 In Alice Hoffman’s “Magic Lessons” there is a black wolf familiar (i.e. a partner spirit in animal form) to a young witch, who is named Keeper. I finished reading this book today, in a borrowed hour of alone time on my deck. Ivy kept me company, her shiny body pressed against my Kindle-holding hand, until the patch of sunlight became too warm for her dark fur and she retreated to a shady corner. It is the perfect story for this change in seasons, full of magic and wilderness and love and lessons in surrender. Highly recommend to any fellow souls inching into witchy season with eyes locked on the moon and hearts craving deeper connection to the divine feminine or mama earth. Keeper would have been a great alternate name for Ivy. My loyal companion, generous with her love, forgiveness, affection, attention and appreciation towards me. I see her soul and know it is good. Somehow, she believes the same of mine. That’s really all I came on here to say. That I’m grateful for good books. This season. An hour of alone in the sun. And most of all, my keeper. ✨🌙
0 Comments
 Dear Ones,
Someone told me recently “Do not feel guilty for your recovery behaviors. We help others by sharing who we are.” And honeys, aren’t we all in recovery from something, in one way or another? Jobs, relationships, families, bodies…losses, changes, mistakes, traumas big and small. One of the things I like about the word “recovery” is that it literally means to get back what was stolen. And within this definition of recovery, I keep learning that our truest selves are never fully gone, nor is the work of self really about making something new from nothing. We don’t have to start from scratch. They are there, have been all along, waiting to be brought back into the light - the very center of our beings. They have been longing to be recovered, remembered, and then reunited, in a sense, when we are ready and open enough to know them again. Bullying ourselves into recovery won’t work. Loving ourselves into it, will. I’ll go first... In the forever process of recovering Tricia, I am delighted to remember I am the girl who has swam in the exotic wild oceans of the world with sea turtles, sea lions, sting rays, sharks, and fish of every shape and color. I am the girl who was ordained online in order to perform 4 different wedding ceremonies, upon request of the betrothed, including my own beloved sisters. I am the woman who has carried and birthed two beautiful babies into this world, one accidentally without medication thus making me an extra freaking warrior goddess-badass. I am the girl who loves to kitchen dance, to walk quietly in nature, to talk and laugh with friends for hours about everything & nothing in particular, to devour books of all sorts in coffee shops and beaches and cozy corners wherever I can find them. I am the girl who has gone sky diving, twice. Been an extra on a TV show filmed in San Francisco. Held a koala in Australia, walked the farmland of my ancestors with cousins in Slovenia. Cried with awe while watching a pod of orca whales teach their babies to hunt fish while on a boat in Iceland, cried with surrender when I caught my first wave surfing in Costa Rica, cried from laughter as my sister and I were spun in dizzy circles by two professional Irish dancers in Dublin, cried with reverence while doing yoga in a cathedral while my friend sang hallelujah a cappella…I am the girl who can let herself feel so alive and grateful, she can’t help but cry. She is caring, wild, funny, mindful and free. I hope to have more of her, soon. How about you? Who would you hope to bring back (or meet for the first time), from the very center of your being, to then share with others? As we begin to approach the final weeks of this year, I encourage you to spend some time in this introspective space. And if you want a bit of support in that process, well, you know where to find me... love and light, trish |