The Monthly Newsletter

October 2023 - A Note, Some News & a Poem

Dear Friends,

I am writing this on a beautiful crisp Autumn day from Devon, in the South of England. This is a place of incredible beauty, especially in the Fall. The vast Dartmoor is blooming with yellow gorse and purple heather, the sun is low enough to create dramatic shadows in the old growth woods and the meadows are dotted with fluffy white sheep.

We’ve been here for the past week, first teaching, then spending some time planning our 2024 teaching schedule (the first new events are already up on the site!) and as the final part of my trip spending time with friends discovering the magical aspects of the moor and listening to some epic stories.

Over the last few years I’ve brought one of my first loves - myth and archetype - more fully into my teaching. I’ve enjoyed the deeply creative pursuit of bringing archetypal characters and stories to life through the body, combining storytelling with my embodiment and movement practices.

Gathering to listen to great stories of the ages always feels like a special treat. To simply allow myself to be transported into the story, to feel the many emotions evokes, to remember the losses and loves of my own life while also feeling the greater lessons of the human experience feels like a precious gift.

A good story transports us, both evoking our own exploration and reminding us that our experience is not unique - something that is both humbling and relieving at times.

All characters and archetypes are part of our own story and the engagement with them informs us personally and beckons to both examine and expand who we are within the context of our lives and beyond.

These are explorations that unfold in layers, over time, with the body lending its own wisdom to the inquiry.

I’m leaving Devon feeling both nourished and inspired by the gift of great story and I can’t wait to dive back into teaching for this last part of the year!

What are the stories, folk tales or epics that touch and inspire you? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Below you will find some news and events for this month, I’m looking forward to connecting with you here on Substack and perhaps in an online class or in person somewhere.

Sending you my regards from the road,

Michaela

P.S: I’ve received quite a few messages about last week’s “The Golden Bachelor”. Thank you! I’ll be posting in details about the Wise Woman next Sunday.

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Next up on our schedule, starting on October 21 is the final season of “12 Facets of Union”, which offers an embodied deep dive into the story and relationship of “Persephone and Hades”.

This is the last story in this live online series, where we will explore themes of the erotic and what it means to individuate and find one’s unique gift. This is one of my favorite myths and this season goes beyond the apparent content of the myth into the deeper, subversive and erotic aspects.

As always these sessions include storytelling, self inquiry, lectures, talk processes and Q&A’s. We will teach this course in two time streams to accommodate UK, EU, US and Australia/Asia time zones. Join me for this last Archetypal offering!

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The boxes with my limited edition “55 Flavors of the Feminine Oracle and Practice Cards” are currently wending their way from the printer to California. There are a few decks left, if you’d like to order one, they will ship the end of October (we ship internationally).

I recently taught the first of the workshops for which the deck was designed and really loved how each partcipant was able to personalize their engagement with the material with the support of the deck. We also engaged with the Oracle portion of the deck and I can’t wait for these decks to make their way into homes and onto altars and into practices spaces! (I’ll write a post about the use of flavors soon).

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Soul so close, whatever you think of I know,
but I want more convincing proof.

Do not arrive and say, Now I am here.
Our closeness is not like that.

I am a support column in your house,
a waterspout on your roof.

I share with you the secrets
that others will tell on their last day.

This is no ordinary friendship.
I attend your banquet as wine is passed around the table.

Like lightning, I am an expert at dying.
Like lighting, this beauty has no language.
It makes no difference whether I win or lose.

You sit with us in a congregation of the dead,
where one handful of dirt says, I was once a head of hair.
Another, I was a backbone.

You say nothing.

Love comes in saying,
I can deliver you from yourself in this moment.

Now lover and beloved grow quiet.
My mouth is burning with sweetness.

Rumi by Coleman Barks

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