Saying Goodbye To My Hermitage

In a few short minutes my ride will arrive to take me to the bus station. I'll be traveling on Jefferson Bus Lines, across the northern section of the Heartland, headed to Bozeman. Michael has been working in Montana most of the summer. I will meet him there before returning to Santa Fe.

Reluctantly, I leave my little Church Street hermitage, affectionately known as "the Church Street Ashram."

New Week Ramblings & Subliminal Recipe

I noticed that I have a total of six followers to the Mystical Gypsy Blog. In the beginning, I had the intention of creating a blog that would allow me to enhance and generate my on-line writing skills. Part of the intention included learning to use the various tools that make one's blog interesting, interactive and inviting. To this day, I feel negligent with achieving my intended goal. But maybe I'm just slow at coming around to making it happen.

I've been following some spectacular blogs here at Google's Blogger. Most are highly creative in content including writing, photography, links, blogging resources and the other followers who have their own blogs. If I do not control myself, I can be lost in reading blogs for more than four hours. Like others who surf the net, I can begin reading a blog about natural healing in rural Vermont, and end up looking at a blog related to weasel fighting in Ireland. Don't ask; it just happens.

Just as I can wander reading the blogs of others', I wander with where I am going with this particular entry. My intention was to confess that I have little to offer and not much worth following. I noticed I have a difficult time writing in a public manner. I feel slightly shy, much like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon character. I want to open each blog with, " It was a quiet week here at the hermitage in Stevens Point."

I've been back to my hermitage for less than two weeks. I came here because I've been suffering with facial eczema and a severe physical reaction to the sun. I asked Michael if I could abandon him in Montana while I returned to Santa Fe. After three weeks in Santa Fe, I felt I a magnetic pull to return to Wisconsin. Somehow, I thought I could manage my condition easier if I had some solitude, very little sun, easy access to my acupuncturist and minor distractions to my yoga, pranayama and chanting practices.

When I returned to Wisconsin, everything seemed so loud and annoying. After a strong storm with heavy rain and straight-line winds, the sound of chainsaws can be heard in most yards in this college town. Last week's approaching full moon inspired our newest neighborhood couple to loudly argue with foul and abusive language. Most everyone on this block was disturbed by their nightly physical and verbal fights. For me, I had to endure their disregard for my backyard, which they used as their personal parking space. When I requested that they no longer use my yard for their cars, they were upset and abusive to me that I would suggest such an inconvenience to them, since I have no car of my own.

I love to cook. Seasonal produce from Central Wisconsin is coming into incredible abundance. On Saturday, I made a paella over a dung and twig fire. One of my neighbors could smell the fire and said that my yard smelled like household cooking in India. My dinner guest, who just returned from a SEVA-inspired trip to Liberia, was intrigued with my resolve to cook with a non-traditional cooking fuel. I reminded him that dung and a handful of twigs is a traditional cooking fuel, but as Americans, we are quite removed from what is traditional and practical.

On Sunday, I made moussaka from my CSA box. It was loaded with eggplant, Yukon Golds, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, parsley, oregano, basil and too many zucchini. Using as much as possible, I made an enormous pan of moussaka. The red sauce created without recipe, but only with the inspiration of the contents of the CSA box. The white sauce created from cooked and pureed cannellini beans with sauteed onions and too much garlic. As I am trying to stay away from dairy, I used about two ounces of cheese at the end of baking, letting the cheese melt into the top of the layered potatoes, eggplant and zucchini bake. Eggs were omitted. It was good and well worth the time it took to prepare and finally assemble the various layers. My friend Mark, who shares the CSA box with me, brought over a bottle of Rose` that went well with eating, conversation and sitting on the porch on a Sunday evening.

It is a quiet start to the week. The abusive neighbors moved out between Saturday and Sunday. The Mourning Doves are cooing with renewed contentment. The dogs around the block are relieved of their nervous barking. My kitchen door opens to a peaceful and wildly growing backyard green space. The moon is waning while autumn sneaks a kiss with summer.

Travel Day

I have a strong urge to see my original acupuncturist.



Photos: Train station in Lamy, NM and train lunch.

The Call of the Elementals

In a blog that I follow, http://sewandsowlife.blogspot.com/, the writer recently asked the question, "Do you use any herbal remedies or home cures?" At first, I was reluctant to answer that I do use herbal remedies because I have a sense that buying herbal formulas and tinctures from local herbalists has a connotation of dealing with witchcraft. Fortunately, I have met some inspired herbalists who helped me be comfortable with using herbs. I can promise from my experience that they are not the villains or evil entities portrayed in movies or religious propaganda.


In the early 70's, one of the first herbalists that I met, helped me to make a soothing herbal tea blend. Using the famous book, Back To Eden, she showed me how to make custom blends of tea. Once that door was open to the knowledge that people could create their own remedies, I started noticing that many of my friends were creating their own tinctures, teas and salves from their garden herbs, flowers and roots. Friends who changed their names or named their children after the common or Latin names of botanicals both intrigued me and sometimes frightened me. I knew that many of my friends had an affinity and Divine calling to work with plants. But I also knew that our culture, religions and government battled against the use of home remedies and those who worked with the sprites, elementals and fairies.



I am not an herbalist, but I come to herbal remedies and formulas with respect. About ten years ago, while having severe peri-menopausal disruptions, I talked to my allopathic doctor about what to do. First, he warned against the hysterectomy that the OB-GYN suggested. He warned against the hormones that were manufactured without regard to the human body. He warned against pharmaceuticals. Instead, he suggested to find my way and talk with other women. When I returned home, I called the woman who I know to have the biggest front yard herb and flower garden. She pointed me to Susan S. Weed. From there, I worked my way into the life of being peri-menopausal. The male allopathic came along on this journey of watching me take charge of my body.

Once that door was open to me actively finding my way, Naturopaths appeared. I was flooded with choices and opportunities. I was also gifted with confidence in "being allowed" to find my way.



I am currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It seems that every style of herbalist and healer spends time in Santa Fe. The local farmers' market can have as many as six herbalists on a Saturday morning, selling their herbs, lotions and tinctures. I am attracted to Artemisia Organics and her line of herbal formulas, lavender skin care blends, various rich oils, Osha root syrup and lavender honey.




The closer I move in the world of the natural, the more I feel entrained with the plants and the elementals. There are times I am called to play in the berry patches and times I am called to rest my head against the earth to listen to a root. Since this is the New Moon, I am called to create something new.




Sometimes, I am called to have a beer.

Alberta Rose

Enjoying Alberta, Canada. Tomorrow, Ian Tyson Concert.

Thanks to Michael Caditz for photo of Alberta Rose, shot at our campsite at Wapiti Campground at Jasper.

Think I'll Go Out To Alberta

Last stop is Great Falls, Montana. Then on to Alberta, Canada for a week long hiking and camping trip in Jasper.

Following a week of trails and Solstice, we'll go to Edmonton, where Michael and I have excellent seats to see Ian Tyson. Tyson has been one of my favorite singer/songwriters since the late 60's.

I continue to navigate my life using and reducing the prednisone and antibiotic.

The blogs that I've been following, especially the nature, gardening and contemporary divine feminine/mystical topics, have been deeply inspiring and nurturing. My soul is feed here, but is ready for the experience of hiking trails, glaciers, sky and earth.

Leaving My Hermitage

Going to Santa Fe.