It is the second day of snow here on our land on Whidbey Island. Sometimes the cold, dark rainy weather keeps me inside most of the day. The snow today, however, lures me outside, to explore the landscape. I noticed the other day that there were still some wild rose hips that looked beautifully red […]

I have been wanting to write about my own healing process for a long time. I have resisted writing specifics about my healing challenge because I don’t want pity from people. I have not wanted the “poor Julie” attitude. What I have come to realize in healing myself is that each of us is healing […]

I just made a recording of this essay. May it be in Beauty. “I give away my blood of life to all my relations. I open my womb with delight.” Brooke Medicine Eagle The Red Tent: A place of sanctuary and power for women during their monthly moon time. It is also a time for […]

Apple’s Initiation ~ Persephone’s Teaching Allow yourself to enter the story and receive Persephone’s gifts. I have learned quite a bit from standing under our Gravenstein Apple Tree. She is a stately home for many birds and insects. She wears garlands of pink blossoms in spring and in Autumn her fruit offers deep nourishment. Apple […]

May 28, 2024: The earth is so green this year with so much rain.  The wild roses are blooming.  The birds are so happy.  Soon after I returned to this writing last year amidst the devastation in Maui, I began to communicate with the Banyan Tree.  I have returned to it many times since then.  […]

I have been gathering and harvesting St. Joan’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum for over twenty years now. This plant is a European immigrant and thought by some to be a noxious weed. What is really true about this plant is that she is an amazing healer offering us a type of nourishment for the soul. St. […]

do we have to understand everything? once long ago, I was afraid to be around other herbalists everyone knew more than me Then I was struck with the notion I would be “She Who Does Not Know”. everyone knew things I didn’t feel like I knew anything this was the beginning of the path. I […]

Ah yes, another transformation is happening in our garden.  The chrysalis forming once again…… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Today I was out in the garden to weed a little, but mostly to tend and plant. It is a pretty wild scene out there. We have had a lot of rain in the past nine months and now we […]

This essay was written 11 years ago, in mid-April, 2006 Just a week or so ago I returned from California where I attended a Shamanic Healing intensive through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. It was incredible opportunity and I am changed because of it. It rained, actually poured for most of the time and the […]

I wrote this essay last year, after our wild rose harvest.  It is almost time for that again.  The wild rose leaves are spicy and fragrant and the buds not yet visible.   It has been many years since I discovered the wild roses growing in abundance on our land. We moved here in December […]