March 1 is the official launch date for my new book, Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality (Llewellyn). Publisher's Weekly wrote, "the author's gentle optimism about human relationship to the Earth and earnest care for the planet in all its particularity is a welcome contribution to environmental advocacy." Voices is a prayer for the Earth, a guide for a new way of living on the planet - or rather, a very old one brought into modern culture - where we humans know the voices of the land, the spirit of the animals, trees, stones, and rivers, and in doing so are able to craft a world of harmony and respect for nature and each other. I offer stories of my own experiences with nature, including song birds, trees, Puget Sound, and even mama marijuana, just to name a few. Then I suggest specific ways you might deepen your relationship with the world through art, meditation, and practice. Voices of the Earth is a must for anyone who loves nature, is drawn to a spirituality of any path that embraces the land, and yearns for a more harmonious world.

You can purchase Voices through any independent bookstore (or any bookstore, for that matter, but I always suggest supporting your local indie!), or online at Amazon.com.

Read an interview with author Clea Danaan (that's me!) here.

I don't "hear" my intuition - I feel it. It feels like a pull in one direction or another, or like an expansion, or like knowing something as it roots me to time and space.

I would not want to live in this body forever. Having experienced at least once the glorious beauty and lightness of the other side of the veil, while I love this life and hope to stay here healthy and strong as long as I can, I also look forward to crossing over one day.

At the ocean - the west coast. On one of my last trips to the Oregon coast, we found great tide pools nestled among the huge black rocks seen in postcards of Cannon Beach. I rolled up my pant legs and walked barefoot among the rocks, letting my barefeet slip into the soft tan colored sand. We found many creatures, but my favorite was a hermit crab without a shell. I felt for the little guy. I haven't been to the coast in almost four years now, and I miss it dearly. Maybe this summer.

There are different kinds of suffering. There is value in challenge, in adversity - we learn and grow and usually come out stronger, especially if we try to face the situation with awareness of the bigger picture. Suffering, as in feeling crummy about adversity, doesn't seem to serve much purpose except to make one feel worse. But letting go of that suffering, especially in a society that rewards whining, is easier said than done.

The faint pink line that showed up this morning!!!

Wealth and money. When I was in private practice as a massage therapist, I felt uncomfortable getting paid. It's so less awkward to just get a paycheck stealthily deposited. It's something I sat with and witnessed in myself every time someone paid me or gave me a tip.

I'm working on accepting wealth. I think I've limited myself to a degree in my life in regards to money, and I want to turn that around. I'm slowly accepting that wealth is not a son - it's what one does with it and how one gets it that matters. All is flow. But I'm still working on asking for that from the Universe and my higher self.

This day exemplifies how great life is right now. I rode my bike with my kid on the back to the library, then to the playground at her preschool. Then we came home and had lunch. Then she practiced riding HER bike - she's getting so BIG! And then we planted seeds for cold stratification. It's 60 degress and lovely today (with snow forecast for tomorrow), so we soaked up the sun and played "Big Gardener and Little Gardener" while doing my favorite thing: planting seeds in fluffy dark soil. Oh, and then I paid off two credit cars because we finally sold our second car. Life is good.

I really really want my book coming out in March to sell well. I want to pay of debt and be able to continue to stay home with my daughter.

In between contractions, while being flooded with endorphins. The pauses between labor contractions are the most amazing place ever. So calm, so powerful, so full of light and peace. Unbelievable. Then a contraction would come and turn my world upside down, and then the calm would come again and I would float on the beauty of the Goddess wrapping me in her arms. I was totally present, totally in my body, glowing with the power of birth.