i asked him what i needed to know before going on this journey. he joked: “pray that it’s a good one.”

only he wasn’t at all joking, and i am so happy i went along with the joke and decided to make it all play.

you must become like an innocent child to enter the kingdom.

so i scattered the mushrooms on top of the best dish i could find - a vintage silver platter. and took the platter to the most magickal part of the woods.

the sun was shimmering through the giant pines, ravens circling above and singing their disquieting songs, the ferns alive, spiderwebs glistening, the damp scent of the forest floor seeping into my heart.

i hung my hammock between two pines, with my journal and water and sat on a gnarly tree root with the sparkling platter.

i picked up a mushroom, twirled it between my fingers, held it in the spotlight of sunshine and told her how beautiful she was. i thanked it for being wise, nourishing, and a generous guide. i asked it to show me beauty, and tasted it. i thanked her again for being quite delicious on top of it all, and took it all in.

i repeated this prayer for each mushroom on the platter. the air was thick with magick and the beauty was so much for my heart, it came out in tears and then laughter.

before they took me on a journey, i took them on one. we are always co-creating.

nature medicine is a mirror too, like everything else. you will see in it what you bring to it.

want to know what they showed me?

🔮

art. an ever-unfolding dynamic mixed media spectacle of cosmic proportions. and us, the artists.

nothing gets wasted. not the caws of the crows circling above, not the sparkle of the starts through the trees, not the comforting weight of the wool blanket around your shoulders, not the joke about shawshank redemption two people who love each other made while digging the foundation of their future house from the dirt way past sundown, not the pitbull princess’s rhythmic lapping of the water in her bowl.

may as well relish in it all now, boo. 🧚🏼‍♀️

***

one of 30 mixed media paintings in the series “under the giant trees” inspired by plant medicine and nature friends.

amongst the delectable textures of these paintings, you will find ethereal glimpses of tea, roses, poppies, cannabis, mushroomiez of all kinds, spider webs, chamomile, crows, antlers, and more.

12 inch by 12 inch

mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas