Porn Kills Love

In our culture, where pornography wields a mighty $13 billion each year (and climbing), none of us are separate from the impact it is having on sexuality and intimacy.  Is it surprising that the largest consumer of internet porn are male tweens, commonly seeing their first hard porn on the internet by the ripe age … Continue reading →

Mississippi Clear-cut, Take 1

Clear-cut in Mississippi, Take 1 It still happens. If I leave home and go anywhere, I see this. And, they say it’s gotten worse. These clear-cuts, if they could talk, would shape slack-jawed syllables…and circle like vultures over our heads. And who is HE that takes so much and leaves so little behind? I want … Continue reading →

Gratitude and Reflections

2014 Reflections ~ Madhupa Maypop What a journey it has been this year! This past year has been about revealing, revealing, and then more revealing. Some of my most personal and intimate information (via my blog post “I Was Born to Do This”) was unearthed this year and it’s just the beginning. I do hope … Continue reading →

More than ever…

More than ever… More than ever we need art. More than ever we need imagination. Not fantasy. No, not that. We need IMAGINATION. We need to take real pain, real suffering, and real injustice and transform it (with art)…into something meaningful and empowering. More than ever… We must call on our gifts… to dream, envision, … Continue reading →

Winter Womb and the Dark

Winter words I’d like to share… Remember that fear loves Winter…loves dark…loves stillness… I have to remind myself to meet it as it is…as a long, lost friend coming to teach me something new about my mind. See it. Name it. Let it be on its way. What is on the other side of fear, … Continue reading →

Eastern Red Cedar: Deep Tree Medicine

I have to pay homage to this amazing plant ally, especially after its generous gift to me after a recent and intense car accident.  Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is quite prolific in Mississippi, where I live.  It is a common and vigorous pioneer species, found along roadsides and also in deforested areas.  It is … Continue reading →

‘Sippi ‘Simmon Harvest and Yum Recipes

Persimmon (Diospyros spp):  “dios” and “pyros” basically work together to mean “divine fruit” Alas, it’s persimmon time in Mississippi…  The Deep South is dotted with wild persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) and I’ve been snacking on those.  However, to make jam, I went for the large, cultivated fellas from the lovely local orchard, Reese Orchard.  Reese has … Continue reading →

The Honored Middle and Gut Health

Some thoughts on gut health ~ Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) say that gut health actually provides the necessary ingredients to protect the heart (where spirit or “shen” resides). In Japan, the large intestine is referred to as both the “honored middle” (onaka) and “center of the spiritual and physical strength” (hara).  The soul … Continue reading →