I am delighted to announce that my online course, “Divine Nourishment through Seasonal Cooking” is now available in collaboration with Daily Om. Simply click on this link, follow instructions for payment, and the 8 week course will be sent to you one lesson per week!! Please check it out!

Thank you

Mary Lane

It is officially winter. My parting experience from fall, and my welcoming experience into winter will give me plenty to take into my winter inner travels to integrate, gestate, and bring form to in the spring.

I recently went back to my former full time home, Maui to support a close friend through her final passage in this incarnation. I arrived only three days before she left her body. It was the end of fall, the end of her life, the ultimate let go that the essence of fall embodies. I was honored to witness her process of letting go in those final days, recognizing that the more she let go the more she felt the love and compassion pouring her way from our community of caregivers. She left this life feeling loved and cared for, just as it should be, and, she gave us the gift of witnessing her final breath as she took it with eyes wide open and a smile on her face.

I was actively working the piece of letting go of control so I could open to a deeper connection to inner guidance before I went to Maui this fall. What I was given was the ultimate example. Just one of the many examples I was to receive showing me how life opens up and gives you what you need.

Now, I have obviously been restoring my relationship with the Divine Feminine throughout my journey in this lifetime. Hence the book I have written. This experience showed me there was a deeper level of work for me to do to reclaim my ability to open, and receive while letting go of what I think it should look like. Just like my friend at the end of her life, my needs are met, my soul is leading the way, just stay awake, even if it is your last breath, let go, and you will be met with LOVE. She left on the dark of the moon at the darkest time of the year on Dec12th. By the time we carried her body through the remainder of this sacred ritual it was time to go home.

I left Maui to return to my home in the mountains outside of Asheville, NC. I almost couldn’t take in all the love, appreciation, and kindness I was surrounded by. I kept feeling that I just needed some quiet time to integrate this experience so I don’t waste the incredible gift my friend left me with. I could see that there was some work to do of my own around receiving.

Upon returning home I was met by a big snow storm. I was stranded in my home on the mountain with my car stuck in a ditch halfway down my windy dirt road. The power lines came down along with the phone lines. The pump for the well doesn’t run without electricity. Nothing to do for days except be still, quiet, and integrate. I was given exactly what I needed. Now I am continuing to be quiet in the stillness of winter, stoking my wood burning stove, going deeper into the gift my world has offered up for my growth and reclamation of a shy, somewhat dormant piece of myself that is essential. I am much more conscious of how it feels to meet the world with a tight fist or an open receptive hand. The recent experiences have once again given me the reminder that I can trust that the jewels of life will land in my welcoming palm.

My beloved friend’s name was Joy. How poignant to also be reminded that I can learn through Joy. Thank you my beloved dear sister. Your parting gift was gratefully received and will not be wasted.

Saumya Interview 5

I am delighted to share the last segment of my interview with Saumya. I hope it has touched a recognition within and has been supportive to you on your journey.

Love, Mary

Saumya Interview 3

This is part three of my interview with Saumya after she had read my book and began the practices in the first part of it. It supports you to nourish yourself. There is more coming so please stay tuned.

Saumya Interview 2 2

I would like to share an interview with my friend Saumya who has read my book, Divine Nourishment/A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food. This is part 1. I have to share this in little bite size pieces so it’s not too big of a file for this blog. If the first part intrigues you come back for the second helping. It could be delicious.

Fall is a time of letting go and cleansing. The season relates to the colon and lungs in Chinese Medicine. Their imbalances get magnified in the fall. Not only is it a good time to cleanse the colon, but allowing the grief that is stored in our lungs and respiratory system is cleansed through the grieving process. We have a tendency to shy away from grief in our culture. It is an uncomfortable emotion for many. Grieving loss is the same as valuing and honoring. Being a plant spirit person who seeks the guidance and wisdom of the plant kingdom I reflect on something I was told in one of my plant explorations. “If you can’t grieve, you can’t love. To the depth you can grieve is the depth you can love.” When you value and honor someone or something it is part of the honoring to grieve its loss. Holding onto the grief and stuffing it away in the shadows keeps us at arms length from deep love.

This season has so much to offer to support us to embrace all of ourselves and the world around us. On the pure physical level it is an ideal time to cleanse the colon and remove the old sludge from our bodies. On the emotional level it is a wonderful time to go inward and feel our grief. Let it move us into a deep cleansing of our soul. Ritualize it and make it sacred. Let it rip. Go for it. Feel the sweetness that pure grief has. Feel how honoring it is of what we are grieving. It will prepare you for planting the seeds and growth of our ever changing life adventure.

I have a good colon cleanse and herb tea tonic in my book that supports you to align with this season and embrace the support that is available this time of year for our human journey.

My attention naturally begins to turn inward as the weather cools and fall begins to take hold. What have I harvested from the last year’s cycle of efforts? How am I honoring myself and my loved ones. What do I need to let go of in order to nourish the shift from self rejection to self honoring? Am I living a life that honors who am? Am I taking steps every day to bring the Divine Feminine within myself out of the shadows? These questions always seem to arise when I enter this season.

I woke up today with the recognition that yesterday was one of those perfect days that honors who I am and the life I strive to live as a manifestation and expression of Mary.

I actually woke up feeling a little off. It was a beautiful day, so I put on my hiking boots, strapped on my fanny pack with my harvesting tools and headed out the door for a walk. A walk in the woods on the mountain where I live is a sure way to brig me back to myself. I meandered along the creek and found a huge wild blueberry bush bursting with ripe blueberries. I gathered the berries as I created all kinds of dishes in my head that blueberries could star in. I continued down the road and because we have had a wet summer the bounty of mushrooms growing on the mountain is quite abundant. I gathered what I knew for sure was edible, plus what I thought was a chantrelle, but not 100% sure. If chantrelles are growing in my neighborhood I’m more in heaven than I thought. I stopped by the neighbor’s house and we got out our books to key it out.Yes, a chantrelle!

I continued up the road toward my home and found an elderberry bush full of ripe berries. I have been waiting to make my winter flu remedy from the berries, so this was the day. I stopped and gathered the berries, as many as I could possibly get from one bush.

When I got home I made my flu remedy with the berries. I went out to the garden and picked ripe tomatoes and herbs and made a delicious tomato sauce. I prepared a wild mushroom risotto with the mushrooms gathered on my walk, topped with my garden tomato sauce and served it with steamed collard greens which I bought from a local farmer. I shared my very local meal with a friend and we oohed and aahed over how delicious and nourishing it was. Grounding myself in the wild gatherer in me, eating the foods that live with me on the mountain, whether in my garden or out in the wild and sharing it, making my medicine is honoring who I am when I am left to my own soul’s needs. I realized that when I am off and feeling overwhelmed the best remedy is to just stop and take time to be me. It will bring me back. What a concept. I have discovered yet another good reason to honor myself and let go of what doesn’t serve that. Can I trust that life will support me when I devote myself to being me as I bring the Divine Feminine within myself out of the shadows of my own psyche and let her live in a place of honor in my life? Well, this is my experiment. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. I welcome dialog with anyone who is doing the same experiment.

We are easing our way toward fall here in the mountains near Asheville. I can feel the shift in the air, the energy in my garden, and the essence of my inner journey begin to take on the flavor of the season. I continue to marvel at how my spiritual focus, emotions, and physical desires shift as the season does. Hopefully late summer will raise her head again before fully dropping into the fall season. I still have a little more work to do with her before feeling complete for the year.

Some of fall qualities is harvesting our fruit from the efforts put forth in the previous cycle. As we revel in that harvest we are encouraged to let go of beliefs, patterns, etc that keep us from growing into more of our true self. Right along side having to face the chains I have put on myself in response to a culture that is — what can I say, “doing its best,” I am reminded of how important it is to honor and value myself so that I can shift the energy and focus from what I consider my shortcomings to what is so wondrous and courageous. Oh my, we are not suppose to be so bold as to recognize those parts of ourself. We have been told it is vain, self centered and egotistical. It is not humble enough to recognize our beauty, courage, strength, and awesomeness.

What I have had to admit to myself recently through this journey of offering my book is that if we can’t do that for ourselves we can’t do that for others. The result of that is an unconscious holding back of ourselves and our loved ones from blossoming into their fullness with gifts to share.

Fall provides the ideal energetic container to get in touch with what holds us back, and what we need to honor in ourselves, others, and the world around us. The mingling with the energy of late summer supports us to hold ourselves close to our heart with compassion as we explore this territory. It is very helpful to ground ourself in the late summer energy of the Divine Mother so we feel held as we begin our journey inward.

As we travel through fall I will share some seasonal recipes that support this part of our yearly journey. In my book I list many herbs, spice blends, fall cleanse and deeper understanding of how to embrace these fall qualities within ourselves.