Failure as a Confrontation with Death

Portrait of Mimi Young and the Becoming Podcast logo on a beige background

Did you listen to my fun, rich, and wide-reaching interview Jessie Harrold of The Becoming Podcast? What we chatted about:⁣  Failure as a confrontation with death that ultimately makes us more human and divine⁣  How to suspend your disbelief and follow your intuition in a hyper-rational world⁣  Animism and working with tea as an ally⁣ […]

Tea Thoughts While On A Mountain

An expansive image of mountain regions around Lake Louise (In the Stoney language of the Nakoda people the area is called Ho-run-num-nay, meaning "lake of the little fishes")

Some are new, some old, all have been on my mind (and body, and heart)… Obstacles are guided pathways, not roadblocks.  Nobody knows what they are really doing with their lives. When creating, “happiness” may actually indicate the comfortable and the already-done, and “discomfort” reveals vulnerability and possibilities. Anger signals a moment(s) when we recognize […]

In My Fantasies

A portrait of animist spirit medium and writer Mimi Young, wearing a cream cardigan and vermillion dress

In my fantasies, I’m smart, or at least, I can figure it out.I’m fun to be around.I like my body, and that she can do bendy, tip-toey, graceful things.I channel worthwhile ideas and things. My words matter. In my fantasies, I’m surrounded by friends, near and far, and that truly, they are always near. In […]

Nowhere Near It – 隔靴搔癢

Appropriation or appreciation?

Growing up in a traditional Han Taiwanese home, the adults spoke to me in Chinese idioms.  One expression, 隔靴搔癢 (phoneticized as gé xuē sāo yǎng), can be loosely interpreted as: “Failing to get to the heart of the matter” or even “nowhere near it“. Yet the literal translation of the words actually mean: “scratching an […]

Some Q & As for Mimi

WOC holds her wet hair in the shower

Where were you born? I was born on a small, sub tropical island of monsoon and evergreen forests in East Asia called Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa). Tree, Mountain and Sea are my original parents. In fact, my maiden name 林 (Lin) means forest.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Are you fluent in your mother tongue?⁣⁣ My first words were […]

INTERCONNECTION: WE ARE SO MUCH MORE…

Collage of nature scenes, esoteric tools, WOC's face and body

We are so much more than what we understand ourselves as human beings. Beyond me saying that I am a Han Taiwanese Canadian, a mother, a partner, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a client and business owner. I am the air we breathe, the soil we tread on, the plants that sprout, creep, and […]

UNDER THE NEW MOON: DECOLONIZING, GROWTH, MANIFESTING

Sometimes, my own fears and irrational habits surprise myself. I have internalized oppression of general Chinese/Taiwanese culture (not to mention cultural purging that modern China has experienced) and Christian patriarchy; being a female in a white-centric worldview also adds nuanced complexity. So many painful and limiting layers. So much living small and self-oppression. But I’m […]

MORE READS FOR THE AWAKENED

A blessed Solstice and approaching Yule! This year especially, I am experiencing resonance to Crone’s calling for deep rest, play, and nourishment during this middle winter season. What better way than to spend time outdoors in the cold or cozied up with a pot of tea and a good book. These past few weeks, there […]

Terra Incognita – Unknown Land

Instalment two by Alena Walker shares a topic both personal and universal: individual identity defined through spiritual and physical travel. Here, the wordstress weaves imagination and the manifested, spirit and flesh, myth and certainty, human and diety, and concludes that all are facets of expression of the Unknown rather than polarized concepts. Adam Harteau’s indescribable […]

THE WINTER ABYSS

This achingly beautiful winter piece, custom written by our UK-based guest contributor, Alena Walker (her bio at the end), functions as dream, prayer, and love song to our glorious Mother Earth. Paired with photographer Kate Bellm‘s tropical compositions that drip our internal, humid longings, the images provide luminous portrayals of what humanity yearns on Mothernight, […]