Equilibrium

13/07/2026

I am my mother's savage daughter,
the one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones.
I am my mother's savage daughter,
I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice.

My mother's child is a savage,
She looks for her omens in the colors of stones,
In the faces of cats, in the fall of feathers,
In the dancing of fire and the curve of old bones.

My mother's child dances in darkness,
And sings heathen songs by the light of the moon,
And watches the stars and renames the planets,
And dreams she can reach them with a song and a broom.

My mother's child curses too loud and too often,
My mother's child laughs too hard and too long,
And howls at the moon and sleeps in ditches,
And clumsily raises her voice in this song.

Now we’re brought forth out of darkness and water,
Brought into this world through blood and through pain,
And deep in our bones, the old songs are wakening,
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain.

We are our mother's savage daughters,
The ones who run barefoot cursing sharp stones.
We are our mother's savage daughters,
We will not cut our hair, We will not lower our voice”

~ Wyndreth Berginsdottir,
My Mother’s Savage Daughter
https://www.facebook.com/Wyndreth
https://wyndrethsavagedaughtershieldmaid.bandcamp.com/track/my-mothers-savage-daughter-studio-2

Art: Ana Novaes

29/06/2026

21/06/2026

Today is Midsummer. The longest light of the year.

But the old wisdom in that moment is not only brightness. It is the turn. Even at the height of Sól's power, the year begins to bend toward darkness again.

Midsummer is easy to speak of as celebration alone. Light, warmth, growth, fire, the open sky, the fullness of the year standing above the world. All of that belongs to it. But there is a harder wisdom hidden in the longest day.

At Midsummer the light reaches its height, and then the turning begins. That does not make the day less sacred. It makes it more honest. Sól stands at her greatest strength in the year, and yet even that strength does not freeze the world in place. The sun does not hold the height forever. The year does not stop because the light is beautiful. The wheel turns. What rises must also bend. What is full must one day pass into another season.

This is where Sól gives us something deeper than warmth. Brightness is passage, not something held but something moved through. The old northern worldview was never built on the idea that good things remain untouched forever. The Eddic material itself knows that even Sól is pursued, that even She is not beyond fate, that even light belongs to movement, danger, sequence and change.

That is why Midsummer can be powerful without being soft. It is not a denial of darkness. It is the great height before the long turning back, a reminder that joy is real but not permanent, strength is real but not endless, beauty is real but not something we can command to stay. Because of that, it must be honored while it is here.

A person who understands the turning of the year does not waste the light, does not treat the good season as ordinary just because it has arrived. They know winter will come again, that hardship will return, that no bright thing is free from change. So they stand in the light with open eyes, gathering what can be gathered, repairing what must be repaired, strengthening the hall, the household, the bond, the body, the spirit, and the memory. They do not worship comfort. They honor the season by living well inside it.

That is the lesson worth taking from Sól at Midsummer. Not endless summer, not shallow happiness, not the fantasy that darkness has been defeated forever but the recognition that the light reaches its height and the wise know what that means. They honor it, use it, remember it, and let it strengthen them for what comes after.

On this particular Sunnudagr, at Midsummer, Sól reminds us that the brightest point of the year is also a turning point. The light is sacred. So is knowing that it will not remain unchanged.
~The Roots Of Yggdrasil~

06/06/2026

SOUND AS A SIGNAL 🎶

I listened to a fascinating lecture by Prof Stephen Porges, founder of Polyvagal Theory. What stayed with me was his description of SOUND AS A SIGNAL that can "bypass the thinking brain" for a period of time.

Porges explained that we can give a signal to the body through SOUND that travels through pathways involving the dorsal vagus nerve to the heart, gut, vascular system & autonomic nervous system.

In essence, SOUND CAN HELP SHIFT STATE.

Rather than beginning with thought, THE BODY RECIEVES THE INFORMATION FIRST. A signal is sent throughout the system & a message returns to the cortex that says:

"Everything is okay."

This is important because trauma, anxiety, depression & chronic dysregulation are physiological states WITHIN THE BODY.

Porges spoke about creating an ENVIRONMENT THAT HELPS CALM the autonomic nervous system, where we FEEL SAFE enough to give up our vigilance & simply EXPERIENCE OUR BODY.

He described humans as RHYTHMIC BEINGS & suggested that rhythm has the capacity to bring order & regulation where there may have been chaos & dysregulation.

When the nervous system begins to feel safe, it moves away from protection & towards RESTORATION.

Towards HEALTH.
Towards GROWTH.
Towards HEALING.

Research associated with Porges & the Florida State University College of Medicine has demonstrated SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS in areas including anxiety, depression, long covid, gut health & nervous system regulation THROUGH SOUND-BASED interventions.

As someone who works with sound every week, this resonates deeply.

People often arrive carrying stress, grief, overwhelm, tension or exhaustion.

Then the sound begins.

The breathing changes.

The body softens.

Something shifts.

Not because anyone is trying to think differently, but because the BODY HAS RECEIVED THE SIGNAL that it's SAFE ENOUGH TO LET GO.

Perhaps this is why sound has been part of healing traditions for 1000s of years.

The body has always understood what science is only now beginning to explain.

💜

Next Sound Relax Eve - Thurs 9th July
1930 - 2130 N.Essex, CO9

04/06/2026

The drumbeat you feel in your chest is older than your fear. It comes from footsteps, ceremonies, tears, births, burials, and prayers carried across generations. When the world tries to make you small, place your hand over your heart and remember: a sacred rhythm does not need permission to continue.

31/05/2026

No one shall take my power,
no one shall govern me,
I am wild in my wisdom,
I am strong and I am free.
Sovereign of body,
sovereign of soul,
I am sacred,
I am whole.

-Molly Remer

Excerpt from “Women’s Sovereignty and Body Autonomy Beyond Roe vs Wade”, an anthology by Girl God Books


Art by Eva-Živa Blažková, ‘Sovereignty’zena

31/05/2026

Two Songs in One Breath

The elders say
joy is a small messenger,
sent from the edge of morning
to wake the sleeping heart.

What is light does not mean empty.
A wing may carry old prayers
farther than heavy footsteps
ever could.

Two spirits rise together,
not to escape the earth,
but to remind the earth
how softly hope can return.

The smallest life
can hold a great teaching:
drink from the sweetness given,
then leave no wound behind.

So let the heart be bright.
Let it move with gratitude.
Even a brief song
can bless the whole sky.

🎨Artist and storyteller: Dorothy Vera

31/05/2026

The Keeper of Soft Power

The elders say
the strongest guardian
does not stand before the people
to be praised,
but walks beside them in silence.

There is a courage
made of snow, breath, and old patience—
it does not strike first,
yet no darkness can move it
from its sacred duty.

A true heart learns
to carry tenderness like a shield.
It knows that protection
is not always fierce;
sometimes it is simply staying near.

The ancestors leave signs
for those who listen with humility.
They teach that every life
has a circle to honor,
and every spirit a path to keep.

So walk gently
with the medicine of peace.
What is guided by love
can cross any winter
and still return whole.

🎨Artist and storyteller: Dorothy Vera