Welcome + Why I Write

a bit on what to expect around here

Welcome to The Mythoanimist Path

Here, I’ll endeavor to weave the narrative and archetypal wisdom of mythos with the enlivened and reverent nature of animism. My hope is that these words offer you a portal into the wild beauty of the earth, the cosmos, and your own true nature.

What to Expect Around Here

For now, you can expect occasional essays and musings on spirituality, the wilds, alchemy, the arts, astro-magical insights, Venusian celebrations of beauty, and Scorpionic prods at the shadow side of life. Shorter-form rituals and recipes, will all make an appearance, as well.

The Human Behind this Substack

I am a lifelong guardian of the natural world. A lover of beauty and multimedia artist. A recovering academic. A mystic who facilitates spiritual transformation in heart-centered humans. My about page has the details.

Let’s Connect

You are welcome here. A conversation is a bit more enjoyable when it involves more than one voice, and I look forward to dancing through this wild world of words together. 

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In this land of writers and readers, a brief history of my relationship with the written word (and the inspiration for this Substack): 

Writing has been my profession for nearly two decades. This may sound as if I’ve found the holy grail of word-working. The truth of my experience has been something quite different…

I began teaching academic writing to college students in 2000. At first, I was in love with my job because I knew I wasn’t teaching students to write — I was teaching them to think. Not what to think. How to think. 

Is anything more satisfying than helping new generations expand the capabilities of their minds? 

The artist in me delighted in helping my students create greater beauty through language. The linguist in me was probably a bit overzealous in sharing my love for grammar trees and etymology. The radical in me felt inspired as I watched the restructuring and analysis of previously unquestioned beliefs. 

Unfortunately, the academic teaching of writing does not pay a livable wage, at least in my case. And academia itself is rife with its own unquestioned and unspoken rules. And…I was really f*ing tired of grading papers. 

So I moved onto the greener pastures of working for a spiritual publishing company. My salary doubled (which to be fair, doesn’t really say much), and I shook hands with Eckhart Tolle my first week on the job. 

Through the rose-tinted lenses of my early days, the work was a dream. As an editorial and marketing writer, I was paid to read and write about spirituality, wellness, psychology, and philosophy. From the feminine mysticism of Mirabai Starr, to the Internal Family Systems work of Richard Schwartz, to the mindfulness instruction of Tara Brach, to the Ayurvedic wisdom of Acharya Shunya, to the classic writings of Ram Dass and Alan Watts…I felt as if I were being paid to earn another graduate degree in spiritual studies. 

But the underbelly of spirituality in corporate America is teeming with disease. 

While many of the authors I worked with are lights upon the earth, others were so consumed by their own egos and shadows that promoting their work became a test of my integrity. Over time, the leadership at this company created a toxic working environment that was too harmful to bear. I burned out. And I left in shambles. 

Between working in academia and the world of marketing, I lost the love of language that had fueled my early career. My voice had been so crushed by bureaucracy and capitalism that I no longer felt inspired to place any words on any pages. Even my daily journaling practice became casualty to the soul-crushing nature of my burnout. 

Hibernation heals. Cocooning alchemizes transformation. 

After allowing myself space to heal, the spirit medicine of the fungi invited my voice back into my body (a story for another time). 

For the next several months, I awoke possessed by the muses. Words and stories and reflections and connections and insights and rituals and prayers and meditations flowed through my hands and onto the pages before me. 

I saw prophecies for times to come. Gleaned wisdom from the spirits of the natural world. Received guidance, ceremonies, and prayers for healing. And set a torch to collective shadows that must be illuminated…and perhaps burned. 

I’m still catching up on all the muses gifted me. Pacing myself so as not to burnout again. Editing the words so they are hopefully a bit more impactful and enjoyable than the stream-of-consciousness downloads as I received them. 

As pieces ripen into fruition, I’ll share them here. Maybe someone besides myself (and my mom, of course) will read them — every writer’s dream ;) 

P.S. I'm taking on a very limited number of clients for writing projects right now. This is for anyone working on a writing project — book, website, etc — who wants to benefit from spiritual guidance and industry experience. Send me a message if this is you and you are serious about making your words matter, as this is a four-figure offering.