(and everyone inhabiting this wild, fast-paced, convoluted & woolly world)

• 1. Books. Seriously. In the world of endless scrolling & flitting, a book is a solace, a citadel & a soother. A single sense experience that entices all others & shuts out the outside world. Stories are medicine, & also food for our neural connections, & channels for our true selves.
• 2. Making. My primary self-care practices are Earth -bound, physical: cooking from scratch, craft projects big & small, gardening. They are the original magical arts: transforming something into something else, a simple alchemical process. Flour to bread. Seed to plant. Yarn to knit.
• 3. The EARTH. Wildcrafting, walking, rowing, watching the clouds, grounding out with bare feet to the soil, arms to the trunk & fingers through the leaves.
• 4. Water. My and many other people's ancient medicine & magic. Cast away your sorrows, soothe your nerves, & be present in your body in bodies of water. Baths & showers work as well!
• 5. MEDICINE. Since different methods, like different plants work for different folk, my favorites also include steaming with herbs either in a Sauna, or simply with a pot for facial steams. Teas of Nervines, Adaptogens & Other Magics: Passionflower, Chamomile, California Poppy, Ashwagandha, Hibiscus, culinary Sage, Evening Primrose, Borage, Hawthorn, Conifers, Lemon Balm & Angelica are my faves. Tincture of fresh Passionflower & the essences of Borage & Sunflower help me often. Elixirs of roots like Angelica, Osha (source responsibly) & Ashwagandha ground me.
• 6. Idleness. My old creative writing teacher sang the praise of blank space as a necessity for creativity. To fill the well, we must stand still, demand nothing, be present. Even if it's only for a few moments at a time.
• 7. Speaking of Writing, Writing. Moving through frantic thought at a slower pace is so soothing & revealing to me. Epiphanies & clarity come easy on paper. Ideas present themselves and the things that stress me out seem more distant, and are put into perspective.
• 8. Meditation & Divination. Meditation practice is my first practice always. Even in small doses it is the supreme soother to mind & body both. Tarot, Runes, Iching, whatever your form help focus energy & thoughts. Divination as introspection & self-care calms & helps with perspective.