“What would happen if the government collapsed?” My oldest stepdaughter asked after I’d spent fifteen minutes explaining exactly what a bond was and why I was filling out paperwork to report which ones had been lost so that the government knew how much money they owed me.

Her siblings all sat quietly, listening intently to the more-grown-up-than-usual conversation, and her voice carried a weight of anxiety in the silence.

“This is going to be one of those Princess Bride moments,” I told her. “I’m going to let you know that the giant screeching eels don’t eat you. I’m telling you now because you look nervous.”

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I’m really pleased and honored to be able to announce that I am now officially the Wild Earth feature editor for Aontacht Magazine! It’s going to be a lot of fun joining the editorial and production team of such an awesome magazine, and I’m thrilled to have yet another excuse to work with writers in the Druid community who are “walking their talk” and connecting with the Earth and the natural world in authentic, creative ways — and of course, to do a bit of writing of my own!

My first contribution appears in the most recent issue of Aontacht, which you can download for free on the Druidic Dawn website. The piece is called “Seven Wonders of the Natural World – In Your Own Backyard,” and in it I share a little bit about the winners of the New7Wonders campaign and the themes of diversity, depth, balance and mystery that these exotic sites exemplify — plus, how we can discover those wonders of nature everywhere.

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In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I share some of the kid-friendly craft recipes I use for making ornaments and animal-safe ritual offerings for our winter solstice celebrations:

“It’s become a winter solstice tradition at our house to wake before sunrise on the morning after the longest night and head down to the local park where we climb the highest hill and greet the new sun with songs and offerings. …”

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Only a few months since our wedding, Jeff and I are in the process of sorting through all of our worldly possessions and preparing for a move across the country. It’s a long and sometimes tedious process (after three straight days of organizing and clearing out the basement, last night I dreamt of carrying boxes endlessly up and down stairs). It’s also an on-going lesson in letting go. Even for our modest lifestyles, Jeff and I both brought a lot of Stuff into our marriage, physically and metaphorically. Now’s the time to open up those boxes we’ve been moving from one place to another for the past decade and reevaluate what needs to make the next leg of the journey, and what can stay behind. So far, we’ve already donated seven bags of clothes, fifteen boxes of miscellaneous household items, and eight or nine pieces of furniture. It’s a process of cleansing as much as it is a process of sharing and gratitude.

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Let’s just say that life has been a bit stressful lately with everything going on. Back in high school and college when life was understandably a bit like being high strung on a high wire, I would throw myself into poetry. I spent long hours playing with words and sounds, line breaks and juxtaposition. Now, since writing is kind of a career for me these days, I find that I need some other creative outlet that I can throw myself into head first without worrying about being good at it.

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In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I talk about the exciting discoveries of recent genetic research into LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all life on earth, and what parallels we can draw to ancient creation stories about the divine origins of life from cultures all over the world.

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