A three-day sanctuary in the Sonoran desert for those who have forgotten how to receive. Guided rituals, creative expression, and deep restoration await.
You are in the right place. This is for the caregivers, the peacemakers, the sensitive souls navigating complex relationships and longing to feel whole again. Here, we don’t just seek rest; we build Sovereign Sanctuaries—practices, tools, and spaces that actively protect your energy and rekindle your creative spirit. This is the path from exhaustion to expression, from giving it all away to finally coming home to yourself.
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The final brushstroke is drying. ✨
After months of navigating life’s beautiful chaos, here’s a first look at the cover for the ‘Wild Alchemy’ retreat companion book.
This was painted with my own scented watercolors. It’s not just a cover; it’s a piece of the journey and a map for the one we’ll take together.
This book is a guide to deepening your practice, and it’s my honor to put it in your hands.
The full sanctuary—the website, the retreat, the tools—opens on November 11th. Consider this your personal invitation.
#WildAlchemyBook #SovereignSanctuary #CreativeJourney #WatercolorArt #ComingSoon
P.S. What’s one word that describes what ‘sanctuary’ means to you? 👇
A Different Kind of Front Line
I see the marches. I hear the voices rising in courageous protest. I honor you. I’ve stood on those front lines in my past, and I hold deep respect for those who hold that ground now. It is vital, necessary work.
And, I want to speak for a different kind of front-line worker.
For the ones who are building sanctuaries in a world of noise.
For the caregivers holding space for ailing parents and fractured families.
For the artists creating beauty to mend torn spirits.
For the listeners who are healing ancestral wounds in the quiet of their own homes.
For the weary who are doing the internal work to simply stay whole.
Your work is not less than. It is different. It is foundational.
The fight for a just world isn’t only fought in the streets. It is fought in the human nervous system. It is won by creating pockets of peace, by fostering sovereignty, and by reminding each other of our inherent worth when systems try to erase it.
So, here’s to the protestors in the square. And here’s to the healers in the home.
Here’s to the voices shouting “No more!”
And here’s to the hands building a “What if?”
We need all of us. In all our forms. Your particular brand of courage matters.
What quiet, foundational work are you doing that deserves to be honored today?
#SovereignSanctuary #AllFronts #QuietRevolution #Caregiver #Artist #DifferentPaths
A quiet moment from the studio, and a big reveal... ✨
I’m painting the cover for my new book, Wild Alchemy, using my scented watercolors. This project is the heart of my work—a guide to building your own sovereign sanctuary through ritual and creativity.
It all ties into the retreats I hold and marks a very special milestone: the 25th anniversary of this journey.
I’m so excited to finally share this with you. The full reveal is 11.11.
P.S. Can you almost smell the balsam and juniper?
Today was a reminder of what we’re really building.
I drove through the cranberry bogs, down the avenue of birches—a living portal to a different pace. I arrived at a sanctuary: the studio of my dear friend, the incredible artist @sandracashman .
And there, we did the real work. The work of laughter. The work of shared silence, broken only by the scratch of a brush on paper. The work of breaking bread and sharing stories on the dock, with good dogs at our feet.
This is what it means to build a life you love. It’s not about ignoring the heaviness in the world, but about elevating in spite of it. It’s about creating pockets of profound peace and creative connection, where we can refill our own wells so we have more to give.
We tested my new scented watercolors (yes, they smell as good as they paint, even the ‘perfectly imperfect’ pans! 🎨). We talked art, business, and for me the beautiful burden of being a highly sensitive person in a loud world.
This is the heart of my work. It’s why I create retreats and tools—to help others find their own ‘studio sanctuary,’ their own ‘avenue of birches,’ their own inner compass that leads them back to their joy.
Because a well-tended spirit is the most powerful force for good we have.
#SanctuaryBuilder #CreativeCollaboration #WomenSupportingWomen #NorthwoodsWisconsin #CranberryCountry #ArtistsLife #ScentedWatercolor #LiveYourBestLife
When life gets chaotic, find your bassline. 🎸
After a season of navigating… well, everything… I decided it was time to make my own noise. The good kind. The kind that comes from a deep, resonant place of joy.
So thrilled to bring home this Ibanez and start lessons with the awesome Charlie at @NorthlandMusic. This is the sound of a new chapter starting.
PS: This is what sovereign joy looks like. #BassGirl #NewBeginnings #SovereignSanctuary #MusicHeals #MidlifeRocks #IbanezBass
The seasons are changing in the Northwoods. The critters are moving in, and the garden is offering up its final, most assertive offerings. Meet “The Sovereign Squash.” 👑
This giant zucchini demanded to be the star of a lasagna bake, and who was I to argue? Just trying to find the balance and the humor in the beautiful, chaotic sitcom of life. 🎪
Grateful for the harvest, the eggs from our chickens, and the ability to laugh through it all.
Want the recipe for this cozy, protein-packed Zucchini Lasagna Bake? DM me “SOVEREIGN SQUASH” and I’ll send it right over!
#SovereignSquash #GardenHarvest #ZucchiniRecipe #Homesteading #LifeIsASitcom #CozySeason #InstagramRecipes
🥧 THE (SHORT & SASSY) RECIPE 🥧
For when life (& cats) give you drama, make pie.
Yields: 2 Pies (One for you, one to prove you’re nice.)
Ingredients:
· Crust: 2 boxes pre-made crusts (We’re artists, not martyrs.)
· Filling: 12-14 c sliced apples, 2 c cranberries, 1 c white sugar, 1 c brown sugar, ¾ c flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp salt, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 4 tbsp butter.
· The Magic: 4-6 drops of FOOD-GRADE Sweet Orange Essential Oil. NOT the kind for your feet! Your safety, your pie.
Instructions:
1. Heat Oven to 425°F. Place crusts in pans on a baking sheet (catches the emotional overflow).
2. Mix dry ingredients in a giant bowl. Add fruit & lemon juice. Toss like you’re mediating a family dispute.
3. Carefully add 3-4 drops of FOOD-GRADE orange oil. Toss for 1 min. Taste. Add 1 more drop if needed. Don’t go overboard!
4. Pile filling into crusts. Dot with butter.
5. Top with crust, vent, brush with egg, sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake 40-50 min until golden and bubbly.
7. COOL 4 HRS. This is the final boss of willpower. You got this.
Enjoy your beautiful, fragrant victory!
#ScarletOrchardPie #BakingTherapy #EssentialOilSafety #Recipe
My Therapy Today Was 425°F.
In the midst of directing my personal Northwoods Sitcom (today’s episode: “The Mouse, The Matriarch, and The Missing Sanity”), I decided to bake my feelings.
While the cast of characters does their thing, my kitchen is now a sanctuary of cinnamon, cranberry, and calm. I am the Director of Domestic Chaos, and my latest prop is a pie.
I call this creation “The Scarlet Orchard Pie.” It’s infused with orange essential oil because I’m a perfumer and I can, and topped with a special “SO” blend (that’s Hungarian for salt) made from rock sugar, and dried roses that was once a gift, given back to me. We’re calling that poetic justice, and it’s delicious.
The pies are out, my soul is (temporarily) at peace, and the recipe is in the comments for anyone else who needs to direct their own chaos into something beautiful and buttery.
#ScarletOrchardPie #BakingTherapy #DirectorOfChaos #NorthWoodsLife #PerfumerLife #CreativeSanctuary
When the world feels loud, I return to the map. Not a map of places, but of the heart.
This piece, now complete, was my sanctuary today. Adding the final lines, the color, the detail—it was a quiet act of reclamation. A reminder that the most important terrain I will ever chart is my own inner landscape.
It was created with my Northwoods Alchemy Artistry Kit, where every color carries the scent of the land it represents. This isn’t just art you see; it’s an experience you feel and remember.
This is the heart of Wild Alchemy. And it’s just a whisper of what’s to come.
The map is being revealed. 11.11.25
#WildAlchemy #SovereignSanctuary #ArtOfTheMap #ScentedWatercolor #Mapmaker #CreativeSanctuary #NorthwoodsArt #ComingSoon
The scent of lemongrass, sun-warmed hay, and wild juniper rises from the paper in my hands.
Here, in my camper on the western shore of Lake Superior, I’ve just put the final brushstroke on this small, circular piece. The paints I used are from my Northwoods Alchemy Artistry Kit—each one infused with the very soul of a landscape.
Sweetgrass Spire©️ Bluefire©️ Wild Bergamot©️
For years, I’ve been a botanical perfumer and artist, a cartographer of the senses. My work has always been about one thing: translating the wisdom of the land into tools for soul-level reclamation.
This little painting? It’s a whisper of what’s to come.
That heart, held so gently, isn’t just an image. It’s the core of everything I teach: that our inner landscape—with all its wild terrain and sacred geography—is a map worth exploring, worth honoring, and worth holding with immense care.
And today, as I painted with these scented watercolors, another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. I sat down with the incredible North House Folk School right here in Grand Marais to talk about the possibility of bringing this work home—of teaching, of guiding, of building sanctuary together.
It’s all connected. The years of R&D, the retreat path, the art, the scent… it’s weaving into one.
This is more than a painting. It’s a promise.
Something beautiful is coming this November. The map is almost ready.
#WildAlchemy #SovereignSanctuary #BotanicalPerfume #ScentedWatercolor #NorthwoodsAlchemy #ArtOfTheMap #HeartWork #RetreatPath #GrandMarais #LakeSuperior #ComingSoon #NovemberLaunch
That golden light isn’t just for the sky. It’s the same light that’s calling you home to yourself. 🧡
About 30 of us rose for this today. We left the roles, the to-do lists, the emotional labor at the cabin door and answered a deeper call—the one that whispers, “It’s your turn.”
This is for you if:
✨ You’re on the other side of giving all your energy away.
✨ You feel a creative block born from exhaustion.
✨ You crave a container of safety to finally focus on your own renewal.
At Sovereign Sanctuary retreats, we transmute that fatigue into creative flow. You’ll leave not just with peace, but with a personal talisman you created—a tangible reminder of the boundaries and beauty you can cultivate every single day.
Your new day is dawning. Are you ready to rise?
Vibe Check: Radiant. Resilient. Rested. Ready.
Tap that ❤️ if this resonates and share this with a sister who needs to see it.
What does your sovereign sanctuary feel like? Tell me one word in the comments. 👇
#SovereignSanctuary #Retreat #ReclaimYourself #CreativeRenewal #EnergeticHygiene #WomensCircle #SelfCareIsntSelfish #PostCaregiver #RisingOnTheOtherSide #GrandMarais #Sunrise #NewBeginnings #InnerPeace
66. Grand Marais. A moonrise over the bay.
This is the place where French trappers and voyageurs once navigated. To stand here on the West Shore, near the Canadian border, on my 66th birthday, feeling that same spirit of adventure and resilience… it feels like coming full circle.
The wilderness is in my soul, and tonight, it feels like it has welcomed me home. I am so grateful for this life, this love, and this breathtaking, wild peace.
#GrandMarais #LakeSuperior #Moonrise #VoyageurCountry #66thBirthday #UpNorth #WildAtHeart
