Sacred Healing Journey

12/24/2025

My wish for you is that you will feel a little bit of Christmas magic… in the greetings from strangers, memories that come with Christmas carols, love woven into gathering with friends and family this holiday season, the nostalgia found round the tree Christmas morning, the belief of children and the beauty of connection✨💫

May it be so 🤍🤍🤍

✨

12/18/2025

Do you have a certain animal that touches your spirit when it crosses your path? As though there’s a silent message flowing between you, and a sense of the unique nature of this relationship.

Some folks have one such animal that holds special meaning for them—a personal spirit animal, or guide. This one acts as a teacher, or guide through life, bearing messages, protection, or empowerment.

For some these spirit guides change over time, or there are several.

And for those who listen deeply to nature and her subtle messages, they may be in an ongoing conversation with nature; interpreting meaning from a wide variety of interesting, unusual or eye catching connections with the natural world.

In these slowed down days of longer nights, just before the solstice, there’s a quieting, a settling… It’s a perfect time for listening more deeply, moving slower, increasing receptivity. Notice what messages are here for you; and how they arrive.

🖤

12/17/2025

“Despite the immense grief I experience at the moment with the atrocities being done daily to immigrants, Black and Brown folks here in the US, Palestinians, Sudanese, the people of Congo, unnamed others, and Mother Earth; I commit daily to stay connected to the land, to the spirits, and to walk to the best of my ability the ancient ways as taught by my elders and teachers.

Remembering that unless the Earth is our lover, we won’t feel her pain to the extent she does. Allowing the sorrow of her children to be felt, without shame, without explanation, without justification, without “yes but”, takes courage and humbling desires.

“I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?” Rainer Maria Rilke

There is so much beauty and magic in this world. For everyone to share. Thank you to the shooting star, the fox, the hawks, the land, the chickens, for reminding us of our humanity and how to circle together”.
—Angell Deer 12/15/23

***********
2 years later and these words are as relevant as ever.
And 125 years later for Rainer Maria Rilke!

May we all live our lives in widening circles of the presence of connection✨💫

🌎

Photo: my old office in Bourbonnais. I wonder where that tiny old beloved table is now?

12/09/2025

Rest… ❤️

It’s Okay to Be Tired — A December Reflection

It’s okay to be tired.
December arrives with its long nights and early sunsets,
a month when even the sky seems to rest.
This is the darkest stretch of the year,
and our bodies feel it,
our minds feel it,
our hearts feel it too.
Nature isn’t asking for momentum now.
It’s whispering something softer:
Slow down. Breathe. Turn inward.
Even the trees release their last leaves
and stand quietly in their bare truth,
trusting that rest is part of the cycle.
So if your energy feels dimmer,
if motivation flickers like a candle in a draft,
know that nothing is wrong with you.
You are simply syncing with the season—
responding to what the earth already understands.
It’s okay to be tired in the darkest month.
Rest is not weakness;
it is wisdom.
It is the gentle pause that prepares you
for the light that will return.

Artist Credit : Elaine Bayley

12/05/2025

Full moon in Gemini tonight with Sag Sun, stirring the eclipse energies on the Pisces Virgo axis as we are midway between eclipses, forming a mutable cross on the zodiac.

Mutable signs are known for their ability to transform, as they are signs that usher in a change of season—Sagittarius brings us from autumn into winter; Pisces, winter into spring; Gemini, spring into summer; and Virgo, summer into fall. These energies are skilled at bringing things to a conclusion and opening up new possibilities, as are full moons in general.

The light of this final full moon of 2025 is a call for reflection, a time for taking stock.

What are you ready to release?

How are you remaking yourself or a part of your life?

Where are you in transition?

What areas of yourself or your life are needing nurturing over these winter months of rest and renewal?

Our world is changing quickly; in what ways are you being called to change, release, grow, become?

No matter how big the task at hand, it’s important to remember that you are never alone. In these days it’s important to remember to ask up, seek wisdom from on high. Support is always available from the spiritual realms if we but ask.

Join us this Saturday for our monthly Community Meditation for support of Community. And together, we ask up and receive guidance. This month we’ll be working with spiritual symbols and communication.



Photo by Dave Volden, full moon rising over the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Santa Fe, NM

12/04/2025

Community Meditation is this Saturday!
🤍

12/01/2025

Humility makes us real…

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. —Thomas Merton

*******

This one’s an ongoing learning curve for many of us on the healing journey from CPTSD. On either end of the spectrum—from shame to prideful, with pridefulness at times being a pendulum swing out of shame. Or false pride, resulting from being ridiculed, or outer pressure to be perfect, and then you find yourself striving to match those expectations—to always know the answer, being “certain” rather than curious (with fear / shame underneath).

The older I get, the more I find curiosity to be a gateway to wellbeing, healing, wholeness.

Curiosity guides into humility, self compassion, and vulnerability.

Humility makes us real, and fosters connection.

💛



Photo: sunrise at Bryce Canyon NP 12/1/25

11/24/2025

I release my parents from the feeling that they have failed with me.

I release my children from the need to make me proud, so that they can write their own ways, according to their hearts.

I release my partner from the obligation to make me feel complete. I lack nothing in myself.

I learn with all the beings that surround me through all time.

I thank my grandparents and ancestors who met so that today I breathe life. And I release them from the faults of the past and from the wishes they did not fulfill, aware that they did the best they could to resolve their situations, within the consciousness they had at that moment. I honor them, I love them, and I recognize their innocence.

I bare my soul before their eyes and that is why they know that I do not hide or owe anything, more than being faithful to myself and my own existence walking with the wisdom of the heart.

I am aware that I am fulfilling my life project, free of visible and invisible family loyalties that may disturb my peace and my happiness, which are my greatest responsibilities.

I renounce the role of savior, of being the one who unites or who fulfills the expectations of others. And learning through LOVE, I bless my essence and my way of expressing, although there may be someone who cannot understand me.

I understand myself, because only I lived and experienced my story; because I know myself, I know who I am, what I feel, what I do and why I do it.

I respect and approve.

I honor the Divinity in me and in you... We are free.

—Traditional Náhuatl prayer, from the central region of Mexico.

As we prepare to gather with family in this , a prayer to remind us of our and
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕💕
Blessings to you in the weeks ahead~

Photo: Lake Michigan, Frankfort, MI

11/16/2025

To love a part of yourself that has been deemed unlovable is a game changer for sure! If you’ve done this kind of inner work, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s so easy to banish the parts we don’t like or potentially don’t want, to the shadow realms… pushing them away and trying to forget. Pretending like the inner critic doesn’t exist while following its advice… “shrink, stay small. Don’t talk back,
Etc”.

Working with foster dogs this past year is teaching me a lot, and bringing depth of understanding to this omnipresent reality. When our nervous systems are in fight or flight, we are functioning from a less conscious place; and just want to feel safe. That means we’ll behave in ways that are very unwise as a means of finding our way to safety.

Yet when we have the capacity to anchor into Self, bringing openness, curiosity and compassion to these reactive parts; we open up windows into new dimensions of reality… new possibilities.

Dogs are much less complex than us, and demonstrate this beautifully. When they feel safe, they begin to unwind, let loose old behaviors that have kept them feeling safe while also stuck; and begin to receive the love they’ve been needing. **I don’t think dogs have an inner critic, just outer critics. And when we stop being mad at them for behaving in ways that have been protective to them, they begin to relax and unwind into their essential nature… Becoming more beautiful, friendly and agreeable in miraculous time.

Pictured here is my most recent foster dog Augie. In 5 days of unconditional acceptance, Augie has transformed from a scared, nervous shelter dog, into a confident relaxed foster dog who has a home and love.

What are your parts needing?

11/10/2025

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.
—Henry Ward Beecher

*******
I often wish more folks recognized this truth when they’re comparing themselves to others and judging themselves (or others) harshly. It’s not an even playing field. We don’t all start at the same point.

Be gentle with your parts, and grateful for how far you’ve come. Celebrate your successes no matter how small. Every step matters as you grow into your Self—removing the obstacles and reclaiming your essence.

❤️

Photo taken at Ghost Ranch 11/2024

11/08/2025

Scorpio Energy of depth, still waters, transformation, ancestral healing and karmic patterns releasing, transitions ~ life death and rebirth

We entered Scorpio season, a fixed water sign, on 10/23 and have been feeling its very deep energies connecting us to other realms, as well as the depths of ourselves, into our deep unconsciousness. Scorpio energies are strong, pulling us inwards, to slow down, tune in… calling us to reflect, into stillness. When we listen, there is much for us to learn; as well when we move in sync with the energies, they feel softer, more manageable.

Whatever’s been arising in you in recent weeks, especially with the full moon in Ta**us energy of the past week, know it’s not for naught. There is purpose in what calls to us from our unconscious, as there are cosmic energies supporting the emergence of the unconscious as prompts for our individual healing and collective evolution.

Pay attention to your discomfort, followed, often more subtlety, by desire. The discomfort can be quite intense, moreso when we resist. It’s much easier when we align and work with these cosmic forces. There may be desires for change somewhere within the swirl of discomfort. Find and work with that desire. Sometimes the change that’s wanting to emerge feels radical. Or perhaps change you’ve wanted for years but couldn’t yet focus on, and suddenly, clear as day, here it is!

If you’re uncertain what’s arising for you, be open to reflecting on any of the following themes—
Is there discomfort calling for realignment around how you’re relating to yourself… How you nourish yourself… What you truly value… What’s most authentic or essential to you?

There's awareness arising around what nourishes the life force energy within you! And right along with it there’s a growing intensity towards understanding and supporting what’s most essential in you—perhaps including parts of yourself you’ve not been able to nourish for some time due to limited resources or lack of awareness.

As we align with our hearts and our values, there is hope, and room for gratitude. Nourish these gifts with your attention.

Scorpio energies are very intuitive and psychic. Trust the process.


**usEnergy

We worked with and were guided by these energies in our community meditation today. And as always, it’s a powerful blessing to be part of this sacred circle of gathering, intention, energy, connection and community. I am grateful.
🙏🏼❤️

Photo: Rainbow over Platte Lake, 10/25

11/07/2025

Feeling a lot of spaciousness and heart felt guidance today as I touch into the higher supports coming through for our Community Meditation tomorrow morning! ❤️