From the Roots to the Stars

Aloha. My name is Riand (ree-AHN) and I have been walking on this crooked spiral path for a very. Long. Time. Spanning multiple timelines, lifetimes, and dimensions.

I'm not telling you that to make me seem special or like I know more than anyone else, because I'm not and I don't. I've just done this a lot of times, and it's hard to really know me without knowing that. It is what it is.

I will try to tell you a story about how I came to be here, doing whatever it is that I'm doing...

My spiritual practice began in childhood, around age 6 or 7. I spent a lot of time in the woods around my house, hearing and seeing and knowing things that other people didn't seem to Hear or See or Know. I built strange altars for things without names, and booby traps for the neighbor boys.

This is when I first started mixing weird plants together. My hands just did it. I didn't try or ask for permission - the plants told me to, so I did. Their whispers felt nourishing and sensible in a world that didn't otherwise make much sense. Witch in the Woods was my favorite way to play.

For the next few decades, my practice would go through many twists and turns. I would cast spells in secret, and on rooftops throughout my adolescence - rebellious vigilante that I was... I would experience an Age of Rejection of the Self, where I would become a logic-loving, anxious atheist and verbally shit on anything spiritual, natural, or woo-woo because it all drew too much attention to the parts of myself that felt hard to love. Then I would experience the ultimate Return of the Self through the transformation of becoming a mother and giving birth to my son, Atlas...

I would learn chemical composition of plants through Aromatherapy Certification. Organic farming of sacred medicine plants, such as 'awa and noni. Basic alchemical principals through making soap while blasting Led Zeppelin, fermenting my own wild mead, and distilling hydrosols in my big copper still. I would seek out mentors and read piles and piles of books. (Yes, many of them had dust on them. It was very cool and aesthetic, go figure.) I would study the dance of the planets. I would help hundreds of people find their medicine... whether that be through words, plants, journeys, or supplements. I would walk the hedge between this world and the next with the help of poisons, sacred medicine ceremonies, and a bad attitude that nearly got me killed a few different times. (It's okay, me 'n Death are cool.)

And now I am here. I have a sturdy wooden worktable that I love, in a purple cabin full of plants and pets and bad jokes. I make medicines and try to help people find what they need.

Witch in the Woods is my favorite way to play.