I live in a farmhouse cottage in a once-rural town in the Pacific Northwest. The house is about a hundred years old and is situated on a parcel of land that produces more fruit than we can eat. It’s the kind of property that begs for chickens…

Alongside the St. John’s wort, fuchsia, and gerbera daisies in my front garden bed, there’s a very special rose.

It saddens me when people use “positive” tools to punish themselves (or others).

An invitation to my next course…

Once upon a time, I dreamed of being President of the United States. Not because I wanted to be of service, but because I wanted to be in charge. Growing up in a military family overseas, I was steeped in hierarchies of power. The higher your rank, the greater your power. President was the highest rank so that’s where I set my sights…

Support for setting intentions around your daily practice.

A herstory of brand and soul magic, plus reflections about today’s Full Moon and the upcoming Spring Equinox.

The town where I live just West of Portland, Oregon got up to 118º this week. It was fierce. And while there are many places in the world that see summer temperatures this high on the regular,

Flower essences rock my world. Here's a personal story about how I got started with them.

How a poignant past-life memory of being an illiterate cowboy inspires my writing.

Having a child was my heart's desire for a long time. My desire was so strong that I left a marriage to pursue it. I thought the marriage was a strong yes for having a family, but it turned out to be a someday-maybe. We talked about having kids before we were married, and we were on the same page. Things changed…

Flashback to 15 years ago… I had just signed the lease on the little Edwardian storefront that was to become my magical Goddess shop. It was located near the Panhandle in San Francisco, and I was living in a small town 30 miles or so away. The time it took to get into the City in the morning was brutal, so I was looking for a room to rent…

I used to have a little Goddess shop in the upper Hayes neighborhood of San Francisco. I lived in an apartment in the building next door to the little Edwardian storefront. Just a block away was a beautiful little park called the Panhandle. A narrow strip of nature in the middle of the city, it was called the Panhandle because of the way…

I took my very first magic class over 20 years, I took my first magic class. Gosh, I guess I was 23 years old, three years out of college. My exposure to “alternative” spirituality was non-existent as a child. I was raised in a military family, was baptized Catholic, went to CCD (which I just had to Google, because I had completely forgotten...

“Mommy, put down your Medicine Book.” It’s morning and my young daughter has toddled out from our co-sleeping bedroom into my office nook where I have my legs curled up under me and I am writing in my journal. I have not taught her these words: Medicine Book. I have never used them together as a phrase. Would never have thought to...

When I was in my 20s, I was all about the W word. Witch, witch, witch. I had discovered my place in a magical world, and I went all in. There was not a closet that could hold my broomstick. I was out and proud. At work, on dates, everywhere. It even came up at a job interview once: How did you hear about this opportunity? I’m a witch, I cast a spell...

Goddess energy has been interwoven into the fabric of my life for more than twenty years. Over the years, I have called on Her by Her many names — during times of need and times of celebration, in times of gratitude and times of grief. And when I was ready to have a child, I called on Her, again. I petitioned Ostara, goddess of fertility, to aid in conception. I asked Yemaya, goddess of the ocean...

Once upon a time, not so long ago (ok, maybe 30 years ago), I did not believe in such a thing as a “higher power.” When I was a child, I had experienced a profound love of God and a deep connection with nature. But as I grew up, I took to heart the Marxist sentiment that “religion is the opiate of the masses.” I abandoned my early Catholic education in favor of rationalist secularity. By the time I was a young 'tween…

Writing is not the same thing as completing a writing project. (Visual artists, substitute "art" for "writing." The ideas still apply.) If you desire to share your writing with others, think in terms of shareable forms. What's a shareable form…