Some I called were full and said no, they couldn’t help. Finally I called one where the guy was very understanding and said they’d look out for me. However, by the time the tire was on it was now close to 5:30 and we still had about a half hour drive to get there, which I could only do at 50 miles an hour tops, since I was driving on a spare.

I called them again while driving to let them know the situation and again he said he understood and they’d look for me. We managed to get there about 5 minutes before 6, but arrived to find they were crazy busy and bustling still. Dave spoke to them and our situation of fleeing from Tahoe and the guy was more than happy to help. They also just happened to have the right size tire we needed. It would take an hour – so they continued to stay open to help us and the other customers that were still there in need of help.

We decided I should continue on with the animals to our hotel destination, as it was too much to have them wait around. So, we transferred some things in the car and I continued on while Dave stayed back to wait for the car to be fixed.

And this is how I came to be with all three fur babies for the remainder of the 2 1/2 hours on. The prayer incantations, affirming songs, and melodies continued to flow and everyone was held in a peaceful, safe bubble the rest of the way. At this point I knew Astrid was going to be traveling the longest she ever had and I made sure to hold the highest vibe possible for her to lean on. In fact, that is what I kept telling all of them, that I had enough reserves of energy for all of them, and to lean on me, take my energy to keep them strong and healthy, systems moving and vitals vibrant, because I had more than enough to go around. I could feel myself as an open channel constantly receiving from Universal consciousness and then outflowing to them and everything all around. My energy reserves were continuously full no matter how much went out. My energy was on high, as darkness enveloped what now was a night’s drive, keeping me on high alert around curving, tight roads, and continually channeling energy like an energizer bunny, myself, that just keeps going.

Boojum was nestled peacefully on my lap, Astrid I could see was in a meditative rest, and Sweet Pea was curled up in a cuddle bed behind me.

We did make it safely to the hotel where I managed to get them in the room and set up and Dave was only about 25 minutes behind me to help with the rest.

My energy was through the roof so much, that even after we were fully unpacked into our room from two loaded cars, set up everyone, showered, checked on status in our area, etc., and laid my head on the pillow at midnight, I still could NOT go to sleep. It wasn’t worry or stress…it was high energy keeping me fully awake and conscious like the energizer bunny even though my legs slightly ached from the long drive. I think I likely got about 3 or so hours of sleep and woke still feeling high vibed and able to tackle the day ahead. We got some things handled we needed to, but most importantly we took in some good nurturing vegan food finds for breakfast and lunch that we found and a 4 + mile walk along the ocean cliffs, which was perfect to anchor in the water energy and extra peace to embody and be able to send to the fire situation and the communities back home. My eye somehow managed to see and find this tiny rock amidst the grass with painted, “Peace” message on it, which felt like a sign.

The lighthouse felt like a beacon of hope and that we each can be the light at the end of the tunnel for others, just as much as light is always present in our hearts within the darkness we journey.

This gave the animals a chance to rest and integrate, too, as they peacefully slumbered in their safe spaces the whole day.

I feel that being here in clear, fresh air, cool temperatures, and flowing ocean vibes is the perfect condition for me to be able to recharge, get nurturing water energy to fuel my Pisces soul, and continue sending out protective and supportive energy to the situations at hand without being bombarded by anything else coming at me.

Let these images wash over you with nurturing, cooling peace, expansive hope, and gentle flow of grace.

I did finally feel exhaustion set in yesterday evening and got a full and deep sleep in, despite troublesome info coming in about the situation the fire fighters were facing with the red flag warnings of crazy wind, inversions, and dry conditions that will last through end of today. Tomorrow is supposed to bring some relief for the fire fighters to be able to hopefully gain some more strong holds, containment, and continue herding the fire away in the direction they want with their plans.

All that to say, we’re safe and continue to hold peace, send energy and protection, strength and awareness to all back home. Our intentions are to support the land, animals, people, homes, and of course the incredible fire fighters who selflessly are working round the clock doing an amazing and dangerous job of protecting everyone. I can’t tell you how much my heart has opened even wider to feel their immense tenderness and care they channel through all that they are doing. Just wow!

Many of our friends have evacuated as well – some of whom have houses where the fire is looming closest and being diverted best they can right now.

We’re all safe, but so many animals, plants, land, and homes aren’t. It’s heart-breaking. Many people are facing some of the darkest hours in their lives and for them, let us hold a space of love and peace to nurture their hearts and help give them the strength to navigate the journey ahead. Time is fleeting on this Earth and to be in these spaces of divine love and unconditionally compassionate and kind spaces are what matters most. Our loved ones in animal and human bodies are most important. They can’t be replaced.

I gave my garden one last nurture before we left and took all the herbs and veggies with us for Astrid and us, since I didn’t know if they’d be there still. I sent protection to all my animal and plant family, the forest, our home, community, town, and Lake Tahoe region and beyond. It was interesting to see all my little bird, lizard, squirrel, and chipmunk friends gather around while I was outside, listening to me and joining in the love prayers.

I pray for the land and all of life to be cradled in loving arms and carried on wings of peace.

Let us each be a heart bridge for the journeys being traveled right now, and remember these challenging times of togetherness even when challenge isn’t present. To bring forth this depth of concern, care, and compassion through every single moment we’re alive on Earth and extend our hearts and hands to one another no matter what the circumstances.

One of my incantations included, “we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.”

You may recall that this is a line sung by the Whos in Whoville from How the Grinch Stole Christmas (one of my fav songs that obviously is one of many things from childhood that has stuck with me)…the line goes, “Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand!”

Know that we’re standing with all of you through every challenge being navigated across the globe…not just these fires, but everything creating division, confusion, or sense of despair and powerlessness.

Heart to heart and hand in hand we are bridges unto each other, standing strong across the land.