yes yes
there is wonder here too
hello hello,
the sun is shining bright in the blue sky, glinting off of the mountains of snow covering these hills. its a winter wonderland, truly, and on the days like this when the clouds part and the sky feels wide and open, my chest feels wide and open too.
i remember to let myself be shaped by the land, to open to the interconnection that is here rather than blocking it out as empire suggests. i can breathe in the beauty, the expanse, let it fill me up; letting it remind me to take a full breath, reminding me that there is still hope and growing light.
i let my shoulders drop, my jaw unclench, my body release some of the tension these grim times have shaped into me. i remember there is more.
yes, there is so much to tend in this moment, so much violence to challenge and counter, so much resistance to keep feeding, so much work to do yes yes and..
there is also the way the sun glints off of the snow. the breathtaking view of a cold bright winter day. the stillness, the silence of a land blanketed by snow. the way the call of a crow travels even further across the landscape on days like these. the way the light lingers a little longer each day, reluctant to depart as we move through Imbolc season.
yes yes, there is wonder here too.
even now.
can you feel it?
what songs is the land singing where you are? can you make time today, this week, this season to listen?
Listening is a practice, like any other. We make time for it or we don’t; this is a choice like any other. Remember that you have a choice today, even now, even as the pressure continues to mount. Can we still keep tending our relationship to land, to spirit, to ancestors, even now? especially now? Can you carve out 5 minutes, 10 minutes, one hour to be with them?
Can you make space, large or small, to remember that you too are always shaped by the land with whom you are in relationship with? Can you let that relationship support you, nourish you, help you keep showing up? Can you let it guide you as you do your work in the world, as we collectively shape toward justice rather than empire?
Remember the land. Remember spirit. Remember your why, your dreams of justice and a world built around care. Don’t forget to feel it, the hope and beauty and the support and the possibility. Don’t forget to let wonder in too.
Let them all guide you in the days ahead.
with you in the struggle,
rowan
PS - final call for any Attune or Foundations program alumni who want to join wellspring: exploring the three cauldrons and embodied white supremacy. we begin tonight!
SPRING QUEERCARE
now enrolling! hope you can join us.
DELVING THE DEPTHS: a communion of writing & plant kin exploring our stories of suicidality - This is an online writing group & community exploration into the wise knowings and stories of suicidality in our bodies. What happens when we remove internalized stigma, open to the wisdom of poison plants and begin to get curious and listen? Participants will each receive plant essences in the mail to work with. Delving the Depths will run March - April 2026. Registration is open! All the details here: Delving the Depths
FURTHER AHEAD: SUMMERTIME MAGIC
THE PLANTS OF OUR PEOPLE: the next cohort of TPoP will run this warm season, beginning in May. In TPoP we reweave cultural and ancestral herbalisms through research and creative practice, in service to unsettling traditional western herbalism and remembering our lineages before whiteness. Over the course of four months, you will be supported in your own project exploring these themes, with lots of guidance and community accountability. Its nerdy, creative, fun and so so meaningful. Be a part of the work of reweaving anticolonial herbalisms! Discounted early registration will open for waitlist folks in March, head here for more info and sign up to hear first: The Plants of our People
TAKING OUR HERBAL T Program: Ember and I will be facilitating another round of Taking our Herbal T this year. It will run May-November 2026. Hop onto the waitlist to hear first - we will be sharing all the details in March! Sign up over on the waitlist here: Taking Our Herbal T
Taking our Herbal T Zine: We are also excited to share the community zine from our first year with community soon, so keep an eye out for that as well. Its such a gift to be a part of this important collective work. I’ll be sharing more here in the newsletter and on IG in the coming weeks about how to get a copy!
Thank you for reading and being in connection with me. i deeply believe that through connection and deeply interwoven community, we are building the world to come.
with you for total liberation,
rowan
to support my work at of hawthorn and yew, consider becoming a paid subscriber. as a thank you, paid subscribers receive access to the home/body digital zine library, where new zines are added as they emerge and are downloadable to keep. thank you, thank you for this support! it means the world to me.
work with me & stay connected
the cauldron of politicized ancestral reclamation work: ofhawthornandyew.com
join us in community over at of hawthorn and yew for offerings on politicized ancestral reconnection, Celtic Isles diasporic work, and online programming on reweaving cultural herbalisms here on n america. together we connect to our european-descended ancestors, reweave culture lost from assimiliation into whiteness, and embody our values more deeply.
queercare herbalism & somatics practice for 1:1 and small group healing: wildalivenessapothecary.com
seeking community queercare? I see clients 1:1 as well as offer small group programs on herbalism & somatics through my healing practice, wild aliveness apothecary
email to connect: ofhawthornandyew@protonmail.com