Dear friends,

 

Happy Valentine's Day. 

 

If you'd told me I would be writing you all a letter about love a month ago, I would have laughed very darkly. I don't think I have anything to say about that, I might have said. Or, I'm not ready to even think about love for a long time. 

 

But having rounded the corner on my most recent soul descent, my deepest-and-bravest-yet dive into the underworld, I can now say to you joyfully that I am more in love than I have ever been. With myself, with life. How strange. This love has nothing to do with another human being. I have finally found the elusive Beloved in myself.

 

I never thought that I could be happy on my own, without seeking to feel completed by another. But here I am. It is liberating.

 

These are difficult times. I think we all need to double down on self-care. What does this look like for me? It looks like nights in my own energy, cooking and watching a comforting TV show and snuggling with my cat. It looks like not looking at social media and setting strong boundaries around when I look at the news and at my email. It has looked like, in recent months, regular somatic therapy to work on my relationship with myself and on my nervous system (I CANNOT recommend IFS/Hakomi/parts work enough - I am so much kinder to myself for it). It looks like herbal tea in the evenings. It also looks like a daily spiritual practice I am committed to (I will be sharing more about this soon, and inviting you into it with me if you feel called). 

 

My deepest prayer is that The Golden Thread can support people to find the nourishment that they need in this dark and scary passage that we are in. Please explore the healer directory if you are needing some 1:1 support right now. Know that many of us are sliding scale, if finances feel tight. Our library page will be up and running within the month, so that you can explore books and articles to feed your soul. 

 

I was SO lucky to get to chat with Liz Migliorelli, founder of Sister Spinster, for a full hour for our podcast this month. We talked about love and about the power of herbs to drop us into our bodies. We talked about roses and how their medicine goes so much deeper than Hallmark would have us believe. We also talked about aphrodisiacs. I hope you find the time to listen in <3

 

Please reach out to me directly if there is anything else I can help you find. I want to be a well for you. So do my insanely amazing teammates, Drew and Eloise. 

 

With love,

Olivia, founder of The Golden Thread

A conversation with Liz Migliorelli, founder of Sister Spinster, on how she fell in love with plants, how we can too, and how we can use them to fall more deeply in love with life and other humans. Listen here. 

 

gathered by the golden thread team

 

The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak

We - Robert A Johnson

All About Love - bell hooks

Just Kids - Patti Smith

Still Life with Woodpecker - Tom Robbins

Liberated Love - Mark Groves and Kylie McBeath

Polysecure  - Jessica Fern

 

 

 

 

We hope that you've enjoyed reading (and listening!). 

 

If you have any favorite healing resources (books, podcast episodes, ecological projects) we should have in our resource library, send them in here! And please consider submitting your writing here for future editions of The Muse, if you write anything having to do with spirituality, ecology, magic, or weaving a better world. 

 

We have been hosting beautiful collective prayer + dreaming circles as well as monthly council circles for our healer directory members. These are nourishing spaces to ground, to connect, and to attune ourselves to what we are hoping to birth in the world. We would love to have you. 

 

We have a growing group of members in the healer directory, so if you are looking for a healer or therapist, we invite you to look there! If you are a healer yourself, please apply to join us.