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.