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Tag: shamanic journeying
Illuminations September 6, 2016July 2, 2018

You Contain Multitudes

    Each lifetime contains multitudes. A multicolored collection of insights and experiences. A many-hued menagerie of dusks and

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Mineral Medicine February 2, 2015July 2, 2018

Winter Pearl Diving

  Today is Imbolc and winter has reached its fullest depths in our blue-hued mountains. Here in Southern Appalachia we don’t get the same

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[wool-gath-er-ing] v.

daydreaming, the gathering of thoughts and dreams as one might collect fallen tufts of wool

[wild-craft-ing] v.

the harvesting of herb, root, flower or inspiration from the wilds



Asia Suler is a writer, teacher, medicine maker and seeker who lives in the blue folds of the southern Appalachian mountains. Woolgathering and Wildcrafting is her grass-stained journal from the hillsides of the living world. It’s full of recipes, musings, plant monographs and poetics. So grab a cup of tea and come on in for a spell. Open up to a page in this shared tome to find a hand-pressed flower, words of comfort, or a small glen of inspiration for your day. Visit Asia’s online classes for more.

Paths through the Wood

  • Illuminations
  • Plant Stories
  • Words for Hard Times
  • Nourishment
  • The Otherworld
  • Mineral Medicine
  • Sacred Entrepreneurship 
  • Travelogues
  • Seasonal Celebration
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall


Further streams

Feeling disconnected from our bodies is a common b Feeling disconnected from our bodies is a common by-product of the modern world. If you are an empath or highly sensitive person it’s even more common to live slightly outside of yourself. It’s also normal to feel at odds with your physicality at times, especially when dealing with illness or pain. But incredible things happen when we befriend our bodies as the guides that they are.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We are animals. We forget this as we go about our busy lives, but it’s true. In the Western world, the ability to transcend our animal origins is often glorified. But we didn't come here to rise above, we came here to root in. To experience what it was like to be “of earth” and to commune with the physical world— including the intelligent animal of our body.
I once heard a shamanic teacher say that the most I once heard a shamanic teacher say that the most protected, and powerful, place we can be is inside our bodies. When we are truly grounded in our bodies, we have access to our greatest reserves of energy. We intuitively know how to take care of ourselves, and we can always sniff out which path to take. Your body is a guide for your spirit. And if you only listen, it will tell you which direction to head in.
Humans have revered animals from the time we walke Humans have revered animals from the time we walked upright. As our elder brothers and sisters, animals teach us about how to be ourselves. By looking to our animal familiars, we find guidance and reassurance about how to navigate this world— what to move towards, or away from, and how to gracefully walk on Earth. While different cultures have understood this sacred relationship in different ways, the importance of animal guides is foundational to many Indigenous societies around the world.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Anyone who has connected with an animal familiar will tell you that a relationship with this guiding spirit is a profound bond. Yet you don’t need to go on a rigorous quest to meet one. In fact, you don’t even need to go anywhere at all. Because there is a sacred animal guide that has been with you since birth (and won’t leave you until your very last day): your own body.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ As souls on a very human journey, we came to learn how to follow the guidance of this beautiful, sensitive, gentle and miraculous animal. To walk with one hand on the shaggy mane of our steadfast inner selves as we find our paths forward.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ From: The Spirit Guide that Never Leaves You. Read the full piece on the blog (link in profile) 🪶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork by the amazing Wang Yiguang
Everything that you are doing to stay connected to Everything that you are doing to stay connected to your light, your strength, your hope, is making a difference in this world.
I vividly remember the first time I spoke out loud I vividly remember the first time I spoke out loud to the moon. I was twenty years old and dealing with life-altering chronic pain. I didn’t have anyone in my life I could talk to about how much I was suffering. Doctors didn't understand why I was hurting and my carefree college peers couldn’t relate. Most days I felt like I was shouldering a forty-ton weight. Then, I started talking to the moon.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Embarrassed at first, I snuck out the back door and hid myself in the scraggly woods behind my dorm. I sat with my back against the tree and gazed up with incredulousness. Then something miraculous happened, it all began to pour out of me— the worry and frustration, anger and sorrow. Normally, I spent so much of my energy trying to seem okay. I worried about being too needy or burdening others with my pain. But here I could be all parts of myself, including the part of me that was hurt, exhausted, and lost.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I poured my heart out to her and, in return, the moon flooded me with the pearly calm of her absolute acceptance. I spoke until my words ended and the tears began, and then I cried until there was nothing left inside of me but a kind of ocean-swept calm. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly witnessed and heard.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The moon wasn’t asking me to be any different then I was— to be more positive or less emotional or to have it all figured out— she was simply there to hold me in her light. To let me know that everything I was experiencing was valid. That another reality still lived beyond all this suffering, and it was full of glowing gentleness. With her I knew, that no matter how bumpy the road got, I was always held.
The world is crying out for your unique, fumbling The world is crying out for your unique, fumbling and all-together beautiful participation. You do not have to be perfect to bring joy and healing to this Earth. In fact, the world is relieved and nourished by your willingness to be fresh-faced, unsure, and simply figuring it out.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What you’re doing, right now, is exactly what you need in order to be on your path of learning and growth.
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