I would like to start this sharing by thanking my friend, Stephanie Kostopoulos, from Roots, for sharing this picture with me in the form of a card created by the company Recycle and photographer Heidi Lane.

At one time in my life I would have called this a "bad hair day," but now all I see is a being who touches and opens my heart so that I may share the love and light that it brings forth. Isn't she beautiful?

Although I have been passionately devoted to the Many Splendored Goddess in her complex multiplicity for more than thirty years now, I am not a believer in the Triple Goddess paradigm. It has never resonated with me because it belies what I believe to be the true nature of nature. The Triple Goddess in her tripartite phases is widely understood to represent the complete cyclical wholeness of life. She Who is Three is likened to the moon, the tides, and the seasons, whose mutability She mirrors. And therein, lies the rub.

Our first introduction to this world from the time that we are born is on the face. When we talk about a baby, we remark about how cute she or he is. We do not talk about their toes or their fannies; our perception of that young being is all based on their face, their countenance.

When you clean your house you are pushing things around from one place to another. Clothes go from floor or hamper, to washer, to dryer, to closet, and back to floor or hamper. You are using a portion of your time and energy, intending to make a difference, but are you really changing anything? Intentions are a powerful tool in creating change, but sometimes we must look at what we are actually doing with our intent.

The Beijing Olympic ceremony opened with a bang of cascading fireworks shining light in the night for all nations of all people to witness. It was a testimonial to our ability to come together. We can see right in front of us on television faces of different colors, nations with strong, century-old political differences putting down their axes to grind and celebrating their likenesses rather than their differences.

A shaman perceives the world around him through one’s beingness rather than through the mind. When you perceive the world in this way, you enter a very magical place and your life very quickly becomes miraculous. It is a lost art; an art that I am trying to reintroduce to people.

What constitutes herbal certification?

In the United States, there is currently no national or state system of licensing or certification for herbalists. Many schools, including the KHY Certification Program that I currently teach, offer a certificate to document the student’s completion of an herbal program in accordance to the standards that particular group has established. These certificates are useful when applying to professional groups such as The American Herbalist Guild. So that means, unless you are knowledgeable of the practitioner you seek, skill and experience is not always verified by certification alone.