Kind greetings to all, 
 
The goldenrod is opening, the poppies have thrown off their petals and the tomatoes are perfectly ripe on the vine. August is here. It's been a while since my last missive! I wrote a letter about Roses back in June when I was in Maine that somehow disappeared and never arrived in your inboxes & I've been so busy the past few weeks that I haven't had time to write again. Until today…. To tell you that I'm stepping away from work for the next two months. 
 
I'm leaving in a few days to go on pilgrimage. Without sharing the specifics (they are currently staying close to my heart), this pilgrimage is a prayer that first formed when I was sixteen years old and now, sixteen years later, I am able to step into the fullness of this prayer. One of the characteristics of pilgrimage is that there is a clear departure from home in order to step fully into liminality; the decision to go and not be tethered to home or usual comforts. Thus, familiarity of emails and work routines will be left at home. I am signing off email & social media at the end of this week and the online shop is closed until mid-October.
 
After realizing last fall that I was going to try to make this happen in 2022, I have been dreaming, researching and praying about this journey. It has been an active process of locating my starry desires and also seeing who is showing up to collaborate. There has been a whole cohort of animals, spirits, plants, saints, Gods, weather patterns, constellations and ancestors that have been offering their voices to this prayer. For example, I had researched what I thought was the right place for me to begin this journey. I was just going to go along with what a book suggested. Something about it didn't feel right to me… it felt blurry, I could locate this uneasy feeling inside me.  This past weekend I asked before bed, “Where to begin?" and the dream that came offered a very different starting point. And the place that was offered in the dream is connected with the vision that I had at sixteen! The beginning felt very clear after that.. clear in my body, clear on an intuitive level. My intention is to stay open to the collaborative possibilities of pilgrimage.
 
Below I have included a bit more writing about herbs that I am bringing on pilgrimage and offerings that I have prepared. But I'd also like to share that I have opened registration for two fall classes: Apple Magic (in late October) and Tending The Hearth (starting in December). Appreciate those of you who have signed up in advance for either of these classes; it's definitely supporting me in this long-time dream. If you'd like to take $10 off registration for Tending The Hearth, you can use the code HESTIA. The code will be good through August 23.
a few visual threads of this pilgrimage… 
Many of my friends have been asking me what herbs I am bringing with me on this trip. The truth is that I'm not bringing a lot because I know I can find apothecaries and plants along the way. I am only allowing myself two tincture bottles! This is hard because I literally have 14 tincture bottles on my kitchen counter right now! However, I am bringing an immune blend made by my dear friend Lauren of Good Fight Herb Co. (I love this formula so much and recommend it often) as I am traveling during pandemic and also a daily constitutional formula of Rhodiola, Skullcap (my main herb for fear of plane travel, esp. these days…) & Solomon's Seal with a flower essence of Fennel that I made last summer. We will be working individually with Fennel in Mystery School this next month, so they are coming on the journey with me.
 
All week I have been working on preparing my offerings for my trip. It has always felt important that I set time aside before leaving to craft offerings to give to people and places that I meet along the way. Not only is it a foundational practice in my spiritual practice, giving offerings helps one move out of the tourist mind (I will pay for a certain experience that I expect) into traveler mind (My experience is relational and rooted in gratitude). I am weary of tourism travel where the guidebook is the concrete rule.. which inherently leads to objectification of land, culture and people. The guidebook reaffirms expectation, what is already known. It sets the stage for cultural extraction rather than building real relationship to people and place. Let the offerings be the guide, they will open the door to relationship.
 
I am bringing a very limited amount of luggage with me on this pilgrimage, but I knew I wanted to have room to bring something from the lands where I live. This week I harvested Mugwort from the giant stand that grows around my home and made many small bundles that will come with me as offerings. For my ancestors from the southern Mediterranean, Mugwort was placed in the shoe of those who were on pilgrimage as a protector, but also to relieve tired, aching feet. It was also worn around the neck as an amulet. So my ancestral pilgrimage herb is packed and ready to go; these bundles will be given to those special ones I meet along the way in gratitude. I have also made an offering salt, with salt that I harvested from the Atlantic mixed with mugwort, rose petals, cottonwood buds and cornflower. This salt will be sprinkled and offered to the ground and holy places along the way. They are humble little offerings, but I do not want to arrive empty handed.
 
Time to bring this update to a close. I am off to go weed the garden… will probably just eat a lot of tomatoes while standing there and looking at all the weeds. Thanks for reading this lengthy missive & thanks for understanding my spaciousness! I'll be back in October with more class announcements and probably a lot of apple season enthusiasm and recipes. 
 
To a good harvest this season & fruitful blessings as we move toward the equinox…see you on the other side! 
 
xoxo Liz 
 
offering salt <3