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Storytelling Workshops

October 2023

Fall Storytelling Intensive

Master the art of live true, personal storytelling! ...

26 Oct

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Online

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Upcoming Shows & Workshops

October 2023

Oct 04 2023

A Course in Embodied Alchemy 2023-2024

Online

Oct 26 2023

Fall Storytelling Intensive

Online

Oct 27 2023

A Little Night’s Poetry

Mother Foucault's

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The Feed

In the early hours of Friday morning, the moon is

In the early hours of Friday morning, the moon is full at 6° of Aries. Aries is the fiery, holy-shit-starting ram. It’s the first sign of spring, and it has to have enough physical energy to get us through the crisis of rebirth. Try to imagine what it takes for the life in a seed that’s been buried in the dark, in the stiff frozen earth, to break through its protective shell and push itself upward toward a warmth and light it cannot feel or see, but knows is there. That’s Aries — pure, personal, irrational, ecstatic, life-making instinct.

Arriving a week into Libra season, where the general call is for dim golden tones and smooth jazz and pleasing social harmonies, the Aries full moon turns on the hot bright lights and blasts the horn. Where Libra centers empathy, Aries centers agency. Where Libra uses honey, Aries uses charge and heat. Whether we love or hate this kind of energy might depend on the current condition of our sympathetic nervous systems, or how far we’ve progressed in healing from shame and people pleasing. Full moons in general can have us feeling a little overwhelmed, and if we are arriving in a state of burnout, it exaggerates that state. An Aries full moon is definitely going to try us in that way, and it’s often best to just hideout and wait for the extremeness to pass.

It could also open a portal to some passionate agitation, some push to use more freedom than you are using. There’s been a lot of healing and growth energy in Aries for awhile now, trying to get us to clean up our relationship with our own power. You might feel like a living exclamation point in the part of your chart Aries rules. The Sabian symbol for 6° of Aries is “a square with one of its sides brightly illumined,” which James Burgess reads as “crystallization of life-purpose,” so this full moon is also about that reckoning. There is a light trying to come through each of us. You have to believe in your own gifts, and in your own style of giving them, for that light to properly shine. Whatever is still hesitating in you, about showing up more fully, about taking up some space and making some noise, this Aries moon wants you let it go, to risk more, to be less afraid.

Thursday evening, at 6:40pm PST, the moon goes dar

Thursday evening, at 6:40pm PST, the moon goes dark and renews herself at 21° of Virgo, priestess of systems, keeper of the holy order. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, who has been retrograding in Virgo the last three weeks, sending us into a deep process edit and analysis of our inner systems. Now, at the same time and sign as this new moon, Mercury is slowing down, coming to a stop, and by Friday, stationing direct. And so the final week of summer arrives as a kind of doorway opening, a turning point, one we are strongly encourage to pause at thoughtfully, conscientiously, meaningfully — Virgo-like — before we enter fall, and start a new cycle.

We really might need a full minute — or a weekend, or a week. This summer has been wild retrograde ride, full of surprising depths and healings. Take a few days if you can to slow down, stop, and come direct yourself before making any big moves. Reflect on what’s happened in the last six months for you especially, since your Virgo full moon brought Saturn’s entrance into Pisces.

Virgo is mutable earth, so her new moon is generally solid for setting intentions that organize our life into a higher harmony, or for ritually supporting our creative lives. If you have a new, creative idea brewing, or even an idea for an idea, one that might take months or years to manifest, one that might take a team or community or entire city to pull off, consider this a good time to make some vows.

Just keep in mind that only way to escape the bondage of the past, and the tyranny of a default survival mode, to make a new life and a new world real, is to fully occupy a new dimension of consciousness. Not just in our minds and intentions—in our everyday actions. Virgo and the magician Mercury both want you to recommit, wholeheartedly, maybe even gladly(!), to the daily, consistent self-discipline necessary to embody and actualize the vision you have for your life and for the world. It wants you sense what you need to pull that off, to build or repair a system or two to make that kind of consistency possible. It really matters how many of us can embody our Virgo attributes enough to be the change, and keep being it.

Hey friends, two more weeks of technical summer an

Hey friends, two more weeks of technical summer and then the descent of fall begins!

Our next (and last, for now) Embodied Alchemy cohort, starts in October, with the first videos dropping October 4th, and the first live meeting happening on the 10th. There are two spots left in the live group journey! If you’ve been considering this year or in previous years, it’s a good time to tune into whether this might be the right time. Registration for the solo journey is also now open. The process of death, rebirth, and transformation that alchemy describes is one of our most powerful teachers for meeting this time of change. Embodied Alchemy roots these teachings in the intelligence of the body and the more-than-human world. Over 8 months, this course covers essential philosophies and practices for ritual somatic meditation as an aid in personal healing and transformation, including movement meditations, dream work, boundary work, and a lot more. It’s offered remotely, and includes weekly readings and talks, somatic experientials and practices, and a small-group process group to bring your feelings and insights for witnessing. It's co-facilitated by myself and Trinity Capili of @creaturepace (!) and it's designed to work with and carry us through the descent of fall, the chrysalis of winter, and the rebirth of spring. Honestly it packs a punch. It creates some ideal conditions for reconnecting with yourself, and I witnessed it over the two years support and accelerate some dramatic healing. DM if you have questions, or head to my website for more details. You can also book an introductory call if needed. We would be honored to have you in the alchemy boat :)

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The final animation comes from the artwork of @monicaeunjikim and @waleedzaiter

Wednesday evening, at 6:36pm PST, the moon peaks i

Wednesday evening, at 6:36pm PST, the moon peaks in fullness at 7° of Pisces, the cosmic fish. It’s a rare Super blue moon—the next one will be in January 2037. And as with all full moons, a current of manifestation is culminating, while a current of liberation is beginning. Pisces loves a good ending/beginning. It also loves poetry, swelling up with emotion, humming beautifully and tunelessly, and dissolving the boundaries of the self just enough to melt back into the great Is that both Is and Isn’t. Pisces is essentially tidal—a wave becoming a wave, then remembering it’s the ocean, then enjoying imagining itself as an individual wave again, rising, crashing, starting over. The Piscean move is to go with the flow, and trust the intelligence of that flow—to be in the river of what’s happening now.

The shift in energy might be subtle for you, and it might be not subtle. Last week we transitioned from the intense emotional drama of Leo season and entered the survey-and-organize-the-wreck drama of Virgo season, just as Mercury stationed retrograde in Virgo. We’ve been auditing and editing, reviewing the details, getting a real grip where we haven’t really been able to get a grip. If you were at all enjoying that, feeling a little clearer-headed, don’t worry, it will return. But not until this full moon and its tide does it thing. There is a deep emotional or spiritual truth rising with this tide, an insistent inner voice that wants to speak and be heard. It’s connected to what got stirred up on the new moon in Leo, and the healing of this Venus retrograde, which completes this Sunday. To hear it properly, we will need to settle down out of the “doingness” of Virgo into more of the “beingness” of Pisces. And with so many planets in retrograde (7 as of Monday), time itself this week is likely to get sloshy, as Bayo Akomolafe says. Not great conditions for a work week or task lists or deadlines. Perfect for synchronicities and healing breakthroughs and surrendering to love and divine timing.
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To get the whole reading, head over to my Substack, reading it is free, and there are free and paid subscription options to get these moon songs directly in your inbox!

At 2:38am PST Wednesday morning, the moon renews h

At 2:38am PST Wednesday morning, the moon renews herself at 23° of Leo, the cosmic king. The Sabian symbol for this degree is “a bareback rider displays her dangerous skill.” It’s a degree of exceptional daring, the kind that’s only activated when the path seem unsafe, giving us the courage to put ourselves in harms way. Leo is an archetype of self mastery and authentic expression, so this is Leo at its most Leo. This moon is urging us to test our courage and audacity when it comes to being ourselves completely, to living more openly and honestly and directly, and to speaking our truth with a little more force and fire.

As I’m sure you are already feeling, this is a very potent new moon, and part of what’s making it so potent is that Leo is the site of the current Venus retrograde. This past Sunday, Venus arrived at the midpoint of her journey and had her cazimi moment in the sun, her rebirth, which is where the moon is broadcasting from now. This new moon is also sitting at the point of Black Moon Lilith, which represents the untamed part of ourselves that won’t stay quiet. And it’s in a square to the great disrupter-revolutionary Uranus.

So let us pause, together, new-moon-rest-and-reset-style, with this fire under our tongues.

Let us practice the ancient art of sweating it, and taking some breaths on purpose—composing ourselves, composing our words—and then, going for it. Whatever you need to say, say it. Or write it. And, if it comes out too hot or too strong or too jangly, be generous with your heart and your voice while it learns how to do this. Being emotionally honest is a skill. We only learn to do it well by taking the risk to do it badly, and then feeling badly on the other side. Discovering the nature of our power and what’s true for us is a trial and error process. Refinement happens over time. Don’t give up. No matter what we do with it, this new moon in Leo is here to remind us that authentic, uncompromised expression is one of the surest paths to liberation. It’s one of the ways we come to inhabit the full potential of our selves, in this incarnation. Here’s to an epic reset on how we enter the great circuit of honest, beautiful noise.

Looking at this recent photo of me and my mom is l

Looking at this recent photo of me and my mom is like looking at a photo of a trip I took in a time machine to the future, where present me got to hang out with me in 30 years 🫠

30 years strikes me as not a lot of time actually. I am immediately doing calculations like, how many books can I write? How many swims in the river is that? How many cats and dogs and humans and trees can I properly love? And some qualitative measuring, like how do I want to live when my body and mind slow down significantly, and parts start falling off? How do I want to live before that?

My mom is in steadily advancing stages of dementia - both Alzheimer’s type and Lewy Body type, which is a bit more like Parkinson’s. She can still talk and she can still recognize her closest people, but she’s lost all ability to track time or events or to learn. She’s profoundly confused, enough to not know that she is confused, and regularly very angry and combative, not like the sweet angel face in this photo. My family is discovering why this is considered the hardest disease on caregivers. Her spirit, her core experiencing presence is still there, and she says she still feels like herself, not old or sick. A part of her is determined every day to fight against losing her agency or being treated as vulnerable or receiving help. It’s actually quite admirable when it’s not exhausting the good will and patience and loving care trying to surround her.

I guess I’m sharing this to say - life is messy, and death is messy, and I am somehow both a mess about it and not, thanks to how thoroughly poetry has organized my insides, and to the many years of therapy that taught me how to tolerate being a human with feelings. Happiness and dignity aren’t reliable compasses, but poems and love sometimes are. Wherever you are at in your own calculations, or your own journey to tolerate being human, I pass on to you the actual wisdom of my mother Lynne, during a moment of lucidity. While this may not be the advice you need now, you may need it someday, and this is reported fresh from inside the lion’s mouth: be kind to yourself and others. Let go of the need to be right. Eat the chocolate ice cream.

Tuesday at 11:32am PST, the moon peaks in fullness

Tuesday at 11:32am PST, the moon peaks in fullness at 9° of Aquarius, the water-bearer and collective-consciousness-traveler and star-eyed future-tripper. Like any full moon, we might feel very full; full moons tend to exaggerate all the ways we are out on the edge of our capacity. But this one is also providing some perspective at a moment when we could really use it. Venus is retrograding in Leo, the sign opposite Aquarius, and she’s still in her descent, emotionally-speaking, but she’s also finally arriving somewhere, and the full moon is giving her some light to see by. Leo and Aquarius teach us about the tension between our instincts for authentic self-expression (Leo) and our instincts to cultivate cultures together (Aquarius). There is something we need right now that will come from the Aquarius end of things; from tapping a larger, more radical, more collective perspective.

Of course, an Aquarius full moon can also amplify our mental energies in less helpful ways. If you have been suffering from feelings of doom, or an overly paranoid or certain mind, or from a persistent belief that your actions won’t make any difference, you are officially invited to take a step back. One of the tricks to being a human with a mind is knowing how to keep your beliefs a little unfinished or incomplete; how to stay a student, using curiosity and wonder to continually discover and update what you know. A rigid or out of control mind can be disrupted in any number of ways, but one of the quickest is actively admitting and embracing ignorance. The moment you say “I don’t know,” your on you way to increasing your intelligence.

Ultimately, Aquarius is trying to liberate us psychologically. As this full moon completes a current of manifestation, and activates a current of liberation, consider what greater freedom and liberation and interconnectedness might mean for you right now, and then feel into what it might mean for the whole collective. Then see if a small, meaningful act is presenting itself—both as a ritual of beginning a healing process, but also maybe as practical step, one of thousands, that has the potential to transform your life and the world.

Monday morning at 11:32am PST, the moon goes dark

Monday morning at 11:32am PST, the moon goes dark and renews herself at 24° Cancer, the moon’s home sign. Cancer is the great water mother, an archetype of nurturing, protection, and caregiving. The wisdom of Cancer attunes us to the intelligence of the body, the emotions, the imagination and felt sense, our ways of encountering the unconscious matrix and our own wholeness. This intelligence naturally wants to avoid what is toxic and go towards what is nourishing. It knows exactly what we need, and how much is enough. Of course, we can get disconnected from these instincts, or we may never have learned how to understand and respect this body wisdom in the first place, mind over matter and all that. And if that’s the case, a new moon in Cancer can reconnect and re-entrain us. It can restore some flow and help us learn to read our own signals.

The house that Cancer leads in your chart and the house of your natal moon both depend on this kind of intelligence for well-being. These are also places where you are likely to experience heightened sensitivity, insecurity, and defensive patterns. If you know how to work with that sensitivity, to honor it and support, it will be one of your most important gifts. Cancer and the moon know about tides and cycles, and can teach us to give without over-extracting. When we know how to read the signals that tells us when we are near or at a limit, or when something isn’t ours to carry or do, then we discover how to stretch our capacity rather than stressing it, avoiding burnout and collapse, and enabling organic, sustainable, cyclic growth.

Since the full moon in Cancer on January 6th, something has been healing or emptying out. This new moon offers a reset from that clearing. Our needs are always changing to support our evolution. Take some time to tune in today, and see what new experiments in self-care and boundaries feel right. And then do atleast one of those experiments in the spirit of a ritual. This week is bringing some big astrology - lunar nodes are shifting, Mars and Saturn are facing off, and Venus will station retrograde in Leo on Saturday - you want to meet this well-rested, hydrated, and tapped into love.

Monday morning at 4:39am PST, the moon is full at

Monday morning at 4:39am PST, the moon is full at 11° of Capricorn, the holy sea goat. As with all full moons, a current of manifestation or growth is culminating, and a new current of liberation is just beginning, making it a time of completion and release. What wishes did you cast on the winter solstice, and what have you given your attention and power in the last 6 months? Capricorn’s gift is for creating real and lasting abundance, and its creations take time. It really is the sturdiest of teachers. It helps us learn to climb the mountains of life. Appreciate any moves or progressions, however small, in the direction of your bigger dreams.

Full moons also invite us into deeper wholeness by highlighting the oppositional or shadow side of things — they want to help us see ourselves and the world more fully. The moon in Capricorn’s cardinal earth is opposing the sun in Cancer’s cardinal water. Cancer is deeply personal, it initiates with love and tenderness, seeking to create secure relationships and a protective home for all that is young and vulnerable. Capricorn is broadly collective, it initiates with devotion and responsibility, with steady, practical work. It seeks to create real physical things in the world, lasting monuments and systems of support. So in addition to being a moment to honor the very real growth and progress we’ve made, this moon could be drawing focus onto any way in which our personal emotional needs and the needs of the work we do in the world are at odds, where we need to recalibrate, or else.

If this is amplifying a crisis for you—I hope it’s not!—but if it is, consider how it might be for your benefit. A healing crisis or spiritual emergency can show you with absolute clarity what’s working and what really isn’t. It can lead to a proper breakthrough. Whatever is up for you, just take some time to honor it soberly and sincerely. Don’t be afraid to love yourself and celebrate imperfect progress. Use this full moon to do an integrity check, get some clarity, and then commit to shedding what is no longer working. This summer is going to be a tenderizing one, and Capricorn wants to help us do the adult thing and prepare.

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