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.
Read MoreSkye's Feathered Weavers of Worlds: Dream Carriers, Winged Messengers, and the Liminal Magic of Migrating Birds
The old Scottish folktale of the Dreammakers from the Isle of Skye whispers a quiet knowing: that beneath our feet and beyond our sight, migrating birds carry more than wings. As they journey across shifting skies and ushering in the seasons, they bring us our dreams, weaving the outer world with the inner landscape of vision. Resting on the edge of worlds, they remind us that our true belonging rests at the meeting point between here and there. . . from the threshold loom of the open sky where feathers and wings thread landscapes together.
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The Birch Witch Awakens: Reclaiming the Wisdom of Baba Yaga and the Potential Hidden in a Forest's Ashes
What if the wisdom we fear the most—dark, wild, and unpredictable—is exactly what we need to find our way through the ruins? Here we follow the forest path of Baba Yaga, the wild crone of Slavic folklore, whose kinship with the birch tree teaches us that destruction can be a beginning, not just an end. In a world unraveling—ecologically, spiritually, and politically—her fierce, untamed wisdom calls us to root ourselves in cycles of death and rebirth, and to remember that becoming who we truly are often begins in the ashes.
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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 MoreThe Reindeer Goddess Who Returns The Sun: A folktale of Reindeer, the Sacred Feminine & the Rhythms of the Wild
Reflecting on the gift of a folktale that draws loosely from several stories from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and indigenous Sami folklore: the Goddess of the Sun is pulled by a herd of caribou that transforms into a bear, as she makes her way across the horizon and brightens the sky.
Read MoreThe Selkie Myth and the Journey Home: Reclaiming your wild self through ancient story
The folktale of the Selkie combines the bitter and the sweet - a hauntingly relevant message for modern souls. To journey through this myth is to witness the whole of us: the one who leaves; the one who betrays herself for safety, love and belonging; and the one who remembers and returns. Who among us sees the whole — the wild, the wounded, and the wonder within? The quiet work of soul-tending and wild becoming is rarely honored in a world that fears what it cannot tame - yet it is the truest kind of magic.
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?
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