Autumn’s late blooming flowers remind us, year after year, we are meant to be flowering right when we do. The late bloomer comes in many guises, and appears in the folklore of the Baba Yaga, creatrix and witch, and the Selkie, a shapeshifting seal woman. In a world that often glorifies early achievements and rapid success, these two ancient folktales of late bloomers are still remarkably relevant and timeless in their wisdom. They teach us that even in the midst of challenges that slow us down, there is always the capacity for growth, transformation, and the emergence of something truly extraordinary.
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Caribou Sky, inspired by a folktale about the caribou and their connection to the seasonal cycle of the sun which draws loosely from several ancient stories from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, including many elements from indigenous Sami folklore. Here photographed in the process of being carved.
Summer 2023 Newsletter
Sharing several new handmade prints in my shop! Each print contains a precious folktale from the past, a mythos, reminding us of our ancient and intimate kinship with the wild, expressed with a multitude of endearing voices of the earth. Whether it is the sound of clanking antlers, or the mischievous pecking of a black crow, or the whisper of a tiger’s whiskers these heartwarming stories lyrically weave us into the circle of life and remind us of our extraordinary human imagination.
Read MoreWoodcutter & Tiger Brother
This Korean folktale about a woodcutter who discovers that a tiger is his long lost brother is a story about a relationship transformation: from one of hunter and prey, to one of intimacy and kinship characterized by interdependence, reciprocity and mutual respect. It is about recognizing and embracing the other within, the wild within the Self.
Read MoreThe Bird Woman Inside Us
Whether it is winged deities like the Hindu apsaras; airborne Christian mystics; Islamic Sufis; or the Greek Goddess Athena with her Little Owl, there is a consistent association between birds and a sense of fierce and powerful womanhood and femininity across cultures and geographies. In what small ways can we reclaim our power, rebel like these bird heroines, and embody the energy and spirit of wild birds?
Read MoreThe Jade Rabbit & the Lady on the Moon
What stirs the soul more deeply than the quintessential pairing of rabbits and the moon? Reflecting on the ancient Chinese Jade Rabbit on the Moon folktale, we discover the timeless enduring medicine the Jade Rabbit is entrusted to safeguard on the moon and how it serves as a timeless healing salve in a contemporary world fraught with divisiveness and tension.
Read MoreRabbits and the Moon Goddess: Traveling the Silk Road
Growing up in Asia, I always believed there was a rabbit on the moon assisting the Goddess who passed the time grinding dried medicinal herbs into an elixir of immortality. However, only recently did I discover that this trio of associations (rabbits, the moon and divine feminine) is an ancient archetype, stretching across a diverse array of cultures, landscapes and centuries by way of the Silk Road.
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