Here I am, a little flabbergasted and amazed as Larry, my husband, and I received the United States President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, signed by President Biden. This is the highest award one can get from the president’s office, there are ascending levels in that award and various categories. Here I am doing my little life being part of a subculture that pretty much works under the radar as we do our work for the earth and all her children, when suddenly this comes flying into my space. I have a sense I may be a door opener for more of us to come out of the woodwork. Larry has been collaborating with UMass and the former president of Hampshire college to create a mentorship program. They reached out for funders and Mary Schreiber Swenson stepped forward; I found out later that she was nominated for this award herself. Larry always drags everybody into our home to see my studio and encouraged me to show one of my videos on water. So, Mary came with a group of people, I showed them my garden, fed them from my garden, showed the video, and shrine room. She experienced me in circle praying and singing, and of course it blew her away. I told her that I struggled to get my work out into the world because of my garden commitment to grow food to feed us all year. She asked me if I knew that I was a genius and on some level I knew. She decided to nominate me for this award and put me on the phone with the person in charge who interviewed me. I had no idea who I was talking to and what this all meant. He commented that I was a good story teller.
I was somewhat in disbelief. I am happy and joyful that I am recognized for all that I have created to consistently inspire and bring magic to the world we live in mostly without pay. I have been going through a whole bunch of feelings including ambivalence, gratitude, accepting it, rejecting it, and frustrated as it may change my life and I had set this time away to write. We were scheduled to go to Washington to receive it but it was going to take a lot of my money and time to make this happen and I declined. However it has to be honored by a ceremony by our community which we did on March 16, 2025 at our local townhall.
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Summer Solstice Ceremony Sunday June 21 2026, from 2-5 PM, at America’s Stonehenge
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For the full info, what to bring and prepare will be posted closer to the event .
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I welcome you to the annual Summer Solstice as we all arrive from different walks of life to come together in this powerful portal to attune to the incoming energies, the cycles, the Earth, in service humanity and all of life.
We are all aware that humanity is in the middle of a monumental shift and the question is what time-line do you want to be on? Many of us are rapidly shedding old ways of being embodying higher frequencies, while others hold on to dear life onto the old paradigms of control, false identities, and illusions. Where do our thoughts go? Where are we still plugged into the old system, the technology, the fear mongering, the conveniences? Where are we free? The solstice Sun in its greatest expansion sheds the light on what lives in the dark. It is a turning point, a huge portal. In this moment of optimum light, the seed of darkness is born. The dark and the light are the yin and yang. Inseparable they pulse in rhythm through the year as we move from the optimum expression of form, crystallization, and density into formlessness, the void, into the womb. The seed of decay lives within the moment optimum dimension is reached. At the solstice point we celebrate what has come into manifestation. The young courageous life tempered by the challenges of weather patterns and predation as all becomes food for someone else. It reminds us that we only have a short moment of glory to expand the light upon the Earth. Presence will slow down time and allows us to savor each moment as it fleetingly passes. This is a time of nourishment as the Earth provides her first fruits and the young sprouts mature and fill in. The process of deepening starts, creating a flow of abundance.
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We are like the young sprouts as we come into our own full expression by the shedding we have been doing of our false identity. We are in a vulnerable state as we begin to live in higher frequencies and we have to strengthen and protect our core.
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This is a water year according to the Dagara people of West Africa. This points to us coming into flow as the divine feminine is rising. Water connects us to our womb space and rhythms of the lunar cycles. It connects us to healing, reconciliation, peace, and grief. Water is the carrier, it spreads, deposits, dissolves, it carries memory, and is hard to be contained. It is the clearest way in which the universe communicates and shows us it never dies, reflecting that the soul is eternal. Nothing holds and expands the light like water does. Water connects us to our joy bubbling up, it responds to joy and laughter. It cleanses and purges through its ongoing spiraling motion. It is the great reflector. The teachings of water are infinite. The energy of this water year is here to support us to be in the flow of life.
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INTENTION: I always do an inquiry through the spreading of shells and I am sharing here the results. We are going through a major shift internally and globally. In the realm of nature, the old stagnant ways of being are dissolving while the essential identity is emerging, supported by the snake bone and nature stone. We are connecting to the magic which is our true nature. We are ascending into a higher state of consciousness. The mineral stone creates a platform, the foundation for greatness, supported by the mountain stone, to come into manifestation. The blue water stone in the middle with supporting coin and shells give life and revitalize this process. This process happens through the heart, bringing us into alignment and flow, with a feather on top indicating our ascension process, learning to love life free, seeing past the wounds, and recognizing the divinity in all. The energy was pulled towards the center of Earth. We are called home, to return to center, presence, the zero point, and surrender. It is essential we take care of ourselves, be aware what energies we engage in, as there are still inner conflicts. There is a merging that is beginning to take place between our essential self and our false identity. The messages, from our essential self, come in more clearly. We are to listen! The divine feminine is coming in strongly, and the messages come through symbols and sacred geometry, the way the universe builds and communicates. We assist this transformation through nourishing and taking care of our being. There is great support from the realm of the illuminated beings as we are called into their basket of protection and nourishment. It is as much about receiving as giving back knowing the law of reciprocity, making them part of our lives.
The transformation is imminent not fully activated yet; it works through community. What needs to be in place is holding our center, presence, self-care, and nurturing, from that place we can create from higher guidance, be in our power, and bring it into community. Root issues arise from the deep waters as we have to rebuild our trust in community. Here is where the healing is called for.
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More information about this Vernal Equinox and what to prepare for will be posted closer to the event. Admission rates for America’s Stonehenge is $19 and additional donation of $8 if you can or more at the ritual site.
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Water Videos
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This video page has multiple full feature productions of water’s journey mainly through winter that can be purchased and short videos that can be watched for free. The images, sounds, improvisational singing and compositions, poems, voice and editing are all done by Katja Esser. It has been a 10 year project in which each winter has been spend gathering, creating, editing, and huge amounts of listening, and returning into the field to record over and over again, the nature sounds, songs, and poems while dealing with lots of waiting for the air travel to subside or the right bird to call without traffic noise. It has been a labor of love, patience, and lots of challenges.
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Vernal Equinox Ritual
The Vernal Equinox is a moment of balance when night and day are equal length. It celebrates the awakening life when all is popping, bursting, and cracking open. The silent and immobilized state of Winter is broken as the hard frozen Earth becomes mushy and soft. The waters begin to flow again; seeds swell and saps rise. The mother is birthing. More info will be posted closer to the event.
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Summer Solstice Ritual
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The Summer Solstice celebrates the optimum light when the sun has traveled to the furthest point to the North, appears to stand still for a couple of days before it starts the journey to the South again. The rapid growth begins to slow down, sprout has come to flower and the process of maturing begins. We celebrate this vulnerable yet full expression of the flower and bless its journey so flower can make it to seed to assure the future of life. More info will be posted closer to the event.
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Autumnal Equinox Ritual
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The Fall Equinox marks the moment of balance, after which the nights become longer again. This is the culmination of the growing season; seed has moved from sprout, to flower, to fruit, and to seed again. We enter the time of the final harvest and begin to prepare for season ahead when the fields lay barren. It is a time of gratitude, abundance, and celebration. More info will be posted closer to the event.
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Winter Solstice Ritual
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The Winter Solstice ritual honors the moment of the deepest darkness in which the seed of light is born. For the Earth it is a time of gestation, cleansing, and strengthening to prepare for the coming growing season. For us it is a time to slow down, go within, and enter the dream time. The rituals take place out of doors. The intention and details will be posted closer to the event.
Life continues to show up, presenting us with losses, changes, and situations that are final and irrevocable. A cascade of feelings emerge when we face the reality of what is. When there is not a supportive environment to express these feelings fully, it can lead to depressions and illness. The grief ritual is designed to create a safe container to fully give your grief over to the ancestors in whatever form it comes out. Full info…..
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Deeper Roots – Feeding the Ancestors
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As we enter the ceremonial Now- where past, present, and future are One… how we move forward is tied to how we deal with our past and our Ancestors. We have come to this moment in time in part because of the choices of our Ancestors in the past as well as our own choices in the present. Full info….
The sound circles are a loosely structured gathering where we use our voice, sound makers, and instruments to open our heart and soul to the infinite universe of sound and vibration and allow it to weave a tapestry of texture, color, and melody that opens doors to joy, vibrational healing, expanded realities, and more. Full info…
The Vernal Equinox is a moment of balance when night and day are equal length. It celebrates the awakening life when all is popping, bursting, and cracking open. The silent and immobilized state of Winter is broken as the hard frozen Earth becomes mushy and soft. The waters begin to flow again; seeds swell and saps rise. The mother is birthing. More info will be posted closer to the event.
The Fall Equinox marks the moment of balance, after which the nights become longer again. This is the culmination of the growing season; seed has moved from sprout, to flower, to fruit, and to seed again. We enter the time of the final harvest and begin to prepare for season ahead when the fields lay barren. It is a time of gratitude, abundance, and celebration. More info will be posted closer to the event.
The Winter Solstice ritual honors the moment of the deepest darkness in which the seed of light is born. For the Earth it is a time of gestation, cleansing, and strengthening to prepare for the coming growing season. For us it is a time to slow down, go within, and enter the dream time. The rituals take place out of doors. The intention and details will be posted closer to the event.
Life continues to show up, presenting us with losses, changes, and situations that are final and irrevocable. A cascade of feelings emerge when we face the reality of what is. When there is not a supportive environment to express these feelings fully, it can lead to depressions and illness. The grief ritual is designed to create a safe container to fully give your grief over to the ancestors in whatever form it comes out. Full info…..
As we enter the ceremonial Now- where past, present, and future are One… how we move forward is tied to how we deal with our past and our Ancestors. We have come to this moment in time in part because of the choices of our Ancestors in the past as well as our own choices in the present. Full info….
The sound circles are a loosely structured gathering where we use our voice, sound makers, and instruments to open our heart and soul to the infinite universe of sound and vibration and allow it to weave a tapestry of texture, color, and melody that opens doors to joy, vibrational healing, expanded realities, and more. Full info…