Doing it Differently

How Life Comes Full Circle

Photo by Victor on Unsplash

There has been a lot going on in my world, a lot of things have come full circle, an unexpected opportunity, and some shifts and changes here in the Maven’s Nest are afoot.In part the changes have to do with the opportunity, in part because of some epiphanies. And my year is all about making space for epiphanies. And lastly, because of the current collective situation we find ourselves in and what I believe one of my parts in it is and how it intersects with one of my core values.

So first I will talk about the logistics….so for PAID readers please pay attention. Then as much as I can share about the opportunity that has arisen, and I hope woven through my story I plant some seeds and wisdom that may apply in your own life and help you “save some time and energy” and to not ignore what you have always been called to but maybe the timing wasn’t right, and to know what to let go of because it’s not yours to do.

So first things first and then I will tell you why. I will be shutting off the paid membership and everything I do here will be complimentary. For those of you who are paid members you will receive a message of that happening and I think you will get a pro-rated refund depending on when you paid last. But what that also means is (for reasons I will share below), I will not be writing on my self-imposed schedule, and I will be putting the Dreaming and Scheming Circles on hold for now.So there will be no circle on Monday 3rd. I will be reintroducing them when I know what my life and work schedule will look like, and I may move them away from a weekday to be more accessible.

So now the why. First and foremost one of my core values is wisdom/mentorship shouldn’t be reserved for the privileged. And while I do think spiritual coaches and teachers absolutely need and should be sustained and compensated I am not one of those. I am sustained in other ways….more on that below. But truly I don’t think sharing wisdom…coming from me or with each other in community should be gatekept. That is why I say I am a Wisdom Carrier, not a Wisdom Keeper because that means I am keeping it behind a gate or in my heart waiting for something in return. Reciprocity for me, IS the community, it is not just the giving but also the receiving of wisdom. In truth that is always what it has been about for me, and it will play out in my new opportunity as well. And that will be both a community structure but also my primary work with a financial component. As we are facing unprecedented times in our structures and people are not being sustained in so many ways, not only financially, but emotionally and spiritually I am making the choice to give freely of what I have been blessed enough to learn and study over these last few decades. And I hope to receive your wisdom as well. There is no other way for humanity to move forward if we cannot sit with each other and share wisdom and be generous of heart and soul.

And that leads me to my new business venture and a little backstory for those who have not known me a long time. But I will start with a message I received from doing some Gene Keys work. (Do I have any Gene Keys junkies here? If so, definitely leave a comment) If not, I can take you down the rabbit hole, and it IS a rabbit hole. But one of the pieces of my life’s work and purpose is:

Creating Communities of Coherence

I have always known this and so that is what I do. It is usually done through constellating around a form of healing, spiritual, or creative arts (or many of them given that I am a multi-passionate maven). I left corporate America and began studying and working in herbalism and bodywork in 97, and I went down a lot of rabbit holes from there. Yet I also love strategy, design, process, systems, and supporting emergent leaders. But the overarching purpose is creating communities that are aligned and energetically coherent. And it is about caring for and tending the hearth. What is becoming more and more apparent (and yet I tend to ignore it) is that for sure it is locally and in-person and the online connections are an outreach of that, but not the main gig. Am I capable of doing it all online? Yes. I have the technical, instructional design and marketing skills to do it. Do I want to do that? Yes and no, both/and. But not with a content calendar and Social Media posting timeline. Been there, done that, and tried to do it yet again here on Substack and it just doesn’t align for me anymore. I want to drop in here when I have something to say of value and not on a schedule and certainly not to build a huge audience of students and clients.

I ran a brick and mortar community and creative space from 2018-2022, yes the pandemic hit in the middle of that, which meant I paid rent for nearly two years and yet was trying to cobble back to an online format to pay for it, and it never did. It was a service based business and I did it alone. Yes I had community, but I did not have support with the business. The lines started to blur between community tending, circle facilitation, clients, teaching, and friendships. My friendships started to feel transactional.

And I also loved every moment of it until I didn’t.

It was always intended to be a five year journey and then go “location independent” after that, and NEVER do a brick and mortar again. Oh how the ancestors and guides are chuckling at me now.

But between 2022-2024 I was in what is known as the Messy Middle in Transition Coaching circles. I really didn’t know what to do next and I had some personal family things going on, so I mostly just tended the hearth but by summer of 24 I was getting antsy. I knew something was on the horizon and knew I had to emerge from the cocoon. So I thought let me focus on building Substack. I had been here a while but not doing much. I NEEDED a sense of community again and because I don’t want to play the social media marketing game I thought this was the answer and so I went to work on redesign, content calendars and all the things I know how to do when I am feeling antsy but am still very much in the mystery. But it didn’t feel as aligned as I had hoped. And here we are.

AND I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE

But I will be showing up differently and more generously but on my timeline and with a different intent. And it is not to grow a paid membership community. So I hope you stay with me as I figure out how it will look, how I will connect with you more deeply, and how I may give you the opportunity to write and share your stories here.

Concurrently to these realizations and epiphanies I was doing my visioning process which I do between Winter Solstice and Imbolc. I stay open to what wants to come through in messages from my wisdom, my ancestors, my guides, the animals and plants and all the synchronicities. I sit in wonder. They all told me in one form or another to own my magic. But also to honor my divergent wisdom, AND on top of that the ways of my ancestors which involved a lot of syncretic folk medicine, plants, and the weaving of science and spirit that is ever present in the natural world.

And to pay attention and DO NOT say no to what continues to show up and reveal itself to you. That is indeed your calling and to continue to ignore it will not be taken well.

So in January what showed up was an opportunity to acquire a local business. I can’t say much yet until it is finalized but it involves community both with customers and a magical staff of women that I get the opportunity to mentor, AND the plants that get the opportunity to mentor me. The plants have never left me alone even when I try to leave them alone. They have come telling me to work with them countless times since 1997, they come to me in my dreams.Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don’t. This time I am. At 53 this could be my last shot to take it seriously and create a legacy with them at the helm. They are also my (and yours) ancestors and allies. And of course the community, and the support I will have this time around. It was almost impossible to say no. This time I will be doing it differently. The plants, the brick and mortar community as being my part to play has come full circle. This time I am older and wiser. Gentler and more humble. This time community and kinship with each other and the natural world is without a doubt necessary to our survival. I also realized that working with and studying the plants as part of my work is in its “Saturn Return” year. So I am not at all surprised that this showed up for me now.

The timing is right on time for what I am and always have been meant to do.

My inquiry to you, is what is calling you? What has always called you? What have you tried and maybe failed at….but maybe it wasn’t a failure, maybe it was that the timing wasn’t right, or that it wasn’t the thing that failed but the approach. How can you show up to that thing, and maybe do it differently this time? Please share your story in the comments.