There is a moment each year when everything feels perfectly still, like the earth is pausing, just for a breath. Day and night come into balance, light and dark meet as equals, and for a quiet instant, the world rests between what has been and what is about to unfold. That moment is the equinox. It arrived today at 10:46 am eastern time, and its energy continues through March 22. For indigenous cultures, the Spring Equinox was the start of the new year. It’s the moment the light begins to edge past the dark, when the earth starts to stir awake and everything in the northern hemisphere quietly leans toward growth all at once. THIS is the beginning, not January 1.
We are part of the earth; we do not just live on it, we are made of it - molecules of recycled stars and dirt and water and air, tree bark and rocks and wolf hair, fish scales and butterflies and flowers. So, it's no wonder that many of us don't feel aligned with January 1 - we're aligned with the cycles and seasons of the earth. Spend any time out in wild places, and you're guaranteed to start aligning more with earth's natural cycles.
Making resolutions on January 1 has always felt just arbitrary and I've never really been able to do it. Perhaps my mind and body have always known that January 1 isn't the start of the new year (because, really, who wants the new year to begin in the depths of winter, when all is asleep, quiet, hibernating ... paused?), and have waited until that first sign of Spring to coalesce, ready to begin again. So, our modern calendar can decide January 1 is the start of the new year, but the earth and my soul know better: it's the Spring Equinox.
Today feels especially potent, because it is not only the Spring Equinox and the beginning of a new seasonal year. Today is also the day the sun enters Aries and the astrological new year begins - this is the Zero Point of the zodiac year, the beginning. And Mercury goes direct today, after being in retrograde for a couple of weeks, with all the havoc that can create in communications and technology, pulling unfinished business and situations back into the forefront.
Two days from now on March 22, as the equinox closes, the sun meets Neptune in Aries for the first time in over 164 years (the last time was during the Civil War!), a significant event that emphasizes taking action in a blend of personal identity and embracing and asserting dreams and aspirations. Saturn is already in Aries, beginning a conjunction with Neptune that hasn't happened in this sign in over a generation and signifying powerful new beginnings and shifts in how we perceive reality and our own beliefs.
All of this happening on the same day coalesces into a single message: Move. The Spring Equinox is the moment light returns, life and growth begin to unfurl. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and it carries the energy of ignition. This energy doesn't wait for us to feel ready; it doesn't ask for permission. Today's energy is asking us to move towards what we know we want - perhaps only in the quiet, private place inside us where it's been waiting - and to let go of what no longer serves us or is in our highest good, and to move forward.
Really, I'm not a big follower of astrology; I don't read my horoscope every day or make decisions around astrology; I don't understand a lot of the technical terms. I tend to be mostly just entertained by it, except that sometimes, wow, it really seems aligned and more than coincidence. And I do feel it - this is a year of movement, opportunity, action, boldness. This year of the Fire Horse seems perfect for one of my favorite quotes:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can,
Begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The year leading up to this one was a whopper for me. It seems like it was for many people and that makes sense, given it was a Snake year.
2025 started in Tucson, Arizona, where I'd purchased a townhouse in 2024. In early 2025, I was reacquainted with an early love of mine: ceramics. The best thing about Tucson was the community center within walking distance of my house, which had a fabulous ceramics studio. I signed up for classes from January until May - beginner classes because it had quite literally been 30 years since I had last touched clay. I fully expected to remember absolutely nothing. Call me shocked when I sat down at the wheel and threw a pot! Muscle memory really is FOR REAL.
It was glorious, those days in the studio reconnecting with clay - with this fundamental ingredient of earth that I loved so much. I hope one day I can get back to it. I actually still have my pottery wheel and tools, stored in Virginia. Maybe one day they'll come back west with me.
I came back to New Mexico last year as summer began, to spend time and help care for a dear friend who was in the last stages of melanoma. Being here with her was such a gift, both to have the time with her before she passed, help her and her husband, and also to be back in New Mexico. I stayed at a friend's guest house, and over time I realized I really did not like Tucson at all and didn't want to be there.
So, when September came, I decided to sell my townhouse and, as things align perfectly sometimes, one of the other residents wanted to buy it and did, no realtor, no open houses, no wondering. Phew, I was homeless in October! Everything went into storage in New Mexico (where most of it still sits, waiting for me to land somewhere permanent). Then, my friends whose guest house I was staying in said they were interested in renting it so again, in perfect alignment, I rented it from them.
My dearest Lenna, gone from this plane far too soon, but with us always
At the end of 2025, a relationship also ended that I really thought would be forever. Another unexpected shift in a year full of change, upheaval, and loss. I had a lot to grieve and manage in 2025, that's for sure. Going back to astrology, 2025 was the year of the Snake - symbolizing wisdom, transformation, renewal, intuition, power, and shedding what no longer works or can continue on. 2025 was definitely a year of growth and change on many levels. Did you feel this, too?
2026 has come in like a lion or, more appropriately, a Fire Horse! I'm back in New Mexico, and so happy to be here. In mid-February, some dear friends texted that the woman who lived next to them was selling her house. This just happened to be the house I've had my eye on since 2019. Every time I drove past, I would literally think, "I love that house. I want to live there."
I reached out to her, and once again, in perfect alignment and timing, we agreed on a price, and in less than a month I had bought it! We closed on March 17, and I'll be moving in June. How's that for some crazy manifestation?
It's small, under 1,000 square feet. But it has several outbuildings, one of which is, wait for it! An art studio (well, it's actually just a good-sized shed that needs some cosmetic work, but still! It was the former owner's weaving studio). There's also space to garden, and I can't wait to get my hands back into the earth and start growing things again.
My sweet little adobe, with the Gila in the back yard.
So, today, with all its potency, I'm feeling everything. All the change, all the heartbreak and loss of the past year, but also all the growth and beauty and joy. And now, a month into the Fire Horse year and on the first day of the new astrological AND seasonal year, I finally feel ready to let go and move into this new year and all the promise it holds. I have so much gratitude for all that's come before - all the lessons and even all the pain and loss, and so much gratitude for things happening in perfect alignment and perfect timing. And now, today, quite a little thrill for what's to come.
Do you feel it today, too? Leave me a comment below; I'd love to hear from you!
If you've gotten all the way here, thanks for reading to the end! And thank you for being here. I’m deeply honored and grateful for this connection with you, your interest in my work, and your support of my creative path. Whether you've shared kind words or simply opened this email, I don’t take it for granted. Thank you!
Happy Spring; Happy New Year!
One of my "resolutions" for this new year is to write more. Writing and art have always gone hand in hand for me, ever since I could hold a pencil. I write just about every day, for me, but one of my plans is to write and share more here. It's such a lovely way to connect with you!
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I wrote about the painting, As Within, So Without, from my perspective, late last year.
Recently, a very dear from of mine from many, many years ago reached out to me about this work, to see if it was still available.
We had a wonderfully long talk on the phone, catching up on our families, where she was, where I was, the changes in our lives over the years. And then she told me about a terrible experience she'd had as a child and young girl, that no one knew about for a very long time. For decades she didn't think about it, or deal with it, but then one day she didn't have a choice and had to do both.
What transpired after that were years of denial and a host of issues - the expected things that can happen when we finally have to face something terrible, and deal with the fallout.
Thankfully, so thankfully, she got through this awful time and is stronger, more resilient, more courageous, more determined than ever. It is amazing what challenges and difficulties can bring out in us, when we face them. No matter how long it takes us to get to the point of facing them, when we do we have the opportunity to transcend them and move beyond them. Such personal growth, such victory over darkness and pain.
At one point, she started having a recurring dream, not long before she woke up each morning. In it, she said she felt like she was coming up from underwater, from the darkness of the depths into the golden light (and yes, aren't our minds amazing in their ability to show us our lives and experiences in metaphor, in dreams?). It wasn't scary; it was beautiful and peaceful.
At some point, she saw a post I published on Facebook, about this painting. She said the hairs went up on the back of her neck - she was looking at the exact image in her dream. She had described the dream to her husband, and showed him the painting, and asked him what he thought it looked like. He said, "Your dream?"
As she's telling me this, I am getting literally choked up. Because of what she went through, that I never knew. But also because of what my work represents to her - her dream of coming up out of the darkness of this period in her life. Her strength, resilience, courage, ability to come to terms and rise above what she experienced, and move forward with her life.
And once again, I'm left stunned, humbled, and so deeply grateful for the gift I've been given to create. And in that gift, the opportunity to create something that has deep meaning to someone else in their own life.
This is why I love abstract art. This right here. Experiences like this show me that what I'm doing has value. It's so easy to say, meh, I just paint, what good does that really do for the world? How does my work really serve people? I'm not doing anything earth-shattering.
I may not be doing something that changes the whole world, but what I create may help someone change his or her own world, and that, to me, is almost more important than massive world-change. Because I am serving people on a personal, individiual level. That my work can serve as a reminder or inspiration for someone else in their own life - of a victory, a beautiful memory, a secret dream - is incredible.
Soul connections. That's what my art creates. Between my soul and others, and between a person and his or her own soul.
Magic.
If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy. ~ Dale Carnegie
