I'm a poet, an herbalist, an accidental journalist, a reluctant revolutionary. . .

strong, gentle, curious, playful, intense, and passionate . . .

my life is about celebrating the world as alive, experiencing its beauty, and fighting like hell to stop its destruction.

Right now my path is very solitary -- but I welcome the ways and times in which other solitudes shore up against mine.

I am exploring a deep and rich partnership with someone wonderful. Philosophically, our commitment falls in the realm of ethical non-monogamy. But on a practical level, I am not seeking out new lovers right now.

Thank you, OkCupid, for being an instrument of the magic that brought ShamanaFlora into my life!

"I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the late Paleolithic: the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth; the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe." -- Gary Snyder

shapeshifting it.

gathering and growing plants in Maine and bringing them to Boston.

writing, speaking, dreaming, and building another world.

stirring primal memory, liberating imagination, cooking, dancing in rainstorms, telling stories about the history of our planet and species and culture, writing poetry, puns

a wild green light shining through my hazel eyes:

"If we eat the wild, it begins to work inside us, altering us, changing us. Soon, if we eat too much, we will no longer fit the suit that has been made for us. Our hair will begin to grow long and ragged. Our gait and how we hold our body will change. A wild light begins to gleam in our eyes. Our words start to sound strange, nonlinear, emotional. Unpractical. Poetic. Once we have tasted this wildness, we begin to hunger for a food long denied us, and the more we eat the more we will awaken." -- Stephen Harrod Buhner The Secret Teachings of Plants

My favorite books and moves are far too numerous to name. So instead I'll list a smattering of authors and musicians who give some idea of what moves and inspires me:

Authors -- Gary Snyder, Diane DiPrima, Walt Whitman, Lenore Kandel, Denise Levertov, Aldo Leopold, Terry Tempest Williams, Starhawk, Victor and Cora Anderson, Thorn Coyle, Stephen Harrod Buhner, Susun Weed, Alice Walker, Linda Hogan, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Pema Chodron, Ram Das, Subcomandante Marcos, Pablo Neruda, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Barbara Kingsolver, Daniel Pinchbeck, Terrence McKenna, Rainer Maria Rilke, William Butler Yeats, Howard Zinn, Eduardo Galeano, Marion Zimmer Bradley, J.R.R. Tolein

Musicians -- Michael Franti and Spearhead, Manu Chao, Ani DiFranco, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, Billy Bragg, Tommy Makem, Solas, Buffy Sainte Marie, Krishna Das, The Coup, Dead Prez

Movies -- The Secret of Roan Inish, Pan's Labyrinth, Juno, The Weather Underground, Genesis, Baraka, The Edukators, What To Do In Case of Fire, the original Star Wars trilogy, Off the Map, Bee Season

Food -- I eat a lot of greens, some organic meat and wild fish, dairy and grains in moderation. I love fresh fruit but seldom get enough of it. Raw dairy and fermented foods are my next frontiers. The politics and ethics of food are important to me, a set of open questions without easy answers that I am always up for rethinking, debating, discussing, and exploring.

earth, air, fire, water, spirit, and the original darkness . . . .

I can conjure the rest from these on a good day.

cosmology, history, poetry, magic, herbs, the intelligence of the heart . . .

the intersections of the political, the erotic, the wild, and the sacred . . .

the history and politics of food, sex, medicine, and religion . . .

whether its time to go to Latin America again . . .

what rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

dancing between dimensions and singing to the moon

In elementary school they sent me to remedial handwriting and shoe-tying classes for three years. They didn't help much.

Anne of Green Gables was the great imaginary crush of my teenage years.

You understand that my heart and my life are very full right now. I am deeply in love with the land, the wild plants, and my communities, human and otherwise. And am investing energy in deepening and exploring the most intimate of those connections.

I am exploring a deep and rich partnership with someone wonderful. Philosophically, our commitment falls in the realm of ethical non-monogamy. But on a practical level, I am not seeking out new lovers right now.

Whatever else flows in the space that is left shall flow in its own way and time.

That said, I always welcome words from those near and far whose hearts and minds resonate with the words in this profile and who are patient with slow correspondence.