Thank you for being here and supporting the arts.
My writing is spellwork that sews itself into somatic fabric. I write for the collective connection and change shaping.
I am here to support and tend to you during liminal times and spaces, to practice in the name of creative liberation for everyone.
And that means everyone -- human and more than human. By any means necessary. And these means are both intense and simple: let’s show up together, for each other.
For those who don’t know me, my writing is prose based and explores land, food, culture, spirit, folk magic, and the natural innate longing we all have, for the beauty and art and ache of longing— to know better who we are, and why we are all here, together.
I welcome you to my new substack newsletter, called Notes From Wherever We Are— which was formally called Notes From a Farmhouse, and then Notes From The Gunk House, and because it became apparent that moving, house hopping, is part of my path, it seemed appropriate to keep a sense of non-attachment — to write from wherever we are, even if we have no idea where that is. Where are we, anyway?
I write because it reminds me I am alive, still here, human, and in deep connection to more than human-ness. Notes from where I am to wherever you are explores the intersection of many things: the subtle mundane of the daily, the art of being taken by longing, the magic that floats in and out. But mostly it’s just to write, because writing matters. Stories matter. And art probably is the only thing that might be able to save us, and I mean that. Art is weird and sensual. And so are we.
You’ll be receiving hybrid- personal narrative, prose, myth making musings, notes, and letters.
You will also receive bits and pieces of my book, as I finish writing it.
Sometimes you will get tarot lessons through prose and poetry.
Or a recipe that is also a love letter that is also a map.
Maybe you will get writing prompts to put a fire under your own beautiful ass to write your own stories.
And sometimes I like to talk about writing and magic so maybe a video or audio will pop in to play here.
And there are some very amazing writers and creators and witches out there that I will be talking with so maybe, since there is a podcast function, maybe that will happen, too.
The gift you receive in subscribing and reading my work?
That brings you utter delight.
I hope you sense deeper into the magic of all things.
I hope it re-wires your brain in the best kind of ways and drops you deeper into your belly and even deeper into the filthy beautiful dirt.
The gift I receive is connection— and permission— from across space and time— and we all need connection and we all need the invitation to create. It’s a massive and generous treasure for me to be supported by you.
My prayer is that my writing pulls you back into yourself, the land under you, and the spirit of creative wildness that we were all born from.
Stick with me here. I am just beginning with substack but I believe within this supportive network, I will enable deep connections, inspire others to tell their stories, and to support my own life with writing.
Thank you from the deepest part of my gut and from the chambers of heart.
MaryBeth xx
(a bio of sorts)
I come from volcano people. From pressure and tension and expansions and righteous eruptions in the name of transformation. I also come from salt people, whose ancient beginnings were to shield evil and protect each other. Volcanos, by the way, made oceanic salt.
My medicine is from a volcanic island against the salty mediterranean sea.
My three daughters are my most potent teachers. Sometimes it hurts; they are so fierce. Being a mother is a stunning kind of pain.
I bring mother magic to the table, always. I was raised with mother magic. My lineage is mother magic.
My life understanding is animistic. I believe as even my recent ancestors did: there is spirit in all things.
I’ve studied and trained in quantum midwifery for birth and beyond, yoga of mystics, herbalism, and lineage-based tarot. I have an MFA in creative nonfiction, study southern Italian tarantism through drumming, dance, and song.
I’ve taught body movement, ritual, tarot, writing, and ancestral recovery practices to thousands of people all over the world. I’ve also written two books.
I’m neurodiverse. There are labels, but I prefer to burn them and say— my brain works as it does, and it often does not work in the way capitalism demands. It has taken me a lifetime to love my brain. A lifetime to recognize it for what it is. For a long time, I thought I was the problem. I’m not. You aren’t either.
I was born on the winter solstice in 1973. I feel the most comforted in liminal spaces, even in the thrashing of threshold work. I bring lanterns to the dark mystery and turn out the lights so we can sense our way through the darkness. The edge of the two is my favorite place to hang with you. This is where I support you in finding your own powerful magic and medicine. The world needs it. Now. Now. Yesterday, actually.
I’m a Sagittarius sun (be free). Scorpio moon (be mystery). Aquarius rising (be human).
