If you have anything you want to be rid of, I encourage you to find the strength to do so today. I am mentally holding your hand. I believe you can do it, and I support you. We don’t need to know what is on each other’s lists to stand in solidarity in wanting clear spirits for each other and freedom from the grumps holding us back. Take a minute to reflect over the last year. There were a lot of tough times; it’s true. But in the middle of those tough times are beautiful gems that were all the more precious, and may risk being overlooked.

Amidst the madness of consumerism and decorating frenzies, etc, I’d like to bring up the source of a tradition. The Christmas tree decorating dates back far before Christianity. Pagans and indigenous peoples used to tie cloths into trees and leave offerings there for nature spirits. (Some also did this to comemorate people who had passed on). Making offerings gave people a chance to show themselves, each other (and the nature spirit) what all of their hard work, harvesting had accomplished and to remind them to be grateful to the earth for the food it yields. One of the traditions was that your ailment would dissipate as the cloth withered on the tree. Your lists for the fire are your offering up of things that have helped to shape you. Difficult times and people are like fire. They may burn us, but we get refined. The crystal clear gold that makes up the streets of heaven is forged in the fiery pits of hell. Say a prayer as you burn them if you’re inclined.

Next,  I encourage you to be creative in finding ways to show love to yourselves and those you care about whether you think you can or not. The joy you will receive from it will light you up <3 Whether you light a candle, put on your favorite music, take a hot bath, make yourself a yummy treat or buy yourself something you will cherish (or do all of the above), don’t forget to give yourself a special gift to represent your pride in all the ways you have grown this year. <3 TO become that crystal clear gold, we have to realize the things that have shaped us and let go of the impurities. Let those things fall back to the ashes as you rise. Here’s to shining brightly in the new year as a new us. <3 Happy HOlidays! Divinity ROse

It was good to be back  on stage with some beautiful people who I’ve “grown up” with as a performer and creative soul.  There was so much talent, and I was able to get some great holiday shopping in, supporting local talents like Solidarity Photography, Tader Head Crochet, Vintage by Design, and Gaither Ceramics. Check them out! It’s not too late to contact them and get some great affordable gifts of your own that your loved ones will treasure.

Brian Schlosser took some great photos of the event, but I have to say: God knows why acclaimed spoken word artist and good friend Truth B. Told looks like he’s stripping but I thank him for it!

This was the first ever Sub Rosa event that also had kids in attendance for part of it, and it was so great to have families there together. I can’t believe how awesome the kids all behaved. Little Chris’s dance alone convinced me that kids should have been involved long ago.

I also have to give a very special shout out: On the same night of the reunion, Subrosian, friend,  and amazing glass artist Derek Gregory went and got himself hitched up in NYC! (He moved up there for love over the summer). CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

I know I’ve been quieter than usual over the last few months when it comes to newsletters. I stopped doing regularly scheduled shows in May so I could take a much needed break and refocus my direction. I’m attempting to get back on a weekly schedule of communication with some pretty cool news on the way. As my sparse communications have probably conveyed, I’ve dealt with a few difficulties in my downtime.

I throw myself out over and over and over again. Sometimes I get burned, and I recoil for a little while before leaping forward again. I don’t see the world like a lot of people do. I look around me,  and I see potentials. I see opportunities. I see…too many possible paths. So, it makes it hard to move forward sometimes, because I know there are other paths I could take. I can spend endless amounts of time asking for inner guidance on which path to take, and then feel certain that’s the way I’ll go. Then, something happens. I might hit criticism or another opportunity or a moment of doubt.  (That word needs a terrifying sound affect to go with it ALA fifties scare film.)

When I find myself hesitating on moving forward with something I want to do, it’s usually because of one of the following: Something has not fallen into place yet, clicking with clarity and I’m not sure of the next step; Some changes need to be made; or I’m hesitating in doubt. (*insert sound effect)

When I have a clear destination in mind, I am usually led to the next step, although the timing isn’t always as immediate as my impatient inner child would have it. I try to remind my impatient inner child (IC)  to play more while awaiting instructions.  A lot of times, the IC would rather throw a tantrum and cry until it gets its way. I’ve learned this behavior stems from a fear that if it doesn’t come RIGHT NOW, it might not come at all, which really means it stems from doubt. My IC often jumps ideas and dreams up lots of new projects and ideas to avoid moving forward on one that it already created, worrying that it is not good enough or marketable enough or…..

I’ve almost lived
so many times.
False starts;
Unfinished rhymes.
Why do I doubt
what’s within
could be seen without?

It is said that faith is the key to reaching a desired destination, but for that to happen, you have to make a clear decision about your destination and agree to see it through.  If you don’t know what your destination is, you can’t know when you’ve reached it or gauge if you’re on a path towards it.  It may be that some ideas are not worth following through based on collected opinion and effort vs reward. However, you have to put it out there a little to determine that.  I’ve had some very clear destinations in mind, but needed some time to put the steps in order and get over some of the negativity I’ve faced.

I have found that just about everyone I know has some sort of dream in mind or a good idea. It seems that they are waiting for someone to give them permission to move forward on it.

Well, consider this your permission to move forward!

Make a list of things that would need to happen to see it done, and then decide which one would be easiest to move forward with. Start small and build from there <3.

Let’s do away with doubt together. What do you say?

Love, Light and Blessings to see you through your dreams <3

I want to inspire, motivate, and spread love as a way of life. Mighty Kindness is a great non-profit that really practices that by getting into the community and gathering people together to learn about their community, artists, musicians, local farmers and how to be environmentally friendly. They hold two music festivals per year and wanted a new “Hootin’ Annie”  owl mascot costume made from recycled materials. I am no costumer, but the end result was not half bad.

You can view the details and making of the costume and me running around like a nut in it ALA Yakkity Sax here:

Divinity Rising

Make sure to subscribe to my  Divinity Rising youtube channel so you don’t miss an episode  :D

I had a chance to do some of my Doomsday Lover performance at the Mighty Kindness festival, and at Dance on the Dark Side, another non-profit event. DOD was a fundraiser for Pagan Community Ministries and Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge.  The silent auction raised over $500 for the no-kill animal sanctuary.  My son had an awesome vending table set up for some of our art, and I sold a collage of some of my Doomsday Lover photo shoots.  It was a long but awesome day, performing at two such different events that are both focused on making a difference in our local community.

I also recently had fun in the Louisville Halloween Parade, which fell on my birthday October 14! How Perfect!

As we near Thanksgiving,  I have taken some time for reflection to see what my spirit needs.  I strive to remain grateful each and every day. Most recently, I was overwhelmed with gratitude as I eased in to a hot bath. I had not had time to just soak in a tub of warm water in a while, and it is one of my favorite things to do.  I was overwhelmed with just how big of a blessing it is to have the ability to soak in a hot bath when I am sore or need the relaxation. So many people don’t have that opportunity. It touched me in that moment that so many people all over the globe don’t have the chance to enjoy something that happens several times a day in most American households.

In the performing and entertainment industry and any business matter, it is often easy to get caught up in things that don’t really matter.  What really matters to me is that I treat others with kindness and inspire more community, love and cooperation. Sometimes, I think I fail miserably in what I am trying to accomplish.  I am grateful for the reminders that come my way to just be more childlike, live for exploration, continue to do my best at unconditional giving and receiving, and focusing the crazy amount of energy I have.  Above all, I am eternally grateful for my friends, my family, and each and every person who takes the time to read my updates, watch my videos, listen to my poems, support me and lift me up. I would truly be nowhere without you. I hope my efforts do the same for you.

This past Saturday, I was on Crescent Hill Radio for a really great interview! You can check it out in the archives by clicking here! It’s an interview about writing, poetry, how to market yourself, venues, and some of my work. Sheri Wright is a great host and also hosts a monthly open mic called Stone Soup on the last Sunday of each month at the Bardstown in Louisville, Ky.

And I’m super excited that I am the featured artist of the month on Tenacity Radio’s homepage! Check out a video montage and the interview that they did by clicking here!

Coming soon: It’s almost zombie time!! August 29 is the annual Zombie attack in Louisville. Genna Yussman, Austin Woosley and I will be at Role of the Die on Bonnycastle across from Cafe 360 to help you get zombified from 3 pm to 8 pm – Do not wait till the last minute to come down, there are 65 people RSVP’D on Facebook. Cost is $10 -$20 depending on level of degradation, coverage that you need.  The earlier you come the sooner. Better yet, you can RSVP on Facebook, and we will know if we need to add artists.

It will be fun to take the stage again after a nice long break.
I’ll also be taking the stage August 19 at Peak Summit Music festival and August 20 at a drag show to benefit Pagan Community Ministries – 6 pm at Starbase Q. In the distant future, I’ll be at Mighty Kindness Music Festival (YAY!) and the Dance on the Darkside Festival of Fantasy -both on October 29!
Hope to see you out and about!

I recently got to do an awesome photo shoot with Genna Yussman, Jada Parks, Bob Cheever, Jessica Neamon and Benjamin Wood for some concept art I am putting together for Doomsday Lover.

Here’s a Collage of the photos Im not using in the concept art:

Time to let it go

let it go

let IT GO
Time may not heal the pain, but it reaches a point where you realize it’s been so long thatit’s ridiculous to hold on to it any longer.
Let it go.There almost seven billion people on the planet.

I’ve not shared any of my writing in a while.  I’ve been a little busy. Mostly I’ve been in hiding. I’ve found myself a little relieved with a less demanding schedule since I let go of Sub Rosa, but I’ve also found myself wading through a bit of darkness as I move into the next phase of my creative evolution. I’ve also been knee deep in my writings, sorting them and developing the net steps I’ll be taking in releasing my Diaries of a Godling storyline and first album.
At the beginning of the year, I found myself devastated by someone close to me turning their back on me and had reports of said person talking badly about me, smearing my name, my actions – all the while, happy to be a part of my production and being nice to my face.  Towards the end of the friendship, I noticed my own attempts at friendship met with suspicion, territorial behavior, and overall rudeness. Since then,  I’ve dealt with rumors, lies and even personal attacks such as someone messaging people I’m close to telling them I have herpes and to stay away from me. I can’t even begin to describe how horrified, shocked and hurt I felt by these lies or the reaction of people I considered friends.
Since then, I’ve been wading around, trying to decide what is important. Mostly I’ve been trying to remain open and not closed off. It hurt in a way that has made me not want to be as open to working with others. There was a lot of anger, confusion, and most of all an inability to trust. Being in the spotlight makes you an easy target. At first, I wanted desperately to have things right again between us, but knew they will never be the same. We can never go back…and after becoming aware of what was going on, do I really want to? Are those the kind of people I want to be surrounded by?
It has been a very important lesson to me on how a wagging tongue can create waves of destruction and how hurtful it can be: also that it is imperative to go directly to someone you have a problem with and be honest/direct even if it risks hurting feelings. IT is a great reminder to keep my own tongue from wagging, and I find myself studying myself and looking for areas where I can improve myself and try to focus daily on trying to keep my words uplifting…but I am just human, and I feel the burning frustration – how do I deal with the anger/emotions?
It’s interesting how the slightest introduction of information can change you. I find that we are all made of information, and sometimes we can trace a behavior back to the piece of information that introduced it. I think about the H2o molecule – water. Something we all need to survive – it gives us life. Then I think of H2o2 – Hydrogen Peroxide – poison if we drink it. Just the one extra atom of oxygen turns life into death. How easily are our opinions of someone swayed? How easily has my own confidence in what I am doing been swayed? How easily was a “friendship” broken? How easily was my ability to trust others broken? It happened over time. This is just one of many instances that have left me…grumpy. Yet, I also find myself wavering on which way to go from here.  On one hand, I can’t let this little bit of information stop me -but maybe I can let it change me in a way that uplifts me. I set out on a journey to create something knowing the trail would be rough at times. I guess the reality of betrayal hurts a lot more than knowledge of it or expecting it.
Coming across the following passage has indeed been wonderful manna for my soul. As always, I am grateful for the WORD that arrives when needed.
The Original Version:
The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway.If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.Succeed anyway.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.Do good anyway.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.Be honest and frank anyway.The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.Think big anyway.People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.Fight for a few underdogs anyway.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.Build anyway.People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.Help people anyway.Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.Give the world the best you have anyway.

See the rest of the intro videos from the event by clicking Here.

If you missed this one, Mark your calendars for July 30, the next big event!!

I hope you are all staying cool out in this hot weather!  Here’s some tips for cutting costs and staying cool

Love, Light, and Blessings to send you through your dreams <3

I guess I am a little biased in my excitement, though. Tomorrow is the release of the insanity known as Poetry, Pop and Paint. There was an awesome write up in the Leo, Courier Journal, and the KFW hot flash newsletter. While the doors don’t open until 8 pm, we will begin painting beautiful ladies at 1 pm. It’s going to be a full day of preparing, so we can give you magical people something awesome to talk about for years to come

This show is at Saint’s Skybar – 131 Breckenridge Lane – Doors open at 8 pm, show starts at 9 (don’t want to miss a minute..the awesome starts right away) – Cost at door is $15.

Hope to see you there!!

In preparation for Poetry, Pop and Paint, I’ve been on quite a face painting binge!  I’ve been doing my absolute best to look like a freak at every chance I get! Special thanks to my partner in crime Genna Yussman! Here’s a video to show you some of the facepaint used recently for photo and video shoots for Poetry, Pop and Paint. The video includes some test footage of the video that will be projected at the event! The best part of this video was going out to eat in full paint/make up during all the Derby madness.

If you can’t see the video above, you can view it here:

I have found that many times “freaks” have a lot to say that we could all use a good dose of. I have learned many a life lesson from people that have been tossed aside from the majority of others. Often times, people are labelled freak just because the person labeling them doesn’t understand them…and usually because that person lacks the desire to even try to.

I had a great show at Stevie Ray’s in Louisville this past Wednesday, and I was in full freak mode with several different costumes.  One of the numbers I performed was “Broken”. Beverly Frederick recently gave me a copy of some partial video she shot of “Broken” at Artography last month.  You can’t see the video below, you can view that video here:

In sad news, A poet/author who performed at Sub Rosa when it first began recently took his own life. It saddens me that someone who inspired so many and brought them joy felt so alone. He was best known for his one line poems such as “TIGHTROPE: You’d have dropped her, too, if you had to hold up both ends of the relationship the way I did.”  His book “Aha, Aha, Ahum” was a collection of these wise witticisms that made you think as you rolled with laughter.  He gave them out freely to all, and I know that many enjoyed them.   In honor of his passing, I wrote one for him.

Lifeline

I wish you would have known that you could have called me when you were under the gun and didn’t know the answer to the million dollar question.

RIP JP, you will be missed.

(Expressions to: Wellspring or Bridgehaven. Please leave a condolence for the family at www.archlheadyeastoak.com)

I know what it is like to feel alone when surrounded by people and not be able to see how much you mean to them. If you ever feel alone or down, I hope you realize you are not alone, and that all you have to do is let people know how you feel and that there are others who will love and help you without judging you. Please be kind to those around you. You have no idea what they are carrying with them.

On another note of all time freakiness, we often call people who speak out of “conspiracies” or things they see as troublesome freaks: one of these things being people who are worried about police states.  While we may have many freedoms, in this country, I am troubled that I see many things slowly taking place that seem to infringe on the very rights and principles this country was founded on. Indiana recently passed a law that states police can enter your home with or without a warrant, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.  At what point will we begin to stand up and tell our “leaders” what we think and remind them that they are supposed to work for us? Come on, Indiana! Contact your representatives and let them know that this is not ok!!  Tell your friends, talk about it! be vocal! Don’t let these types of things go unnoticed! You never know when it will affect you or someone you care about!

It is for reasons like this that I believe organizations and communities like Mighty Kindness are increasingly important…we must learn to begin to strengthen our communities so that we can lean on each other, become more self sufficient, be able to make a stand  and live in more sustainable ways. We can not just sit back watching our favorite tv shows and expect governments or employers to do everything or  what is best for us.

Love, light and blessings to send you through your dreams.

I missed Thunder over Louisville this year for the first time in a while. I love fireworks. Thunder over Louisville is our Derby opening celebration and a mess of over 800,000 people crowded together for an air show and the really big attraction: a half hour long fireworks show. Some of you might remember that we went to Thunder over Louisville as Space Pirates last year as was captured by the Louisville Eccentric Observer. It was to invite people to our Space Pirate Disco, held Derby Eve. I had some trouble at the time converting the video, but recently came across it again and was able to get it converted.

For those of you that don’t know, Derby is like Louisville’s Mardi Gras. It is when anything can and will happen. One of the most amazing moments of random unity came through at Derby a couple years ago. I was belly dancing inside a hoola hoop as Nick Lehman shouted on a megaphone and John Lewis drummed on a djembe. The crowd outside the bar we were taunting was in total unison and cheering us on…we had people coming from the crowd to try the hula hoop as the entire crowd joyfully praised each person who did…Some guy got so caught up in the energetic moment that he picked up my sandals that I had kicked off and begun beating a store front window in unison with the djembe drummer. The whole crowd was at one with the turning of the hoop and the beat of the drum. Out of nowhere, a stretch hummer limo pulled up and a lavishly dressed forty something year old in a tube top dived out the window, crowd surfed over to us, took the hoop and proceeded to hoop for several minutes until her top fell down and the crowd went wild. She took a bow, crowd surfed back to the limo, dove back in through the window and they drove on. I stood in awe pondering that I may have just reached the pinnacle of my career. How would I ever top that?

Here you go: in honor of the coming derby and from the archives of Subrosa, I give you web lubbin cyber pirates this bit of booty (because nothing says DERBY like a night of sexy pirate gear and dancing/music from outer space):

If you can’t see the video above, you can view the video by clicking HERE

And if you’re feeling really lucky but ponies aren’t your thing, you might want to submit for a chance to win free tickets to Poetry, Pop and Paint!

You can win by submitting a poem, a bodypaint design (Drawing or photography) or by voting on the submissions. Here’s your chance to come to one of the hottest events this summer for Free! Details can be found by clicking here! I look forward to seeing your entries!!