The Phoenix Soul is my long-held dream come to life. I published 64 digital issues of The Phoenix Soul magazine (featuring a vibrant and heartfelt staff, plus countless amazing guest artists and writers), and I was so dang proud of them! I felt lit up, sizzling with purpose and passion. Then, in true phoenix soul fashion, my life fell apart. After birthing my beloved son, postpartum anxiety and depression grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go. Chronic sleeplessness and intense overnight parenting left me on the brink. Something had to change. I pressed pause on publication and focused on getting through—then healing. I began building our free collaborative blog, where I now publish the same kind of emotional truth-telling and magic-making poetry, essays, and more that readers fell in love with in our magazine.

But my phoenix soul story was long from over.

In late autumn 2022, my family and I took a giant leap of courage. We sold off and donated most of our belongings (including our home of seventeen years), packed our tiny U-Haul, and moved cross-country from South Dakota to Oregon. We’re now exploring the Oregon coast, eyes wide in wonder, faces lifted to sea breezes, feet traveling forest and beach paths. There’s something mysterious and magical about this craggy coast, where forest and ocean meet and meld. I feel like Alice tumbling into Wonderland, complete with giant red mushrooms at my feet! My camera is never far from my hands, and poetry is bubbling up and out of me again after a long drought. Though life here includes both brutal and beautiful moments, something about it all makes me feel vibrantly alive again. I’m healing, at last. I can’t wait to share this adventure with you through art, photography, poetry, and more. Come join me at my new second brand, Love from PNW, to enjoy more Oregon inspiration! I’m also posting lots of thoughts and pictures from Oregon in my weekly soul-prompts on Patreon (only $1/month to subscribe).

My Instagram friend @wordsartmagic commented recently, “Watching your wonder as you explore your new surroundings is joyful, thank you"—and it got me thinking. I’m coming up with fresh ways to create and share my Oregon explorations with you. I’ve been creating found poetry on found objects (seashells, driftwood, clam shells, stones). My camera roll is filling up and my poetry journal is getting thicker! I’m also creating one of my favorite things in years—a colorful guided journal with soulful prompts, which will be published print on demand via Amazon. Yes, that means a physical copy you can hold and scribble your dreams in! I can’t wait.

Are you excited to hear updates? Wanna grab coupon codes and behind the scenes peeks? Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be the first to know (plus you’ll get a free issue of The Phoenix Soul digital magazine).

I believe:

• your messy, complicated, richly layered life is beautiful . . . just as it is

• your story matters . . . the one only you were born to tell

• our everyday world shimmers with magic and mystery (if only we look)

• we can cultivate hope and healing, even/especially among our bumps and bruises

• you + me + we are stronger together than we could ever be apart

• we are all phoenix souls, able to remake ourselves as often as needed, to rise from the ash of what was to embrace what is, and what yet can be