I asked my friend Sarah to have a dream to diagnosis my mysterious wasting away illness. The next morning she texted her dream diagnosis: giardia. It sounded like an Italian military strategy and I was only vaguely sure I’d heard of before.
At the next doctor’s visit I asked that they include a giardia test along with all the others. Two days ago, I got a call from the Henrico County Health Department. You have giardia they said. My relief was immediate. With a name there should also be a cure. And I have a friend who could do what all of the doctor’s with medical degrees could not.
At one point in the course of my illness, head throbbing, neck pinched, stomach roiling, I called out to the goddess WHY? And I received a single word: RESET.
Almost all food makes my stomach cower like a beaten dog. Even the smell of coffee, my life blood, the breast milk of the goddess, is repellent. The nicotine gum I was secretly and shamefully chewing tastes like drano. Chocolate? Don’t get it near me. My primary focus has been keeping my antidepressants down but I think the mountain they’ve been asked to climb is a little too steep.
At times I’m completely ravenous. Like a bear at a campsite or a raccoon in a trash bin, I will scarf down whatever looks remotely appealing. Only it seems my body doesn’t like scarfing anymore than starving. How can I feed myself mindfully? Is this a call to heal an entire life of disordered, emotional eating?
All of the false threads of my psychological well-being have been cut off with a cosmic scissors: snip snip snip.
And so, as I begin to heal, I’ve been given a chance to reconsider every single choice I make about who I am and what I put in my body. I’ve been given a chance to rethink the way I feed myself care, for myself, nurture myself. It’s my mission, should I choose to accept it.
WRITING FIRE ON SKOOL!
Here’s a preview of a few of the amazing magical writing workshops coming up in the Skool community—which you can join for $44/month!!
💌 Conversations with the Goddess | Tuesday, August 18th @ 2pm - 3pm EST
Hosted by Valley
This is a new series Valley will be hosting on Tuesday’s. You can expect two-way-prayer exercises, as well as some other fun and exciting things ✨
Check the event details here Conversations With The Goddess
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⏱️ Sacred Time Series 1 | Thursday, August 20th @ 2pm - 3pm EST
Hosted by Lora
Join Lora to explore our relationship with time — Past, Present, Future — and make friends with it. Write about how time has shown up for you. Bring a candle, paper, a pen, and maybe a timepiece of any kind.
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✍🏻 Right Now I Am | Friday, August 21st @ 11am - 12pm EST
Hosted by Valley
Join Valley for a free-writing session, starting with the prompt ‘Right now I am’.
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🌕 Full Moon Eclipse Pisces | Friday, August 28th @ 1pm - 2pm
Hosted by Lauren
Eclipses ask us to release illusion and open to compassion. We’ll meditate and write into what’s ready to dissolve and what wants to be felt more fully. Bring a candle, paper and pen.
Writing Recovery on Wednesday Afternoons
Writing Recovery is a six-week guided series for anyone healing from addiction, illness, trauma, heartbreak, burnout, or the long slow process of remembering who they really are. Through gentle writing practices, trauma-informed prompts, embodiment, energy work, and compassionate group connection, participants will explore recovery as a creative, spiritual, and personal awakening.
From $ 188 - $255
Wed, Aug 19, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT – Wed, Sep 23, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT
Zoom
HI BRAVE WRITER!! Subscribe to my new dispatch, Letters from the Fire, to receive workshop and retreat updates, as well as a Sacred Circle Writing Oracle card and prompt in your inbox twice a month!
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I relate to this on so many levels. I struggle with the unknown and if things feel off, I seek answers. Something is drastically wrong with me when I turn my nose up to the nectar of the Goddesses, my coffee!
I crave the tangible, concrete conclusions found in a diagnosis, facts, figures, the numbers. Alas, I have something to work with and grasp. I imagine being diagnosed with Giardiasis has perhaps given this to you and not only provided relief, but a new lens to look through life with.
You are an incredible human, with great strenth, perseverance, and the ability to face difficulties and keep moving ahead. Onward and upward you go my friend. 💜