Hello. I’m Olivia.

 

I've spent most of my life avoiding mainstream paths so that I could better see the commonalities and incongruencies beneath it all. 

 

When I started educating myself about the Native American way of life in my 20s, it was like peeking through a rip in the fabric of our reality and seeing people on the other side who didn't feel constantly lost or alone or like they had to choose between survival or their spirits. Their lives weren't perfect of course- they experienced pain and lack and grief, but they clearly knew many things that we've forgotten.

 

The root of that life- one that can be found in cultures around the world- is something call the Four Directions, the Wheel of the Year, the Medicine Wheel, the Sacred Hoop.

 

When I first learned about this ancient tool, it was too symbolic for me to really comprehend- but it finally all came together when, in the same year, I took an intensive year-long herbalism course that was structured around the Wheel and also started homeschooling my daughter in a Wheel-centric tradition.

 

Suddenly I was immersed and got to live the profound effects of returning to the Wheel, a way of life known to all our pre-patriarchal ancestors. 

 

~For the health problems that i’d been virtually bedridden with, I found that understanding the energies of each season, of my own body- Nature’s rhythm of cycles within cycles- and of the herbs that I was drawn to allowed me to heal in a way that felt like a series of supported adjustments, rather than a battle. When I learned how to work with Nature, I finally understood how often I’d been working against her and sabotaging my own best efforts.

 

~For my painful relationship and the grief that came with it, the Wheel of the Year connected me to the timeless medicine of Nature and every ancestor who’s ever lived. Grounded and empowered, the dynamic in my relationship shifted once and for all, bringing more drama, but also a welcome conclusion. As I moved through this, I experienced a long Winter of grief and transformation- but since I knew about the energies of Winter from the Wheel, I knew how to tend myself through this time. 

 

I even made a course just about navigating Winter phases. 

 

~And for parenting and homeschooling, the Wheel provided a container for me. In these endeavors, it’s the adult’s responsibility to create a safe container within which the child/ren can explore and test their boundaries. In our modern, nuclear families, this is challenging even under the best of circumstances. For people also dealing with illness, unhappy partnerships, and/or single parenting, it can feel impossible. The Wheel of the Year created a supportive container for me so that I could create a supportive container for my daughter- one that centered gratitude, connection and reverence for the profound generosity of Mama Earth.

 

For me, living on the Wheel means lots of crafting, herbal medicine, time in Nature, community, and inner work- and I teach all of these. But what I’m really teaching underneath it all are the lessons of the Wheel- how to get out of Nature’s way and sail her flow to alignment and (relative) ease in every aspect of life.