Magic
DRIFTLESS
MAGIC
MAGIC
I did not know how to open my heart to the land when we first met.
I did not want to open my heart.
What if it did not want me? What if I was not enough? What if I could not do what I was asked and the land called in someone else? What if I did something wrong? What if I built something and I was too afraid to invite anyone or no one came that I invited?
For as long as I could remember, I saw my life being lived out in a small little cabin in the woods alone. Later this took on more of the form of a plan for when the chaos of the world become too much as a way for me to disappear and “be safe”.
It made no sense as the way I interacted with nature was the opposite of immersion. I walked in woods watching out for danger. I sat on the concrete path to look at the trees in the park or the flow of water in a river. I felt trapped and dirty at the idea of camping. Everything felt like a threat whether it was leeches on a river bed, the ticks and diseases they carry, being attacked by a rabid animal and everything I could not see that was happening in the natural world. I kept myself as a witness, observed and I walked on and around nature.
While I could hold a leaf in my hand and awaken every sense in my body, it felt separate and I kept nature separate.
“Ownership” of land is a patriarchal term that began
thousands of years ago. The history of land ownership evolved from
communal tribal use to private, legally defined property, driven by
agriculture, ruling elites, and state formation, moving from shared use
(tribes) to sovereign control (monarchs/states), and finally to individual
ownership formalized through written records, legal systems (like Roman law and
English common law), and government registries, fundamentally shaping wealth,
power, and social structure.
I prefer to think of myself as a caretaker, steward and tender of this land. I have also contracted with Driftless Magic to awaken her, the spirits, the elementals, the fairies and every Goddess that resides in the place.
We are nature, we always have been. We just forgot. So how
do we listen to ourselves, to Her, to each other? And how do we look at a blade
of grade that it is no less miraculous than the tip of our finger. Or the back
of our knee or the most beautiful rose sitting in bed of 1000 roses?
It is not about reciprocity with the land, it is about
merging with it and doing our work just as the trees do theirs, the insects and
animals do theirs.
This land in the Driftless has so much healing. We've largely stayed unnoticed. We've very slowly pull people in. The land here is so dense. but so free, so open and so closed. It is the middle of the northern hemisphere. We wanted to see what would happen if nothing touched it. Nothing moved across it.
This is a place where magic can happen and be seen and be felt. It is also a place where people can get stuck, unable to turn and twist and move forward or backward. We brought you here, Sara. One we saw your blood, and the resonance you have with this place. You couldn't come too early or too late.
This is a place for remembrance. It's a place for people to feel. It's a place for people to move inward. We want ceremony in love. And we want you to use the land and make offerings to the land and work with the land and be. Feel it, breathe with it. Let your heartbeat alongside of it.
We've been awake for a long time. But we're stretching now. We're moving. You're allowing us to inch by inch, foot by foot, wake up and breathe. There are so many things that can be done to allow the land to breathe. Intention. and sitting with it. is the most powerful.
People think the experiences that they have on the land. are what build the connection. But it's the resonance. It's that feel. When we're all moving together, feeling together, when your heart beats. alongside, everything. We want to grow food here. We want people to eat from us. We want the woods to be cleared and cleaned. We want people to lie in the grass and to feel the sun on their face. We want the conversations at night, around the fire. We want the nakedness, the rawness, the intimacy. We want the primal. And we want the softness. We want the rage and the tears and the love. We want people to touch us. and we will wrap our arms around them.
There's no hierarchy here. The masks can be left at the road. You have the magic of seeing beyond the mask. You have the magic of seeing into someone's soul. and knowing what exists beyond everything. Beyond the ego, don't let yourself get caught up in your own ego. Don't let yourself get caught up in your expectations and what you think should be happening. Just listen. Trust.
I know that you will meet everyone you are supposed to meet in this lifetime. You will impact everyone you're supposed to impact. And this will be the place. that holds you, that loves you. that wants the ashes of your body. We didn't know if we would have a soul residence.
Show us what it is. To be in the full experience of being alive. To laugh and to cry. To rage and to scream. To heal. Bring it all. And we will ripple out. Give us time. to show you who we are. Give us time to connect and you will build it, I promise. We'll show you where we want it, how we want it, what we want it. We just don't want to show you anything too fast. Just take it step by step and don't worry. There's so much time.
You can just call me the goddess of the land for now. My name will come.